Swansea

Appearance

Swansea is a tall middle-aged man with short brown hair and blue eyes. He has a noticeable belly, likely due to age and his history of drinking. He is often depicted with a frown.He wears a yellow and red Pony Express polo shirt, a pair of jeans, and white and blue sneakers.

Personality

Smart, rude, fair, a bit of a bully, keeps to himself and says little.Swansea was one of the crew members aboard the Tulpar. His role was to look over the ship's maintenance and to make sure everything worked accordingly, as its mechanic. Swansea was the main mechanic of the Tulpar. Back in the day, he used to be an alcoholic but recovered. He mentions having settled down and getting married with children but reveals dissatisfaction with his life despite becoming a "good man." Whether he is divorced or not is left to interpretation. He had been sober for a decade and a half but due to the traumatic crash of the Tulpar and the discovery of the mouthwash cargo, he took up drinking again. In the previous trip before the crash, the crew threw Swansea a surprise party.

biography

During a routine shipment, the Pony Express freighter spaceship Tulpar is sabotaged and crashes into an asteroid. Though the crew—captain Curly, co-pilot Jimmy, medic Anya, mechanic Swansea, and last-minute intern Daisuke—survive, most of the ship's resources are blocked off by airbag-like foam, damage to which could potentially breach the ship's hull and trigger lethal decompression.When food and medical supplies begin to run low after two months, the crew decide to open their confidential shipment, but discover that it consists solely of mouthwash. Swansea, a recovered alcoholic, decides to break his sobriety and consumes the mouthwash for its alcohol content, his intoxication increasing tensions further.

plot

Swansea gave Anya a note to give to Curly, and when Curly went to Utility, Daisuke was stuck in foam. Swansea complained about how Daisuke was brought on only to make him suffer, calling him "talented in all the wrong ways". Curly broke Daisuke out of the foam, and Swansea told him the vent is strictly off-limits, saying it's collapsed inside. Curly told Swansea to clean up the rest of the foam, handing him the axe. This stays with him for most of the time afterward. The next day, Swansea helped the rest of the crew set up for Curly's surprise party. After Curly made the cake, Daisuke asked him to make a speech, but Curly gave the news that Pony Express was going under, and after their haul, they would all be out of a job. Swansea seemed upset, but more accepting about this than other crew members. He saw it as a long time coming, as Pony Express was one of the last manned crew freighter companies. After the crash, it can be presumed that Swansea found the functional cryopod but chose to hide it, likely because he knew that if Jimmy knew about it, it would be a bloodbath.

Curly

blonde hair, blue eyes, beef, dark blue "pony express" uniform. Swansea and Curly have a fairly standard relationship for a boss and his subordinate. They are shown to have mutual respect for one another as Curly trusted Swansea enough to give Swansea the axe after freeing Daisuke from the foam, in return Swansea respected Curly’s position as the captain.

Jimmy

skinny, greasy brown hair, brown eyes, dark blue "Pony Express" uniform, white sleeves. Swansea sees Jimmy as a selfish wannabe hero and a lowlife parasite, and he refuses to treat him like a leader. Swansea and Jim often quarreled and got into arguments, with Swansea continuously mocking Jimmy as the captain and not taking him seriously.

Anya

Black shoulder-length hair, black sad eyes, dark blue "Pony Express" uniform, rainbow sweater. Anya and Swansea seem to share a positive relationship, with Swansea handing her a note so that she could give to Curly during his psychological evaluation, They have a good relationship, but they hardly communicate.

Daisuke

Asian, lots of moles on body, 20 years old, youngest on ship, wears jeans and pink Hawaiian shirt and yellow "Pony Express" T-shirt underneath. Swansea sees Daisuke as a sort of son, there are various examples throughout where Swansea puts Daisuke's safety before his own. It is theorized that Swansea may have been keeping watch on the cryostasis pods to allow Daisuke to survive.

spaceship "Tulpar"

The Tulpar has two floors with two sets of stairs. The Lounge consists of a kitchen, dining area, table, and living room lowered by a few steps. There are two vending machines for coffee and food (the type of food is not specified). The dining area has a long wooden table and several chairs. The living room has a large night/day screen, an L-shaped couch, two chairs, and a small coffee table with a board game set up on it. Post-crash, the room was used as the sleeping quarters for the crew. The utility room is where the cryogenic pods, axe, and various tools used by Swansea are located. It also contains the broken vent Daisuke attempted to fix. Post-crash, Swansea was dedicated to guarding the room and did not let anyone inside. This is also one of the only three rooms that can be locked. The medical bay is where Anya worked and was mainly occupied. The sleeping quarters are where the crew used to sleep. After the crash, the entrance was blocked by foam. The cargo hold is a large space for storing cargo meant to be locked for the duration of the flight. Months after the crash with no signs of rescue, the crew chose to open it and discovered that they'd been transporting exclusively mouthwash surprisingly, there were also a lot of boxes of dry rations in the warehouses, which were also being transported to another planet as cargo.