I couldn't be sure, of course, that he was going to die. Even species susceptible to the Twist vary widely in their reactions. Some vary to the point that one person is unaffected while another dies instantly. For species which have yet to discover any other method of faster than light travel, this is often a very tough decision. Luckily, mine didn't have to cope with it. Unluckily, I did have to cope with Curly.
He didn't wake up in the morning. I knew nothing of his physiology and hadn't thought to download anything on the matter from the ship when I'd had the chance, so there was no way for me to know how well he was faring. He was still breathing, though. In the first aid supplies, however, there was an expandable stretcher - one of the few such devices to be nearly universal across species. Larry and Moe agreed to carry their friend instantly, and didn't argue the point for a moment. They'd been quiet all day. Not even their near-escape from the blockade had rattled them as much as they were affected now. Blockades, at least, they'd had some training on how to run. This, though, this was something new and deadly and while they knew it couldn't get to them (after all, if they were susceptible they'd be in much the same state) it did make them suddenly aware of their mortality. So very few words were said, but many an afraid glance was passed between the two stretcher bearers, and many an unhappy glance was passed to me when they assumed I was not looking.
They blamed me for this, it was clear. They were right to, of course, as it was entirely my fault; while I'd planned to do some reading on each of their species along the way, I'd instead decided it would be much more entertaining to re-tune the sleeper drive on-board. The computer would have had all sorts of information on whether or not it was a good idea to bring them through hyperspace. Nothing would have changed, though; based on my impression of the Anor they were not in the least sympathetic to the Poln or their cause, and would probably treat any prisoners they caught, mercenary or native, very poorly. Assuming that they survived at all. Thus, I still would have took us all into hyperspace, Curly would likely die, the rest would blame me and I'd blame myself. In other words, nothing would have changed and I'd be feeling even guiltier. Not, really, that this line of thought was easing my mind at all.
Miraculously, Curly did wake up near about the halfway point of the day. He was wearing his translator but still wasn't making much sense. He referred to me as his father and seemed to think that Larry and Moe were his sisters. He proceeded to tell them about his journey to Poln, only events seemed to always end with them crash-landing on the surface. After this recitation, he would be quiet for a few minutes and then respond to any of us speaking with the same story. The upside of this was that it was easier to get him to eat and drink. Aside from the dementia, he seemed well. Of course, dementia itself is almost always a bad sign. Very few species experienced it as a healthy part of their life. Given that Curly had been the most dependable of my three charges and hadn't seemed to change until he'd been affected by the Twist, I was guessing that this was not the case for him.
There was a loud crack of thunder in the sky - at least, I thought it was thunder until I looked up to see that there were no clouds anywhere. Instead, I spotted about a half dozen aircraft flying toward the city we were making our destination. My panel made a noise of alarm and I looked down to see that, sure enough, its rudimentary sensor equipment had identified the airships: Anor.
They hadn't spotted us, of course, or else they would have destroyed us before we'd even heard the sonic boom that followed after their travel. There was little else to do but continue the move toward our nearest city and hope that it was still there when we arrived.
Curly had started his story again, only this time instead of us meeting our maker via crashing into the planet, an earthquake formed a fissure which swallowed us up. I didn't like where his thoughts were going.