Chapter Text
Shrike tensed in his sleep.
It had been a long night of tossing and turning and his dreams had been filled with strange unseen predators that scurried across the metal floor on sharp tapered legs. He rolled fitfully from his back to his side trying to hold onto the slim tail of unconsciousness but it was a battle he was quickly losing.
Now the blanket was twisted and wrapped too tightly around his middle.
Shrike tugged at the blanket twice before fighting free of its tight embrace and throwing it on the floor with a sigh.
His room was still dark except for soft blue glow of his nightlight at the far wall and a glance at the clock on his phone showed there was another hour before sunrise. Too early to be awake but not quite enough time to get comfortable enough to fall back asleep.
Below the digital clock was a second set of numbers slowly counting down the final 24hrs of an alarm Beebs had set for him about two weeks prior. The alarm was simply titled Beebs Wakes Up and it was more of a countdown for Shrike than an actual alarm to wake up his walrinian companion. At first Shrike was convinced Beebs had been pulling his leg when the larger alien had explained that walrinians slept for long periods but Shrike quickly found out that Beebs wasn’t kidding.
There had been a lot of planning on Beebs’ part to get ready for his upcoming rest period. The two of them had run a maintenance check on the Bucket to confirm nothing was going to break down while Beebs was out of commission. They did a grocery run to make sure all the food, water, and basic necessities were stocked up and then picked out a moderately deserted area on a smaller planet to park the bucket to conserve fuel costs. After that it was just a matter of Beebs settling into the spare room and turning in for the night. Once he had gone to sleep Shrike was officially in charge of the ship for the next two weeks.
Overall Shrike had enjoyed the surplus of personal time and had no trouble entertaining himself with his collection of Terran movies, comics and video games. However the nights had been a difficult adjustment. Shrike had never realized how much security he had felt when he could hear the quiet sounds of his friend moving around the ship at night. Despite knowing that Beebs was sleeping in the room just across the hall, Shrike had a harder time falling asleep at night because the silence in the ship loomed heavily when he couldn’t hear his friend.
By the second day of Beebs sleep cycle Shrike had given into the temptation to try to wake the Walrinian and for all of his efforts had not even gotten the larger alien to stir in his sleep. After trying everything from loud noises to face prodding Shrike had gotten creeped out by how still his friend’s body was and pressed his head against Beebs chest to make sure the Walrinian was still breathing. Once he had confirmed that his friend was still very much alive there had been nothing left to do besides tuck the blanket around Beebs and leave him to his nap.
“One more day, Amigo.” Shrike muttered sitting up in bed. He yawned, stretched, and then made his way slowly across his room. He stopped long enough to put on his shoes and jacket before walking down the hall to the spare room. Even though he knew Beebs wouldn’t wake up until sometime tomorrow at the earliest, Shrike had made a habit out of checking on his friend first thing every morning.
Shrike knocked on the door before entering the dimly lit room where his friend slept.
“Buenos dias, mi amigo!” Shrike called cheerily to the sleeping Walrinian as he approached the bedside. He made a quick adjustment to his friend’s blanket then froze when he heard a strange noise coming from somewhere above them.
Something was on the roof of the ship.
Shrike pulled his gun from its crystal storage and whipped around to keep his back protectively against the sleeping Walrinian.
He remained stock still, only his eyes moved to trace the sound of whatever was walking on the outer shell of the Bucket. The thing had slow skittery footsteps that paced back and forth on the metal surface but it did not seem to be trying to get inside the ship.
It slowly dawned on Shrike that he had been hearing similar noises for the last couple nights as he fell asleep and it had been part of why his dreams had been so bad lately. Slowly Shrike counted the minutes that passed until he could see the first light of dawn through the window. The only noise breaking the stillness was Beebs’ gentle breathing, his own heartbeat too loud in his ears and the faint tapping of the thing working above them. The skittering decreased with the growing light until finally the creature crawled to the far edge and leapt from the ship.
Shrike ran to the window and peered through the heavy duty glass trying to get a glimpse of the early morning trespasser. The angle was wrong and he only glimpsed a retreating shadow before the creature was out of sight.
With a sigh Shrike returned the gun to his head crystal before glancing at Beebs. He patted his friend’s arm before turning for the door.
“Don’t you worry Beebs, I’ll take care of this little parásito. You stay here and get your beauty sleep, okay?”
Shrike grinned as he hurried for the door. A little excitement was just what he needed to pass the time on his last day as a nap baby-sitter.