Near midnight Toll returned to the room that he and Rusty
had been assigned to. Rusty was still awake, looking something over on a
tablet.
“Thanks for not warning me at all about Third's sense of
humor.” He smiled as he shut the door.
“Thanks for dragging my ass over two million light years
from home.” Rusty replied, putting his tablet down.
Toll sat on his bunk. “Punishment accepted.”
Rusty looked out the tiny porthole window by his bed. “That
wasn't your punishment.”
Toll looked shocked. “Seriously? That robot isn't even
remotely funny and that story took like five whole minutes to tell. If that
wasn't my punishment please get it over with cause, damn.”
Rusty put his feet on the floor. “You know we're never going
home, right?”
Toll looked skeptical. “Of course we're going home. And I'm
going to take the blame for everything.”
Rusty shook his head. “Damn right you would, but we're not
going home so you're off the hook.”
Toll stood up. “I'm not off the hook until I say I'm off the
hook. And why do you have to be so defeatist? We're going home, trust me.”
“Well that seals it. Now we're definitely never making it
back home.” Rusty laid on his bunk dejectedly.
“What makes you so sure?” Toll asked.
“When you say 'trust me' it pretty much means 'I have no
clue what I’m doing right now but as long as I keep doing it then hopefully
everyone will forget this was my idea in the first place.'” Rusty turned off
the light above his bed.
Toll stared at the ceiling in the darkness. Unable to deny
his friend. He rolled on his side. “We're getting on that ship and we're going
home.”
Rusty sighed. “That’s a better plan than I've got so sure,
why not.”
Neither of them fell asleep, they just laid silently in the
darkness. “What do you think their doing back home right now?” Toll asked.
“Nothing. Things are as blissfully dull and slow as they
have always been. They probably had a party to celebrate getting rid of the two
biggest nuances in a generation but then happily went back to their quiet
boring dull lives.” Rusty rolled over, his back to Toll.
“Sounds nice.” Toll remarked. There was silence for long
enough that he wasn't sure if Rusty was still awake.
“Yeah, it does.” Rusty finally offered.
