In the outer reaches, a planet existed where the trash of human kind and those shunned by it were sent.
This planet was designated Dumping grounds EXL0261 the two hundredth of its kind.
And it's on this planet that Ester was walking into the place he called home.
Carefully walking up the mountain of discarded steel and plastic, sharp shards poked the bottom of his soles as the Respirator worked over time to supply his aching body with breathable air.
Blackish green clouds swirling abovehead with signs of rain, the acid suffused clouds crackled with poisoned purple lightning.
Eyeing the ominous weather signs, Ester's eyes were soon dragged to the city resting at the base of the mountain.
Built out of whatever they could get their hands on, corrugated metal sheets lined it's walls as permanent fixtures lit up their grimy surroundings.
People appearing like crawling Viruses from a distance, Ester forcefully hoisted the bag onto his shoulders, the break over and continued up the mountain
'There you are' Locating his destination, Ester entered an abandoned spaceship poking out of the mountain, exposing its insides like the gaping maw of a cave entrance.
Just like any other abandoned ship abandoned here, scavengers had already gutted it of all its worth, pawning off their gains so that they could buy whatever it was that their hearts desired.
It just was that more often than not, they turned to the drug Joy.
But either way, the ship that Ester was currently in was nothing more than an empty husk of a ship stripped to its bare bones.
Lugging the tarp over his shoulders, he bypassed the numerous holes in the ground, walking a snake like pattern
Glancing at the holes in the ground, thin alarms hidden underneath the weathered metal sheets glinted slightly showing that besides Ester, no one else had come in quite some time.
'This place was picked clean long ago after all'
Finding it lucky that this place hadn't been designated a trash zone for some time which would prompt scavengers to jump onto the mountain Ester soon ended up besides a wall that seemed no different to any of the others.
But to Ester who's lived here for several years now, it was a different wall.
Knocking on the door with several knocks spaced out with three short pauses, one long pause and two short pauses, he opened his mouth.
"I am Ester, 2702 the three eyed, one armed and two legged, open the gates to the Void or I will make a rift to the Weave and leave you forever."
In response to the password spoken right before his series of knocks, a subtle quiet fell onto the area before the wall in front of him began to lift upwards.
And as the one viewer to this, Ester immediately began to complain to the one who had just opened it.
"Can't we make this damned password shorter? It's annoying."
[Don't be a spoilsport Ester, it's long and hard, just how I like it.]
"Please stop saying it like that sis..."
Hearing the heavily modulated and mechanical voice, it carried a feminine tinge to it as the carrier of the voice soon walked out from beyond the wall.
[What? I'm just stating things as is.]
Somehow being able to show her amusement through the bland tone of the voice modulator, Ester stared blankly at his sister in all but blood.
With pale crimson hair, grey eyes playfully stared at Ester's face while she wore clothes unbefitting the cold atmosphere, additionally, she was much taller than the naturally short Ester.
But in stark contrast to her pale as paste complexion, a thick metal contraption had embedded itself into her throat and covered her mouth, replacing the voice she had long lost.
It also stood in stark contrast to the thin clothes outlining her body.
"Put on some clothes Eva, it's still a bit cold to be wearing that." Awkwardly looking away, she seemed to chuckle
[It's always cold so does it matter what I wear? and call me Sis.]
Hearing Eva's insistence, Ester begrudgingly nodded. "Fine..."
[Anyways, what did my little bro get today?]
"Ah that."
Closing the door behind him, Ester placed the sack onto the ground with a loud thud.
"It's toxic waste disposal this month so I managed to get a chunk before the bigger gangs got their hands on it, should be enough for roughly three months until we need to go on a supply run."
Pale white shoulders bared she giggled to herself before speaking
Well at least, tried to speak.
[BzzzZZz- Zzzztttt]
Instead of the mechanically modulated voice which exited the mask, a harsh buzzing noise reminiscent of the annoying scraplets exited its insides.
"It broke? Again?"
Ester spoke incredulously as if he couldn't believe what it was that he was hearing.
[bbzzzzzttT!]
"I swear we'll get you a proper voice box one day." Moving away from the tarp filled with toxic gunk, Ester moved to the worktable set to the side of their hideout.
[BzzZZZzzttt]
Feeling Eva's buzzing comfort, he found their tools and walked up to her confidently causing her to tilt her head playfully, letting her shoulder length red hair brush against his hands.
[Bzzt]
"Yeah yeah, stay still for a moment."
Manhandling her face, in the past, Ester may have done it more carefully, but due to the frequency of such breaks, he did away with all the pretenses in favor of figuring out what the hell was happening.
It seemed that Eva prefered it this way as well strangely enough.
"Just sit still"
Opening the panels on the sides of the mask, Ester evaluated its wiring from beyond its metal exoskeleton and spotted a glass tube that had come loose.
"Ah... It's the pressure oscillator, it's come loose"
Searching for the appropriate tool on the table, he made some small talk with his best friend who's seen everything he had
"So how was your day?"
[BzZZZTZT]
"Ow"
Feeling sparks fly up from the exposed insides of the mask and touch his hands Ester shot a look at Eva who shrugged her shoulders as if nothing were wrong.
She did start to draw shapes on his chest.
"Anything new?"
"Yeah? How bad is it?"
"That bad? Well that's not new is it?"
"Hm? Wait, it's actually new?"
"What type of new are we talking about here?"
"A gang? New or already established?"
"New huh? I guess we'll have to be careful when bartering."
"Done." Closing the panels, Ester wiped the sweat from his forehead.
[bzz-eady? Ah]
"So how is it to begin speaking again?"
[Positively delightful]
Cheerfully clapping her hands, Ester took off his gloves exposing sickly pale hands covered in green veins.
Seeing those hands, Eva's eyes turned serious causing Ester's heart to skip a beat for some reason.
[Who did this.]
"Uh... Myself?"
[Who]
"Like I said, myself, I was just hiding, could you get the demetallizer for me? I think I breathed in to much air"
[...Fine]
Grabbing the tarp, despite her thin frame, Eva easily hefted the heavy bag and carried it to the back of their hideout where the rest of the important things were hidden.
As it was a cave base established within a mountain by taking advantage of a side panel that had fallen off while Ester had been exploring, several passages extended off from the original one.
And the path that Eva was walking into was the passageway that contained the processor
Processor for what exactly?
Well you couldn't work on an empty stomach could you?
Not looking forward to the foul taste he would have to endure for two months, Ester began to take out the rest of the little knobbles that he had taken on his run.
Taking off his coat, Ester hung it on a hook embedded into the wall and revealed the respiratory connected to his waist.
He took it off and breathed in the filtered air within their cave base.
It was much simpler to filter air in a confined space after all.
Now in a simple grey shirt that had seen better days, he adjusted the large cargo pants on his legs and the goggles on his eyes, assessing the quality of his items
'A box of half empty screws, lug nuts, extra clothes, an unopened can of peas, Combat wrench, spare Aether charges, radiation scanner, empty container, two catalysts and...'
Ester picked out the final items hidden at the bottom. 'A weird looking amulet.'
Staring at the amulet, it had a fiery hand holding a hammer carved onto its surface.
Moving the items onto an empty table set in the middle of their hideout, he separated them into two piles, ones he would barter and ones that would be kept here.
Now having set aside the clothes which were always in high demand due to how fragile they were and how important they were in the creation of bandages, the empty container and two catalysts joined the pile.
Although it was nice having catalysts on hand, due to how low quality these two particular catalysts were, there was just little use in keeping them, better to barter.
Now having designated which would be barrered on the market in the coming motn, Ester turned to the items that he would be keeping
Procuring a rag from somewhere with dark stains from its previous task of cleaning blood, he began to take care of the wrench, picking at the black blood on the surface.
With smooth meticulous movements, he gently wiped its surface.
And at some point, Eva had returned to watch Ester in curiosity.
[So tell me, what were you hiding from this time?]
"The same old."
[You didn't answer my question.]
Ester subtly looked away and changed the subject.
He was slightly embarrassed to admit he hid because he was paranoid over nothing
"So what's this about a new gang?"
Eva stared at him in abject suspicion but decided to amuse his charade.
[Thanks to those idiots who came searching for goodies, I was able to find out that a new gang was in town demanding something else other than payment in exchange for protection.]
"That doesn't answer my question."
[...]
"...Please continue"
Glaring as if she were to dissect Ester to the bone, the monotone continued with a distinctly annoyed tone to it.
[Anyways, they called themselves the-]
"-Are you sure you saw him enter through here?"
[Well speak of the devil.]
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