i need a nap

Patron saints of one way trips or something like that...

Everyone and their alien best friend has made this joke, but I wanted to. Plus (pointer finger) nothing can stop me when I’m hyperfixating.

The Tau Ceti team needed a mechanic. The only reason Rocky who-is-useful is here is that; he is not the smartest person on this ship and he is not the most useful. He spends most of his time alone with only Astrophage for company, though he ventures more forward along the ship when he needs to sleep or watch.

His crewmates fall very ill. The doctor aboard the ship falls ill as well, and Rocky listens carefully to the weak thrum between doctor Maebh who-lets-no-problem-go-unsolved and the scientists Xiva who-is-friendly-and-kind and Everett who-enjoys-the-company-of-small-things. They rule out the possibility of food contamination; they rule out all viruses they can think of. The whole time, Rocky's focus remains the slow leak of blood from tiny pinpricks in their carapaces, from the underside. He can hear their organs begin to liquefy and flood their crystal brains.

One by one, they fall asleep and drop out of the thrum. One by one, Rocky drags his still crewmates back to the biggest room outside his workshop (too small to fit twenty two eridians; barely big enough to fit Rocky and his equipment). He listens to them whisper their lives to him, that he may remember.