The star operator

Astro was afraid of the dark.
Which was kind of a bad thing, since he was a star.
Well, technically a star operator.
He'd taken the job because it sounded like a great gig. Spend a couple of months controlling a sphere in space, and get a ton of cash in exchange.
He'd expected to get the chance to catch up on shows. Maybe get a hobby.
He didn't expect to spend those months in the dark.
They didn't tell him that the control panel only lit up when the star required maintenance.
He spent the first day trying to figure out how to turn on the lights.
On the second day, he tried to turn the star around.
The third day, the a button on the panel lit. Astro clung to the light for as long as he could.
But the light began to fade.
Frantic, Astro pushed the button.
The light vanished, and another button lit.
And so the days went.
Whenever the panel lit, Astro had only a few moments before it would dim. When the maintenance was complete, he was thrown back into darkness.
On the cycle went, with each instance of light being far too short.
Astro lost track of the days, trapped there in the dark.
Something in the air most have provided nourishment, for he didn't remember eating.
All that mattered were those moments when the control panel lit.
The light hurt.
But it was better than the darkness.
Suffocating darkness.
It altered everything. His thoughts, his memories. Time itself seemed meaningless in the dark.
How much time had passed?
A week?
A month?
Years?
He didn't know.
He only wanted the light of the control panel to return.
When would it come back?