If there was a catch to what the leader of Ash town gave them, then either it was exceptionally well hidden, or he hadn't found it yet.
And considering that they still needed to use the car to travel, Ester was leaning more towards the second option being the truth as he closed the hood of the car.
Leaning backwards and stretching his back, several satisfying pops reached his ears as he groaned with satisfaction at the removal of all the stress building up within his bones.
Stepping backwards, Ester stared at the car in all of its armored glory.
It was a four wheeler with all the standard things you would expect in a four wheeler, those being a front row where he sat, a back row where Eva sat and a trunk for large clunky things like the Gravitator and the engine that they initially traded for jerky.
As it turned out, Fork took that to.
But moving on.
While Ester was poking around the car for any signs of a tracker that Fork left for them, he also took the liberty of reinforcing the car.
Now it wasn't horribly fragile by any means, but just because it wasn't horribly fragile didn't mean that it was durable either.
It was middling somewhere in the middle of the road in terms of durability, not unsatisfactory but not satisfactory either if that made sense.
So whilst he poked around the car for trackers, he also took the chance to remove all the fragile pieces of armor amateurly covering the car and replaced it with actual knowledge on what the hell he was doing.
Recalling how some idiot thought that glass was a good idea, Ester chuckled.
Thankfully, if there was something that this planet didn't lack, it was plastic.
Finding a piece large enough to replace the front wind shield that was also clear enough to see through without hindering vision was another thing, as he settled for several interconnected pieces layered over each other.
It resulted in a severely cracked front shield look, but it was a whole lot better than the glass that broke the moment he set it down.
Moving on to the new sides of the car, when he took them off, Ester was surprised to see how loosely fitted they were put onto the car's frame.
This resulted in him stripping the relatively intact parts of the broken starship they were currently residing in, using those plates of metal to protect the car.
Because if it survived a fall from stratospheric heights, then that meant that it could probably survive whatever else this trash planet could throw at them.
The people inside the shell might become a slurry of meat and bone due to the resulting force being transferred to them, but it was why Ester fashioned small springs on the back bumpers to absorb most of the shock
It took an absurd amount of time to finish the back end of the car, so for the rest of it, he just left it as is.
It wasn't as if something strong enough to turn them into meat slurry was going to be coming anywhere near them any time soon.
The tires were... fine as they were considering he didn't have the tools to craft armored ones.
All in all, Ester was pretty satisfied with all the changes that he made to the car
It was no factory new top of the line stuff, but considering the place that they were in, it might as well be as it got the job done effectively.
Taking off his gloves slightly torn apart at the finger tips and joints due to repeatedly grabbing something sharp and heavy, Ester rotated his wrist while glancing at Eva still sleeping peacefully within the car's confines.
It was quiet now, even quieter when he turned down her respirator to more levels now, but Ester was surprised to find out that Eva continued to sleep through everything that he did to the car.
Even when he bent the metal with his hands until it screeched, Eva didn't move a muscle and continued to sleep on the hard leather seats.
Eyes closed and body still, if it weren't for the fact that her barely discernable chest rose and fell with every breath, Ester would've thought her dead with how still she stayed whilst asleep.
'If she kept her mouth as still as she is now, she might have been a stellar beauty.'
Feeling sad at how the architects sought to balance things by giving Eva a foul mouth that matched her beauty, Ester let out a quiet sigh once he confirmed that Eva wouldn't be waking any time soon.
And considering that 'any time soon' involved the long period of time trying to discover where the tracker could've possibly been alongside the screeches of metal bending, then it would be a long time coming before Eva would stir.
So for the time being...
'It's now just me, myself and I talking like I have several intangible beings reading my every thought.'
'...'
'I should probably do something.' Rubbing the back of his neck, Ester stared at the blacky soot colored skies above, distant red clouds rolling in ever so slowly.
'I guess preparing for the rust rain is as good as anything.'
---
Weather on the trash planet was far from predictable.
One moment you may stare at the sky and see it light up with golden tears from the star bugs spending their last moments below the clouds, the next it may be a green storm of acid eating away at everything it touched.
But just because it was far from predictable didn't mean that it was a brand new weather event that occurred every time they looked away.
And in particular, Ester was familiar with the rust rain.
Staring at the red colored liquid fall from the skies, Ester sat at an angle within the broken starship, Eva having found a comfortable resting position with her legs on the windows as the car rested within the tilted ship.
The Rust Rain was as its name suggested, rain that caused rusting.
Touched with some sort of extremely effective oxidizing agent, the rain took on a red hue due to it instantly oxidizing all of the iron in the water as it fell.
And when that rain splattered against metal of any kind, it instantly showed signs of rusting as if time had sped up for that particular section only.
It was a nightmare for Body Modders that relied heavily on Rune Tech limbs and a nuisance for scavengers aiming for a quick buck.
And if he recalled, it was also the most valuable time for a scavenger as underground cities would desperately search for any non-rusted pieces of metal that could be used for whatever they liked.
Recalling his memories of that particular memory of when he was caught in the rust rain, it was when he was still but a young boy struggling to survive in one of the many abandoned cityscapes left behind by the natives that once lived in this place before it was covered in all this trash.
---
It was cold.
That much the boy could tell as he blankly stared at the red rain falling down from the sky.
The temperature seemed to have been dropping as of late, and the rust rain wasn't helping things as it filled the air with rust that irritated the lungs and was more than liable to induce tetanus.
The boy coughed, his vision swimming as he nearly stumbled right into the rust rain.
And to think he had just gathered all the things that the addict wanted in exchange for fever and cold medicine when the Rust rain began.
If he didn't exchange for the medicine, the boy was liable to just collapse where he stood.
Then his ears perked up at the sound of someone slowly approaching.
Hurriedly hiding underneath the closest thing that he saw, a hooded figure slowly walked forwards, a large collector frame on their back, the myriad of metallic arms twitching as they jolted with every step the hooded figure took.
When the boy saw those arms, the only things he thought were about how many meals those arms would be able to get him.
Then the man stopped in place as they looked around.
"There's no use in hiding." The hooded figure said quietly, their voice coming out muffled but with an invisible weight that seemed to press down at the shoulders, it was no doubt male. "I know where you are."
The hooded figure turned to look at the boy, letting the boy get a glimpse of the grey hair falling down the sides of his head.
"Come out."
Flinching at the voice, the boy stayed in place.
What if it was a trap? Such thoughts rang in the boys head.
"Don't worry, it's not a trap kid."
The boy became shocked as he stared at the man from where he hid, his curious eyes wondering how the void did the man figure out what he was thinking.
Hesitantly standing up and leaving his hiding place after a few more moments, now that he was standing up, the boy could tell that they were very tall.
The boy tilted his head as if to ask what the man wanted.
The hooded man rubbed their chin, the collector frame's arms mimicking the movement his arms made from behind him.
"Do you want to come with me?"
The boy tilted his head in confusion, the question leaving the man's mouth came out of nowhere.
The hooded man didn't seem to care about that at all as he raised his hand.
"I'm just asking a simple question, do you want to come with me? I have medicine and food."
The boy tilted his head as if to ask what the price was.
The hooded man nodded his head.
"A smart cookie, would you come with me if I told you that I was collecting those destine to make a change?"
The boy shook his head.
"Thought so." The hooded man paused for a moment before removing their hood and revealing their aged face marked with several lines. "Well what if I told you that I wanted someone to take on my teachings? Would you come with me then?"
The boy updated the name of the hooded man to the old man in his mind and slowly nodded his head.
"Good." The old man stretched out his hand.
The boy tilted his head in confusion.
The old man sensing his confusion nodded his head. "Confused aren't you? I guess you didn't face many fair deals around here don't you?"
The boy tilted his head
"Well kid, from where I'm from, it's customary to shake hands when concluding a deal. So lets shake on it."
Staring at him, the boy slowly took the old man's outstretched hand.
"What is your name boy?"
The boy lowered his head and pondered about what the old man meant by that.
"Don't have one huh?" The old man slowly began to lead the boy out of the ruined building, the collector arms holding up two large umbrellas that blocked all of the rust rain falling over the old man and the boy.
The old man adjusted his respirator before speaking.
"How about Ester?"
The boy- No, Ester nodded his head.
"That works for you?" The old man ruffled Ester's head. "Good."
Ester hurriedly tried to remove his hand as the old man laughed.
"Oh yeah, you're not the first kid that I brought in Ester, be prepared to meet your new siblings Ester &($%@)"
+++
I sleep
Tree