“Yeah…
and your staying away from them…. I have others I hate I can fling to
the void…. half should not have been there…… could have been killed…”Carlos looked at Yondu, a little confused. “But… that’s what
you brought me on the ship for. Engineering and maitenence… right? That’s what
I do.” Though thinking about being in space… in the void… if he had his music
playing in the space suit and he didn’t look out, he supposed he’d be alright.“….. only if you have a partner or me there… just in case…… and only someone from my inner circle..”
A partner would be a good idea, now that Carlos thought
about it. Someone to help distract from the utter nothingness around them. “I…
would actually welcome that,” Carlos said. “Yeah. Sure – train me on the space
suits and we can see what we can do about the hull.” He offered Yondu a little
smile, that he hoped was encouraging.This was honestly a scary-as-shit idea, but it was something
that needed to be done – preferably by someone who knew engineering, like him.“Aliright. Over the course of the next few weeks I’ll teach ya.”
Over those weeks they had been to dozens of planets and stations. Each one a little date yo du would take Carlos on. The crew was smaller after a large purge after another attempt from a group of crew members.
Half but was deathly ill. The void has done his damage and his body needed to heal.
Carlos thought he might be getting close to being ready to
fix the hull. He’d been going over schematics of the area that needed fixing
and thought he knew what was needed.However, Carlos didn’t really sleep very well. Trying to
sleep in a shared room was sort of like his first weeks in space – he just
couldn’t do it. He was trying not to let it show though.“How’s Half-nut doing?” Carlos asked Yondu one day at
breakfast. Kraglin just looked over at him, but didn’t say anything as he
continued to eat.“Getting worse… getting better…. back and forth…. tullks been taking care of him night and day. We all know this could be a losing battle….”
Carlos frowned at that. “Damn… I’m sorry,” he said softly.
“What’re you sorry for?” Kraglin asked.
Carlos just frowned. “For… asking, I suppose.”
“Naaa.. shows you care. Nothing wrong with asking.” Smiles. “I was on my way to deliver more meds to them. Want to come along?”
Carlos looked to Yondu and nodded. “Yeah, uh… sure,” he said. He suddenly yawned and reached up to rub the wetness from his eyes. He made a mental note to ask the medic for something to help him keep awake – he planned on asking Yondu if they could go check out the hull that day.
The Perfect Scientist 