He'd been wandering around the station for almost a whole day, at that point, getting more and more dejected as time passed and he didn't find his crew. His family. He'd been gearing himself up to resign himself to it - it was the only way he was going to be able to deal with whatever the hell his place was. He couldn't spend all his time hoping to see them around the next corner.

So when Amos appeared out of nowhere, for a couple second Alex looked like he'd seen a ghost - and then a wave of relief washed over him, taking over his expression, and he dropped the disgusting thing on the counter top and immediately strode over to him, hand reaching out to pat the side of Amos's arm warmly - close enough to a hug for the sentiment to come across.

"I don't believe that for one god damned second, you son of a bitch," he said, his voice warm and almost choked with relief. "You are a hell of a sight for sore eyes, brother. Thought I'd gone and gotten myself lost. Where are the others? Where's the Roci?" He looked past Amos and around the mess hall as if he expected the whole lot of them to suddenly be there. Maybe he'd just been put down, something had happened and they knew what was going on? Maybe the Roci herself was docked behind one of those airlocks--