“Oh, err … it’s nothing,” Lana said and reluctantly started eating a piece of jerky. Her eyes looked longingly at the next item in the open case. It was a box of Cheerios.

Bulco’s eyes followed hers, and he laughed even louder than before.

“I’m not much into beef jerky, alright?” Lana said defensively.

Bulco wiped his eyes and, still grinning, held his hand out to Nori. “By the way, I brought those with me. Five thousand piTec—that’s everything me and my crew have collected so far.”

After they finished eating, they took turns sipping from the large water container and then washed their faces. “We should look for some utensils while we’re out there,” Bulco grunted. “It’s going to be cumbersome doing that every time we want to take a drink.”

“What do we do about ... err …“ Lana blushed. “... utilities.”

Nori looked away thoughtfully. “I didn’t see anything resembling a bathroom in here.”

Bulco frowned. “Don’t tell me aliens don’t shit.”

“Well, we didn’t find any food or a kitchen, so they might not need to … err …” Lana coughed and looked a little embarrassed.

“Could be,” the large man grumbled. “Your files didn’t say anything about that?’

“No,” Lana said. “It’s just an abbreviated summary, really.”

“Alright then. I need to take a leak before we go,” Bulco said. “I’m going outside. Anyone else wanna come along?”

Nathan got up wordlessly and followed the Engineer. Lana and Nori exchanged looks then followed as well.

As they passed through the bridge, Lana hurriedly keyed one of the consoles and the monitors changed to show the ship’s surroundings. “Sensors aren’t picking up any nearby lifeforms, so it should be safe to go out for a few minutes.”

The four passed through the empty cargo hold and stepped outside. The two men moved behind a burned car and looked away politely as the women squatted behind a second one.

Lana felt exposed. Her heart beat rapidly as she imagined being jumped, but Nori was calm and composed as she did her business. She was like a rock, strong and unyielding. Lana felt safer when she was nearby.

The four re-entered the ship, and Bulco holstered his revolver. He shrugged at Nathan’s questioning look. “If it was a horror movie that would have been the moment a Warped would have jumped us. Thought it better to be safe than sorry.”

“Good thinking.” Lana smiled at him. “That would have been a really awkward moment to be attacked.”

He shook his head. “That would have been a good opportunity to test out the new slugs.”

“We’ll have plenty of opportunities later,” Nori said. “Come on, let’s head to the shuttle.”

They walked through the ship and entered the shuttle. Everyone strapped themselves to the wall, and Nori manipulated the controls. This time, the launch went much smoother.