Gondo awoke from his slumber, laying on the Casting table. Looking down over him was the crystal man.

  “He hasn’t moved since he got here. He’s just been standing there watching you,” Lowell said.

  Gondo sat up and looked around the room. It looked like a tray holding various monitoring equipment had been knocked over on the ground, likely what he had heard over the comms.

  “When it appeared out of nowhere it startled me,” Ignasius said, sheepishly.

  The crystal man looked just as he had before. The light of the laboratory was refracting through him, casting bobbing rainbow-colored dots across the room.

  “He doesn’t appear dangerous, just curious,” Lowell said.

  Gondo swung his feet off the edge of the table, then stood. The silent immutable gaze of the crystal man followed him as he did so. He waved a hand to it and once again, it waved back.

  “I think he likes me,” Gondo said. “He copies whatever I do.”

  Just as a test Gondo began jumping around in a circle, patting his head. The crystal man did the same. He began walking down the hallway towards the cockpit and the man followed him. No ill intent, just pure inquisitiveness.

  They continued to perform a variety of tests and found that no matter what he did, the crystal man would mimic it. This became a real problem when Gondo had to use the restroom.

  The crytal man followed Gondo to the door.

  “You stay out here,” Gondo said. He held out his hand in a gesture meaning stay. The crystal man mimicked him, holding up its own hand, palm flat towards him.

  “Well, here goes nothing,” Gondo said.

  He closed the door. Ignasius and Lowell saw the crystal man squat down and then chunks of crystal started to drop from his body.

  This was, of course, the funniest thing either of them had ever seen. Gondo could hear their laughter from inside the restroom. The crystal man then bowed his head and put his hands over his face, only drawing more laughter from the rest of the crew.

  They spent the rest of the day studying their new friend. They were able to examine some of his crystal droppings and found that there were no dissimilarities from the structure of the crystals they were familiar with from Earth or other planets.

  “He must somehow be able to animate the inorganic matter, truly fascinating,” Lowell said.

  “But why is he here?” Ignasius asked.

  This was a question nobody had any answer to. Perhaps he was an explorer, like Gondo.

  Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  “You said the fish absorbed matter, then transported it across space to their home planet,” Ignasius said. “Then it seemed as if they delivered it into the planet’s core, and that in turn powered the rest of the spider creatures. If his species is capable of instantaneous travel, like we’ve witnessed, why couldn’t they just teleport the raw materials from the asteroid back to their homeworld?”

  They were unable to communicate with it, so it looked like they wouldn’t be able to figure it out today. The crew decided it was time to call it an evening.

  Gondo walked to his room and opened the door. The crystal man followed, opening the door to the adjacent room.

  “Good night!” Gondo said and closed his door. He saw the door of the room across the hall closing as well. He sat down on his bunk and pulled up the camera feed from that room on his monitor. There was the crystal man, laying in the bunk in the room across from him.

  Gondo chuckled to himself. The universe really was a bizarre place. He closed his eyes and drifted to sleep.

  ...

  He awoke the next day, wondering if his strange new friend would still be on the ship. He opened his door and sure enough, the crystal man greeted him.

  A short while later the crew was sitting at breakfast. The crystal man, of course, sitting across from Gondo, mimicking the scoops that Gondo took from his bowl.

  “One thing seems certain,” Igansius said. “This fellow seems like he is here to stay for a while. That being said, I think he needs a name!”

  “I’ve been thinking about that too,” Lowell said. “Gondo, you discovered him. You get to name him.”

  Gondo thought for a moment and landed on a name from one of his favorite old school video games.

  “Rockman.”

  This was the Japanese version of the name of his favorite character: Mega Man.

  The others agreed it was a fitting name.

  After finishing up their morning routine it was time for the next Cast. Gondo approached the Casting table, followed by Rockman. He lay down upon it, expecting Rockman to lay on the ground. Instead, he just stood next to the table, watching Gondo.

  “That’s odd,” Ignasius said. “I think that’s the first time he hasn’t mirrored your actions.”

  It was strange. Rockman just stood there, once again watching Gondo with his craggy head.

  The crew decided to continue with the Cast.

  The meditation began, the chemicals delivered, and Gondo sent his mind to another galaxy. The Moonshield hit and he opened the door to the cosmos.

  There, floating just in front of him, was Rockman.

  “Guys, he’s here!” Gondo said.

  He heard Lowell’s voice crackling over the comms, “We thought so, he disappeared from the Sunsword just as the Moonshield was administered.”

  How very, very strange. Gondo moved around a bit and Rockman mirrored him. “He’s acting the same as before,” he said. “I’m going to try and move around some more and see what happens.”

  He looked around at the galaxy he had ended up in. For this Cast they had selected a random point in space. There was nothing near him, just a beautiful 360-degree starfield. Regardless his enhanced senses transformed the experience into something visceral.

  He could feel the stars by their light, burning ages away from him. He could see the trails of comets, long passed but still the evidence of their silent voyage remained. Each time he Cast under the Moonshield, these senses grew stronger.

  “Alright buddy, let’s see what you can do,” he said.

  He bent his focus in a random direction, away from the silver cord that trailed off into the distance behind him, back to his corporeal body. His astral form began to shift towards that focus.

  He looked to his side, and saw Rockman flying along beside him, that odd glowing face tilted towards his.

  And so, the space ghost and the crystal man took the first of their many flights into the incomprehensible reaches of the stars. Two explorers, united by chance. Why Rockman had decided to join him, Gondo didn’t yet know. But for the first time out there, he didn’t feel alone.