Author's Note: For people who are working from the comic only, the ship was named Phact (Alpha Columbae) rather than Ankaa (Alpha Phoenicis).
He could feel the floor of the bridge of the Phact beneath his cheek. Through it he felt the hum of electronics, the vibration of footsteps. Like a heartbeat. Otherwise, he could be asleep.
He couldn't smell a thing. He couldn't hear a thing. His eyes were closed. Even the winds' whispers in his mind were silent. He felt the hum still as the ship shut down, and would have nodded. He had done it.
So this is what it is to be alone, Rikayo thought. He left the heartbeat hum slip from his mind. And the rest was silence.