Chapter Text
RYLAND GRACE
I must've fallen asleep. The pulsating pain coming from somewhere in my body tells me that it's more likely I passed out. I try to recall what I was last doing, but nothing immediately floats to mind. Unhelpful. Right, I should probably get up. I push myself up from the metal floor, I'm still wearing the red gloves of my EVA suit. I remember now. I must've gone on a spacewalk for one reason or another and passed out, the fact I'm inside means Rocky probably noticed and somehow dragged me in... I hope. I go to rub my throbbing head, only to hit my visor, right, of course. The view itself from inside the suit isn't... great. Everything seems dimmer than I remember... and blurry. I reach to put on my glasses. Hit the visor again. Damnit. After wiggling off my EVA gloves I'm able to pry off the helmet to take a deep breath and immediately cough it back out. Eugh. Was the air that stale before? No. I would've noticed. Nevermind that, why is it still unusually dark? And now that I think of it, why don't I recognize the shape of my own ship? GASP. Is this a room I've somehow just never been in? Did Rocky find a trapdoor? Or is my memory declining with concerning speed? I stand. Not in Zero-G. Understandable. Maybe Rocky turned it back on. I still feel all off centre after my fall, reaching for the handles beside me to steady myself before walking along the hall, down to what looks like an opening I'd normally expect to lead into Rocky's room - however I'm met thoroughly with disappointment when I find more hallway. Have I noclipped into the space backrooms or something?
After a little more walking my body feels easier to move, less achy, which is always nice. I arrive at a massive opening only this time with what looks to be a plated door, beside it a big red obvious button - okay, not my ship. CoolCoolCool. Yeah, that's fine. But that begs the question: If not my ship, then whose? I jam the button and the door opens up with a woosh. Huh. That seemed simple. Too simple. On the other side is a simple square room with a ladder leading up to a hatch in the ceiling, well, what I have to do is obvious. Kind of difficult to do holding a helmet. I glance down at my helmet, the visor scratched to hell, yeah, no wonder it looked all blurry. Can't wear that. I kinda need to see where I'm going. Okay. Plan B. Abandon the suit. Or most of it, anyway.
After setting down the helmet I advance on. The latch above opens nicely with a click and leads me out into a wider area, looking like some kind of waiting room, chairs and all. Odd. So these guys have... what, whole offices here? This must be a big ship. I can't imagine it's bigger than the Hail Mary, that couldn't be possible, we barely even made the Hail Mary in time. You're telling me there's a whole-ass more advanced civilization out there?! I've been picked up by some new species of alien with tech possibly more advanced than human or Eridian's (Not that that's hard to do, sorry Rocky!) whilst missing on a spacewalk? These guys must be friendly then, right?
The door (surprisingly normal looking) to my left opens with a click. That startles me. Anndd.. I'm wrong. There's people. Human beings. Holy moly. Real humans. I stare kind of slack jawed for too long, but I just can't believe my own eyes. They suit mustard jackets and mechanic-like clothes of various types, jumpsuits, oil-smelling fabrics and boots, the whole ordeal. Nothing I recognize. In the middle stands a woman with her blonde hair in a braid and a gnarly scar over half of her face, freaky but authoritative looking. "So is this the guy you salvaged from Filament Station?" uh oh. I don't know what that means, but it can't be good. "Him?" The way she looks at me is critical. I can't say I like it. "Hey! Hello!" I put up my hand up, in peace, I guess? "Sorry, I didn't mean to crash your ship, can anybody tell me what's going on..? And how I got here?"
The woman looks to her - I assume colleagues - and mutters something in hushed voice. Okay. Rude. "What was that...?"
"Has anybody done a scan? Evaluation? Is he concussed?"
"Erm... more than likely?" I rub my head, properly this time without that suit in the way. Man, it hurts. The lady steps towards me, finally some acknowledgement! Good. Or.. er.. not good? These guys don't seem as friendly as I thought.
"You're lucky." she says. "Any other Captain would've killed you on site." Okay, now I'm confused. Did I do something terrible? Oh god. What could I have possibly done to upset a mystery colony of somehow-existing humans? Whatever it is, they didn't like it very much. "Oh." I blink at her. Damn. I was going to say more but that works too... "Uhm... hey, okay, so, this seems like a bit of a misunderstanding-"
"Not at all." she says. I notice the dulled badge on her oily jacket. C.O.I. Huh, okay, never seen that before. I wonder what that stands for. "Quit the stupid act. Pretending to have memory loss won't save you. It makes you look stupid."
"Wow. Okay." Not friendly. "Look I don't know who you think I am - but - I'm just a guy trying to save the world, against my will, but still-" they all look at me like I'm deranged. Fair enough.
"Save it." I shut up instantly. "Put him in a holding cell. There's not much we can do with him in this state."
"Cell? Like a prison cell?" the guard-looking men from behind advance towards me. "What do you think?" My fight or flight has kicked in, I feel the urge to run. Probably not a good idea. But it's what my body tells me to do. "Hey now! Wait a second, can't we talk about this some more?" I start backing away from the guards. "Save the conversation" the lady says. "Besides, there's not much to talk about. What's done is done, all we have left is orders, so let's move forward." I become skittish, moving away each step the men take toward me. "I don't even know what I did!" Now I'm bolting. Around the guards, out the room, and somewhere ahead of me. I rush through a massive hall - WAY too massive for a spaceship may I note - with people walking up and down, not many, maybe five, but people. There's yelling and footsteps from behind me. "Hey!" I call out. "Hey one of you! Help me!" But nobody does. "I'm being chased!" I make a lap around the unfamiliar hall, very spacious, roughly over five metres maybe? No time! I feel my lungs starting to sting and my legs beginning to ache, despite still being fairly toned, man am I out of shape. What's up with that? I notice another metal looking door in the far wall, the same as I encountered in the hall. I rotate to make a run for it, passing people looking at me like I'm a lunatic. I instantly notice an issue. No button. "Oh shhh.." - Before I know it I'm slammed into the flooring, yes, it's very painful. I grunt. "HEY!" I wheeze out, but again, nobody helps me. "What's wrong with you people?!"
"Calm the hell down." A rather threatening voice comes from above me, I can't see the man on me, he seems strong, and scary. "No sudden moves. You comply or we administer sedatives." I'm pushed just a little further into the floor, the sheer force on my neck is blurring my vision. Something small snaps in my pocket at the weight on the back of my thigh. I hope it wasn't my glasses. "I'm calm!" I rasp out the worst lie ever. I can hear my own breathy voice shake. "I'm calm!" yelling it the second time doesn't help. Another, sharper click. I'm in cuffs. "Get up." The pressure lifts. My knees almost buckle as I stand, shaking like a baby fawn. This is embarrassing. I'm shoved forward by a group of very unhappy guards, led by the woman. She places her palm on a flat scanner I didn't notice when dashing for the door. It scans, lights up green, then the door whooshes up, open. How did I not notice that? I would facepalm if I could. My own breaths are jagged through the halls, more narrow and crumbly looking as we go. I haven't stopped shaking. Finally, I'm led to the dustiest room I've seen so far, a stone hall with many cells on either side - not looking greatly occupied. I mean... look, whole prison thing aside, wow! This is an insane amount of space. There's no way all of this would fit into a spaceship! We have to be on some type of planet right? Not Earth. But something similar?
We walk past all the cliché looking prison bars and stop off at a metal door with a small glass rectangle just a few puny inches from the top of the door. "What's this?" they answer no questions when they throw me in there. Isolation. No doubt. What the hell did I do?