“What’s wrong, Torvt?” Gl’adx asked, looking over at his horrified crew mate with confusion.
“It’s… the human.” The reptilian engineer finally stuttered, their tongue flickering anxiously out to taste the air with the words.
“Jessie? It’s my first time seeing a human, but she seems amicable enough” Gl’adx scratched his fifth chin, thinking over his recent interactions with the new crew mate. “She speaks Common clearly, has completed all her tasks efficiently…”
“That’s not it…” Torvt interrupted. “She’s hardworking and friendly, sure… but… “
“SHE HASN’T SLEPT IN A MONTH!”
“…” The two crew mates stared at each other in stunned silence as the human in question walked up, clutching a cup of coffee in one hand, rubbing her eyes with the other.
“Morning, friends.” She waved tiredly.
“… Jessica, are you okay?” Gl’adx rushed to support her, afraid she would collapse. “Should we call a medic?”
Jessica seemed startled. “Why?”
“WE DON’T WANT YOU TO DIE!!” Torvt started crying a highly acidic fluid, the drops burning through the desk beneath their feet. “Please sleep!”
“Are you worried because I pulled an all nighter?” Jessica twisted her mouth in a way that Gl’adx recognized as an expression of amusement. “I just got caught up in a really great book, no worries.”
“I’ll just drink a cup of coffee and take a short nap after my shift.”
Gl’adx “I don’t know what sort of medicine this ‘coffee’ is. But… you have an all day shift!!!”
“DON’T DIE!!” The engineer was still sobbing, a quickly growing hole forming from the tears.
“It’s only a few hours.” Jessica waved her hand. “I could do that in my sleep!”
“Oh… there’s a difference in time units.” Jessica patted Torvt on the back. “Although I shouldn’t skip sleep like this, my species has a much different wake sleep cycle. I regularly stay up for weeks, which is normal.”
“I promise, so please stop crying, before they dock our pay to fix the floor.”
Torvt sniffed, looking reassured. Just as they things were calming down, however, another crew mate burst in, screaming in fear.
“The human Michael has been sleeping for days without waking up! I think he’s dead!”
Looking at the now three crying aliens, Jessica sighed.
“First, I’m going to need more coffee.”