"Well, I guess this is it, huh?" Matthew says with a shrug.
"Yeah, I guess it is, now, isn't it?" says Myitt, smiling. She drags him into an uncharacteristic hug and slaps him hard on the back. "You did real good, kid." She holds him out at arm's length. "See you around, okay?"
"Drive safely, Matthew," says Hadrin. Such an oddly innocuous thing to hear in an alien spaceship.
Matthew nods, looking at Hadrin, Ossanlin and Claxter. He even pauses to give a last glance at Tamora and Zorish, still unconscious and unmoving. He tried to push out of his mind the thought of his outcast alien acquaintances taking hostages, but it was something that kept nagging at him. But these were the good guys. Right?
"First, I gotta find a can of Red Bull. Then, I need to drive back home so I can have the best night's sleep ever, and think of something good to tell my mom when I roll in at noon."
Myitt grins and helps him out the hatchway. "Oh, wait!" she cries. "I almost forgot your computer. You'll need it for...security purposes."
Matthew watches as Myitt fishes his cube from where she had stored it earlier in her backpack. She hands it back to him and they head outside while he stuffs the small cube into his jeans pocket.
They manage to find a creaky old roof access ladder, and Matthew makes his way down, Myitt watching anxiously.
<Don't tell me my fear of heights has grown on you?> Tara says, faux-mockingly.
<Of course not. I'm just worried about the boy, he's done a lot for us and he still has a long drive, bandaged up.>
<I'm sure our little band of lackeys will look after him.>
<Yeah...I hope so.>
Matthew glances up at the roof as a pigeon flutters up towards the ship, but pays it no further mind, heading to his car and driving back off into the desert morning.
