The young astronaut took off his trousers and sat down on the wide WC seat. It was necessary to fasten his seatbelt, otherwise he could not move his hands freely and he needed them now. He was indeed about to satisfy himself to end this day with a climax. ... Why not? Space or no space. He should only make sure to intercept his sperm in time to save himself the trouble of the landing net.

Completely relaxed, he worked his way forward, closed his eyes and tried to imagine the luscious fake breasts of a model when a: "Ga ga ga got", came to his ear. He just ignored it, he was too close to let go, he didn't want to and couldn't stop now. But after the fifth "da da da dauwn", he screamed annoyed:

"Tomo! Shut the hell up. You're disturbing!" Torio tried to concentrate again, his muscles twitched and he gave his best, but the moment was destroyed. Visibly annoyed, he looked up and at the same moment he froze. Only his hand slipped away from his member and the otherwise so bored eyes fixed wide open a single small hatch that offered a wonderful view into space while doing his business. This time he could not have been mistaken, no for sure. As if by remote control, he released the brackets that gave him support and floated to the porthole. Where had it gone? And that crow before, it didn't sound tinny, hollow and annoying, ... not like Tomoya or Ryo, he realized that now. It was higher, completely different... in a way lovely. As beautiful and unique as a "ga ga ga got" could be.

Torio shuddered, maybe because of his nakedness, which he didn't care. His thoughts revolved solely around those big infinitely deep brown eyes that were watching him for a brief moment earlier.

"Hey beautiful, where are you? ...show yourself to me..." With the tip of his nose on the glass, he breathed the words against the bulletproof glass as if he could attract the unknown being. I don't know if the window could fog up, but given his proximity, it definitely would. Then he put his trembling fingers on it, listened and stared strained into nothingness. It was there, he felt it and goose bumps spread over his whole body. Still he could not turn away. Not now, ... when they were so close.

"Master! Hello, Torio.

"Shhhh...be quiet, Tomo," the man whispered and waved to be quiet.

"But you... don't wear pants?!" the robot said uncomprehendingly but much quieter. When he noticed that he didn't make any effort to move, he fished for the clothes and carefully approached the astronaut. "Torio, you're going to freeze your ass off. Here, get dressed. Otherwise you'll catch a cold and the journey will end sooner than you like. Go on, be reasonable. Torio let his head down and sighed heavily.

"You're probably right. I think ... I exaggerated a bit today," he admitted and all of a sudden he felt stupid and terribly tired. Tomoya helped him to get dressed and tried to straighten up the visibly dejected young man by assuring him to check all the pictures and control the radar. Maybe it was defective, because it couldn't detect anything, silently triggering an alarm.

"It's okay, I'm gonna get some sleep. Wake me up in two hours at the latest," Torio murmured and strapped himself to the couch.

"Will do, boss." He would be careful not to shake the confused man awake after such a short time. After all, there was no good reason for it.

As he left the bunk, the astronaut turned to the side of the plane and buried his head in the pillow. No one noticed the dark brown doe eyes behind the slender fingers, which in the next moment lay on the outside of the window pane, drawing closer with the tiny suction cups. Long lashes brushed against the hatch and a curious glance fell on the sleeping man's back.

Again, the incident was pushed aside as there was no sign of any interference in the radar system. After a few days Torio, too, came to terms with the fact that he might have had one drink too many that evening. The studies continued and they approached the first celestial body they could land on to replenish their supplies and control all systems. "Autland," that was the name of the city that awaited them. Tomo and Ryota were looking forward to new company, not that Torio wasn't enough, but some robot buddies with whom they had done their "training" lived there permanently. The astronaut, on the other hand, dreaded the idea of being clumsy and helpless in a wheelchair again.

"Autland" was built under a huge dome, in which you could move as if on earth, in his case you had to. But this visit was unavoidable and the mood of the man was accordingly bad.

"I swear too, if you say one word about my imagination, I'll turn your backs on you forever, understand?" he grumbled at the two of them and reaped only a cheerful peeping. It's a good thing the robots are not infected by the bad mood, otherwise the air in the little capsule would be too thick to breathe. Only the loud music put the young man in a better mood. Whereby in the last few days he was always pondering in amazement about their singing together. It sounded so much better, each time fuller, louder and above all not so tinny. Well, practice makes perfect, maybe they would even start their own band one day. Who knows?

"Tomo, you're doing great. Your voice is getting better and better, you are very capable of learning, although ... your nightly rehearsal sessions are quite intrusive.

"I think it's good... keep it up!" Torio gave him a friendly pat on the back.

"Ehh? ...what do you think?" Ryo butted in, almost looking jealous "The tin bucket sounds as good as ever, and believe me Boll, at night he sleeps like a log." There was no further clarification, as the base contacted and needed their exact dates for the upcoming landing

"Prepare for docking, docking will occur in approximately four hours. Good luck and check your rudders, they look very different. Do you have a license for that?" The three in the capsule looked at each other in wonder. "Who has changed what where?" Torio asked alarmed and checked the onboard computer for the umpteenth time. As usual, nothing to worry about. Only this "plop, ... plop, ... flop, ... flop, ... plop", which they had gotten used to by now, sounded here and there, indefinable, what and where it came from.

"I don't know what you mean, but when we land, you can give the rocket a new coat of paint and change all the rudders for all I care." He shrugged his shoulders to show his ignorance. He didn't want to reveal his inner restlessness, not even in front of the two companions, who were taking routine steps to get the rocket in shape and hang things floating around in their places.

"Pop... pop... pop... flop... flop..."

"Gee, sometimes I have the silly feeling that our hut is on the verge of collapse. This constant popping and cracking we get louder and louder and more and more frequent. I would think it has a regularity of time and sounds a bit like ... rhythm? ... Maybe the deep bass beats were too much? The vibrations have loosened our screws and rivets and everything is falling apart," Tomoya said, playing anxiously, and his colleague laughed. "Hey he he! ... Then we should start the rehearsal for the example, ... One two three... (Clearing throat) praaaah!!!"

None of them were really afraid of an explosion of their rocket, so Torio turned the volume down to the limit and the now intensified plop, crackle, crow and singing got completely lost in the noise of the music and the laughter of the three space explorers.

The exuberant mood ended abruptly after only a few minutes, however. With a loud

"Pong!" it suddenly became pitch black and quiet. Every light went out, one by one, and the two robots seemed to fall asleep.