Zeke hit the dirt with a thud and the proceeded to roll down a steep hill. After what felt like several minutes of rolling he finally came to a stop in a cloud of dust, although he wasn't sure at first that he really had stopped since the world seemed to continue spinning around him. He got unsteadily to his feet and brushed the dirt off of himself. Looking upwards, he could make out the lights from the strip club, but the hill was much too steep for him to go back up that way, not that he really wanted to return there anyway.

He couldn't see much of anything at all in the other direction due to the presence of thick vegetation and a number of tall trees, but he was pretty sure he could hear some noise coming from that way.

He shivered a little in the night air and became aware again that he wasn't wearing a shirt or pants. He felt something hard pressing against his ankle, so he reached into his bright pink sock and found the flask that Max had handed to him. "This might help warm me up a little," he said out loud to himself as he unscrewed the top and took a swig. Whatever was in there burned a little as it went down, but it did seem to provide a bit of pleasant warmth in his chest as well. He took another drink and decided to head towards the sounds.

He was pretty wobbly on his feet from the large quantity of alcohol he'd already consumed that night and he managed to fall down a couple times while pushing his way through some bushes. He was going to have some nasty scratches on his bare legs and back, but he wasn't particularly concerned about that at the moment. He continued onward and suddenly emerged in the middle of a busy street.

A crocodile riding a unicycle almost slammed right into him as he came out of the bushes. "Watch where you're going, you freak!" the crocodile shouted at him as it swerved to avoid him.

"Why don't you watch where you're going, pal?" Zeke shouted back and took another drink from the flask. He turned the other way and started walking down the street. "People are so inconsiderate these days."

He passed by a little girl holding on to her mother's hand. "Mommy, why is that man in his underwear?"

"Don't look at him," the mother said. "Just keep walking. Perverts like that belong in jail."

"I'm not a pervert," Zeke said while scratching his belly. "I just lost my shirt. Oh yeah, and my pants. I lost those, too." He continued making his way down the street. Some people stared openly at him as he passed by, while others went out of their way not to make eye contact with him.

Looking around it soon became apparent to him that he had no idea where he was. He saw a sign on a wall nearby so he went to check it out. It read "Do Not Read This Sign Under Penalty of Law." As soon as he read it a siren started blaring and a bright red light flashed on top of the sign. He hurried across the street and headed in the opposite direction. "Don't want to attract any more attention than necessary," he said out loud to himself.

A cart full of tourists drove by and he could see cameras flashing as they took pictures of him. "You get a good look?" he called out as he held his arms out to the side. "Welcome to Quartzwater City!" He took another drink from the flask and stumbled onwards down the street.

He came across a group of young women who were obviously out for a night on the town. "Excuse me, I seem to be a little lost. Could you tell me where I am?"

The women shrieked and ran away.

"Well, they weren't very helpful, were they?" Zeke said as he put his hands on his hips.

A cheetah riding by on another unicycle called out "Nice panties," as he rode past.

"Thank you, kind sir!" Zeke called after him. "Could you possibly give me some directions?" By that point the cheetah was already gone. Zeke shrugged and continued stumbling down the street.

Several more people taunted him as we went past, while others went out of their way to avoid him. He still wasn't sure where he was, but he kept on walking anyway. Eventually the street made its way past a large open field where a spaceship appeared to be parked. He squinted his eyes as he looked at it. "Is that the Starswan?"

There was a small fence separating the field from the street, which he pulled himself over. He lost his balance at the top of the fence and crashed into the grass on the other side. He pulled himself back to his feet and kept walking towards the spaceship.

Wayne the robot and Shazmar were studying an open panel on the outside of the ship when Zeke came stumbling up behind them. Shazmar let out an alarmed pinging noise and jumped involuntarily when he saw Zeke out of the corner of his eye.

Wayne turned around and Zeke could have sworn a grin appeared on his metallic face. "Oh, it's you, Geek. Nice outfit."

"Is Sadie on board the ship?" Zeke asked. "I need to talk to that woman."

"She and Zannah returned from their night out exactly forty-three minutes ago," Wayne said.

Zeke stood looking at the ground for a minute. "Yeah, but is she on the ship?"

"Yes," Wayne said. "Say, did you hear the latest one about the space commuter with the broken jetpack?"

"No, I did not," Zeke said. "But I'll tell you what. You save that one for a special occasion. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to head on up the loading ramp here, or whatever the hell you call this thing."

He found his way somehow into the rec room where Captain Torean was lounging on the couch sipping a cocktail. "Geek? What are you doing here? And where the hell are your clothes?"

"That's not important right now," Zeke slurred. "The important thing is I need to talk to Sadie. So where is she?"

"She's probably in her quarters," Captain Torean said. "We're planning on taking off early in the morning so I expect she's trying to get some sleep."

"Where are her quarters?" Zeke asked. "No, never mind. Don't tell me. I'll just call her out here. Sadie!" He began shouting.  "SAAAADIEEEEEE!"

After a moment she walked into the room wearing a nightgown. Trey and Zannah walked in behind her. They both looked bleary-eyed, as if they had been sleeping. Bumble-Boo shambled out behind her smacking his lips. He latched on to her leg and let out a soft squeal.

"What's going on out here?" Sadie asked while yawning. "Zeke? What the hell are you doing? Why are you in your underwear?"

"I need to talk to you," Zeke said as he swayed from side to side.

"You're drunk, Zeke. Can't this wait until later?"

"No, it can't wait until later," Zeke said. "I just heard that admiral guy say you guys were taking off in the morning. Then you'll be off somewhere in deep space and I'll never get a chance to tell you this."

"Do you want me to throw this idiot off the ship?" Trey asked.

Bumble-Boo let out a little snarl.

"No, let him talk," Sadie said.

"That's right I'm going to talk," Zeke said. "And you're going to shut your stupid face and you're going to like it, pretty boy. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is don't go. This guy's a major creep and you shouldn't fall for his nonsense. He's no good for you. Sure, he's nice to you now, but eventually he's going to get bored. Plus, every woman he encounters is going to throw themselves at him. Do you really want to put to the test how monogamous he really is?"

"You watch yourself, Geek," Trey said.

"I'll handle this," Sadie said as she put a hand on Trey's chest and held him back. "Zeke, what exactly are you suggesting?"

"Get off this spaceship right now and come with me. And then we'll be together. Because I love you."

"Zeke, you're very drunk right now. Not to mention wearing nothing but a pair of tighty-whities and some bright pink socks. I don't think you know what you're saying right now."

"I know exactly what I'm saying, damn it. I'm in love with you and I want you to be with me forever."

"If you really felt this way, how come you never said anything?" Sadie asked. "Or made any kind of move?"

"I kissed you right before we went into the black hole!" Zeke flung his arms up in the air. "What the hell do you call that?"

"Honestly, it was a little weird. You shouldn't force yourself on someone like that. It's creepy."

"I swear I'll never understand you women," Zeke said. "You complain because I don't bust a move on you, and then when I finally do, it's creepy. How the hell is a guy supposed to know what to do?"

"Zeke, there was awhile there where I would have loved to be your girlfriend. But it's too late now. Things have changed. You're a really nice guy and you'll find the right girl someday, but it's not me. My place is here on the Starswan. With Trey. I'm excited to get back out among the stars. You don't want that. You never liked being stuck on a spaceship."

Zeke scrunched up his lips and stared at the ground for a minute. "You know what? I take back everything I said. I don't love you. I don't even know if I like you all that much. You were just the only girl around for millions of light years. Besides, I just realized Sarah's the one I really love. It's been Sarah all along. Not you. You go have fun with your romance cover model here and don't worry about me. I'll be just fine without you. Better than fine because I'll never have to see you again. And I'll be with the woman I really love. Sarah. In fact, I'd better go tell her how I feel right now."

"Zeke, I really don't think that's a good idea at the moment," Sadie said. "You really might want to sleep on this."

"I don't need advice from you," Zeke said as he turned around and stumbled out the door.

"Are you okay?" Trey asked her after Zeke left.

"I'm fine," she said as she nestled her head against his chest. "I just feel sorry for Zeke. I think he's about to really embarrass himself."

"Even more than he already has?" Zannah asked.

"I'm afraid so," Sadie said as she shook her head.