Chapter 4

It should have helped that she was farther from him, over in the medical bay, but it didn't. Otto could still hear just as clearly the sounds of Nova's whimpering that night. Another set of nightmares. It must be part of the illness, Otto thought. Nova almost never gets nightmares.

However, his personal explanation didn't stop the noise, nor even calm it in the slightest. It was so loud to him, and from continued silence in the pod rooms around him he wondered if he was the only one hearing it. Could he be sick too?

He didn't know, but she was still crying, and he couldn't just lie in his charger anymore.

Otto opened his charger door and jumped out, quickly heading out of his room and down the hallways towards the med bay. It didn't take Gibson to be able to tell that the whimpering was easier to focus on than it should have been with all the beeps and whirs of the robot faintly trailing him.

Speaking of Gibson, he was standing in front of the med bay doors. His expression was flat, and his arms crossed. Otto skidded to a halt in front of him, only now realizing he'd been running. "Oh," Otto whispered, chuckling nervously, "hi Gibson."

"Otto," Gibson wasn't absorbing any of Otto faux calm atmosphere, "Nova needs sleep, nightmares or none."

Otto chuckled again. It was still a failed tactic. He sighed. "But, Gibson... She's crying..."

"I'm aware of that."

Now how little empathy Otto was gaining started to bug him. He held back the urge to glare. "Gibson, isn't there something we could do?"

"No. Not except for letting her sleep, Otto."

"Aw, come on!"

"No, Otto." Otto sighed again, staring at the ground, defeated. Gibson's emotionless eyes finally broke into some compassion. "Otto," he put a hand on his friend's shoulder, "we're all worried, alright? I've already given her medication for any pain and the fever. I'll keep looking for information that could help her, but for now there's nothing more either of us can do. Nova needs her sleep more than anything. You should get your's, too."

"...But..."

"Otto, Nova's strong."

"Huh?" Otto looked to Gibson.

"She's not going to let some silly nightmare get her!" He smiled, both to comfort and because he got to have a small lecture now. "Nightmares are simply a figment of the subconscious built from stimulus during waking hours. Honestly, Otto, Nova has defeated more vile creatures than you and I combined. I'm sure she can handle an unpleasant nocturnal mental image."

Otto grinned slightly. "Yeah, I guess you're right..."

"All right." Gibson said with a nod, satisfied. "Now go back to sleep. You can't be much help to anyone if you're tired." That, and Gibson couldn't sleep either if he had to stand guard at Nova's door to keep green robot monkeys from disturbing her.

"...Got it," Otto replied, though he couldn't help look around Gibson through the med bay window for a moment. As expecting, there was a trembling yellow creature under several blankets. Otto frowned, but still headed back towards his room.

Of course Gibson was right. He was always right. Nova could handle this easily.

...But seeing her like this still hurt.