It started off in small ways. Kevin didn't even notice it at first. Between continuing the charade of the simple-minded space cadet and the way the word kept creeping into conversations with his labmates like a verbal hiccup he didn't realize anything might be wrong until the day he found himself holding a hammer by the wrong end with no idea how to use it.
"Space?" He poked at the piece of metal he was working on a couple of times, but nothing happened. A check of the room showed that Craig was at the whiteboard again and Rick was running the rock grinder on the latest batch of moon rocks.
"Space!" He said it with more urgency this time, but either the others didn't hear him over the grinder or they were too used to tuning him out. Swallowing, he looked back down at the hammer and casing. He knew he knew how to do this. He'd been doing it not ten minutes ago! Panic started to well. He grabbed the tool with both hands and stared at it. After a minute he could almost feel the information slide back into the proper slots in his mind. Gripping the hammer the right way he tapped the casing into place, soldered it, and stood.
Rick was pouring the resulting powder into a container amid clouds of dust, so the room was quiet. Kevin decided to take advantage.
"Hey, guys, I'm- space!" He grimaced.
"Yeah, we noticed." Rick was still a little sore about being kept in the dark, especially when he figured out Craig had known before he did.
"I'm going on a sp- snack break." Kevin concentrated on his words. "You want anyspace- thing?"
"I was planning to go in 34 minutes," Craig said. "I'll wait." His blink-and-you-miss-it smile probably meant something, but Kevin couldn't come up with what it was.
"See if they have any of those new health smoothies." Rick was loading another batch of rocks into the grinder. "That is, if it isn't too much trouble to do me a favor."
Yup, Rick was definitely annoyed. Bobbing his head, Kevin headed out. His legs took him where he wanted to go, more or less on autopilot, while he tried to work out what was wrong. A momentary lapse? They had all been working double and triple shifts, so exhaustion could easily be a factor. Maybe that's all it was.
He grabbed a slice of cake and a loonie smoothie from Irene and turned to head out only to bump into Tabitha. Literally.
"Oh-ho. Careful there, sweetie." She put a steadying hand on his side, not that he needed it. "How's my favorite little… big spaceman doing today?" Her smile had far too many teeth in it.
"Space." He tried to move past her, but she still had her hand on his waist, sliding it up and down his ribs. With his hands full, he couldn't stop her.
"Oh, don't go rocketing off just yet, space buddy."
The words sent an unwelcome bubble of happiness through him. He grinned, nodding his head as she continued. Maybe she sensed she had more of his attention than usual because she kept peppering her speech with trigger words like space, stars, moon… He quickly lost the thread of the conversation, although with Tabby her motivations weren't hard to figure out. He was smiling and nodding and adding his own interjections and even caught himself thinking what a nice space lady she was. That was about the time he realized she'd wrapped her hand around his tie and was pulling him closer. And that he was letting her.
"Warp core breach!" He pulled back and away, sloshing some of the smoothie.
"Some breaches can be good, spaceman." Tabby advanced.
Kevin swerved past her. "Thrusters to max! SPAAAACE!"
He all but ran from the cafeteria, ignoring Tabby's shouted promise that she'd see him later. That really didn't bear thinking about. He shook his head, slowing once he felt he was far enough away. What the space hell was happening to him?
No longer hungry, he dumped the cake down the incinerator on his way back to the lab. Since Rick was busy with the grinder again he left the smoothie on his desk next to a copy of The Tale of Custard the Dragon. Craig was sifting through a box of spare parts and shooting not-very-subtle looks at the clock.
Kevin sat at his desk, staring at the little squares with funny constellations keyboard. With a quick rub at his scar, he started to type. He snapped in and out of focus as he worked, stopping occasionally to pat the lucky moon rocks in his pocket and to mumble to himself.
By the time he finished Craig had already left and come back, looking a little flustered. That was usual for him these days, though. Maybe the spacewalk to the cafeteria and back was wearing him out. Orbit. Elliptical. He probably needed more space exercise. They all did. Too much time spent inside. Wanna go to space. Lots of space in space.
He hit print before he could forget and swooped around the room while he waited for the printer to work. Space felt good. Too good. He dropped his arms and tried to stay focused, aware that Rick was watching him over the rim of his drink.
With a last skirl of noise, the printer finished. He tore off the sheet and looked at the letter he'd written. At least most of it was coherent. There were patches of asteroid field nonsense, but you could still read around it. He looked at the others, wondering if he should say anything about reentry burn his problem. Holding out last time had gotten him in trouble.
Folding the paper in quarters he stuck it in his desk drawer and decided to get back to work. Maybe this was a passing moon phase and he'd recover like the last time. He wouldn't want to alarm them for no reason. And if he did get worse, well, he still had plenty of time, and at least now he had a letter to show his adventure buddy fact buddy, thanking them for putting up with him and explaining where to find all his space research notes.
He glanced up to see Craig and Rick chatting about… whatever. Hard to concentrate, but they both seemed happy.. Sun. Warm sun. He smiled. Stars and planets he was lucky to have them. The best space buddies anyone could ask for. He also knew he could count on them to keep him safe from alien invasion Tabitha. As long as he planned carefully. Course laid in, Captain. This would space blow over soon, anyway.
Wouldn't space?