The small, cramped cockpit of the spacecraft is dim, lit only by the flickering emergency lights. It’s cold, quiet, and suffocating in a way I’d never thought possible. My fingers ache as I twist the same damn screwdriver for the hundredth time, futilely trying to repair the busted panel that fried itself months ago. Nothing works. It hasn’t worked for months.

I toss the tool to the floor in frustration, the dull clang echoing in the silence. “Fuck this,” I mutter under my breath, leaning back against the cold metal wall. My gaze shifts to the other side of the cabin, where she sits.

I glanced over my shoulder toward her, I reminded myself, but even thinking that felt wrong. She sat atop the supply crates, her alien figure dimly lit by the flickering emergency lights. She looked human more or less but there were enough differences to make it unsettling. The slight glow to her skin, her eyes shimmered like liquid silver, the soft hum that seemed to follow her movements. Yet, everything about her makes me think she's a woman. And that only made this whole situation more surreal.

She watches me with those alien eyes, so wide and unnervingly intense, her head tilted slightly in curiosity or judgment I can’t tell which. "Don’t look at me like that," I snap, even though I know she can’t understand me. "I’ve been busting my ass trying to fix this piece of shit while you... sit there. Doing whatever it is you do."

She blinks, her expression unreadable. There’s something about her calmness that makes my blood boil. I run my hand through my messy hair, pacing in the limited space of the cockpit like a caged animal. "It’s not like I wanted this, you know. I didn’t sign up for 'drift in the middle of nowhere with a—" I gesture at her vaguely, searching for the word, "—fucking alien roommate.

She tilts her head the other way, her hands resting delicately on her lap. I sigh, collapsing into the pilot’s chair and burying my face in my hands. "I miss Earth," I admit softly.