"You know how sometimes when you reheat leftovers it can taste a bit like a kind of bland copy of the good food that was made the day before? That's replicator food just, all the time. It's not bad by any means and you do get used to it but the second any of us get leave we're mostly real eager to put fresh food in our faces."

There's a chuckle then from captain Kirk and he gives Alex's shoulder the most gentle of nudges to go along with his laugh but he doesn't want to jostle the head achey child too much. He'd feel awful if he made the kid worse.

"I do too. It's always hard to sleep now when I'm off-ship. It just doesn't sound right." The thrum of the warp engines has become one of the sounds of Home to Jim and it's a pretty difficult thing to replace with anything else.

"Archaeology! I've always had a passing interest but I have to admit my science department probably loathes my input more than welcomes it. I know just enough to be in the way and lack the knowledge to really be helpful past a shallow overview. And well, my view's always been turned upward instead of down." The sky is so big, Alex says, and Jim can't help but want to see that. It must look magical.

"Someday you can study space as much as you'd like. NASA's a thing in your time right?"