It was later the same day of the run, and Roman had gotten in to the lab at 0600. His reports were finished at their normal time. All his early morning duties completed. But by 1000, four hours later, the energy gained by the run had worn away, and his tea was doing little to help. There was a saying about holding one’s eyes open with toothpicks, and that was quite accurate to how Roman felt.

He was trying to finish some paperwork for the lab, but he’d been staring at the same field for ten minutes. His handwriting wasn’t as neat as usual. Finally he wrote something in, signed the document, and moved on.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO