EQUAI! Will you PLEASE pay attention! I was looking out one of the TV windows when my teacher called my name. Huh? What? The other young Neopians reacted with laughter. I gave them all a dirty look. The teacher sighed Look Equai, you must know the importance of the people aboard this ship. We were all chosen for a reason. That is why I am giving you a paper to interview one of the crew members.

I rolled my eyes. I hate interviews. More importantly, I hate old people. All they do is complain. Like my teacher. Oh Equai, why must you never listen? Well I am all assigning you crew members who kindly volunteered to be apart of this assignment.

The teacher started listing off the class members with their corresponding crew members. Of course Cast got the captain. That stupid jubjub was obviously the teacher's pet and got the best of everything. As I was the least liked, I knew from the beginning that I was going to get- Igneio. Did you hear that Equai? I'm assigning you to interview the Chief Engineer of the ship.

Everyone laughed. Except me. I never met him in person, but everybody on this ship knows that the Chief Engineer was the angriest, most crazy Neopian of all. Oh great, thank you so much for this opportunity. I said sarcastically. I picked up my books and left the class just before the bell rang for dismissal.

/How are you going to interview Igneio, Equai? I heard he lives in a secret compartment where no one knows the entrance./

Wow Cast, you are surprisingly dumb. This Igneio lives in the J-Hall, with all the other grumpy old people.

/Whatever. I'm going to the control center and interview the captain now. I'll see ya later Equai!/

I hope you don't... I said under my breath as I gave him a fake smile. After he left I sighed. Ugh... lets get this over with.

I looked at the assignment sheet. Then at the door in front of me. "J-1555" I gulped. This bori had a reputation for throwing things, yelling for no reason, and ignoring you all together. People said he lived on Neopia before it was destroyed, and all he did was kill others. He only became the engineer because he threatened the Captain. I knocked twice.

Come in. The light above the door handle flashed green, and I opened the door. The room was dark, but, like every other dorm, it had a TV -blocked- This one was of the stars and comets. Wow, I thought to myself, that window has good quality. In front of the window, the magma bori was hunched over his desk writing something. I took one step forward and tripped on a large box.

OUCH! Geeze man, what a messy dorm! I exclaimed. The bori shot straight up and stared at me. What did you say?

Uh, oh, I- I'm sor-

Get out. Did you hear me? GET OUT! He got up from his desk and almost ran to the door. I quickly backed up into the hallway just before he slammed his door. GET OUT! AND STAY OUT! He slammed the door so loud that other Neopians came out into the hallway to see what happened. I heard the door behind me open.

Oh, dear. You've upset him... I turned to a Starry Scorchio. She looked at the door across that hall with an expression that made her seem like she felt bad for him.

I've upset HIM? He practically attacked me! The scorchio looked at me.

What are you doing here? She asked. I showed her my assignment. I have to interview Mr. Grumpy.

I'm just letting you know, Igneio is under constant stress. He's incharge of everything that runs this ship mechanically. Not to mention he was never able to get over... She realized what she was going to say and so she quickly stopped talking.

Get over what? What did I do wrong? The Scorchio let out a sigh. Mr. Igneio was forced to leave his family behind on Neopia. He was never able to get over his loss. I was speechless. I never had a family, but knew what they were. We learned about them in class. It was hard for me to understand what this grumpy bori was going through, but something inside me hurt. Like that part of me did understand. That's horrible... With that I just turned and walked towards the main lobby of that section. I showed no emotion, but inside I felt depressed.

That night I made my way back to dorm J-1555. I was holding a plate full of cookies that I took from the dining hall. They weren't warm, but they were made that day so they were fresh. As I approached the door, I saw that the light was on by the mail slot. I knocked twice.

Nothing.

I knocked again. Again- nothing. Please Mr. Igneio. I know you're awake. I want to apologize for before. Silence. I tried persuading him. I have cookies... That must've done it. I heard shuffling within the room and the door gave a soft click as it opened. The magma bori stood there. He looked miserable. I know I won't be able to get rid of you that easily, so come in. Before moving aside he took one of my cookies.

All Dorms were formatted the same. you walk down a mini hallway of bout 2 or 3 feet that opened up into a 12x8 sqft room. His room looked smaller however, because it was such a mess. I wanted to say something, but I learned to keep my mouth shut.

Have a seat. I must apologize to you first. He motioned to the chair in front of his desk. I was confused. Grumpy old people don't apologize...

He sat behind his desk. I know of my so-called reputation among you younger ones. And most of it's true I gulped. But I never killed another I sighed in relief. He laughed at that, but I knew he didn't find it funny. Again, I apologize. It wasn't right for me to attack you. I was.. just stressed and I guess you just set me off.

May I ask what I did? The Scorchio across the hall said you never got over losing your family, but I don't know- He slammed his fist on the desk.

Ugh. Nebyula. She never keeps her mouth shut. He said all this with a clenched jaw. It wold be NICE to TRUST people around here that won't go BLABBERING your LIFE STORY I froze. I didn't even breath. I saw tears coming out of his eyes as he took a deep breath.

Yes. I did lose my family. My wife and our 7 year-old daughter. She would have been 25 this year. I didn't say anything, I didn't write anything either, but I stuffed everything he said into the part of my mind that was reserved for the important information for my paper.

Tell me about... the day it happened Igneio just looked at me.

Wasn't your paper due last week? I sat at his desk crossed leg looking at his TV -blocked- He was going through the books on his shelves. Even though I had no need to be here, I never felt the day was truly over until I sat with Igneio with a plate of cold cookies and hear stories of his family and Neopia. He lived in an underground city that was surrounded by molten rocks. We have rocks that hit our ship every once and a while, but the rocks Igneio explains are totally different. He met his wife through his sister, who was also left behind on the planet. He told me of his time traveling roommate and the alternate universes he would experience. He told me about everything... Except these two events.

I know you may want to talk about it, but every time you tell me a story, you seem to be... I don't know... less grumpy? You never talk about anything to anyone, and because of that all the hurt is bottled inside of you. If you tell someone the story, maybe you'll get over them-

I will NEVER be over them. I promised Tlif I will never forget them.

I never said you had to forget them... You need to move on

DON'T YOU TELL ME WHAT TO DO Igneio yelled, he started to throw his books off the self. I knew he was in pain... This happened on more than one occasion. I just sat in his chair watching him. He would yell and throw... but he will eventually calm down and apologize. Then I will clean up his mess and leave. He was still thrashing about when it happened.

The ship started to shake. Not shake as if someone dropped a large box, but shook as if someone threw 10 of those large boxes at the side of the ship.

What was that...? The alarms started to go off and Igneio's intercom went off. ATTENTION PASSENGERS. PLEASE REMAIN CALM. AN ASTROID HAS HIT THE BACKSIDE OF THE SHIP, BUT ALL WILL BE FINE. IGNEIO, PLEASE REPORT SECTOR H-5 IMMEDIATELY.

I looked at Igneio with a worried looked, with the same facial expression mirrored back. Stay here. I'll be back. He ran out the door with me sitting in his messy room scared and confused.

The alarms have been going off for about an hour now. I was still sitting at Igneio's desk waiting. I cleaned his room and already looked through his desk. I found the drawing his daughter made. It was faded, but preserved in a nice picture frame. It was the only thing from his old life he had left.

I looked back out the TV -blocked- I was sill amazed at the quality of this thing. Every other windows would occasionally skip a frame or something, but this window has been consistent. It even has the real affects or dirt on the -blocked- And then I saw it. A robot. A small robot, but a robot nonetheless, was flying across the view. Oh my.. I said A real -blocked- Igneio's on the edge of the ship? That's amazing! I looked in amazement at the view outside. Real stars. Real nebulae. Even though they are so close, I've never seen any of the likes. My amazement was interrupted when the robot came closer. It was a little white thing, but it seemed to be in a rush to get inside. It looked in my window, and its rocket feet pushed towards me. I looked around the room to find a way to let the robot in, but i couldn't find anything. I looked back out the window only to see that it was gone. I sat back on the chair, a little disappointed, when a spot on the wall opened up, and the robot hopped in.

I went to the hole to find out it was an equalizer that separated the space outside and the dorm within. The robot looked at me with glee. Well hello there little one. I petted it's he and the robot opened up to small screen. A video turned on and I watched. By the time it ended I was in tears.

By the time Igneio came back I saw the video at least 20 more times. He looked like there as no hope left in him. Igneio, I need to show you something-There's no time, Equai, we need to leave. You need to leave.

No you don't understand, this robot just got here from where I believe is from Neo- No, YOU don't understand. We're all doomed. That astroid hit one of the main engines. We're a sitting duck. We're vulnerable for astroids and who knows what else. We have a number of escape pods and I'm putting you in one of them. I didn't know what to say. Honestly I didn't. I wanted to show Igneio the video, but I wanted to ask questions on what was going on. I also didn't want to make him mad. Uhm... Okay..

Igneio looked confused. That's it? No questions? No arguments?

I.. I don't know what to say... except you need to see what this robot has. This made Igneio go back to his job. No time. Bring him. I need to get you into an escape pod. I need to get you out of here. With the alarm still going off, I grabbed the robot and followed Igneio. As we left his room Nebyula came out of her dorm. Igneio, what's going- No big deal Neb, except were all going to die. Nebyula and I both gasped as Igneio pulled me down the hall. At this point, the electricity started to go. I can hear people start to panic as well ran through the different chambers. The ship started to shake again. Be careful, the astroid keep coming. We entered an astroid belt. That's why being a sitting duck is a bad idea. I held the robot tightly in my arm as we moved along.

Finally we got to the escape pods. A number of other Neopians were getting in and escaping. Friends were crying and getting in together. Others tried to escape as loved ones tried to push them in. So this was what that last day on Neopia was like.

Ignneio, please come with me. You have no need here anymore.

You must go alone Equai, I am still needed here, maybe we will be able to fix- The ship shook again as another astroid hit the ship - to fix the engines. When that happens I Promise- He pointed to an intercom in the podI will find you and bring you back.

Please then, since we're already here, please watch this video. I took the small robot and showed it to Igneio. The robot opened up and played the video.

-x-

Igneio? Igneio can you hear me? Its' Aero! Oh honey, It's been months. The sun hasn't exploded, but It has changed. It's gotten immensely hot here I can barely stand it. They say the sun will go soon, but they aren't exactly sure when. The government was able to give everyone one of these robots to send to the ship, you know, to let you know we are okay for now... and to say good-bye. I love you Igneio, and we never forgot about you. Kakorae went away, I don't know where. Maybe she left to find Guterl, but I never heard from her again after she left. Tlif is here with me though. Tlif, say hello to daddy-Hi Daddy! Do you still have my picture?! We both love you so much Igneio and we are so proud of you for what you are doing. I hope this little Greifer gets you. Good bye Igneio, and don't worry about us. We are happy. We hope you are happy too.

Igneio stood speechless at the door of the escape pod with me sitting inside, still holding up the Greifer. I expected him to cry, to yell, to throw someone across the area, but he didn't. He looked calm. He looked... relieved. He smiled to himself. They're okay. And I'm okay. The day it happened I was eating. All of the sudden the captain's voice rang over the intercom. He said that now begins the Great Mourning. He said at precisely 8:06 am, outer time, all communications have been cut from Neopia. I isolated myself in my room for the next week. Not even coming out for repairs. Eventually I had to get out, but I had no tolerance for anyone else. Watching this video has finally put me at peace. You keep the Greifer. I only needed to see the video once. Now go on Equai. I'll be fine here. I had tears in my eyes as he closed the door to the pod. I sat in the chair and buckled myself. The I heard Igneio push the button to release me, sending me into the cosmos. Into the unknown.

-x-

As miserable as I was, the Greifer was just as happy as it can be. No one lets you down don't they? I wish I can be as optimistic as you. I rubbed it's metal head and he cooed. I laughed at it and I looked up and out of the windshield. I saw a planet approaching us, or, rather, us approaching a planet. It had one satellite orbiting around it. It was dominated with the colors of white, blue and green, with some spots of brown. I looked in amazement.

Neopia? I knew it wasn't Neopia, but I needed to have hope. It's sun was a healthy yellow giant. I saw a number of other planets in the distance. It looked beautiful. Okay Equai.. and Galaxy looked at the Greifer as I gave him his official name. Let's get ready to rumble I closed my eyes as the pod started to accelerate into the atmosphere of this planet and got ready to embrace impact.