After nearly a minute of silence, Zion finally let out a quiet sigh.
"I haven't decided yet," he said. "For now, I just need to get to Daresk. After that… I'll see where I go."
Hearing that, Ravel's grin seemed to widen just slightly. He nodded patiently, his eyes no longer on Zion.
"That's a fair answer," Ravel said calmly. "But also a dangerous one."
Zion raised an eyebrow but remained silent.
"Being crewless out here isn't smart. It doesn't matter how intelligent or tough you are, lone adventurers always get preyed upon by larger groups."
Zion nodded slowly, his gaze fixed on the ground as his mind churned.
He understood very clearly that being alone was extremely dangerous… yet, the mere thought of joining another crew disgusted him.
'It wouldn't even really be possible,' he thought, shaking his head. 'How am I going to keep Uriel hidden if there are people around me all the time?'
The more he thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed to work alone or with temporary crews that wouldn't spot strange behavior.
'That way I also don't have to waste my trust again,' he thought, clenching his fist slightly.
Ravel glanced sideways, noticing the subtle tension in Zion's hand, but he didn't comment on it. He simply let out a hum, as if confirming his thoughts.
After a few more steps, Ravel casually spoke up again. "You know, I was quite surprised by how well you handled yourself when your ship was captured."
Zion snapped out of his spiraling thoughts and looked at Ravel with a glint of confusion in his eyes.
"You were calm despite being surrounded, and even knew not to overstep and risk your life for a small bargain," Ravel continued casually. "And you seem to be quite the skilled engineer too, considering all the repairs we found on the ship."
Hearing that, Zion's eyes widened slightly. 'I forgot they could even figure that out.'
This whole time, he'd thought they would only check the age of the material itself, never from the welding seams.
'Doesn't that mean my entire story falls apart?' he thought, glancing at Ravel with his guard raised. 'If they figure out that I built the entire ship from scratch, they'll 100% know something's off.'
Before he could think any further, Uriel interrupted his thoughts.
[Host doesn't have to worry about that too much,] the AI said. [The scavengers won't risk breaking the ship apart to find all the seams. At worst, they'll think you built parts of the outer layer.]
Zion's heartbeat slowly calmed down again as Uriel's words settled in.
'That makes sense,' he thought, closing his eyes for a second. 'Worse comes to worse, I can make up another story to cover it.'
Despite only a few seconds passing outside his thoughts, Zion felt the burning stare from Ravel as he waited for a response.
"I just patched what I could," Zion said, glancing up at Ravel. "I'm just extremely grateful that I had the time and the tools to do so."
Ravel let out another hum, nodding a few times as they entered the final corridor before the mess hall.
"Grateful, hm, I can see that, yeah," he said. "Nonetheless impressive. There were hundreds of mistakes you could've made which would've led to your death."
Zion scratched his head, unsure what to say. "Thanks," he finally said, politely smiling.
Reaching the end of the corridor, Zion was greeted by a familiar door. Ravel didn't hesitate, pushing the mess hall doors open and strutting inside.
Zion silently followed, his eyes scanning the room. 'Seems like there's only two others,' he thought, narrowing his eyes just slightly.
After taking a plate and dispensing some food on it, he followed Ravel, quietly sitting down on the opposite side of the table.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
The low hum of the ship and the soft chatter of the other two crewmates filled the silence as they ate.
Zion stared down at his food for a moment, comparing it with the meals he'd had over the past few months.
'It isn't some luxury meat,' he thought. 'But it's far better than the food bars and the prison food at the Sovereignty.'
As Zion chewed down on another piece of meat, he looked up at Ravel just long enough to notice something he hadn't paid close attention to last time.
'That scar,' he thought, glancing back down again. 'It has to be the reason why his voice sounds so muffled.'
Taking another quick glance between bites, he tried to guess what it could've been from.
'But how did he get it?' he wondered. 'It's too rough for it to be from a sword… maybe from shrapnel then?'
Ravel noticed the second glance but didn't seem too bothered by it. Instead, he leaned back slightly and let out a quiet chuckle.
"Ugly, isn't it?" he said, tapping the edge of his scar with two fingers. "Most people pretend not to look. I see your curiosity got the better of you?"
Zion set down his fork, studying him for a second. "Didn't mean to stare."
Ravel waved it off. "Don't worry about it. Happens all the time."
As he continued eating like nothing happened, Zion was about to ask more questions but was quickly interrupted by Uriel.
[Host,] Uriel's voice echoed through his mind. [It's probably not wise to ask further.]
'Why?' Zion asked, confused. 'It seems like he's okay with talking about it.'
[Take a short look at his crewmates,] Uriel said.
Zion immediately took a discreet glance around the room, noticing what Uriel meant immediately.
The two crewmates had completely stopped their conversation and were instead staring between him and Ravel like something was about to happen.
'Thanks, Uriel,' he thought, quietly taking another bite of his food. 'Dodged a bullet there.'
Ravel didn't say anything for a few seconds, only finishing his meal at an unhurried pace. Then, without warning, he let out a low chuckle.
"See, that's what I like about you," he said suddenly, his tone almost amused.
Zion looked up, fork halfway to his mouth. 'Huh?'
Ravel leaned forward slightly, resting an elbow on the table. "Was it intelligence, luck, or just instinct that stopped you from asking further?"
Zion blinked, caught off guard by the question.
"You know what… it doesn't matter," Ravel said, grin widening. "How would you like to join my crew?"