Chapter Text
Simon felt his chest tighten, fear rushing through his veins. Had the COI got him? His memory was fuzzy. He contacted someone on the radio.
Blood. So much blood.
He felt wetness on the sides of his neck and raised a shaking hand to touch it. But he discovered it was just water. His brow furrowed. The COI wouldn't have bothered to wash his hair. Was this Eden? Would they imprison him for what he did? Fuck!
He tried to rip the IV out of his arm, finding his left arm still missing. So he didn't hallucinate that part. It was nicely bandaged, to his surprise.
The commotion prompted Armando to attempt the cognitive tests.
"Fuck you," Simon growled, ignoring the pain coursing through his body. "Where the fuck am I? Who are you with?"
And why was Hail Mary, full of grace stuck in his head?
"Grace not graceful," a voice from the hallway came. Simon froze, now deep in a panicked state. He pressed himself against a wall, using his teeth to rip out his IV to brandish the needle as a weapon.
"I'm kind of in a hurry bud!" he skidded to a halt seeing Simon cowering, snarling and growling to make himself seem like more of a threat while waving around the IV. His eyes betrayed the fear. "Whoa, ok hi. You're up."
"Who the fuck are you?" Those eyes. He had seen those eyes before. "What did you do to me?"
"I'm Grace," he tapped his chest, only then realizing his glasses were hanging off his face. He adjusted them, "Ryland Grace. We spoke over the radio. Do you remember?"
Simon just kept staring, panting hard.
Grace took a couple of careful steps forward.
"Scary scary scary Grace stop. Dangerous."
"Its ok Rocky, he's just scared."
"What the fuck is that?" Simon now locked onto Rocky, barring his teeth.
"Simon," Grace had his teacher voice on, calm and collected and oozing in the confidence that could only come with wrangling a bunch of preteens. "Your name is Simon right?"
He nodded.
"Simon this is Rocky. Rocky is an Eridian. We met here, in space, to solve the mystery of the dimming stars. We're close to his home now, where we're going to save his star. I'm from Earth. Where are you from?"
Simon couldn't get the words to form on his tongue. Grace stepped closer and crouched down to be eye level with him, smiling softly.
"Angel?" Simon had never seen eyes so blue.
"Oh you do remember waking up briefly?" Grace asked. "a couple of hours ago you regained consciousness for a little bit. I'm a human," he sat cross-legged on the floor across from Simon now, still smiling as the other man kept a grip on the IV needle. "Just like you are. Do you want me to bandage that? You're bleeding."
Simon glanced down at his arm, bloody from where he yanked out the IV. Fuck fuck fuck.
"Hey, it's ok, it's not a big deal." Grace lept up, teetering a tiny bit to get his footing, and grabbed a cotton ball and some medical tape. "Can I?"
No one ever asked Simon for permission for anything. He nodded.
"Can I take this?" he indicated the needle. "I promise I'm just going to give it to Armando, the medical robot."
Simon nodded again. It was only when Grace was kneeling in front of him did he realize the blanket Simon had been sleeping under was somewhere else and he was naked on the floor. Colour rose in Grace's cheeks. He had never been very comfortable with nudity, particularly with a stranger. He worked quickly, coughing awkwardly. "Are you cold? I have some clothes that should fit you."
Simon looked down at his bare chest and legs. Oh. He hadn't realized he was naked. Scars, both old and new, riddled his skin.
Grace twirled around, finding the blanket in a tangle at the foot of the medical bed. "Here, start with this, ok?" He handed the blanket over, "I'll be right back and Rocky is going to be right here. If anything happens, he knows how to activate Armando. Right Rocky?"
"Grace hurry." He clicked his claws nervously.
"Grace hurry," he agreed.
Was the element of surprise shirt too stupid? No, Ryland, you're overthinking it. Simon probably just wants to wear clothes. Any clothes. For someone so malnourished he's pretty muscular. Grace chastised himself. He may not experience attraction very often but he wasn't blind. Not to mention how long as it been since he's seen another human? Ugh, he hated thinking about this right now.
Grabbing the first pair of sweatpants he had, along with the silly shirt, he darted back into the room. Simon and Rocky were silent, though Simon had wrapped the blanket around his legs. His eyes were slits, fixed on Rocky like he didn't trust him.
"Here, Grace passed the bundle of clothes over. "Rocky and I will give you some privacy to get dressed. How about some food?"
"Yes please," Simon muttered.
"We'll be back in a couple of minutes. Come on Rock."
"Rocky know what fleshy human look like. Simon not look like Grace question."
"Ah," Grace turned bright red. "We don't ask these questions when we just met someone! Come on let's go."
He's much bigger than me actually, Grace thought to himself.
"It's not the greatest," Grace came back to the medical room. Simon was dressed now, still curled on the floor with the blanket over his shoulders, but dressed. Grace sat in front of him at a respectable distance. "I'm short on rations, even just for one person." He grimaced at the coma slurry, but Simon didn't flinch. "Tomorrow I want to take stock of the plants and see what I can get to fruit soon."
"You have plants?" Simon asked quietly.
"Oh yeah, lots of them! Seeds too but we should save those for when we get to Erid. We'll have to start a farm."
"Show me," Simon tried to stand but his legs were shaky.
"Hey hey, be careful!" Grace jumped up to support him. "You need rest."
"Show me," Simon growled, mere inches from Grace's face. He swallowed hard.
"Okay, come on. Slowly ok?"
With Rocky following carefully behind them, Grace showed Simon the hydroponic tower. "It's not a lot. There's some tomato and some beans that would be ideal if we could get to fruit faster. They're starting," Grace sighed "but I'm not a botanist. I suck at plants."
"It's phosphorus," Simon was looking at the readout. "You don't have enough of it in the water."
"Simon botanist question."
A convict actually he thought bitterly. "When the stars died, all of us had to learn to keep plants alive. My mother..." he stopped, noting Grace staring. He scowled. "You need more phosphorus."
"The astrophage got your star?"
"What are you talking about?"
"The astrophage, the thing that is eating my star, and Rocky's. I guess it ate yours too."
"Nothing ate my star. It's gone. It vanished. Every star, every planet, every single thing in the God damn universe. I don't know who the fuck you think you are but there is no going home. We are stuck here forever. So tell me what faction you belong to God damn it!"
"Simon, I'm from Earth. I'm with NASA. Rocky is with the Eridian equivalent. We've been to planets recently."
"Stars not die anymore, Grace and Rocky fix," Rocky rolled closer to Simon. "Grace telling truth statement."
"Simon," Grace asked softly, "where are you from?"
"Eden station. We were... We were in our way to Mars." He collapsed onto the floor again. "Father said the stars were gone. Divine judgement was upon us."
"What were you doing on that moon?"
"I was taking pictures. They told me I was just taking fucking pictures. There was something down there, something evil. I heard voices that weren't mine. I was far from the light of the Final Tree." He shifted to his knees. "God, what is going on? What the fuck is happening to me?"
Grace hunched down and wrapped an arm around Simon, who stiffened but didn't pull away. "I don't know what happened to you, it sounds like a lot. I'm sorry you experienced so much. We'll talk more about this later, ok? Do you want to see something cool?"
Simon didn't reply but gripped onto Grace's hand,ready to follow. Grace hoisted Simon back up and they stood in front of a window.
"Stars," Simon gasped.
"Stars. Even if the Astrophage got to them, they wouldn't disappear fully, just dim. They'd still be here. I don't know what happened to your stars, but they're safe here. You're safe here."
"Simon need sleep question."
"I don't know," he answered, not fully voluntarily. The words just slipped out. "I suppose if I had died and this was heaven I'd have my arm back, right?"
"You're very much alive, and you probably do need some more sleep. Our bedroom is a little.... Unconventional."
The bedroom was just another section of the lab, and it looked like a nest more than proper beds. Not that Simon ever had "proper" beds. "Eridians have a cosleeping system."
"Rocky didn't watch crew. Crew died."
"Yeah it's a real sore spot for Rocky, so we made an area here. It might be a little tight with two but I'm okay right now, you can sleep and we'll keep watch. I want to get the phosphorus to the plants."
"Rocky work on messages home to Erid."
Grace and Rocky were whispering while Simon slept. Both of them were confused about, well, everything.
"Mars in Grace solar system statement."
"Yeah bud."
"But humans not living there."
"That's right."
"So how Simon get here question."
"I don't know. I don't know a lot about space. It could be a wormhole or time travel or something completely different."
Rocky made a thoughtful sound, "Adrian know. Adrian write thesis on space things. Adrian much smarter than Rocky or Grace."
"Gee, thanks."
The conversation was cut short when Rocky heard a soft whimper. "Simon waking up."
But his eyes remained closed, and Simon was quivering. "I think he's having a nightmare, actually."
"Bad dream," Rocky sounded sad for the other man. "How fix question."
Grace wasn't sure, so he tried something he probably saw in a movie or read in a book. "Simon, I'm here. It's Ryland. I've got you." He slipped into the nest of blankets behind Simon, pausing before wrapping his arm around him. He wasn't sure the other man would appreciate that. Instead, he was pressed his body against Simon's back. "You're safe, on the Hail Mary. You solved our problem with the plants, and I owe you so much for that."
Simon's breathing became more calm and even. It was working. Grace continued. "Um. We're happy you're here. It sounds like you've been through a lot but it's safe here. And Erid will be safe. Man, I wish you could have seen Rocky's ship. That thing was beautiful, spires of Xenoite."
By his work bench, Rocky trilled at the praise.
"The phosphorus is in the water for the plants now. I'll have you look at it in the morning. I don't know where you're from, alternate dimensions or a wormhole or... Or maybe you did die and this is your second chance. Rocky said his mate, Adrian, is an expert in this sort of thing. Maybe it doesn't matter to you. It doesn't matter to me how you're here, as long as you are. Here, I mean. I like that you're here. I love Rocky but it's nice knowing I'll have another human."
Whatever dream Simon was having seemed to have stopped.
"Wow, I can't believe my rambling worked."
"Grace sleep now to statement."
"What not a question?"
"No."
Grace laughed, and Simon shifted at the movement frowning slightly. "Okay, okay, fine. Good night Rocky."