the Needle

I prefer analog to digital displays.
There’s just something about watching a needle pulse inside a dial, crawling slowly up the scale into the red.
You don’t get the same sense of urgency when you see a bunch of numbers laid out on a console. Or a set of colored LEDs, lighting up in series.
The needle throbs and twitches, like it’s alive.
You forget it’s just a measuring device, wired through miles of circuitry.
That’s what happened to me and the temperature indicator in my capsule.
Down…
Down…
Down…
How could you betray me, needle?
You were my friend.