Radu sighed as his ears picked up the sound of Bova crunching on his midnight snack on the other side of the ship. Just when he thought he might finally drift off to sleep, it was snack time for Bova and that gave Radu one more thing to listen to.
He had always been told that he would go through a period of insomnia at some point in his life. The curse of a growing Andromedan. That was what his group leader used to call it. During this phase of his life, a young Andromedan experienced many trials. Increased sensitivity to sound was one of the many changes he would have to adjust to. Lately, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't block out anything during the night. He heard everything.
As if it weren't already loud enough around here.
As a result, Radu wasn't sleeping well. He had no choice but to lie awake and listen until he finally managed to doze off for a couple of hours at best. The listening droze him crazy. He found it difficult to focus his hearing on anything soothing, such as the sound of the Gizbot whirring too softly for any of the humans to hear. Instead, he had to listen to everything else that he normally managed to ignore. Harlan snoring in the next bed, Suzee tossing and turning, Bova getting up for snacks... (CRUNCH! SMACK, SMACK, SMACK, CRUNCH!)
A certain Uranusian would be lucky if he lived through the night.
Groaning, Radu clutched his pillow to his ears more tightly and turned over.
"Mr. Radu, we could use a hand over here."
The other four cadets responded by giggling and whispering.
No response came from Radu.
Seth Goddard shifted his focus from the central command console to the navigator, who was sound asleep on his console. He raised his eyebrows, surprised and a little concerned. All of the students were known to fall asleep during class, but they were usually wide-awake and alert by the time they arrived at the Command Post each day. Especially Radu.
Without considering the Andromedan's sensitivity to loud noises, Goddard approached the console, and hovered over the boy. "Mr. Radu!"
"AUGH!" His head jolted up, eyes popped open, and two gloved hands clasped his ears.
Goddard stifled a laugh. The other students, however, were howling with laughter,
"My apologies, Mr. Radu, but you know better than to fall asleep on the job."
"Was I..." It took a moment for Radu to remember where he was. "Oh-oh y-yeah. Oh, um, sorry Commander Goddard. It's just that I, (yawn) I haven't been sleeping well lately."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Goddard replied with understanding. If it had been anyone else, like say, Harlan Band or Suzee, he might not have accepted such an answer. But with Radu, he could always expect honesty. " But mow that you're awake, you can lend a hand while Harlan rewires the console."
"Sure." The embarrassed Andromedan arose from his chair and walked over to the console. He leaned over and exerted a small amount of effort in lifting the console. Nothing happened. He tried again, using more force. Again, it did not budge. Radu tried a third time, pulling with all of his strength and straining until he was red in the face, partially from the struggle and partially from further humiliation.
His classmates were staring at him, bewildered.
"I uh- I can't pick it up."
"Why not?" Harlan crossed his arms across his chest. "It isn't any heavier than when you picked it up last week. Wimping out on us, Radu?"
Harlan was teasing, but Radu swallowed hard. Although Harlan could not have known it, the barb had been a pretty accurate one.
"I guess I should tell you," Radu reluctantly confronting the stares of his classmates and Commander Goddard. "Um, things with me are going to be... different lately."