For the next three days, the joyless crew moped around the ship, half-heartedly making simple meals, or just sitting with friends, holding hands and remembering past moments of happiness.
Ilika spent most of his time researching every possibility he could think of, and reading every account he could find of a ship in any similar situation.
When his eyes would no longer focus, he spent more hours asking Manessa questions and doing simulations. When he could no longer think, he found Kibi, snuggled close, and listened to her thoughts and feelings.
On the fourth day, Boro was poking at a bowl of barley and vegetables when he finally found his courage. “Ilika, I was a slave. I was hungry most of the time. I don’t want to die of starvation . . . if there’s any other way. I know some of the others feel the same.”
Ilika looked at his engineer. “I understand.” He looked around the table and saw nods from Mati, Rini, and Kibi. “Manessa can survive this . . . by hibernating . . . by lowering the internal temperature, conserving fuel, and occasionally sending a distress signal. It might be hundreds of years until that signal is received. Maybe thousands. Either way, she’ll be okay.
Unfortunately, we cannot use that same method to survive . . . at least, as mortals of flesh and blood.”
Ilika could see tears on Mati’s face, and remembered how close she was to getting her knee fixed.
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“So . . .” Sata began between sniffles, “what would happen to us?”
“Once we all give our permission, of our own free will, Manessa will lower the temperature on the lower deck. Anyone who goes to sleep at that temperature will not wake up in this life. When everyone is asleep, she will do the same with the upper deck, and then patiently wait for rescue. Once that happens, our story will be told and all Transport Service crews will do their best to avoid the same fate.”
Rini couldn’t hold in his tears any longer. “It makes me feel cold just thinking about it.” He left his uneaten meal and shuffled to the lift without looking at anyone.
Sometime in the hours that followed, everyone thought one of Manessa’s engines had activated itself even with no one on the bridge. With nothing else to do, several of them followed the sound, and arrived together at the door to the engineering ring. Poking their heads in, they found Boro growling his anger and frustration to the engines, waving his arms and sometimes stomping around. They slipped away before he noticed.
After dragging herself aimlessly around the ship for most of a day, Kibi curled up in her own bed for the first time. With the exception of a couple of trips to the toilet room, which no one saw, she didn’t show her face for the next two days.
Sometime the following day, Sata made a pot of soup, but rushed away before it was finished, hiding her face.
At the time, Mati was distracting herself with easy piloting simulations at her station, not even noticing the tears trickling down her cheeks. About an hour after her friend left the soup simmering, she wandered up to the galley, added some salt, and ate a bowl without tasting it.
Once Boro yelled himself hoarse and slept two nights in the engineering ring, he dragged his feet to his cabin where he found Rini staring at the knowledge processor on his desk.
Rini’s eyes were red, but he was too dehydrated to cry. He gazed longingly
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at an endless stream of pictures — strange planets and moons, colorful nebulas, and gleaming star stations.
Boro put his arm around his friend and coaxed him up to the big table to drink cold soup.
Ilika went back and forth from researching any possible way out of their icy trap, to silently keeping an eye on each of his crew members.
Seeing Kibi in bed, usually not asleep but lying as if dead, tore at his heart almost more than he could stand. He left quickly each time, spoke his pain and anguish in the utility room to anyone who cared to listen, then returned to the upper deck to do more research or sleep in a passenger seat.
A day or so later, Mati wandered down to her cabin and found Sata under her desk wrapped in blankets. With some pain, she lowered herself to the floor, scooted in beside her friend, and they talked and cried together for hours before finally falling asleep.
Deep Learning Notes
All the early steps of the grieving process (denial, anger, bargaining, depression) can be seen in different crew members at different times, in different ways, and in a different order for each person. This is typical of real people. We do not all grieve in the same way, or on the same schedule.
What are they grieving about? Would this be possible for a creature who was not self-aware?
For each crew member, which step in the grieving process was most pronounced?