another torment nexus I enjoy imagining is yáo and ilyukhina starting to get grace into the full coma setup once aboard the ship and they just. aren't saying it out loud. stratt already told them both that grace agreed, and then she said they wouldn't be able to hear from him until wakeup in tau ceti, and neither of them are stupid enough to not have a good guess about what that means. and they aren't saying it. there's a too-sharp intake of breath while stripping him here, a visible tremor looking for a vein there, but no words. the closest they come to saying it is while getting to the most invasive parts (NG tube, rectal tube, catheter), where yáo starts trying to forge ahead and get to them first. ilyukhina half-hisses "no, no, don't, I'm better with my hands, I do it better," and he responds "when he wakes up, I have to be able to say I'm the one who did it. I won't let you be responsible." "so lie about it. I can do it best then you take worst of blame for me. very generous commander, thank you." "one of us will have to remember doing this part, and I won't let you be that, either."
