Doug was lying on the bunk opposite me. It was cramped metallic quarters. There was little floor space between us. He was fidgeting. Here in this military quarters underground, it made it hard to realize that we were down on the Mother Planet and no longer up in the space station. He was playing with his hands, whispering things under his breath.
“Hey, can’t sleep?”
He looked over, startled. “Yeah, I guess it’s contagious.”
“I don’t know if I caught it from you. I think we both got it from anticipation.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
“Don’t worry Doug. We’ve trained hard, not just this week, but for a couple of years on the space station too.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“Do you think we’ll survive—the mission, I mean,” he said.
“Yeah of course. Don’t worry about that Doug.”
We were silent.
“Crap, man, I don’t know,” I said. “Who knows what will happen Doug, but one thing I know.”