The group, who definitely didn’t have ‘witness two killings in under an hour’ on their bingo cards, watched in stunned silence as the smoke billowed off of Novan’s freshly dead corpse and into the colorful nebula. Metal clinked as Jenny flipped her wrist around into its less-murdery setting and tipped her long-brimmed hat to them. Her heel dug into the street as she turned and walked away.

“Wait!” Alex called. “Where are you going?”

Jenny didn’t stop, instead, she grumbled. “Cantina.”

“What about us?”

“What about it? I ain’t ya babysitter.”

Alex wanted to protest but the smoking corpse was enough warning to not get on her bad side. So, almost pathetically, everyone watched as their kidnapper walked away, quickly disappearing into the dark foggy corners of the street. For the first time in a while, they were alone, well, if you don’t count the two dead bodies that is. It was strange, they all knew that they should probably do something right now, but not a single one had any clue on where to start.

Neil was the first to throw his hat into the ring. “Guys.” He said, his voice monotone yet full of shock. “I don’t know if it’s sank in for you yet, I don’t think it has for me, but did we just witness a murder?”

With a little shift of her shoe, Sophia kicked over one of the scattered parts of the ill-fated shopkeeper. “Yeah… I think we just saw two of them.”

“Well, technically they weren’t really ‘murders.’” Added Alex, resisting the urge to pace. “The um… killings, followed the law set down in this place.”

“They sure felt like murders.” Timothy replied, his usual blissful smile flipped upside down as he walked over to where Novan’s body remained. “Poor fellow, I feel so bad for him!”

“I don’t.” Sophia shrugged and crossed her arms. “From the second he started talkin’ I got bad vibes off of him.”

Neil nodded. “Yeah, if Jenny didn’t step in who knows what they would’ve done with us- we’re kinda sitting ducks right now!”

“I suppose you’re right.” The frowning boy admitted. “Still, I don’t like all of this killing, I don’t know how they do it!” Timothy looked down and saw the carnage a little too closely- he turned away quickly and tried to erase the thought. “Oh!”

The urge to pace had finally broken-down Alex’s will, and he began walking up and down the dusty street. So much had just happened in such a short period it was all so hard to process. “Guys, I think we should focus! It’s very clear that we don’t belong here on the Ring, if we stay here any longer something is bound to come up that we aren’t prepared for.”

The same thoughts had already occurred to Neil the second they got here but he politely nodded his head. “What do you think we should do?”

Alex shrugged. “I don’t know! It’s obvious that we need to get back to the Lavender somehow, so I guess we’re going to need some sort of transport… Maybe we can get someone to take us back?”

“No way!” Sophia said, shaking her head. “Look around, these people clearly don’t do anything out of the kindness of their hearts and I’m guessing that they definitely don’t do it for free.”

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“Well, perhaps we could find a ship of our own?” Timothy suggested. “We could maybe borrow one and use it to get back to the Lavender?”

“Who’s going to fly it?” Neil could already picture the calamity that would cause. “I certainly don’t know how to fly a spaceship! We’d all crash and burn trying to find the steering wheel!”

Alex’s pacing felt more like he was running a race. “Well, I guess there’s no other option then! We have to go ask around, to anyone who has ears to listen, and beg them to take us back! Maybe we’ll pretend that we can pay them when we get back to our ship? Yes, that’s it, we’ll all pretend that we’re some rich aristocrats who’ve gotten lost and are willing to pay a handsome fine to the first man that can provide us with assistance!” The boy couldn’t help but bow with a waving flourish for added drama.

Sophia wasn’t buying it. “Ain’t gonna happen.”

The boy frowned. “Why not?”

“Because I ain’t going to go through another one of your charades again! The first time you had us do that it was like going through hell- keeping up with all those lies and fake-titles!”

“It worked, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, until you messed it up!” Sophia spat.

Alex felt the words like a punch to the gut, his shoulders stiffened, and his dramatic façade dropped. He wanted to reply with something quick and clever, like how he saw the actors do it on stage, but unlike them, he couldn’t seem to find the words. “I…” He stammered. “I didn’t mean to… it was a mistake.”

“You nearly killed us!” Said the girl, unrelenting. “If the planet didn’t literally crumble apart, we’d all be dead!”

The words rang in his ears like the world’s worst doorbell. He had thought about his mistake for a long while now and had almost put it behind him, but now Alex felt the massive weight of guilt rest on his shoulders. The boy looked at all of his friends, I could’ve gotten them all killed. The thought repeated in his head.

“Geez, Soph, he tried his best!” Neil rested a hand on her shoulder, but she pushed it off.

“Guess that wasn’t good enough.” She said with a murmur.

The boy with half a tie nodded slowly and crossed his arms. He took a deep breath in and let it go- it came out shallow and frazzled. Sophia had never seen Alex like this, he had never been so shaken in all the time that she knew him. Immediately the girl in green regretted what she said, even if deep down there was a part of her that did believe it just a little. Quickly Sophia went to apologize but stopped when her path was blocked by her one of her friends, but not the one she would have expected.

Timothy stood in between the two, his face wearing an expression that no one had ever seen on him before. His eyebrows curled down and his lips pouted out- he was upset, and for some strange reason, despite all the murder and aliens, it was the most alarming thing Sophia had seen today. “You’re being very rude to my friend!” He spoke, clearly trying to sound tough. “I want you to stop… please!”

Sophia looked him up and down, clearly, she could beat him in a fight if it ever came to that- it wouldn’t even be a challenge. She raised an eyebrow, “Tim, what are you doing?”

Gritting his teeth, Timothy tried to stand a little taller but instead, it only gave him the impression of a diver struggling for air. “I don’t like it when people are mean to my friend, even when the people happen to be my friend!” He tried putting his hands on his hips to look stronger, but it didn’t work one bit. “I’m asking you politely to stop! Or I’ll… I’ll…”

“…You’ll?”

“Ask you again, nicely?”

Sophia chuckled, not knowing how to react. “Heh, you’re really something else, aren’t you Timbo?” She smiled as the words left her lips. “Hey, I think I just found your nickname.”

Slowly Sophia pushed Timothy to the side- he lost his balance but recovered gracefully. She opened her mouth to speak but Alex raised his hand. “Stop.” He said, his voice low.

Neil tilted his head. “What’s wrong?”

“She’s right.” He replied, hanging his head. “I don’t think I’m cut out for any of this…”

“Alex...” Sophia bit her lip, forcing herself to admit that she was wrong. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“No, it was. I just…” He trailed off. “Look, I think we have to follow Jenny, she’s the only person here that we know won’t kill us immediately, alright?” Suddenly Alex started walking down the street, and his friends were quick to follow him.

Neil had never seen his friend like this, it was a little disheartening. “Alex, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” The boy lied. “Let’s keep going, she couldn’t have gotten far.”