You're Never Alone In Space

Sissix
The loveable, tactile, empathic Aandrisk, the alien who takes Rosemary under her wing in A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. She is the one who binds all the disparate elements of the Wayfarer crew together. Her space walking trip with Rosemary is one of the most beautiful vignettes in SF.

Image Credit: Sebastián Píriz, entered into the Hodderscape Wayfarer’s fan art competition

Rocket
The ideal Guardian of the Galaxy Companion? Hmm, tricky one. Is there a chance one might become tired of Quill’s Walkman and his irritating yet loveable insouciance? What about Drax? His killer put-downs would surely enlighten any galactic voyage. But no, I’m going to plump for snarky Rocket Racoon. He’s hardly a loveable pet, but he’s a damn fine pilot and fighter.

Han Solo
So it seems odd, as Quill is a kind of latter-day Han Solo, to go for Han, but who can understand Chewie anyway?

Spock
And I couldn’t forget Becky’s beloved Star Trek either. But who to chose? It has to be the imperturbable Spock: never flummoxed in any situation. Unflappability might grate in the long run, but it’s best to be calm and logical in a crisis.

Image credit: StarTrek.com

Bender
Yes, I have a soft spot for Fry’s roomie, the foul-mouthed, hard-drinking kleptomaniac etc etc robot Bender.

Image credit: Wikipedia.org

Shevek from Ursula LeGuin’s The Dispossessed
All wanderers wish to return and the motto of the book becomes ‘true journey is return’; Shevek is an eminent physicist with a mind-blowing theory of time; though he only visits two planets, his journey is intellectually so broad and seems to encompass every possible political and belief system …. and if you’re never alone in space, at least the conversation should be interesting.

Mark Watney
OK, so he gets stranded on Mars, but he’s a dab hand at the hydroponic potato turd farm until the dust storm blows everything back to being a  …. turd. But you would want someone with Watney’s ingenuity if you had only a tiny chance of survival in the most hostile environment imaginable.

Cover credit: PenguinRandomHouse.com

Ford Prefect
The Galaxy Hitchhiker’s perfect guide. The Betelgeusian is the only reason Arthur gets off Earth before it’s demolished and survives succeeding chapters and books in Douglas Adam’s continuing masterpiece. Like other ideal companions above, his sense of humour is essential if somewhat nihilistic. And he’s pragmatic: ‘Six pints of bitter, said Ford Prefect. And quickly please, the world’s about to end.’

Max Rebo
And finally, I return to Star Wars, because we will need music wherever we end up and the blue elephant-like creatures band are the best thing on Tatooine.

Image credit: StarWars.wiki.com