"Do you ever think about dying?" Herschel lay on his back, his limbs stretched out to lay flat against the smooth surface of the boat’s main cabin roof. The stars were bright that night. Their countless pinpricks of light were unhindered by any clouds or moonlight, while the haze of the mainland lights lay miles away along the coast. Only the gentle swells lapping lazily at the sides of the hull served to break up the utter stillness of the night. The man lay alone, the holomatter form which Mulhall often used to communicate with him was absent, but a voice responded. "Deactivation? Can't say I think about it too much. 'Specially not since coming to Earth." The words seemed to emanate from the ship's frame itself, causing the faintest vibrations to run along the length of Herschel's back. He readjusted himself. "That makes sense. You probably don't have to worry about it, being a machine and all. A part wears out, just replace it with a new one."

"Mmm… It’s not quite that simple, but I ‘spose so,” he said slowly. “Don't tell me you're thinkin' about dying on me."

Herschel shrugged, knowing that Mulhall would somehow see it. "I'm not planning on it, no." The man smirked, tilting his head up. "You're not that lucky."

Mulhall returned a half-hearted chuckle and a period of silence settled between them, each lost in their own trains of thought.

"I told you about the time I lost nearly my whole team back on Cybertron, right?" Mulhall broke the silence at last.

"Yeah.”

“The night before wasn’t different than any other. Twenty-three of us took stock of supplies, shared jokes about the trip there, talked a little bit about nothing… and the next night, there was only me and two others. There wasn’t much talk that night.”

Herschel was quiet. The one time Mulhall had brought up that event before, he’d made it clear he didn’t want to talk about it. He wasn’t about to push for details.

He continued. “There’s no goin’ back to the night before, you just gotta enjoy the now. Even if my natural life is long in comparison, that doesn’t mean there aren’t other things to lose along the way.”

…

“Hall?... I’m glad I woke you up.”

“You mean, you abducted me.”

Herschel snorted. “Yeah.”

…