Sleep

Rocky stretches his legs. “I sleep now.”

“Wow,” I say. This is the first time he’s had to sleep since we met. Good. This will provide me some time for some lab work. But how much time?

“How long do Eridians sleep?”

“I not know.”

“You don’t know? You’re Eridian. How can you not know how long Eridians sleep?”

“Eridians not know how long sleep last. Maybe short time. Maybe long time.”

They sleep unpredictable amounts of time. I guess there’s no rule saying sleep has to evolve as a regular pattern. Does he at least know a range of times it might be?

“Is there a minimum time? A maximum time?”

“Minimum is 12,265 seconds. Maximum is 42,928 seconds.”

I often get strangely specific numbers from Rocky on things that should be rough estimates. It took me a while to figure out, but I finally did. He actually is coming up with rough, round numbers. But they’re in his units and in base six. It’s actually easier for him to convert those values to base-ten Earth seconds than it is for him to think directly in Earth seconds.

If I converted those values back to Eridian seconds and looked at the numbers in base six, I bet they’d be some round number. But I’m too lazy. Why un-convert data he already converted? I’ve never seen him be wrong on arithmetic.

Meanwhile, I have to divide by 60 twice on a calculator just to convert from one of my own planet’s units to another of my own planet’s units. He’ll sleep for a minimum of three and a half hours and a maximum of almost twelve hours.

***

Chapter 12