“Good good,' he says. 'I make sure my people take good care of you. They will make Astrophage maybe for you to go home!'

'Yeah...' I say. 'About that... I'm not going home. The beetles will save Earth. But I won't ever see it again.'

His joyous bouncing stops. 'Why, question?'

'I don't have enough food. After I take you back to Erid, I will die.'

'You... you can no die.' His voice gets low. 'I no let you die. We send you home. Erid will be grateful. You save everyone. We do everything to save you.'

'There's nothing you can do,' I say. 'There's no food. I have enough to last until we get to Erid and then a few months more. Even if your government gave me the Astrophage to get home, I wouldn't survive the trip.'

'Eat Erid food. We evolve from same life. We use same proteins. Same chemicals. Same sugars. Must work!'

'No, I can't eat your food, remember?'

'You say is bad for you. We find out.'

I hold up my hands. 'It's not just bad for me. It will kill me. Your whole ecology uses heavy metals all over the place. Most of them are toxic to me. I'd die immediately.'

He trembles. 'No. You can no die. You are friend.'

I float closer to the divider wall and talk softly. 'It's okay. I made my decision. This is the only way to save both of our worlds.'

He backs away. 'Then you go home. Go home now. I wait here. Erid maybe send another ship someday.'

'That's ridiculous. Do you really want to risk the survival of your entire species on that guess?'

He's silent for a few moments and finally answers. 'No.”