Chapter Text
Dr. Captain Ryland Grace was bored out of his mind.
It has been the equivalent of two Earth weeks since he and Rocky had reached Erid after years of travel, and yet, he still had to wait inside the Hail Mary while Rocky could frolic freely outside the ship. That was unfair.
Okay, maybe he was being a bit hypocritical. Rocky didn’t just leave him like that on his own, gravitating around Erid for no reason.
“Need time to build enclosure for Grace. Grace need to wait or else Grace die in Erid atmosphere. Stop sulking.”
Which, okay, fair. Rocky would still try to visit him as much as he could, but he was also busy with the preparations and the plan for Grace’s habitat, so he could never stay for long. Grace had also been given a radio to communicate with Eridians in case anything bad were to happen to him, but Rocky had insisted that it was only for emergencies and Grace didn’t feel like doing a prank call on some poor Eridian operator as a sort-of-first contact with Rocky’s people. Meaning that, most of the time, Grace was just on his own in the Hail Mary with nothing to do except wait.
He would look at Erid sometimes, it didn’t look anything like Earth that was for sure, if anything, it was a lot more blue, but it was still a very pretty sight (or maybe he was just happy to see something that wasn’t just his typical vast black expense of nothing with stars in it). When he got really bored, he’d mess with the computers for a bit, playing snake or solitaire or just reading random Wikipedia articles to pass the time (he would have so many bird fun facts to tell Rocky when he’d get down on Erid).
But other than that, Grace mainly just waited. He’d considered making video logs again, either for nostalgia’s sake or maybe to watch them himself in a few years, but he wouldn’t exactly have anything interesting to say. So he waited.
Alone.
Which was rapidly becoming annoying.
Take this, he’d never been the most patient person but he knew how to make an effort. When you teach young-ish children, patience is key. However, the isolation was bringing him back to the lonely days of when he’d first woken up on the Hail Mary. Alone, with no memories, and scared out of his mind. So yeah, he wasn’t nostalgic of those times.
But what else could he do ? Rocky and his team were doing their best, he was sure of it, and it would be rude to urge them to go faster. So Grace kept his complaints to himself and he busied himself as best as he could.
Today, he had resorted to looking outside the ship through the telescope, trying to spot the other planets in Erid’s solar system and maybe try to find better names for them. Sure, he wasn’t the most creative when it came to names, but naming all planets of a system and their sun “Eridani-something” felt lazy as heck. Back in the days, you’d name planets after roman gods, or something ! Now, what ? Just because there are more planets to be found means you can’t get creative ? Who said a planet couldn’t have a simple name, like Joel ? That’d already be better than a string of random numbers and- Hey, wait, did those stars just disappear ?
Grace snapped out of his (rightfully) petty musing and did a double-take through the ship’s telescope and, yep ! A small cluster of stars had gone missing. Just a normal day aboard the Hail Mary, afterall, right ?
Now that he thought of it, the event was familiar. When he’d first came face to face with Rocky’s ship, it had been by noticing a black spot in front of Tau Ceti’s Petrova line. Was there something floating in front of the stars right now ? That wouldn’t be anything crazy, honestly, it could very well be an asteroid. Although, if it was, then it was worryingly close to Erid. Since Eridians lived underground, though, Grace doubted that an asteroid would do much harm to them, maybe risk damaging their tunnels a bit at worst, though. It was probably worth it to inform them.
“Hey guys, huh-“ he said to the radio, “there’s some kind of unidentified flying object up there. If I were you, I’d make sure that thing doesn’t crash on you guys’ heads.”
Grace had no idea if the guy he was talking to knew of his weird human language or if Rocky had found a way to make a live Eridian translator for his colleagues. The Eridian on the other end of the line let out a string of notes that roughly translated to the polite affirmation you gave someone in hope that’d they’ll leave you alone for the rest of your day.
Yeah, that guy hadn’t understood a word Grace had just said.
There was some shuffling on the other end, then quickly, Grace was met with a familiar voice.
“Grace, what wrong question ?” Rocky’s notes came through “We really busy, told you line was important, so better be important !”
“I know, I know ! It is important !” Grace took a deep breath, isolation was not great for his nerves, “There’s something gravitating around Erid, I can see it in my telescope but I don’t know what it is. I was just alerting you guys, is all.”
There was a short silence on the other end. Rocky then spoke up again.
“Possible Grace go see what it is question ?” He sounded almost apologetic, which Grace appreciated. He wasn’t used to people asking for his opinion before sending him off to a potentially dangerous mission. “I come with you, I no want you alone wandering off in space. Grace ship piloting still bad.”
“Hey, I practiced !” Grace said in mock offense. “But okay, if you want a break from work you know you don’t need to pretend I can’t be left unattended in space, you know ?”
“Sounded like joke.” Rocky flatly replied.
“It was.”
“Bad joke,” Rocky concluded. “I meet you on ship in about 1 hour. Keep looking at space object.”
“I got you, buddy.” Grace said, almost happy to know he and Rocky were going on a space excursion together, “See you up there.”
He and Rocky, together on the Hail Mary, dealing with unidentified objects in space, like the good old times ! Anything to take Grace out of the monotony of waiting, really. Still, he was almost shaking from the anticipation.
“Alright, little guy,” he said, turning his attention back to the black spot in the starry sky, “let’s see what you have in store for us.
---
All his life, Simon had been told that God would answer prayers.
That’s what they would say at least. All of his childhood, Simon had been told that if everyone prayed hard enough, God would grant miracles. He and all the other kids in Eden had believed it. All of them would pray at night, hidden under their sheets, for humanity to be okay, for the stars to come back. At least Simon thought they did. He liked to believe that he wasn’t the only one who had hope.
Now, he didn’t exactly believe in miracles anymore.
If humanity had to resort to sending a nobody like him, a murderer, on the one mission that could possibly save humanity, it meant that there was hardly any hope left. Most people, as far as Simon was aware, had completely lost hope.
Everyone but him, for some reason.
For some reason, Simon kept believing.
He could not stop hoping. Hoping that things may turn out alright eventually, for him and for humanity. He had to hope that the SM-13’s black box could save humanity, even if it was unlikely.
It was almost beyond him, how he could still believe. Even as his banged up submarine was being eaten by that- fucking eel thing, even as the blood ocean called to him, promising salvation for his wicked soul, Simon kept trying, hoping that it’ll turn out alright. It was almost inhuman, paradoxically enough, how far the human spirit could take you.
Still, Simon wasn’t stupid. He knew no amount of willpower could save him from his imminent death. So, falling back into old habits despite himself, Simon prayed. He prayed that his efforts would not have been for nothing, he prayed that the monster would go down with him in the explosion, that the voices trapped within it could be set free. More than all, he prayed that, somehow, he would be alright.
It was illogical, he knew that, thank you very fucking much, but something in him refused to give up. It was a spark in his chest, warmer and that shone brighter than the light he was being offered by the ocean, that wouldn’t let him accept his death. Simon couldn’t bring himself to surrender to the light, he hadn’t fought this hard against it to give up now.
Surrounded by blood, white noise screaming in his ears, the light swallowing him, Simon closed his eyes, held his breath, and blew it all up.
Hoping. Hoping that it will all be alright.
---
Grace liked it when things made sense.
Who didn’t ? Logic was neat ! If you had questions about how the world worked, you could logically explain it. That’s why he loved physics and science so much ; having things explained to you was great, knowing that things made sense was amazing.
What Grace was currently experiencing however, made no freaking sense.
He and Rocky have been cruising towards the unidentified object in Erid’s atmosphere for two good hours. Both had been stoked to go on a space mission together again (especially Grace, a break from the loneliness was nice) and they’d spent their time theorizing about what could possibly be orbiting Erid. Grace believed in the asteroid theory, although he found it boring. Rocky wondered if there were possibilities it could be an alien ship and Grace liked this much more. Afterall, Eridians existed, there was life on Adrian and humans were a thing, so it wouldn’t be so crazy for other intelligent life forms around.
However, as the Hail Mary got closer to the object and Grace could finally take a good look at it through the telescope, he realised something.
That shape was awfully familiar.
Grace wouldn’t believe it, because it didn’t make sense.
That was a submarine.
A submarine in space.
Which was more than illogical, it was just flat out impossible.
A submarine was a human object, from Earth, which was quite far away from Erid, if you asked Grace. The thing looked old, banged up and rusty. It looked like it belonged to sit at bottom of the ocean rather than be floating around freely in space. He double-checked multiple times, making sure his prolonged isolation wasn’t causing him to hallucinate, but there was no mistake to be made: there was a submarine orbiting Erid.
“Holy shit…” Grace whispered before he could catch himself.
“What wrong question ?” Rocky asked, coming in the cockpit, intrigued by Grace’s unusually crude language.
“The thing orbiting Erid, it’s…it’s man-made.” Grace replied.
“what what what ?!” Rocky shrilled in a high octave, “Let me see, now, move move move !”
Grace leaned back in his chair, letting Rocky point his camera through the lense. As expected, Rocky didn’t recognize the object, but he could tell that it was definitely not natural-looking. It took some quick explaining on Grace’s part for Rocky to understand what a submarine typically does, but his friend got it quickly.
“If true then submarine can’t be in space,” Rocky concluded. “Can’t even be there, too far from Earth out here."
“I know, that’s crazy !” Grace said, leaning back in his pilot chair and running a hand through his hair. “I mean, unless it was some top-secret space travel mission from like- the 1960’s judging by the look of this thing, there’s no freaking way that this thing is actually real !”
“Does it have to be human build question ?” Rocky asked, backing up from the telescope, “Could be alien with same ideas as human. Aliens might need underwater exploration ships.”
That wasn’t…Impossible. But the ship looked so much like an actual human submarine, thinking that it might be anything but human felt like a stretch.
Both humans and Eridians had built spaceships, but even if they had the same core purpose, their technologies and artisanship were wildly different. What they were looking at right now had been built by humans, Grace could…feel it.
Basing himself on instincts was un-scientific enough, but there was a darn submarine in space, so give him a break.
“Is there a way to know if there’s…something alive inside ?”
“Could bring it to Erid. Can’t hear through walls in space.” Rocky offered. “Hard to bring aboard Grace ship though. Would have to wait for submarine to get closer to Erid so that we could retrieve it.”
Grace sunk in his seat, huffing in annoyance.
It would take him some more waiting to see if there was something-or someone- in this submarine. He would have to keep waiting. Geez…
Suddenly, Grace heard his radio crackling. He assumed it was Eridians asking about their findings, but what came through wasn’t the melodic tones Grace was used to hearing.
It was a voice.
A distorted and shaky human voice.
“Is someone there…?”
A human voice that spoke English on top of that.
Grace scrambled to sit up in his chair, leaning over the radio.
“Uh- Yes, Hello ! Um, you’re coming through loud and- well, not clear but, you know…”
Sometimes, Grace wished he knew how to keep it simple.
“Did you survive ?” The voice said, sounding incredibly out of it, “I- I think I’m still alive so…Was the explosion for nothing…?”
Oh, okay. Oh holy freak. What do you even say in that situation ?
Grace assumed that his radio was picking up the submarine’s own radio frequency, so it meant that there was someone in there. Someone who was allegedly human, English speaking and alive. Although the guy didn’t sound so sure about the last one himself.
“I- I’m sorry, um,” Grace decided he had to say something before the silence got too much, “Are you in the space submarine I have on my screen right now ?”
Silence on the other end of the line. Grace was terrified he might have lost the signal.
“Space…submarine ?” the man finally replied, “I’m in…Yeah, I guess ? Fuck- I don’t think I’m ever getting out of this thing at this point.”
Okay, so that confirmed that. Grace was about to ask the stranger how he could still be alive before the other man spoke up once more, this time quieter, like he was talking to himself more than to Grace.
“God, why am I still talking to the fucking blood hallucination…?”
“Submarine human sound crazy” Rocky suddenly chirped.
Grace gestured for him to shut up because this was definitely a delicate situation, but the stranger on the other end of the radio had already heard him.
“What the hell is that noise ?” he asked.
“Don’t worry about that !” Grace said “I’m just uh- I’m aboard the Hail Mary right now, human spaceship, and I came across your submarine and I- Well- I’m sorry if this is, like, invasive or anything but, how are you still alive ?”
Silence once more. This time it stretched on longer than the last time. So quiet that Grace could faintly hear the creaking of the metal from inside the submarine through the radio.
“…I don’t know.” He finally answered.
Either this guy loved vague answers or he was genuinely totally freaking lost. Grace bet on the latter.
“Okay, that’s fine, we can figure that out later,” Grace awkwardly replied. “Me and my friend are gonna work towards getting you out of your ship first of all, the rest’ll come aft-“
“You’re gonna get me out ?” The stranger interrupted him, sounding smaller than before and…hopeful.
“Well, we’re gonna try at least.”
“Can make hole in submarine if it made of weak human metal” Rocky piped up, “Make tunnel with Eridian ship, send Grace on EVA and Grace get other human out.”
That…that was possible, actually. It would take a few hours for another ship to get there, but Grace could stay with the other man, they could communicate through the radio while waiting. Sure, the guy didn’t seem very talkative but he also sounded severely traumatized and maybe even concussed, so that might have been playing a role in the stranger’s short responses.
“Can you still hear me out there ?” Grace called out, “We’re going to get another ship to get you out by making a hole in your sub. When that’s done, I’ll be coming to get you out, okay ?”
The man remained quiet for a bit. Grace could faintly hear his shaky breath through the radio.
“You’re actually getting me out ?” He sounded like he couldn’t believe it.
“Yeah, we are. But I’m not leaving you alone, don’t worry. I’m not sure in what state you are but I would rather you not fall unconscious before you’re out of your tin can.” Grace half-joked, hoping to lighten the mood.
Rocky had left the room with his own radio to call for the other Eridians to send them a second ship. Grace knew he could still hear them, but it still felt more appropriate.
“If you’re real…” The man said, his voice sounded strained, “Can you just…keep talking- please ?”
Oh wow, that must have been the first time someone asked him that.
“That, I can do.” Grace replied with a soft smile.
---
The man from the submarine looked…awful.
Like he had requested, Grace had been talking about whatever came to his mind while they waited for the Eridian ship. He had tried to ask a few questions here and there to keep the other engaged and awake but was only met with vague responses or a refusal to answer. At some point though, like Grace had feared, the guy had lost consciousness. Thankfully, the rescue team didn’t take too long to arrive.
Once the xenonite tunnel had been installed, Grace had been sent to open the submarine and get the man out of his metallic jail.
There had been…a lot of blood.
Grace knew darn well that such an amount of blood couldn’t come from one single human being, he sincerely hoped it wasn’t even human blood. The inside of the submarine had been filled with blood but he had still been able to locate the stranger.
Grace would admit, he had doubted at first that the man was really human. He was missing his left arm, his face was scarred and the left side of it looked like it had been pierced from the inside…? Add to that the fact that the inside of submarine also happened to be covered in what looked like veins…or roots.
Yeah, Grace had been 99% sure that he was going to throw up.
Still, he had stayed strong. He may have looked scary, sure, but that was still the man Grace had heard through his radio a few hours before, sounding all small and scared and so so hopeful when he learned that Grace was going to get him out.
So Grace did just that. It hadn’t been exactly hard to drag the man around in zero-gravity so Grace had managed to bring him back to the Eridian ship then to the Hail Mary with not much trouble. Grace had estimated that the man would be much more well-taken care of in a ship that was meant to nurse humans. Eridians had started to learn about human anatomy so Grace had no doubt that they would eventually be able to take care of human bodies as well as their own, but they weren’t there yet, so it made sense for them to leave Grace to look after the man.
Now, it had been roughly a week since the mysterious submarine guy had been brought inside the Hail Mary. Rocky had had to go back down to Erid so that left Grace alone to look after the stranger, orbiting around Erid while he waited for his habitat to be built and for the other man aboard to wake up.
That was a big concern for Grace right now. Would he wake up ?
The medical robots had taken care of the biggest injuries, mainly bandaging up the man’s severed arm and disinfecting…practically everything, even his darned eyes, the left one had been particularly messed up. Grace and Rocky had also took the precaution of leaving the man near the reactors in case the man had suffered any radiations related issues. Grace had no idea how the man had managed to survive…whatever had gotten him in this state. Let alone do it on his own.
The man had been all alone aboard the submarine when Grace had gotten him out. Not even cadavers of potential crewmates had been found, so it was safe to assume that the man had been out in deep space in a more than rudimentary submarine for god knows how long and survived whatever alien attack he had been a victim of…all on his own.
Grace could relate to the loneliness at least.
It was almost surreal for Grace to imagine that there was another actual human being aboard his ship right know. Well, it was surreal because there was logically no way for a human to have travelled all the way from Earth to Erid in a gosh darned submarine, but let’s assume Grace was beginning to accept that fact (at least until he could ask the man a few questions), but back when he had remembered the details about the project Hail Mary, back when he had first remembered that he had been sent out in space to die on his own, with no hope of seeing Earth ever again, Grace had been forced to come to terms with the idea that he would never see another human being ever again. The last faces he’d see were those of his two deceased colleagues, and that wasn’t necessarily a good memory.
To have another human here, with him, Grace couldn’t help but feel hopeful.
That hope was what motivated him to visit the still passed-out stranger on his ship as often as he could. Maybe he was also picking up on the Eridian custom of making sure a sleeping person is being watched over while they’re vulnerable, that was more than likely. Grace couldn’t exactly picture himself explaining that he had picked up an alien tradition to the stranger if he were to wake up while Grace was in the room. Although he guessed it could pass as medical worry rather than creep behaviour in that specific scenario.
So there he was, watching over a mysterious man he had gotten out of a mysterious bloodied submarine who was covered in scars and missing a limb, who he had talked with over the radio for a few hours and had gotten no important information from, not even a name, only barely understandable mumbles here and there.
Apart from the scars, the man looked relatively normal. He was strong, at least he looked like it. He had broad shoulders and his hands seemed like they were used to manual labour. He looked younger than Grace, probably in his 30’s if he were to take a guess but he couldn’t be sure. His hair was long and his beard was unkept, it was safe to assume he didn’t exactly have the occasion to worry about his appearance inside that submarine.
Grace got up from his chair and stretched out his arms. No matter how much he anticipated the stranger’s awakening, he had to sleep as well. As Grace got up to reach his own bed, he reasoned that if the man were to wake up, the nurse robot would probably alert Grace of it.
“Eye movement detected.”
Grace tripped over his own feet.