"Whoa."

It is at this precise moment that a Siren, swept up and disoriented from the passage of the vehicle's wake, splashes right in through the door. 

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHKKKK", it screeches.

Eva startles, falls back from its clawed fingers, and abruptly a bright light shimmers around her. A moment later, she emerges from the glow with bright pink hair and eyes in a sailor fuku, and catches the Siren with a right hook across the face before it can sing.

"Shit!" She flips down a hatch labeled with a lightning bolt, revealing a compartment for charging batteries and connecting electrical equipment, and shoves her right hand in there, while her left whips out to point at the siren, a bolt of electricity arcing out and zapping the fish-tailed woman in the face.

"Good hit," Hailey says to Eva, "and love the meguca look."

The Siren goes down. Eva shoves it out the door with her foot and closes it again

"That was some seriously bad luck," she grouses.

Then she looks down at herself, and releases the transformation. 

"Well. I feel a little better knowing that I have a combat form, but I still don't want to get up close and personal with another of those sirens anytime soon."

Hailey nods, keeping one hand in the electrical compartment while she steers closer to the forest, drawing in more and more power. Not gonna let another siren catch her without a charge, no ma'am.

"Yeah, fuckin' valid. You can stick to just kicking them back out if they go for the ship instead of me, while we're parked. Probably I'm more tempting to them, though."

The kelp draws closer.

Eva nods, and turns back into her pink-haired, pink-eyed self.

"I'll try my best. You've got something that works against their songs?"

She looks away a bit, flushing. "Not directly, but I should be okay. Ish. The open sky would insulate us from it if we were on the surface, but if that doesn't work down here... I think I have a hack."

She does not elaborate immediately.

"A hack, huh...?" She frowns. "Like, maybe switching disrupts it?"

"Heh, um. Yeah! That's definitely worth a try too."

Her blush brightens a bit.

"I should probably tell you my actual idea."

She still is not explaining her actual idea.

They have only just met this girl.

"Okay, now I'm curious what your actual idea is and why you're being so hesitant. Spill?"

She nods and takes a breath.

"I'm a sadomasochist. And it's much easier to find an outlet for the masochism than the sadism, just claw myself up a bit while looking at porn. So if the sirens manage 'brain-off horny' on me, the pent up sadism and the threat and my competitive streak and the fact that I've got lightning at my fingertips are all gonna mix together, and my instinct is gonna be to zap them. And enjoy it."

"Oooooh." 

Eva smiles, a little more toothily than necessary. 

"I think the two of us are going to get along just fine."

"That said, though, I have no such protection away from the stars either, so if you have like some earplugs or something like that that'd be great."

"Ooh?" Hailey grins. "That sounds promising."

"But no, I have no earplugs. I can use the profits from this trip to buy some, which'll work for next trip, but your best bet at the moment may be to hope the sound doesn't transfer well across the air bubble. Or hide in a different room if they show up."

Eva considers for a moment. 

"... Can you park the ship for a moment? I have a feeling I can fix this but only if I go inward for a moment, and I don't know where I'll show up when I come back."

"Sure." She pulls the throttle back to the centerline, then tugs on the brakes for a moment, bringing the ship rumbling to a stop.

"Alright, here goes. I'm going to need to focus for a second."

Eva sits down cross-legged on the floor and starts feeling for the connection.

She sits back and watches, a curious smile on her face.

A moment later, Eva disappears, as if sucked inward into herself. 

She appears in a cheery, cozily-lit cave before a pearlescent egg as large as she is.

She reaches out and puts her hand on the egg, and memories rush through her: all her life, every moment of it. Her graduation from university. Swim lessons in fourth grade. Seeing the site where Leifla Eiriksdottir discovered North America, sent by the forces of United Scandinavia. She'd asked if the fire was real and told "it'll give you a real burn"; it turned out to be a gas fire because the whole historical reenactment village kept burning down from too-historical fireplaces. 

It all passes through her, and then the feeling is gone.

The egg clicks softly once, barely loud enough to hear.

She goes and sits back on her bed, and pops back again.