Episode 13: Maybe It's Worms

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The crew gathered in their Sunday finest, peering sadly over a casket with a dead crewman in it. So shortly into the story of their life, like maybe a hundred pages or so, their life was tragically cut short by the fact that space is actually dangerous as all get-out and inevitably people are gonna die in it, especially with no medic onboard and most of the hull made from garbage and tape. Marley cleared his throat and took a deep breath.

"We are gathered here in this airlock, with sad hearts, to give our fellow crewman a final farewell. She was a good friend, someone we counted on and someone with a strong drive for adventure. As we give this body to the void of space, we know she will always be with us in spirit and in our memory. With that said, we send of Tashi Yokomato, our navigation engineer." he said closing the airlock with a slow press of the big red button.

"That was beautiful, Mar." Lawg nodded, getting out his speech from his pocket. "When you are on a starship, even with a small handful of crewmen, well under 7, it's often easy to miss the extras in the background flipping switches and turning knobs, some can remain invisible for several adventures, but when you lose someone...suddenly we all remember their place and how much they mean to us. Weather or not they have any dialogue or they get cut out of the ship reports entirely...sometimes space claims a life and since it would be super difficult to lose a main crewman like Uka, or even the robot...Ray, I think is his name...it seems cruel that fate always takes the nameless workers that are so easily missed by everyone. We will never forget the Asian chick that has been with this ship the entire time, and until now, not tied in with events important enough to mention. It's too bad her first major role was death." he said folding the paper back up. Roy stepped forward.

"I'm Roy...the robot: spelled R-O-Y. I remember so much about her, so many memories that I could talk for 10 pages of ship log entries worth of filler about her backstory, but we all know it well enough, so I will just say this...you were special, and the crew won't be the same without you, Tashi." he said.

Uka looked back and forth at everyone as they solemnly shuffled off in different directions. Her eyes showed her overwhelming urge to speak but she hesitated, heavy with a feeling of confusion.

"Hey?! Seriously!" she barked "What the ass? When did we get an Asian chick on this ship?" she asked. Lawg looked mortified, silently shunning her as the others shook their heads in poor taste. Lawg wiped a tear.

"Geese Uka, have some respect...someone died." he said as they all shook their heads in disbelief at her insensitive attitude.

Marley sat in the Captain's chair with his furry feet up and silently squinted as he appeared to be in deep thought.

"Hey Roy..." Marley said, chewing on some red rope candy. "Member when we Stole Hitler's pants and left him on Delmar 9?" he yawned, exhaling smoke.

"Dude...that was like 7 days ago." Roy noted.

"Whacky fun...good times." Marley wheezed.

"Yea it was pretty fun after the...oh shit, change subjects Lawg is comin." He whispered as he entered the Den, Roy awkwardly changed subjects. "So yea, can't believe we found that guy in the escape pod who was wanted for space-piracy and got to keep all his shit." Roy diverted. "How you doin Twiggy?" he asked Lawg.

"Mild headache, I still feel like hell from a week ago, I must have taken a pretty bad fall." He groaned.

"Yea you were crazy-sober when we made that haul. I told you and Duffy not to spend every bit of your cut on those fancy alien drinks, but I'm not your pappa." Roy coughed, waving the smoke discreetly.

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