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Rest, So We Can Be Friends

view of a planet from space

I never meshed with the crew. That’s why they asked me to be the one to stay awake for the last leg of our journey.

After years of roaming the corridors and maintaining their cryogenic pods, I’d fabricated my own dialogues with their sleeping forms. I grew to know them in my own way.

We arrived at L6531 a few weeks ago, but I haven’t awakened them. I guess I know I’ll go back to being the odd man out. But if I leave them like this, I can keep them the way I know them, and feel less alone.

Copyright 2022 Eric Fomley

Photo by ActionVance on Unsplash


Story notes

A lot of stories have been written on cryo pods on long journeys across the stars. I always wondered how these folks could entrust another party or technology to actually wake them up.

Eric Fomley

Eric Fomley's stories have appeared in Clarkesworld, Daily Science Fiction, Galaxy's Edge, and elsewhere. You can read more of his stories on his website ericfomley.com.

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