"Wait, like I'm explaining it badly or it actually doesn't make sense?" he asks, leaning to give Sammy Claw a brush with his fingertips as she passes. "Because it honestly only makes sense to me 'cos I lived through it, you know?"

He uses both hands together to gesture with little swishing motions. "The star turned blue because the Dear Listeners were trying to establish communications. They remixed my voice to use English, and they left us with very mixed signals. They kept trying to suck us into the star so they could communicate with us in person, and they don't understand the concept of death or how sucking an entire spaceship would kill us all."

He lifts a hand to run through his hair, unhooking some longer curls by accident. "And it doesn't get less weird saying it out loud!"