Anyone ever think about how Rocky's crewmates didn't die all at once.
The first death would certainly have been scary since they didn't know the reason, and deeply sad ofc, but the 22 Eridians left would have dealt with it, together.
The second death? The third death? The fourth death? For the same unknown reasons? That's when they all started getting terrified. They would have felt so helpless, not knowing when any one of their friends or themself wouldn't wake up again, getting more and more certain they all would die along with their entire species.
They all would have tried desperately to find a way to fix it. Especially Rocky. After all, isn't that why he's here? That's what he does. He fixes things. He has to find a way to fix this. And after a while they realize he's the only one who's not getting weaker. He knows he has to fix it. He should be the one with the info to figure this out; he should be the one with the strength left to figure this out; he shouldn't be the only one okay while the others are not.
But he can't and his friends keep dying and it's not fair and he's so scared and he doesn't want to be alone, and he tries not to blame himself but he can't help it just a little bit.
If you like the idea that the Eridians wouldn't do space burialsāimagine the corpses piling up one by one. They are in a ship of the dead. It's constantly in the backs of their minds, the fact that their dead friends are on this ship with them. They can never forget that their friends are gone. They can hear the whole ship, so they constantly see the image of those still shapes, with no one watching over them because there is no soul left to protect.
After 12 deaths, there are more cold bodies on the ship than living Eridians. After 16 or 18 deaths, the ship feels horribly quiet. Their captain is dead by now. Maybe sometimes someone focuses their hearing on the part of the ship where the captain lies, staring through walls at their dead face, and silently asks "what should we do? you're supposed to tell us what to do."
Imagine how much the last few Eridians must have loved each other by the end. They were all each other had.
Imagine when there was only Rocky and one other crew member left. Imagine Rocky pleading to their weakened self "don't leave me. please. please don't leave me." And he knows he shouldn't, because it's not his friend's fault, and he shouldn't make them feel worse than they already do, but he's so so scared and he doesn't want to be alone he doesn't want to be alone.
They don't want to leave Rocky alone. They're scared, and they're scared of dying but they're even more scared of leaving their only remaining friend all alone in space with no one to watch him sleep. It's not fair. They don't want to leave him, but they can't help it.
They don't want to die.
When they're awake he tells them that he'll fix it. He'll fix it. He'll fix them. It can't end like this. When they're asleep he watches more intently than he's ever watched sleep before, and each time after hours have passed he pleads to their unhearing shape, "wake up. please. you have to wake up. don't leave." And each time they wake up, but each time it takes longer.
And then they don't wake up.
22 deaths. One by one. Each death like a stone falling and chipping off shards of his body. 22 deaths of friends. At least for 21 of those deaths, he had someone to wail with. Someone to talk to. Someone to press close to. Someone alive.
Now he is alone.
