A few weeks had passed since the computers sent out the wrong messages to everyone, and ever since they were fixed afterwards, they still kept on working just as well, fortunately.
On the mission on the Skeld, there were seven: Billy, Yikk, Charlie, Navy, Choco, Nori and Rice.
The remainder of the crewmates stayed home and sat at the dining table to discuss some important topics.
"So it seems that none of us had gotten sick in the meantime just yet" Vienna started. "No, not even any of the kids. It's a good sign, of course, because we wouldn't really want anyone to get sick in the meantime, would we now?" She adjusted Yuri to sit on her lap more comfortably.
"We have a doctor to take care of us when we are" Squee said, as they pointed at the business card of the group's primary doctor that was on the corkboard.
"Yeah, but not when we're out on a mission" Pop said. "What if someone suddenly gets really sick during a mission? Who will take care of them?"
"That's a good point. I presume that the other crewmates will have to assign that task to themselves." The mother tapped her fingers on the surface of the table. "But I could also be wrong as heck here."
"You bunch of worthless protoplasms better take the best of care of me when I fall sick" Lava said in a loud tone, "because I don't want to remain laying in my own puke."
"Hey, watch your language, will you? There are children around here."
"I don't care."
"You're just going to watch your language, whether you like it or not."
"Fine, have it your way."
Everyone else at the table frowned hard at the snob.
"Hey" Squee whispered in Pop's ear. "I honestly hope she will fall sick soon…!" They softly chuckled afterwards.
"Me too, man" the girly girl chuckled back with her hand in front of her mouth.
"When any of us falls sick" Arnie suggested, "they should sleep in the medical room here, to prevent others from being infected."
"Doesn't sound like a bad idea, Arnie. That way, they also have easier access to the toilet there, and the utilities in the cupboards and such, since we don't have anything in the way of buckets and painkillers in the dorm room or anything."
"Exactly why."
"Mummy?" Neri asked. "Do I also have to sleep in that medical room when I fall sick? Because I don't want to."
"I think so?" Vienna replied. "But in such a case, I'll be near. I'll just sleep from a safe distance, if that's okay by Arnie?"
"Of course, Vienna" the former private replied, "I cannot see why not. When I was a child, my father would also sleep from a safe distance in my bedroom when I'd be sick. Even back in the army, friends would stay together in the medical room when sleeping, also from the safe distance!"
"Do you hear that, Neri? It's okay by Arnie."
The little boy nodded with a slightly big smile.
"But I don't want to sleep with any of you in the medical room whenever I fall ill" Lava said. "I need my rest alone."
"Then stay in your own room" Squee jokingly stated, "to quarantine from the rest of us."
"Dude, what do you think it is? Most of 2020?"
"Relax, I was only just lying."
"Still not a bad idea, even if there are no painkillers and such in my own room, but I do have access to my own bathroom there."
"Then Lava will get this as an exception" Arnie said, as he shook hands with the snob, who smiled in approval.
"Thanks, Arnie."
After discussing a few more key details, everyone went away from the dining table to do a few chores or spend some free time.
Meanwhile, the small ship had arrived at the main spaceship of the Skeld, and the seven crewmates were anxiously waiting for their functions to be revealed.
"I feel weihd" Yikk said.
"Is it because you're afraid to be the impostor?" Billy asked.
"No. I… feel somefin' stwange in my guts. I'll see how it'll go."
"Please do."
Once the small ship had successfully connected to the main spaceship of the Skeld, and its door opened to reveal the rest of the ship, everyone's pagers went off.
It turned out that Billy and Charlie were the impostors, and while everyone else went off to do their first few tasks, they needed to discuss it privately.
"Now there's two impostors" Charlie started. "How are we going to do this?"
"We should remain together for most of the time, I think" Billy replied, "which also means that we should vent together, and both play as innocent as possible and not rat one another out."
"Why would I rat you out for your actions if we're both the same?"
"I dunno, just a little guess."
"Then hurry up, because otherwise, we will get ratted out."
The two crewmates hurried towards the wire box and download screen in the cafeteria, and pretended to do some assigned tasks.
Meanwhile, Yikk, Choco and Nori were to be found in the electrical room, respectively downloading some data, fixing the wires and calibrating the distributors.
"This mission is going well so far" Choco stated. "Who are those two impostors anyway for not even being around us and letting us feel dread?" He connected the last pair of wires before closing the box. "That oughta do it."
"Rice could be one of them" Nori said, "in fact, anyone could be! But we'll see."
Once everyone was done with their tasks and were about to head out of the room, the door suddenly closed, paired with the lights going off out of the blue.
"We be cwose to the fuse box" Yikk said, "so this shouldn't be a pwobwem at all." They headed for the fuse box and tried to flip the switches, but Nori put a stop to that.
"I was here first, lime green."
"No, I was!"
"I definitely was, so please let me handle this."
"No! I be hewe fihst, so I get to fix the fuse box!"
"Don't be so childish, Yikk!"
"I was bohn chiwdish, Nowi! Deal wif it!"
Choco decided that the two crewmates had bickered enough and he grabbed the older twin by the shoulders to drag him away from the dark blonde youngster, but he shouldn't have done that.
"Waah! Whoever just startled me should regret this!"
"How so?" Choco asked. "You were almost hurting poor Yikk that way."
"I get scared easily, and especially in the dark, and you definitely don't want to know what just happened to my bladder…"
"Ew! Gross!" the brown and lime crewmates exclaimed in unison.
In the meantime, the latter had successfully turned the lights back on, and at the same time, the door opened back up.
Shortly after the threesome left the electrical room, a faint series of screams was heard in the distance. But none of them had to take action, as someone else already reported the unconscious body soon after, and an emergency meeting took place soon.
"Where did you find it?" Nori asked.
"Navigation" Rice replied.
"Was anyone nearby?" Billy asked.
"Not as far as I know. Where were you all at? I just came from the communications room."
"Weapons, with Charlie."
Nika, who had a gut feeling that it was Billy but didn't want to spill the beans yet, glared hard at them.
Navy's spirit was the only one who saw it, and nodded in approval.
"I was at the electrical room with Yikk and Nori" Choco said.
"Looks like we don't have enough proof yet, sadly" Nori said. "Let's skip on this one."
Everyone grabbed their pagers to skip their votes before continuing their tasks. Nika, on the other hand, decided to stay at the cafeteria, and Choco decided that it was a good idea to put the unconscious Navy to rest in the medical bay.
But just as Yikk got up from their seat, they sat back just as quickly as they felt a wave of nausea and pain go through them.
"Are you alright?" Rice asked with a gasp.
"I feel awful…" the dark blonde crewmate groaned. "I hafta thwow up…" They suddenly gagged and held their hand in front of their mouth before getting up, shambling towards the nearest vent and removing its grid to throw up in there.
"Uh… gross?" Charlie quietly squeaked.
"Forget about going in there soon" Billy whispered into their fellow impostor's ear. "Friends don't go through friends' puke."
"I simply can't imagine… the whole idea makes me feel sick, man!"
"Oh dear" Nori said. "Looks like a case where someone suddenly falls ill during a mission…" He walked up to Yikk, who felt a little relieved in the meantime, helped them get up and supported them by the shoulders while heading towards the medical bay.
"Why must this occuwe to me…" The lime crewmate carefully laid down on one of the free beds.
"What do you need right now?"
"A pail, a nappy and an apowogy… the second since sickness causes me to have twouble hohdin' up my… you know, contents… my youngest sistah has it, too…"
"I understand, but an apolo- wait, never mind, I know why. Coming right up." The older twin headed for the cupboard, got the two requested items from the different shelves, placed the pail next to Yikk's bed and carefully helped them get out of their suit and underwear in order to put the nappy onto them. "Just in time, judging from the wet spot. If you're looking for it, it'll be in a laundry bag so you can take it to the washer once we're back home."
"Thank you. Awso fo' not weacting weihd to my stub."
"Why would I? You know that my sibling has one too, right? Also… my apologies for starting a fight with you just now, I shouldn't have done that."
"I fohgive you."
"Now, please get some rest, and take care. I will be back for the results of the sample inspection very soon." Nori started up the sample machine and headed for the upper engine.
Mack sat in his office and was on a coffee break after having discussed some important measures of the current time of year, where more people would be more vulnerable to getting sick, along with his fellow managers.
Suddenly, one of the computers made a notification sound, and it turned out that a message with a high priority had been sent.
Mack, I suddenly got sick in the midst of a mission. I'm currently at the main spaceship of the Skeld, laying in the med-bay. Send a doctor once I'm back home. -Yikk
"Oh no" the manager said in a soft but worried tone, and started typing an urgent message to Arnie.
Arnie, Yikk just sent me a message that they got sick on the main Skeld ship. Tell the others that once everyone else is home, a doctor will come. Kind regards, Mack.
Someone knocked on the door.
"Please come in."
The door opened up, and a lady dressed in a tan doctor's uniform stepped inside. She wore her shoulder-length dark blonde hair in high twin tails, and held on to a clipboard to which a pen and a few papers were attached.
"Ah, Erin- I mean, Doctor Clarke! You're just in time."
"How come?" Erin asked.
"One of the crewmates just fell sick in the midst of a mission, and once they get home, I want you to check on them."
"Whom does it regard?"
"Individual Yikk Brannigan, from Mister Arnie Kane's group, and they reside at block 1."
Erin grabbed her phone and checked some information on it.
"I see that seven crewmates from there are now on the main Skeld ship. When are they scheduled to come home?"
"I'm not too sure, but once I know more, I'll let you know as soon as possible. Keep your eyes and ears on your phone."
"Thank you very much."
"I think you also came here to inform me on something else?"
"That's right. The surgery that I performed on Miss Natsuki Watanabe yesterday was a success, and she's now mandatory to stay home for at least three weeks due to a possible long-lasting recovery. You know how that is with an ear surgery, right?" The bubbly-looking woman handed her pen and a postcard to the manager.
"I sure do, my wife has had her last one shortly after having our eldest child, but for her, it was only an advantage to recover at home since she was a stay-at-home mother back then. It did have a positive effect on her hearing, though, and that's only a good thing." Mack wrote a 'well-wish' on the card for the crewmate named Natsuki before handing it and the pen back to Erin.
"Thank you."
"No problem. Once you've checked on Individual Yikk Brannigan later today, tell me how it went, or for all I care, let Mister Arnie Kane know that he should let me know."
"I will, Mister Anderson. Have a nice day."
"You, too."
Erin gently closed the door behind her, before heading to her own office to prepare her medical kit to take along very soon.
"Good day, Erin" one of the fellow doctors said once they passed by the office's open door.
"Ah, Kevin, good to see you. How did yesterday's EMDR session with Mister Lou Harris go?"
"It was quite intense. Even if he tried his hardest to contain himself, he eventually broke down, but real men do cry, don't they? Especially when their ex-wife is a violent alcohol and drug addicted killjoy, or so he said."
"They sure do… I can't even comprehend why everyone thinks that real men and boys don't cry, it's ridiculous to say."
"Very well said, colleague. Now, what are you packing your kit for in such a hasty fashion, if I may ask?"
"Individual Yikk Brannigan got sick on a mission just now, and I'm going to check on them once they and their fellow crewmates come back home."
"Oh dear me, and just after we discussed the measures of handling sick people at a time like this… but I know you can do this."
"Thanks a ton, Kevin. I'm only glad to have this amazing job and to serve everyone in need, even if it occasionally requires seeing very explicit things."
"Anytime. Would you like something to drink in the meantime, if you're not busy otherwise?"
"Sure, I cannot see why not. A cup of tea would be nice."
The two colleagues went off to the nearby cafeteria to have themselves a drink and a good talk.
One punch later, Charlie's pager went off with the message that she and Billy were victorious.
For Choco, however, it was too late to do anything anymore. He easily picked Nori's unconscious body up and carried him towards the medical bay to rest.
"Oh my gosh!" Billy said, "I cannot believe this! We won as two impostors! Little did I know that it was as easy as a piece of cake!" They high-fived their fellow impostor and they briefly chuckled together in sheer joy.
"I know we both probably think that we should do this more often" the tomboy replied, "but who knows whom the next impostor – or two – will be?"
"Yeah, that's a good one. But now we should focus on our newly assigned tasks… which include taking care of poor Yikk who probably caught the flu out of nowhere."
"And scrubbing one of the vents out… ew, not without my full suit on, because I don't want to have to throw up myself, too, you know what I'm saying?" The tomboy rushed towards the nearest cleaning supplies in the storage room and prepared the telescopic jet brush. "But it's only a good thing that I don't have to do it from up close this way." She stuck the brush into the vent, connected the hose to the nearby faucet and started her cleaning task.
Rice, who was in the navigation room and got the message that they and their team lost from the impostors, quickly commanded the attached smaller ship to open its door as soon as possible for everyone to go home after the impostors would be done with their newly assigned tasks.
In the medical bay, Navy and Nori slowly woke up from their unconsciousness.
"Daddy, you're still there…!" Nika softly said once she saw her father's eyes slowly open up.
"Of course I am, sweetie" Navy said in a groggy fashion. "Gaah, what a ripe odour around here…"
"Hey, don't just say that…! You're insulting Yikk that way, and they absolutely cannot do anything about the fact that they threw up the other minute."
"Sorry… you know how I'm almost never careful with my way of words, right?"
"That's what Mum also says very often."
At the same time, Nori groaned out of pain quite loudly as he felt the left side of his head throb quite hard.
"Shh! Be quiet for Yikk, they're sick."
"I know…" the older twin grumbled, "but can I not be in pain?"
"Of course you can" Choco replied, "just watch your environment before expressing that with your vocal cords." He went towards the cupboard, grabbed a washcloth, held it in the sink and gave it to his fellow crewmate.
"Thank you. I am also quite thirsty, could I please have some water to drink?"
"Of course." The chubby crewmate went back to the sink to fill up a disposable plastic cup of water. Once he gave it to the crewmate in black, he also filled one up for Yikk.
"Thank you, Choco" the sick crewmate mumbled, "I couhd suwewy use that." They tried to reach for the cup, but the crewmate in brown put a stop to that.
"I'll feed it to you so you won't soak your clothes by accidently tipping it over. Just hold your head a little upright."
"Ah, that sounds wike somefin' good."
And so, Choco carefully held the cup in front of Yikk's mouth so they could put their lips around the edge and steadily drink the water.
Meanwhile, Billy came into the medical bay in their full suit, grabbed Yikk's quarter-filled pail, emptied it in the nearby toilet and subsequently cleaned it well before putting it back next to the bed.
"Are we scheduled to head home soon?" Nori asked as he put his now empty cup down on the nightstand.
"I dunno" the Latinx replied, "but it doesn't sound like a bad suggestion. Like, who isn't worried about my poor, sweet highlight person?" They headed to Yikk's bed and gently caressed their slightly red left cheek with their thumb.
"I wan' mowe watah" the sick crewmate groaned.
"That's good" Choco said, "but not too much, okay? I don't want you to pee through your diaper unnoticedly soon."
Billy's eyes widened upon hearing the word 'diaper'.
"Whenevah I be sick" Yikk explained to their best friend, "my ohgans get twouble wif holdin' my contents up, so I be mandatowy to weawe them. My youngest sistah has it, too."
"Is that the case during every single time you fall sick?"
"Yes. No mattah if it be the weguwah fwu, a tummy fwu, pneumonia, oh somefin' else in that way, my ohgans ahways hafta weact to such stuff that way. A doctoh said it be somefin' wunning in the famiwy, an' not wewated to the fact that I was fully potty-twained a tad wate."
"And when is 'a tad late'? I, myself, wasn't fully toilet-trained until shortly before going to kindergarten, and so was my younger sibling, so you're absolutely not alone there."
"By day shohtwy aftah kindahgahten, an' by night neawe the end of the fihst half of second gwade."
"Sweetheart, that's not something to be too concerned of. Everyone grows up at their own pace in many respects, don't they?"
"Yeah, that be twue. Back in kindahgahten, I had a ton of accidents, but at weast I wasn't the onwy cwassmate in nappies – I had a cwassmate in a wheelchaih who awso needed them –, an' neithah was I the onwy one who still wet the bed by then. Wike, I've swept at many a home of my cwassmates, an' none of us waughed at one anothah about it…!"
"Then, you must've attended such an awesome kindergarten back then, judging from how openly you discuss this with me." Billy put their hand on their best friend's left shoulder and caressed it.
"Yeah, kindahgahten was such a sudden positive tuhn in my wife, aftah those fihst two weeks in pwe-school one yeawe befowehand in which I got picked on an' such, an' subsequentwy had to be home-schoowed. But hey, at weast I weahned how to wead eahwy back then…! Awso, openwy discussing stuff wike this? Isn't that what best fwiends be fo'?"
The two were left chuckling a little until Yikk slowly but surely drifted off into a brief sleep.
Quite some hours had passed, and the primary doctor of the main group of crewmates from this story just visited to check on Yikk and do a few researches, which went well enough for the both of them.
"I hope you'll feel better soon" Doctor Clarke said, "and please be careful afterwards as well, since this is flu season is nearly as nasty as the last few ones."
"Not as nasty as that whole pandemic 7 yeawhs ago" Yikk stated. "Twust me, even stahting fwom the age of 10, it made a huge impwession on me."
"Yeah, you're right about that. I worked for many, many hours back then, and it even left a huge impression on me." The cheery-looking doctor rubbed the youngster's shoulder, draped some covers over them and headed for the door of the medical room. "Thank you very much for your patience, Individual Brannigan."
"Pwease, you can just call me Yikk, Doctoh Cwahke. An' thank you fo' taking all of youh time to do weseawch on me."
"Anytime. Until next time."
"See ya."
In the kitchen, Navy and Vienna had started cooking dinner for nearly everyone.
Arnie, on the other hand, brought a few plain crackers, a cup of applesauce and a cup of water for Yikk to consume.
"There you go" he said once he put the tray onto the nightstand next to Yikk's bed.
"Thanks, Ahnie" the sick crewmate replied, as they tried to sit up straight, but were forced to lay back down due to another wave of nausea coming up. "Now how I be supposed to eat…?"
The former private went to the cupboard, grabbed a triangular cushion from the lowest and largest section, went back to Yikk's bed, and briefly removed their pillow before placing the larger cushion on the same spot.
"See if you can pose in between lying down and sitting up straight this way."
The youngest crewmate carefully grabbed one of the crackers from the tray and slowly ate it, even if their eyes gave off a hint of doubt.
"I hope the food will remain where it belongs soon" the eldest crewmate said, apparently knowing what the look in his fellow crewmate's eyes thought, "and that's definitely not the cracker box."
The two crewmates were briefly left chuckling.
"Ahnie, of couwse I know you mean my tummy…!"
"If you need me for anything else, please feel free to text or page me."
"Aight."
Arnie left the medical room, quietly closed the door behind him, headed for the dining room and almost sat on top of Bobby, who already sat on his chair at the dining table…
"Arn, watch out!" Pop exclaimed, as she pointed at the Brainslug, who was basically trembling out of fear of almost being squished.
"Why?!" The dark green crewmate looked at his chair in shock, and saw the equally shocked state of Bobby. "Oh dear me, that almost ended up oh so wrong…" He then ruffled the girly girl's hair. "Thanks for warning me back there, Pop. You have such keen eyes."
"Do I?"
They were both left laughing loudly.
"Sorry for almost squishing you back there, Bobby. I didn't mean to, you know that."
The Brainslug sighed loudly in relief and subsequently purred in response while allowing his owner to pet his head.
"So how's Yikk?" Squee asked.
"Aren't they just sick the whole time?" Lava asked with an evil smile, which was 'rewarded' with a bonk on her head from both of the people who sat next to her. "Ow! Quit it already, man!"
"Not if you keep on being so rude to my sweet and sour lime buddy."
"Exactly" Choco said. "You know that they're not 'sick the whole time'. It's just how they are, and we're all different, you know that."
"They're doing okay" Arnie said to Squee, "but they handle themself with the utmost care in the meantime, too. Sitting up straight still makes them nauseous, so I thought of a little solution for that, which worked out successfully."
"Are you sure they can be alone for now?" The dumb blonde nervously fidgeted with their fingers.
"Of course. They'll only contact me via the phone or pager once something really is the matter. As long as it won't happen during the midst of dinner, you won't see me frown due to internally complaining."
A few others at the table chuckled about the statement.
"Can I go and see them soon?" Neri asked.
"Please don't" Nika replied, "because otherwise, you'll get sick, too, and would you like that?"
"Uh… no?"
"Exactly, neither do I."
Within no time, dinner was ready to be served, and everyone in and around the dining room settled into their seats to eat.
Dinnertime went by smoothly, as did everyone's subsequent chore of washing their own dishes and such before putting them back into the drawers and cupboards.
Once everything was all done, Lava headed for her own room to go to the balcony for her second-to-last smoke of the day, while most of the people from the dorm room went there to pick their leisurewear and subsequently head for the washroom to take their showers.
Arnie wanted to head back to the medical room to check on Yikk and bring them some clothes, but Vienna put a stop to that.
"Neri and Yuri are with Navy" she said, "so I'm completely safe to come in. Please, you should also have a shower, or something. I'll take care of Yikk. Indeed, I'll even bathe them if they'd like."
"Vienna, thank you" Arnie said, "you're one of the best colleagues." He headed upstairs to do as he was requested.
The purple crewmate gently opened the door.
"Hewwo, Vienna" Yikk greeted her.
"Hello to you too, Yikk. How are you doing right now?"
"I have eaten jus' now, but now feel yucky… yet I dunno if I'll be able to wash myself…"
"I can help you with that."
"Aw, thank you, that be vewy kind of you. I accept youh offah."
Vienna helped Yikk out of their clothes, brought them to the nearby washroom with ease, took their nappy off and washed them thoroughly without complaining, as if she was washing Yuri.
After the washing session, she dried them off, provided them with a fresh nappy and their sleepwear, brought them back to their bed and handed them their toothbrush.
"Thank you. You be so skiwwed in this, Vienna, even if I not be the age of youh chiwdwen at all."
"Aw, that's very nice of you to say."
"Once someone othah than me gets sick, you should take cawe of them jus' wike me… jus' except theih ohgans wohk jus' fine when they sick, since my condition only wuns in my famiwy, appawentwy."
"But I am able to carry them to the toilet if they're in too much pain or nausea to even walk. Remember how I did this to you when you just woke up from unconsciousness on a mission?"
"Wight, fohgot about that." Yikk started to brush their teeth in quite some frantic fashion.
After about five minutes, they were done, and spat in the now empty cup that still stood on the nightstand.
Next up, they carefully slid the triangular cushion off of the bed, laid down and arranged their dolls that sat at their headboard.
"What lovely dolls you have there."
"Thank you." The childish crewmate pointed at each doll and told their fellow crewmate about the dolls' origins. "This be Citwi, they be named that because they have owange haih, wike my Dad an' thwee of my sibwings, an' because of theih cwothing. This be Bwinky, they be named that because of his eyes that bwink when I lay him down. An' this be Ace, who be the ace of spades, as you can see on his cwothing."
"So they're Citri, Blinky and Ace? Very original names, too."
"They keep me company an' pwotect me fwom bad dweams, but in case I still had one, they comfoht me fwom them." Yikk yawned widely, closed their eyes, took their comfort blanket in their grasp and popped their thumb into their mouth. "If you dun mind, I be athweep thoon. Nighty night."
"That's absolutely fine by me, Yikk, do whatever pleases you." Vienna tucked her fellow crewmate in and gently kissed their left cheek. "Sleep well." She then turned the main lights off, left the nightlight on, grabbed the tray that still stood on the nightstand, and quietly left the medical room, shortly after which Yikk fell into a deep sleep.
"Ah, thank you, Vienna" Arnie said as he just arrived downstairs, his hair being damp and him being dressed in leisurewear now. "I almost forgot about it, frankly."
"That's why I sent you off to have a shower and all that jazz, silly." The mother headed towards the kitchen, where she cleaned the used utilities well before putting them back into their respective storage units. "You shouldn't overwork and wear yourself out that way, even if you're the leader of us."
"I guess you're right, I do occasionally tend to overwork, but I'm thankful to have someone to put a stop to that, too." The former private sat down and let the water boiler do its work for his next cup of tea.
"Sweetums" Navy said, "if you're looking for me, I'll be preparing the kids for bed."
"G'night, Mummy" Nika and Neri said as they briefly went to their mother to give her a kiss goodnight.
"Good night to you guys, too" Vienna said, as she kissed them back.
Yuri also briefly got handed to her to receive a kiss and a hug.
Afterwards, all three children went upstairs with their father.
"Shall I let you in on a little secret…?"
"Spill the beans" Arnie chuckled.
"Yikk just insisted to go to sleep early, so I'm convinced that they're asleep already at this point."
"Doesn't surprise me. Once they close their eyes and seek some good comfort from both the outside and inside, they fall asleep quite quickly, and in such a deep sleep, too. I'm honestly very jealous of that, as I've never been a good sleeper, to be honest."
"Oh, neither have I, and not just because of the children. Born insomniac, raised insomniac, and the same applied to all three of my younger sisters. It's quite a family thing among us."
At the same time, the water was boiled well enough, and Arnie got up to pour himself and Vienna some tea.
"Is there a thing such as a secondary leader of a group of crewmates, Arnie?"
"I don't know. Ask Mack."
The two crewmates were briefly left chuckling.
"I should probably be one of such. Or a tertiary one, if Navy gets to be the secondary one. As for Lava, she moooost likely won't become a leader among us until the cows come home."
Another shout of laughter followed, which apparently fell on deaf ears otherwise, as Lava, Squee, Billy, Charlie, Pop, Rice, Nori and Choco didn't ask anything in the way of "Are you guys doing okay?".
Furthermore, the rest of the evening was well-spent by the rest of the crewmates who were healthy.
