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Twenty-three. An abundance of a crew to venture into an unknown world and ensure everything aboard the ship ran smoothly, most everyone involved with the planning and execution of the mission thinking of the vessel itself as an honorary twenty-fourth member to round out the total crew. Everyone with a purpose, everyone with a backup to their backup to ensure the utmost safety, everyone the most specialized people Erid had to offer.
978,265,512 seconds since Rocky had anyone to accompany him besides the honorary crew member. 2,264 times he had been forced to lie still without anyone to watch him. And it was about to be 2,265.
He tried staving off slumber using his usual methods, scouring every inch of the ship for repairs, looking out at Tau Ceti and the other nearby celestial bodies through the satellite feed into the many tactile displays, cursing himself for not being able to come up with a plan. He was no scientist, he was no strategist. He was lucky enough to have learned piloting skills through a mixture of self practice and the real navigationists teaching him a few things when the crew started to inexplicably die.
He could go back if he wanted. Abandon his orbit around the final reliable star in the universe and return to the safety of his home, or his mate.
But how was he supposed to face them when all he had to announce was not only had they lost twenty-two of their own, but neither he nor anyone of those deceased crew members had managed to learn anything about astrophage during their expedition.
Rocky could have gone back to Erid when everyone else had died, long before he’d managed to trek the rest of the way to Tau Ceti. He’d stay in this voluntary isolation until he had some sort of answer to give his people.
However, looking for said answer would have to wait until tomorrow. The fear of falling asleep without anyone to watch him still lingered, a looming terror of being caught by a figurative predator or finally claimed by the curse that had taken his friends and colleagues. But he always saved the last little bit of energy to scuttle back into his room.
He still had a station, after all, right by the engine, and a job to make sure that engine stayed up and running no matter what.
So under the ever-present watch of his twenty-fourth crew member, Rocky fell asleep once more.