Ten Years can do a lot to mess you up.

Ten years.

Ten years of hard manual labour.

Ten years of the greatest technological achievement being water moved from one place to another.

Ten years where the only thing to wake you up in the morning was the bright sunshine through a window, birds chirping in the morning light, reminding you that the rest of the world has already woken up.

There was something to be said for the near silence on a planet with virtually no technology. No electrical whirring, humming or clicking.

Jamie wandered the halls of the Blue Dwarf that evening, unable to sleep. He'd just been to the temporary medibay to get his hand looked at. Every little noise had become foreign, every chirp of a circuit seemed like someone banging on the inside of his head.

"Hey there!" cried a coffee dispenser on the wall. Jamie shrieked like a girl, and clung to the oppposite wall like he'd just seen a ghost.

"What? Am I that scary? 34-B told me I was scary, but I think she's just jealous of how many cups of coffee I dispense in a day." The vending machine said.

"I'm sorry..." Jamie said, still against the opposite wall. "It's been a long time since I was on a ship like this, I'd almost forgotten what it was like." he admitted.

"Where have you been? In a cave?" The vending machine asked, suggesting that there was virtually no escape from technology.

"Jungle planet." Jamie replied simply. "Nothing electrical worked."

"Oh you poor thing! did you at least have Coffee?" The vending machine said, pouring one for him as it spoke.

"No. I haven't had a cup of coffee in years." Jamie replied, truthfully.

"Here, have one on me. If you've been away for that long, I doubt you'll have any money anyway. Come back to me whenever you want, and I'll get you hooked up."

"You sound like a drug dealer..." Jamie commented, taking the coffee.

"But Coffee is a drug! It's wonderful, has restorative properties, helps you work and play longer, helps you-" The machine continued on this trend for a while, but Jamie had taken a sip of the coffee, and everything had blended in together. Ten long years without coffee, and now the memories of every engineers addiction to the stuff comes back in one go. Memories of toiling underneath some mechanical monstrosity with nothing but a cup of coffee to keep you going.

"Are you alright for oil?" he asked absent mindedly. He didn't even realise he'd asked it until the machine responded.

"Actually, I don't know. My oil sensors are on the blink. I might be ok, but I really have no idea."

"Ok, where's the nearest maintenance lockup?" Jamie asked, his engineering head returning slowly. Something in his mind told him that he needed to fix something, or he'd lose his skills forever.

** Three Hours Later **

"Hey, what are you doing in there?" The vending machine asked, as its voice went a little wobbly.

"Oh, nothing to worry about." Jamie said. "Your voice module is a little out of alignment. I reckon it'd only have lasted another 24-36 hours." A couple of sparks flew from the machine into the corridor, bouncing off of Jamie's knee. He was still wearing the leather clothes that he'd made himself on the planet. They were protective, comfortable and most importantly, fire resistant.

"I thought you were going to change the oil sensors?"

"I can't right now." Jamie replied. "There aren't any spare. I've taken the broken ones out, and I'm going to see if i can fix them. Your oil levels are fine though, you'll last until I can repair these and bring them back."

** another hour later **

"Hey bro." Holly said, appearing in the room Jamie had sequestered for himself. It wasn't a proper habitation room, it was as far from the engine room as he could find. It had taken him a full hour to find it, but it seemed to be the quietest room on the ship. It was still too loud though.

"Don't do that." Jamie said, fighting off the second heart attack of the day from technology not warning of its arrival.

"Don't do what? I didn't do anything." Holly replied.

"yes you did, you appeared and spoke. Scared the crap out of me."

"Well, it's not my fault you're a scaredy cat." Holly jeered. "I guess that means you don't want to know there's cooked food at the promenade for ya. I checked your file - got some work for you if you want. Just thought I'd sweeten the deal first." And with that, Holly's head vanished.

Jamie got up from the bed, which was too.... something... for him to sleep. Too soft? Too smooth? Too far from the straw and hay that he'd been sleeping on for ten years, that it would take another year to get used to normal beds again? Who knows. Whatever the reason, he left, and headed to the promenade, via the vending machine he was working on.

"Hey again. More co-" it began, but the circuits had already produced a coffee, which Jamie had taken. "How did you do that? I didn't even start making it!"

"Proximity sensor. You'll beat the crap out of 34-B no contest." he said, wandering off again. He stopped and turned around. "Which way to the promenade?" He asked. It was a big ship, much bigger than the SS Hercules that he served on before, and also much more difficult to navigate.

<tag to anyone who wants to be on the promenade. a sleep deprived engineer wearing home made leather is on the way!>