Before he would do that, however, he had to get backing out of QWERTY's project over with, before QWERTY would come to him to ask if he has time to work on it again. The perfect opportunity came when Beyari was out meeting with the saboteur crew whose work helped make her and QWERTY's previous mission a success; QWERTY was having aers rest period and not recharging.

Maybe he could retire in the rainforests (or non-rain forests) on this planet. Just live off the land like his very distant ancestors. He might be able to make primitive farming equipment for himself, maybe even loot a solar panel and useful electronics to charge with it from something permanently lost among the trees.

A part of Steirdrar was fairly certain this was a bad idea. Some other part was instantly nostalgic the moment he saw the midnight blue utility belt on the workspace table. The size and design were different, made for a Kolton as it was, but aside from that it was intimately familiar.

Steirdrar focused on only two things: the humid air going in and out of his lungs and the lukewarm mug in his hands. That is, until that specific type of snickers started in the background. That was when he opened his eyes and turned his head enough to see the entrance. When he recognized the Eskel-Zai approaching his desk, he set his mug down and turned to face her, taking stock of the vertical scratches on her armor.