Noah's head shifted upon something comfortable. It was as if he was floating on top of a cloud. His crusty eyes opened to find a mass beneath his head.
It was covered in some sort of dark blue fabric. It squished as he turned his head up to find the fabric was attached to something bigger.
Noah in surprise rolled off of the mass and backed himself away in a crab crawl. The mass began to laugh at Noah's fear.
Noah sighed in relief as he recognized the mass. It was a shorter girl who was laying him on her lap. In one of her pale hands was a cloth that was stained with blood.
Her hair was blue and wrapped with small hairbands. Though her face was covered in mud, her eyes stood out in any room with a bright blue glimmer. Her expression was that of disarray.
"Don't whip your head so fast idiot! You're bleeding on the back of your head!"
Noah reached his hand to the back of his head to feel something squishy. The girl gasped and brought her hands to her dry lips.
"Stop touching it, Noah!"
She rose to her feet to stand above him. She stood at 5 feet and 6 inches. A few strands of her dirty hair hung past her cheeks. Small metal sheets laid upon her shoulders and clanked as she walked toward Noah.
Noah stayed on his knees as she wrapped her hand around his head. She patted through his hair and Noah couldn't move a muscle from the awkward embarrassment falling onto his body.
"Noah. Why did you separate from me again?"
Her voice was so soft. Noah tilted his head up to look up at her. Her hand that laid in his hair began to shake. Noah felt a small drop land on his forehead.
Noah tilted his head back down in realization as her tears ran down his face. He closed his eyes and opened his lips.
"Hey, Aoi. You turn twenty tomorrow, right?"
Aoi lifted his head with her hand and looked him in the eyes. Her face turned red and she wiped her cheeks with her sleeve. She turned around and began to look out at the ship's interiors. Noah stood to his feet and wiped at the back of his head to find the wound was completely gone.
They both walked in small circles inspecting the ship's walls and ceiling. Aoi spoke up and broke the silence that filled the space.
"This is a newer model of warper ship. This thing has thicker, metal walls to withstand meteors. I can also tell from the size of this room we are in a storage lodge of some sort."
Noah was impressed. Aoi studied every ship they scavenged quickly and effectively. It was almost like she had some sort of photographic memory.
Noah looked out toward a strange wall to his left. He lifted his hand and called out to Aoi.
"There is an arc in the wall over there. Let's just hope it's not buried by rubble."
They both began to stalk their way across the ship to the hallway. Each step echoed alongside the random creaks and croaks in the ship's walls. Aoi reached into a small satchel alongside her right leg and pulled out a small, blue blade. Its handle was wrapped in a bandage to help her grip the ten-inch knife.
Noah looked down the hallway to find it was not barricaded by any ruble. He lifted his hand toward Aoi who nodded her head. She bent her knees in a fighting stance. They both slowly stalked their way through the walkway.
Little cracks from the room ahead reflected a small amount of light into the hallway. The hall had wires dangling from the ceiling and small imprints on the metal walls. Ash thinly covered the floor as the two's footsteps left imprints on the ground.
Noah exited the hall first and searched for any sort of movement in the distance. He raised his hand to Aoi and waved. It was clear. Noah then looked in surprise to recognize the room's interior.
Aoi opened her mouth in awe and began to smile.
"We found the piolet room already? This is awesome!"
Aoi released a small squeal of excitement and shook her arms up in front of her. Her face turned red and she began running toward the back of the room.
The room had a huge center console in the back which was surrounded by trashed tables and chairs. Glass littered the floor alongside small piles of ash. Compared to the storage room, this one was much cleaner and not as withered by time.
Aoi had already run-up to the main console and yelled down to Noah.
"I can't believe we found it so fast! It usually takes weeks for us to search a whole ship but we got super lucky this time!"
Noah smiled in agreement. He felt a surge of warmness as he saw Aoi's face blush up in glee. But she was right. In the past four months, they had only managed to search 3 ships with only a week between to head back to base and resupply. They had only been here for 4 days. This was a deserved find.
Noah wandered to Aoi's side as she dug her hands into the console. She ripped open a metal panel and began searching through a maze of wires.
"It looks like all the wires are intact so I don't have to do a ton of digging. That makes me wonder how recently this ship crashed here. No monsters have made this ship it's home yet and everything seems cleaner than the other traveler ships too."
Noah looked back toward the hallway they had come from and then back to Aoi.
"It is a nice change of pace. I can barricade that hall and we can set up camp here until the scan is complete."
Aoi lifted her head out of the panel. She smiled and gave Noah a thumbs up.
Noah wandered toward the hall and grabbed a table that had flown onto its side. It laid perfectly over the entrance. He pinned the table up with chairs and other scraps of metal lying along the floor till it was shut tight and wasn't budging.
Aoi took a small chip and plugged it into a wire she had dug out of the ship's console. It began flashing a small red light. Aoi sighed in relief and stretched her tired arms into the air.
"Hey, Noah! I have it all set up. Should take the usual 24 hours to complete the scan."
Noah responded from across the ship.
"Sweet! I cleaned up this area. We can sleep up by these tables for the night and start a nitro fire right over here."
Aoi walked toward Noah and pulled out an assortment of items from her satchel and set them on the table. She laid out a small vial of pills, a plastic tube full of a neon blue liquid, and her blade.
Aoi took the small vial of blue liquid and began to shake it. Noah had swept a small hole made of ash onto the metal ship floor. Aoi set the vile into the hole and backed up.
The vile began to shake then popped into a small, blue flame. The fire sparked and began releasing small bursts of heat. Aoi's eyes sparkled every time she started a nitro fire then always said the same thing.
"Awe yes, nitro fire. A contained fire that can't spread past the vile. And it goes out after a few hours on its own! Some genius must have made this just for us Noah!"
Noah chuckled as he twisted open the small plastic tube of pills. He took out two blue and two green ones. He handed off a blue and green pill to Aoi. She accepted it and swallowed them down quickly.
Then she stuck her tongue out in disgust.
"It never gets easy to eat the water and nutrient pills."
Noah swallowed his to the back of his throat with ease and argued her point.
"You can stop eating them if you want. More for me."
Aoi rolled her eyes and took her words back.
"They aren't that bad. It's better than monster meat, and it fills you up to."
Noah laid back on his side and began to fidget with the ash on the ground. Aoi sat down next to him and stared off as the room sat silent. The nitro fire sparked and crackled a lot like a real fire, even though there was no wood fueling it.
Aoi broke the silence with a small and innocent voice.
"I do turn 20 tomorrow. I wonder if I will still be the same me when I wake up."
Noah sat quietly as her words lingered with him. Something sat at the back of his throat. Some words he wanted to say. But he couldn't spit them out. He swallowed his thoughts back and spoke what he thought would make Aoi happy.
"Just know if you turn into a troll in the morning, I'm going to have to kill you."
Aoi snickered below her breath.
"Yeah, right Noah. You know I'd kick your ass with my troll hands!"
She reached up and pounced onto Noah's side. She tucked herself behind his back as she hugged him playfully while making troll noises. Noah turned and his eyes stared into hers. His face went super red. But to his surprise, Aoi's face was even more blushed.
She turned to her side and looked in the opposite direction from him. Noah turned to his other side and their backs touched. The room got hot even though the nitro fire was a few feet away from them.
"Well goodnight, Noah. I'll try not to eat you in the morning."
Noah smiled and responded lightly.
"You better promise.''
They both fell asleep shortly after that.