Ava was sure of it, that was a Serv Stealth Ship beacon he was detecting. Completely unique to that model. How far away was it? Several miles according to the data it was transmitting, on foot it'd take half a day to get to. He looked in the direction of the signal but found himself staring into almost infinite darkness. Only the slight light from the Sun an eternity away added a tinge of colour to the landscape, the landscape where his friend was lost and alone.
"Are you ok?" Asked Aphrodite, "Hey are you sure that's your partners ship? Didn't she go to the sanctuary?"
"She could've reached the sanctuary before I got here, there was no guarantee we'd reach our destinations at the exact same time. Maybe she found out you weren't there and decided to come here instead." Ava replied, "but I don't get why she'd stay here if she did land here."
An extended silence, it didn't seem like anyone had an answer for that, until-
"Oh! Wait a minute. Locke, what time and date is it now? Could it be-?" Started Aphrodite,
"I understand what you may be thinking Aphrodite. And you're correct in your assumption. This is the plate where the Heretics reside."
"It's the largest plate, and the one with the most visibility from space, it's not unlikely that she'd try and land here, unlike a maverick like you who decided to pass through the clouds like a lunatic."
"Heh." Ava smiled,
"It also happens to be the one that passes over this sector of the scrapyard for the longest time, because of its size and coverage. I guess we lucked out."
"No no, it makes perfect sense." Ava replied, "But wait, does that mean that the ship that I'm detecting is-"
"Yes, where the Heretics live. They must have found it crash landed here and taken it back."
"Meaning Sylvie will be there too... Damn, they better not have hurt her."
"I told you already, the Heretics aren't violent! It's fine." Aphrodite said in a huff, she put her hand to her goggles and clicked a button to the side of it, her face was steely, while it was difficult to see her eyes, it was obvious she was concentrating, "I did implement a 3D map of all the plates onto these, so if we can pinpoint where we are on this plate, I can show you the way to the Heretic's colony."
That was useful, the beacon was weak and it Ava wasn't entirely sure where the signal was coming from. A general direction and distance, but that's it. Half a day's walk, he looked at Aphrodite's feeble body, would she be able to do that? She didn't have much muscle, her posture was strong but moreso out of determination rather than being in a natural state, she was already displaying signs of hunger because of the rumbles her could hear from her belly.
"What're you looking at?" Asked Aphrodite,
"Your stomach, it's rumbling. That means you're hungry right?" Asked Ava,
"Y-yeah. I guess." She crossed her arms and looked away, "Locke did you get some food from the garden?"
Without a word, Locke opened up a hatch in his rear and pulled out a lunchbox, "I had a feeling we'd be here longer than expected," he said, no emotion in his voice, "roasted rabbit and boiled carrots, fresh from the farm," they had a farm!? Rabbits!? Ava had no idea about this. It wasn't very relevant to the situation, but he'd have to ask about it later. It made sense that Aphrodite needed food to eat, but the fact that she'd cultivated her own patch of land to live off of was incredible. He watched as she took the lunchbox with starry eyes and hastily opened it up, she was relishing in the food but trying not to look too much like a pig while eating.
She'd been on this moon for two Martian years. Somehow she'd achieved so much in such a short amount of time. To create all this technology, to cultivate a place where she could feasibly live despite being on her own in the middle of no-where. She even made friends with Evos with no issue at all. He didn't have to worry, her body might be fragile, but he'd be willing to take her to the end of the galaxy without having any fear of her coming to harm.
The girl knew how to take care of herself.
"So you going to join me?" Asked Ava, "In getting my partner back that is."
"Yeah, I just need to eat," said Aphrodite, "listen don't worry. I've talked to these Evos before, never been to their actual colony, but every time they've come to our settlement for resources, they've been polite and helpful. We've given them more advanced scrapped machinery to help them build their colony up here. Actually I'm curious to see what the fruits of their labours is now. They've been working very hard for a long time."
"Hm..." Ava watched Locke as Aphrodite was talking. Locke didn't look thrilled, it didn't look the enthusiasm Aphrodite had for the Heretics obviously wasn't shared by him. But then again he was a creepy as hell Evo anyway, it was hard to put a pin on him in any way.
"Looking at it, it seems like we're at the 245th garbage deposit, from what I can tell from the landmarks." Said Aphrodite, while she delicately ate her food. She tapped the side of her goggles now and then, "There are two large cranes and four small cranes, and its far enough from the other deposits that the field of view is flat like this. If that's the case we'll need to travel for 10 hours if Locke carries me."
"Carries you?" Ava was slightly shocked, but he didn't know why,
"Don't you think it'd be more efficient that way? You can both travel faster than me and burn less fuel. Locke has carried me before."
"A piggyback ride huh?" Ava crossed his arms and tilted his head, funnily enough he'd never actually seen anyone do that. It seemed a tad too... intimite for him.
"Mmmm," a mixture of agreement and savouring of her last bite of rabbit, "right. A piggyback ride. Don't make fun of me." She walked behind Locke and hopped on his back, "lets go!"
***
The journey did indeed take over half a day, Aphrodite, as cheeky as she was, decided to fall asleep when on Locke's back only an hour after the journey started. Thus it was only Locke and Ava left to make the journey, following the direction Aphrodite had given them. They didn't talk much, at all. In time, the colony for the Heretics became more visible, and indeed, the beacon coming from the Serv stealth ship was becoming stronger. The colony was larger than Ava thought it'd be, almost a mini-city. It looked like the Heretics actually outnumbered the Evos in the scrapyard. Their colony was a vast collection of giant black space ships all piled on top of each other, melded together to create what looked like ten or so patchwork tower blocks. These ships were new dreadnaught class Evo ships, and hence each block was about 250 meters wide, with enough blocks to travel far into the sky. With so many huge buildings, it wouldn't be unlikely that this colony would have thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands of Evos living in it.
The city itself was surrounded by a tall, thick metal wall. This seemed to have been made out of scrap, most likely from the land below, it was just as ugly and patchwork as the buildings. Thankfully, this wall, unlike the one that gated off the scrapyard city, actually had entrances periodically scattered around it, Ava and the two were directly approaching one.
Ava felt something light patter on his skin. Then he felt it again. And again, and again, and again. He looked up, snowflakes? Were snowflakes falling from the sky?
"Mr Ava," said Locke, he put Aphrodite down and lifted her bodysuit's fabric over her nose and mouth, "it's be wise to stop all respiration and use your solar battery reserves for the duration of the day."
"This isn't snow is it?" Ava frowned, "it's chemical ash. I guess getting it in my lungs would damage them."
"It seems we were quite unlucky, this plate must be passing over one of the larger factories now, meaning the gases may be rising through the gaps of the plate and rising into the sky, causing the ashfall."
"This stuff is toxic for biological creatures isn't it? I mean it's even harmful for us Servs seeing as it can clog up our airways."
"It may be a good idea for us to retreat for now. Aphrodite's suit does filter the air, but I would rather not put her in jeapordy anyway."
"Forget it, you're not leaving me out," a feminine and muted voice. Aphrodite slowly sat up and adjusted her goggles, "the suit I made protects me from the ashfall doesn't it? So what is there to worry about?"
Ava smiled. He had to admit he admired how brave Aphrodite was. He watched as the spritely character get back up on her feet, up and raring to go, onwards to the mission.
"You know, you don't even really need to be here, I can find Sylvie and bring her back to The Scrapyard for us to talk about our mission. You really might be in danger." He said,
"Didn't I already tell you the Heretics were harmless? It's the Serv I don't trust. I trust you, because you didn't kill me when you went in my brain. But the person you're rescuing, it could be anyone," she tapped the gun on her waist, "if the person you rescue shows him or herself to be any sort of threat to the Evos in the Scrapyard, I'll kill him without a second thought."
"Oh," so that's what it was.
"So are we going or not?"
"It depends, I'm not sure how to approach this. We could break in and try and find the ship that way. That'd be the easiest way for me solo. But with you two around maybe just going there directly and talking to them will be easier. I mean you say they know you right?"
"I think we should do the latter. I'm not exactly built to be a stealth agent now am I?" A little bit of snark from Aphrodite, Ava couldn't help but think what are you built for then? In response.
"Well then. Into the fray, I guess."