Archive of Our Own ^beta

So, hey, Steve! We've just arrived here at the scientific wing at the station. So far it's great and everyone welcomed us. Laconia Solar System is amazing.

I'll be making these videomessages for you. I know it will take 6 months to reach you, but hey it's better than nothing.

I'm gonna miss you so much... but it will only be 2 years! I can make up for that, right?. This is a great opportunity, not only for me but for humanity as well. Given my experience on Extremis I'm really eager to work on this new alien discovery. I'm honored they called me and Hank is happy to be here as well. We are gonna find uses for the protomolecule. I know you didn't want to meddle with this. I know you're worried. But we are gonna reach so far with this. Just think about the possibilities.

I'll be with you as soon as I can.

I love you.

... and I am kinda regretting the bad things I said. I saw her this morning when she was going to the hospital wing. She didn't look well. Hank says it's because she is still not used to the mushrooms they prepare here. Everything is grown on hydroponics. It's not like on Earth, you know. I miss the real taste of good coffee and not the dirty water here.

Oh, I really miss you... and coffee. Don't get jealous, I have enough love for everyone!

So far things are great here. I have seen the protomolecule now, aside from just studying the collected data. They have a sample here. It was just a jar of black goo...? Actually I'm not really impressed. I could examine it with Extremis but it was almost repelling... ...sorry, I went on a scientific rant there, I cut this part out not to bore you. How is everybody?...

... But we are kind of short on people now. Security Chief-Commander Rodríguez said it is a flu thing, but I know better. He is hiding something. He just wants for people not to be alarmed. And that's his job, but still... We actually think someone has been manipulating samples. They say some reached the hydroponics and went into the actual food. What the hell. Hank and I are gonna look onto that.

Do not worry, Extremis will never let me get sick.

Love you.

I'm sorry for not reaching out for you sooner. We have been trying to fight this... It's got out of our control. She was the patient zero. All went to hell from there.

This is bad, Steve. Six people died this month, five this fucking morning.

Rodríguez said they called Earth and the nearby stations for help, so I'm sure you have heard from him already. Maybe you even are on your way here.

Don't come.

Don't.

You know what your duty is.

You know how these kinds of things are contained.

We can't let this get out.

It dies here.

... And Hank was trying to restrain him but he was just babbling. He suddenly turned violent and bit me.

He had already puked it but it was all black goo. And black goo all over the room, with those phosphorescent puffs floating around. We had to seal that wing.

I'm not feeling well, but I know this is just Extremis fighting it.

Comm systems are kind of having failures now so I don't know if this will reach you.

Hank passed away today. It consumed him fast. Like the others. I don't know what to do, Steve. More than half of the station is full of that black goo and we only have the scientific wing left. I'm not sure how much more will hydroponics, food or even oxygen will last.

I kind of wish you were here. I dream we are back on Earth and you're telling me not to go. Not to mess with this thing we found on a distant star. I dream I listened to you.

I can't save anybody. So many people are dying and I. Can't. Do. A. Fucking. Thing.

This is our tomb.

I am sorry. I am so sorry Steve.

We were wrong. I was wrong.

I hear them Steve. They call me and I know they are dead but... they are calling. She says she forgives me. I heard her say that, in my head... but I'm in her head too. And I think I have seen her, just a flicker, behind a door, around a corner. Extremis shuts it out, but they get clearer.

It reached the main engine today. It, feeds on its radiation, growing. Ever stronger. With it the voices get louder.

Heat and water systems only last that long...

I am tired.

It is pretty sometimes, I think... All those black tendrils. Those white butterflies.

Like a big black brain with pulses. It's hard to concentrate. It is pretty. Synapses. Extremis is all I have left.

Flee. Don't come. I'm tired. I'm dying. She screams. She is afraid, dying, again. I am afraid too. Please help us. I hear a melody, the butterflies sing it with a million voices. From now and from before. It's a song... I remember it, but I have never heard it..

Do you?