the delphic expanse

Since my current story takes place in the E2 timeline, albeit an AU one, I am curious what people think of the episode and its vision.

What kind of pressures would the crew be under when marooned in both time and space? How would it affect them.

I am particularly curious about the fact that Archer seems to have found happiness - a happiness that seemed to elude him in the RU - in that timeline.

I have said this elsewhere but to me it seems perfectly logical that with such a shortage of women on board, two men sharing a relationship with one woman makes sense.
I could see it happening multiple times among the stranded crew. There may have been a few aliens coming into the fold but there would still be too many men left out in the cold even taking into account the gay crew members.
They would be eighty-three very scared, determined, and close knit people.

I agree. You can also take into account that in order to create healthy future generations - all of the males (whether they are gay or straight) should probably be expected to contribute DNA to the future generations. Genetic diversity would be the evolutionary correct thing - so it follows that subconsciously, men would become more open to sharing females.

With someone like Phlox aboard, who would be a role model as to how these relationships work, mate sharing would become more normative.

When they said Malcolm didn't marry in that timeline, they didn't say he didn't have children. Even if he died young, it makes sense that he would at least leave some genetic material behind to keep the gene pool fresh on the ship, so to speak.

I read another story somewhere where there were multiple relationships on board. Like AT&T, Reed/Sato/Hayes, Sato/Mayweather/McKenzie, and several others. I think everyone on board would have to get over their hangups in order to survive.

In my E2 fic - Malcolm had a crush on Hoshi but Hayes beat him to the punch. So, he got involved in a tragic romance with an alien woman. I simply refused to believe that there was not more to the story.

Of course, now that I am more daring, I would have gone with the whole mate sharing thing!