Need's Must 2a (Patreon)

Sorry for the delay on this project! I'm glad to announce the continuation of Need's Must! Starting up with 2a, a post from Tach!

In this chapter, the two finally arrive at a destination it's been SO LONG! Jenny's going space crazy. Hopefully there'll be some adventure on this remote station, but it's apparently a recycling plant so YAWN. Who knows.

Illustrated by me, written by Tach

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The trip had been largely uneventful. Jenny had brightened somewhat upon finding that she wasn’t ship-less, but had still been in a funk for the last couple of weeks. The conversations that Ava was expected never really occurred and the trip had been fairly quiet. She had tried to push Jenny to divulge what had happened on the station, but Jenny always ended up shifting the topic. Jenny also hadn’t picked a destination, much to Ava’s chagrin, saying that she’d rather just tag along for awhile if that was alight. Ava was kicking herself over agreeing, finding Jenny’s sad face too pitiful to refuse.

At least they had finally arrived at the recycling plant. It didn’t look like a recycling plant, having been assembled from what looked like random shipping containers and at least several cruisers all welded together. The giant gun turrets covering the exterior didn’t do much to add to the impression. More importantly though, they had refined materials to sell that Ava could use to at least make some profit on this leg. She’d be able to pick up something more high value at the next stop.

Ava floated down the hallway towards the teleporter room, the remints of gravity once again fading away as the ship finished entering sleep mode. Annoyingly this particular station seemed intent on conducting any delivery work in person which meant Ava had to transfer aboard.

Jenny poked her head outside of the kitchen on hearing Ava’s angry muttering. “Can I come?”

“Sure but I’m not sure there’s going to be anything interesting.” Ava warned.

“That’s alright, it’ll be nice to get off the ship is all.” Jenny smiled. “Plus maybe they have a restaurant.”

Ava crossed her arms “It’s a military research station that is only barely disguised as a recycling plant, I’d be surprised if they had food that wasn’t in bar or paste form.”

“Still, you never know!” Jenny grinned, brushing past Ava and moving down the hall. Ava watched her as she floated past. Jenny had actually lost a bit of weight, although Ava supposed that was more due to the ship limiting her rations than actual intentional dieting. “At least she clears the doors now,” Ava muttered under her breath.

Ava followed Jenny into the teleporter, squeezing in next to her. It was still a tight fit. She pulled the control wand from her pocket and aimed it between them, tapping the screen. The familiar tingling sensation began to cover her body, but instead of her view fading out and being replaced with that of the station it just faded away entirely. Ava flailed for a moment, she could hear Jenny yelling but couldn’t seem to make it out. The tingling sensation was becoming more intense, abnormally so. It began to burn, like something was pulling her apart piece by piece and then jamming those pieces back together in the wrong order. Ava tried to scream but found herself unable. Suddenly everything became quiet and still, any sensation replaced with a strange numbness.  For the briefest moment Ava could have sworn she felt a craving for chocolate followed by the distinct impression she was floating in warm water. It felt... pleasant.  Without warning the bright lights of the station’s teleporter platform filled Ava's field of view. She was falling face first towards the platform! She could hear herself screaming as she brought her arms up to cover her face.  Darkness returned.