Anna stares at the dim green glow of the console board, its ancient indicator LEDs slowly fading in and out as the electricty behind them rose and fell beyond some voltage threshold she didn't know. All at once she remembers a memory of earth; a clearing in the woods a couple billion miles ago, lightning bugs rising and falling in the air like little stars, foxfire dimly glowing in the rotting leaves, the wind soft in her hair and sweet with pollen.
Quietly, she says to Ben, "You asked me if I was religious before."
She can't really see him in the small, dark space, but she can feel him shuffle, turn a bit to face her. "I did," he confirms slowly, softly.
He doesn't say it, but she can practically hear him saying the implied, 'I don't understand what this has to do with our current situation.'
She smiles, mostly because she knows that he won't see it. She whispers, "Back home on Earth we had these little bugs that only came out at night." She points to the console boards' shifting lights and continues, "They glowed almost eaxctly like that, fading in and out, flying- hovering in the air like stars."
Ben doesn't say anything. Anna knows he won't, but it doesn't upset her. She knows he's still listening.
"There was a place I would go, with many trees, many plants. The lighting bugs, that's what they're called, loved that place I think. I know I did."
She can see it in her head, and when she shuts her eyes, she can almost pretend that she'll taste the air of a cool summer night on her tongue instead of the hot, dry air of this cramped machine closet.
But she doesn't, so she opens her eyes and continues, "There was also this glow that lived in the leaves on the ground, some kind of fungus, we just called it foxfire though- but what I'm saying is that being in that clearing in the woods on a clear night- I could call it a religious experience, I think."
Ben is still looking at her, the light of the LEDs glowing steadily in his strange, alien eyes just like foxfire.
She looks away, back to the console board. "I don't believe there's a god, but that's probably the closest I've been to one. If you were standing there with me and I told you he was real, you might be inclined to agree with me."
Ben is quiet for a while. "I doubt it," he says eventually.
Anna laughs quietly; she had expected him to say nothing less.