Spoiler alert if you aren’t caught up on season one of Strange New Worlds.

If you’ve been watching the latest Star Trek series, you have met Hemmer, the Blind Andorian engineer of the Enterprise. Hemmer is an Aenar, a subspecies of Andorians. Hemmer is played by actor and artist Bruce Horak, who is also Blind. (No cripface in this Trek.)

I love engineers; I can’t help it. And grumpy old guys. So yes, Hemmer is exactly my type. He’s also clear about his purpose: he fixes that which is broken. The friendship between Hemmer and Cadet Uhuru is one of my ST favorites.

When you fall in love with a character, it’s brutal when they die. When it was clear that he would choose to sacrifice himself to save the rest of the crew, all I could think was, “Not Hemmer!” His bravery and his dedication to his purpose are what keep me coming back to Star Trek.

His parting advice to Uhura is wisdom for us all: “Make a home for yourself amongst others, and you will find joy more often than sadness.”