Oil-Slick Star

The navigation had been set to the wrong star. Drifting out of the orbital highway, the crew of the small spacecraft were lost in deep space. They sent out maydays, began to ration the resources they had, and searched for a path home. The rations thinned, the they were watered down, and then finally deplete. Eventually the crew was near delirious with hunger when the stars began to sing. They shut all the blinders and laid down in an attempt to sleep off starvation.   Whatever sleep they might have caught must have been fretful. Before long, the crew was torn awake by a synthetic high-pitch chime. A black crystal, slick and iridescent as oil, had manifested in the center of the cabin.   Dark and glimmering, the Oil-Slick Star seemed to spin as it floated through the air. As it passed by, the engineer reached out a gloved hand. A single pearl of shimmering nectar gathered at the sharp tip of the star, and dripped down onto her finger. She brushed it to her lips, and felt her energy renew.   One after another they all helped themselves to the nectar. Sickly sweet, a drop was enough to fully satiate them, and the taste ached in their teeth and lingered on their gums.