DH had entirely changed around the sleeping area. The blanket that they had pinned to the walls using powerful magnets closed off the back quarter of their living area, creating a cozy little alcove where their beds were. DH had clearly taken some time to move some furniture around as well. The beds, which had once been on separate sides of the hallway, had been together to create one bigger bed. DH had also stacked the storage containers that could no longer fit under the beds along one wall.
“I thought that this might be better.” DH said as with a yawn as they stripped off their uniform, “I should have asked first through.”
TO turned back to DH, “Why?” They asked as they pulled off their dusty uniform.
“Well… I didn’t know if you’d want the option of a separate bed or not… I mean, we always sleep together, but-”
“This is perfect.” TO said. They looked around for the laundry chute to throw their dusty old uniform down, but then quickly remembered that such things were no longer around.
Right. They had to take care of such things on their own now.
“Where’s the laundry system?” TO asked as they looked around.
“In the washrooms.” DH responded, “Just recessed into the walls. I can power up the laundry, but I don’t know how loud it’ll be.”
TO dropped their uniform across the stacked up storage crates and flopped into bed. “That’s fine.” They muttered. “I’m sure it can last until tomorrow. Besides. Last thing we need is the noise of a clothes washer keeping us up. I don’t even feel tired yet, not really.”
“I know.” DH said as they tossed their uniform over TO’s, “Fine, it can wait until morning.”
TO pulled the covers over themself as they tried to get comfortable. DH slid in behind them, their wings draping over TO under the blankets. TO remembered how they had woken up that day and remembered DH’s breath on the back of their ears. They remembered how flustered they had felt.
“Hey.” TO said quickly as they turned over, “I’d rather sleep on my other side.”
“Oh?” DH looked surprised, “Really? I feel like you always sleep on-“
“I know, but I think I’d be more comfortable today sleeping on the other side.”
DH gave a quick smile, “Not a problem.” They said as they turned over, their back to TO. TO draped their wing and an arm over DH before they pulled up the covers. DH reached out to one of the glowing panels in the wall. The light flickered off and suddenly they were in the dark.
It was darker than TO was used to; normally they had dim lights seeping in from outside their pods, or light from their screens at least! The blanket that DH had put up blocked any light that would have come from the consoles on the other side of the room. There was one tiny window nearby through which TO and DH could see the stars outside, but they provided very little light. Even if the stars had been closer and brighter, the smaller windows all over the ship had extra tinted layers to protect the synths inside.
Some people were afraid of the dark. Some whole species were afraid of the dark. TO had never been in such darkness before, but they found it comfortable and relaxing.
“I think it might be difficult to sleep today.” DH whispered. There was no need for whispering, but the darkness made it feel like speaking above a careful, low tone would be wrong. “I don’t feel tired at all.”
“Me neither.” TO muttered, “I have a feeling that we’re going to be exhausted tomorrow.” They sighed as they shifted closer to DH, behind very careful not to press their head too close to the back of DH’s head. Instead, they leaned their head forward and pressed their forehead to the back of DH’s neck. “Still.” They muttered, “That’s how we’ll adjust. I Imagine we’ll sleep well tomorrow night.”
Night. How odd to think of night and day, of light and darkness. How odd to think of a sleep schedule that was synced up to the rotation of a planet and not the orderly division of hours that composed the galactic calendar.
“Still… I don’t know how I’m going to sleep now.” DH muttered. “At least I’m comfortable.”
TO felt their ears flush as DH pressed up against them, but despite that they held DH closer, enjoying the warmpth. TO never had this much space for sleeping before, save for the odd visit to the medical bay. While they draped one wing over DH, they flicked backwards and let it off the edge of the bed. They didn’t have to worry about hitting the edge of a wall now. Also, DH had been right; the bed was softer in the ship, and the blankets a little thicker. They felt so comfortable, but more oddly they felt safe. Although they were flying through the void of space, they felt safe.
They wanted to tell DH. Now would be a perfect time, wouldn’t it be? Whisper it in their ear as sleep slowly embraced them. Tell them while it was dark and they couldn’t see each other’s ears…
Wait… wait, no; that wouldn’t work. While it terrified TO to see the discomfort or even disgust showing in DH’s ears, they knew that not knowing what DH’s genuine reaction was would be so much worse.
“If you like.” TO said, keeping their voice low. Somehow, it felt wrong to make a lot of noise in such darkness. “We could watch a show? Watch something on our chips before we fall asleep?” The light from that would let TO see something, anyway. Maybe this wasn’t the plan they had come up with while they had been doing their tasks, but it was something!
“I want to.” DH muttered, “But, I feel like we need to sleep. At the very least, we need to rest… right? That’s what they said when they told us about adjusting; even if we cannot sleep, just sitting in the dark and resting will help us adjust. Right?”
“Right.” TO said. Oh well. Maybe that was for the best; their original plan was better, anyway; telling DH in the middle of space, surrounded by stars as they rushed forward to Arkane. Hopefully, it wouldn’t make DH uncomfortable. Hopefully, even if they didn’t feel the same way, DH would still feel comfortable just… just being with TO just as they were.
TO wondered if DH would feel comfortable if they knew what went through their mind sometimes. If DH knew the things that TO thought about, if they knew about the daydreams that TO often indulged in…
If DH knew how those daydreams made their ears twitch and made them feel like they were itchy on the inside all over. Would DH still be comfortable then? Was it right not to tell them?
“Are you sure you’re comfortable?” TO asked, their voice quiet and tentative.
“Of course.” Came DH’s quick reply, “you?”
“Very.” they muttered back. They did their best to ignore the anxiety that was building up in their stomach; for now, they were safe. For now, they were with DH.
For now, everything was wonderful.
======
TO didn’t realize that they had fallen asleep. They didn’t know they were asleep until the alarms that they had set the day before started blaring from their hands, startling them both. They sat up in the bed, scared, disoriented, and clutching at one another as they looked around and took in their environment.
Right… They were in space. They were on a ship. They had left the training center behind.
Exhaustion overcame TO almost immediately, and they flopped back down onto the bed, pulling the blankets over their head; the lights were brighter now and TO’s sleep bleary eyes weren’t ready for that. They tried to hold on to DH, but DH slid out of bed.
“I’ll take a shower.” DH said. They were speaking quickly for someone that had only just woken up “We can only go on at a time, so I’ll go first.”
“Fine.” TO mumbled as they wrapped their wings around themself, pressing their face into the pillow, “Go ahead; I’m going to sleep more.”
TO wasn’t sure if DH had heard them, or if they responded; they were so tired that they felt like they were trying to think under water; like all their thoughts were facing this odd resistance. They glanced at their chip and checked the time.
8am.
The time made no sense to TO at first, but then they remembered they had switched to Arkane time. They did some rough math in their sleep addled brain; last time they recalled looking at their chip, it had been 3am. Considering the time difference, and the different length of hours, TO figured that they had gotten only about 3 galactic hours of sleep.
Not enough. Not nearly enough. A synth needed more sleep! Even machines needed regular maintenance, and TO knew they needed at least 6 galactic hours of sleep.
Well, no. 6 galactic hours for every 40 galactic hours. Right. They’d have to get used to shorter, more frequent sleeping periods. They tried to figure out how long it would be in galactic hours before they could sleep again, but their mind wouldn’t do the calculations.
TO heard the shower turn on. They wanted to sleep more, but they knew they should get up and start getting used to the time change… still, would it be ok if they just took another few minutes? They reached for their chip to set an alarm for themself, but saw they had a message.
It took them a moment to remember who Hur-14 was. Avery had responded to their message from the day before.
ARK-87.
My departure happened with no issues. It wouldn’t be surprising if you could pick up our ship on radar; we are of course heading to the same star system and taking the same wormhole.
I believe I will work well with HUR-13. They don’t talk a lot outside of the most essential communication, so I am left alone to do all the reading and research I wish once I am done with my chores.
We have switched over to planetary time. Our planet only has a 16 hour day! It regulates us to six hours of sleep for every 10! It will take a while to get used to; at least the hours are shorter.
Planetary time schedules are awful; I wish everyone went with Galactic time.
I wonder how your research is coming along. Specifically, I wonder about the research projects you wanted to wait to pursue until you were on the way to Arkane.
You should have started by now. It would disappoint me to learn you were procrastinating.
-Hur-14.
Avery was so much more talkative in messages like this; it made TO smile as they read over it. At least 55H-, no, Hur-12, at least they weren’t causing Avery any problems. TO felt a little bad for the short days that Avery had to deal with, but it made them feel better about their own new schedule.
It could be worse.
With a sigh, TO responded to Avery’s message, coming up with reasons they hadn’t quite started their research project.
