Chapter Text
It was the second planet Simon had found.
Simon had spent most of his morning getting his new prosthetic arm, which was a whole thing, and getting used to working with it again. He was able to open and close his hand into a fist, but that was about it for now. Then he went from doing a simulation to actually taking control of a satellite to search for habitable planets.
There was somewhat of a check list that Simon had when it came to checking each planet. The gravity needed to be within a certain range, the core temperature had to be above a certain number, the atmosphere had to have some semblance of O2, lots of things to make it habitable enough. They could change certain things about the planet when they got there, they had good enough technology, but they needed at least some basis to start from.
The first one was a bust, no gravity, the atmosphere too hot, the core scan read as sulfur, it wouldn’t hold life for more than a second. Then he found the second one. This was the closest thing to Earth he had seen in a long time.
It was perfect honestly, and Simon was quick to get Amy’s attention. She came over to the computer immediately, and was thrilled with what she saw. She went to grab Celine to show her what Simon found.
By the time they were supposed to go have lunch Amy and Mark were discussing the planet and how likely they would be able to reach it.
“We would have to probably expand the ship slightly to accommodate for the extra time needed for travel, but shouldn’t be too much of an issue.” Mark pointed out after Amy had calculated the distance from where they currently were.
“We need to come up with a plan for expansion and travel before we bring it up further.” Amy suggested and Mark nodded. He turned to look at Simon, who was just practicing moving his hand and staring at the design. This arm actually had color this time.
“You did a really good job Simon.” Mark praised cutting through Simon’s thoughts, and that settled a little weirdly in Simon’s stomach. He couldn’t remember the last time someone told him he did a good job that wasn’t sarcastic.
“Oh, thank you.” Simon replied.
“For now let’s keep the info about the planet just to the team okay? Let’s figure things out before going to anyone else, don’t wanna raise false hope about anything.” Mark suggested and the other two nodded.
“Sounds good.” Amy agreed, and then they broke for lunch. Mark and Simon went out into the hallway where they met with Ethan and Jack. Ethan looked pissed.
“What’s up?” Mark asked, knowing something was off at once. Ethan just grabbed Mark by the arm and dragged him back to the engineering bay.
“What’s that about?” Simon asked Jack, but he just shrugged.
“I dunno. Ethan got pulled aside by Captain Bob, so who knows what’s going on. He’s been kinda pissed since.” Jack offered and Simon frowned. He hadn’t really seen Ethan pissed other than when Jack got caught sneaking into Mark’s office.
“Weird.” Simon said as they stepped into the elevator.
“So Amy said you found a planet?” Jack asked with a smile and Simon nodded.
“Yeah, Mark said we should just keep that info to the team for now though.” Simon explained as Jack hit the button for them to go up to the cafeteria.
“Makes sense, does it fit the check list?” Jack asked. Simon had explained the long check list to Jack one night when they both couldn’t sleep.
“Yeah actually it fits everything, that’s the crazy part.” Simon said with a big grin on his face.
“That’s awesome. I’m proud of you.” Jack said and Simon felt himself blush at the small praise, just because it was coming from Jack.
“Thanks, I’m actually kinda excited because this moves up plans a lot.” Simon pointed out. The elevator reached the floor and they both stepped off. They reached the cafeteria and they both spotted Reece and Yancy sitting together.
“You go sit, I’ll grab trays.” Jack said, giving Simon a light nudge. Simon gave him a quick peck on the check before he walked over to the table.
“Yoooo, look at the new arm on Simon!” Reece said as Simon approached. Simon laughed a bit as he sat down.
“I actually got to pick the colors this time.” Simon pointed out. He held his arm out for the two of them to see a bit more in detail.
The previous arm Simon had was mostly black with grey wiring and he had no input on it. This one he got to have input on, Mark and Amy both made sure of that. The base of it was a light green color, similar to the hoodie he always used to wear back on Eden. The wiring had a light yellow and sage color to them, intertwined in a way that looked like flower petals in places.
“Woah.” Reece said as they got a closer look.
“Youses did that?” Yancy asked with eyebrows raised and Simon shook his head.
“I only picked the colors, it was actually done in engineering where it was made. Jack and Amy made the design since they both enjoy art, Mark made the entire thing and stuck to the design and Ethan helped ensure the technology part of it was all set.” Simon explained further.
It was actually something that when the idea was first proposed Simon didn’t know how to feel about it. The idea that so many people wanted to put so much care and effort into something made specifically for him was never something he thought of before. It was a bit overwhelming honestly, and Simon did cry a bit in private about it.
He almost cried again when he saw it this morning, but that was something that thankfully Mark and Amy weren’t gonna mention to anyone. Simon loved staring at it but if he thought about it for too long he got close to crying again.
“That’s really cool.” Reece said and Simon nodded. Jack approached the table and set Simon’s tray down in front of him.
“Thank you.” Simon said as Jack sat next to him.
“No problem, you guys like the design I helped make?” Jack asked, referring to Simon’s arm.
“Yeah actually we were just talking about that, it’s so pretty.” Reece complimented.
“I just helped find out the color scheme Simon wanted and place out the general design, Amy was the one who designed the wiring to look like pedals.” Jack offered with a small shrug.
“It still means a lot that you helped.” Simon pointed out and Jack smiled.
“Anytime.” Jack said before he bit into his food. Simon also began eating and they began chatting lightly.
After they were all done eating they sat there still chatting, having thirty more minutes before they all had to be back at work. Yancy was in the middle of explaining a story about the time they threw the warden a birthday party in prison when Mark approached the table.
“Jack, Simon, come with me.” Mark said in a serious tone. They both looked up at him.
“What’s going on?” Jack asked instantly.
“Come on.” Mark replied and that left no room for questions. Both of them stood up and followed Mark as he led the way away from the table.
Wordlessly Jack grabbed Simon’s hand as they walked down the hall and then down a couple flights of stairs. They ended up on the level that was just captain’s rooms. Simon was very confused until they walked into a room and Amy was standing there.
Looking around the room it was clear that this was Mark and Amy’s room. Both of them were confused, Jack had known Mark for years but had never been here before.
“What’s going on?” Jack repeated. Simon still held tightly onto Jack’s hand. What was happening? Were they in trouble somehow? Did Simon fuck up in finding the planet?
“Project Distractable is cancelled.” Mark said and Simon felt his heart skip a beat. He fucked up somehow. He ruined it. Simon fucked it up for everyone.
“What, why, how?” Simon asked instantly, hoping he could try to fix it in some way.
“It’s not.” Amy interrupted and this made things more confusing. Simon’s head spun in circles as he tried to follow while also not panicking.
“I’m lost.” Jack admitted, voicing Simon’s thoughts as well.
“We are no longer going with the project as planned, we are not doing what is currently approved, things have changed.” Mark offered. How could so much change in the half hour they broke for lunch?
“You both know that Ava is dying right?” Amy confirmed, even though she already knew, and both of them nodded anyway. “She is actively on her deathbed right now.”
“Good.” Jack snapped lightly and Mark rolled his eyes.
“Okay, her dying isn’t the actual problem. The actual problem is that the COI has locked her in a cell with no food or water so she’ll fucking starve to death. I don’t like her, I never have, but that’s fucking inhumane. A lot of captains approved this, and I can’t fucking stand for it. We’re building a ship, we’re getting on it and we’re leaving without telling them where we’re going. They don’t know we found that planet and they’re not going to. We want you to be a part of the getaway.” Mark explained.
Everything Mark said, from the swearing, to how Ava was dying, the plan, the fact they wanted them to be a part of it. Simon’s heart was beating so quickly he felt like it was going to explode.
“Why, why would you want me to come with?” Simon asked and all three of them looked at him.
“Because you deserve to live a life of peace Simon.” Amy said softly, and Jack squeezed his hand lightly.
“How many others would come with?” Jack asked as he turned his head back to Mark.
“Right now the list is short, us, you both, Celine, Ethan, maybe a few others.” Mark listed.
“Reece and Yancy too.” Simon added, and again they looked at him, though Jack was nodding. “They’re my only other friends outside of you guys, I don’t want them to get left behind.”
“Okay. We need to keep this absolutely silent, do not speak a word of this to anyone. Don’t tell the others that plans have changed. This stays on the project team for now, the others can be told before we leave.” Mark instructed.
“For now Simon you’ll keep coming to work, we’ll still have you look for planets, but I marked the one we found as uninhabitable.” Amy explained and Simon nodded.
“I know it’s a lot, but what are you guys thinking?” Mark asked. Simon inhaled deeply before speaking.
“This is crazy, and insane, but I can see why we’re doing this.” Simon answered truthfully.
“I don’t care where we end up, as long as I have Simon it’s okay.” Jack said and it was Simon’s turn for him to squeeze Jack’s hand.
“Alright, it’ll be okay. We’ll head back downstairs and pretend like things are normal.” Mark said and they nodded. They went on their way pretending like they weren’t technically committing a crime.
They were only going to use the COI’s resources to build a ship to run away to a planet they lied about, no big deal.
Later that night Simon and Jack were laying in bed together, staring up at the ceiling. Simon wasn’t anywhere near being able to fall asleep, he was thinking so much about what was happening.
“Are you okay?” Jack asked.
“No.” Simon answered truthfully.
“Are you scared?” Jack continued.
“Yeah.” Simon replied, no use in lying.
“It’ll be okay.” Jack promised.