During Gypsy's tentative watch Joel slept peacefully. It was fortunate that Joel became ill after the weekly experiment, not before or during. With six days to recover without the interruption and overall unwelcomed idiocy of Dr. Forrester or TV's Frank, Joel would be back to his usual laidback demeanor in no time.

Crow returned to Joel's cabin after two hours just as he had been requested. He walked into the room with a copy of 'TeenBot' in one hand and a bologna sandwich in the other. "Is he dead, yet?"

Despite having a single eye with only one setting, Gypsy managed to project an intimidating glare at Crow for his inappropriate question. She just shook her head 'no' and passed by Crow to exit the cabin as he entered. "Did you take care of the heat shields?" She asked over her 'shoulder'.

"Yes..." Crow replied with his usual immaturity at the serious question.

"Good. Now Crow, remember, he needs to rest." She turned around to look at him one last time from the doorway. "So don't bug him!"

"Oh, I won't..." Crow answered sheepishly as he approached Joel's sleeping form on the bunk. He pulled a marker out of his beak and laughed wickedly to himself.

Gypsy poked her head back into the cabin doorway quickly with one last order. "And don't draw on him either!"

"Awww..." Crow tossed the black Sharpie he had snuck in with him across the room. "Lame!"

Crow finished eating his sandwich and reading his magazine quietly at the foot of Joel's bunk. After he dropped the magazine on the floor he looked over at his sleeping friend, still unsure of what it meant for a human to be sick. He understood that at night Joel would enter a type of 'sleep mode' just as Tom, Gypsy and he would do; but he couldn't understand why Joel needed to be asleep during the day, or why they needed to watch over him while he slept.

"Joel?" Crow whispered gently.

Joel didn't budge.

Crow lightly crawled up the bed toward Joel's face, stopping at his torso. "Joel?"

Again Joel remained silent.

He crawled closer to Joel's face, stopping at his chest and careful not to kneel on Joel's arm draped across his torso. "Joel?" He asked a little louder.

This time Joel seemed to hear Crow speaking to him. He responded by turning his head slightly against his pillow, the once cold towel slipping away from his forehead in the process.

Crow crawled up on top of Joel's chest and put his beak just millimeters from Joel's nose. He could feel intense heat radiating from Joel's body and he could see exactly how pale Joel's pallor had become thanks to the unexpected illness. The fine sheen of sweat from the night before had soaked through Joel's white t-shirt creating noticeable damp patches on Joel's chest and under his arms, running a little ways down the sides of his ribcage. Small beads of sweat were running down Joel's face.

Taking in a deep breath and focusing his black, diamond shaped eyes on Joel's closed eyes Crow uttered a single, loud question. "Joel?"

Joel sensed someone was with him, he suddenly opened his blue eyes and immediately saw a golden face staring directly into his own. He let out a startled "Gah!" as he quickly sat upright knocking Crow off his chest and onto his lap in the process. "Crow?"

"Hi Joel."

"Da' hell? Crow, what are you doing?" He rubbed at his tired eyes, the pressure from his sinuses causing his mild headache to increase in severity.

"I'm watching you sleep." Crow sat himself upright on Joel's lap. "You're weird."

"I'm weird?"

"Yeah, and there's alot of heat coming off of you. Are overheating Joel? That's not good for your software, you know? It can corrupt your memory."

Joel pressed the back of hand to his own forehead. "I told you last night I was a little warm."

"This isn't 'warm' Joel, this is molten."

"I'm not that hot. Stop being so dramatic."

"Pretty close though." Crow persisted.

"Not really." He laid back down on his bunk. "So, what's been happening while I was asleep?"

"Nothing to worry about." Crow climbed off Joel's lap and sat next to him on the edge of the bunk. "I took care of the heat shields. Tom's been monitoring the oxygen / nitrogen levels, and Gypsy's been watching over you."

"No calls from the 'Mads,' or random aliens or movies monsters on the hexfield screen, or any of the other bizarre shenanigans we usually deal with?"

"Nope. Oh wait... Yeah, no. Nothing's happening."

"Good." He draped his arm over his eyes. "I'm a little thirsty. Could you please bring me some water?"

"No." Crow replied firmly.

Joel lifted his arm up from his eyes and looked down at Crow. "Why not?"

"'Cuz I have to watch you. Gypsy said so. She's in command while you're asleep."

"But I'm in command of the ship the rest of the time, and now I'm awake, so please get me some water."

"What's in it for me?"

Joel sighed and dropped his arm back down over his eyes. "What do you want?"

"Hm, what do I want? That's a very interesting question..."

"Crow? Please behave. I'm not feeling well and Gypsy already has enough to do."

"Okay, okay. I'll get you your water, if I can have some cookies."

"You can have two cookies."

"Two?"

"Two. And if you're good for Gypsy, you can have two more."

"Deal!" Crow jumped off the bunk and made his way for the cabin door in gleeful rush.

Joel looked at the analog clock ticking away on the far wall. "This is going to be a long day..." His headache was making him feel even worse.

Crow returned to the cabin with a mug of water in one hand, a cookie in the other and the second cookie already lodged in his beak. He readily handed the water to Joel. "Here ya' go, pal."

"Thanks." Joel sat up to tentatively sip the water. He then placed the mug on the small table next to his bunk and laid back. "I'm going to sleep some more."

"Okay." Crow bit into the second cookie. "I'll stand guard."

...to be continued...