Chapter Text
Sometimes You Only Have Bad Choices
A Lost In Space Fanficiton
Chapter 1 Do You Even Know What A Father Is?
He cast one last lingering look over the echoing halls the Resolute before leaping across the void to the waiting ship. The moment his peds hit the metal he braced himself for the connection, and staggered as it didn’t come. His face flashed in curiosity. Had he really changed so much? Was he no longer even physically compatible with the ways of his kind?
His forerunner was securing the bronze engine in a containment unit in the cargo space, seemingly completely focused on his task. He hesitated, unsure of what to do and felt that now familiar little thrill of uncertainty and terror run up his spine. For so much of his life everything had been laid out for him. To the micrometer, to the moment. And the one who had always done that, the one who made his path smooth, was now stiffly ignoring him.
“Do you even know what a father is?” Will Robinson’s voice whispered through his memory files, his corrupted memory files.
His forerunner finished securing the engine and started to stalk through the ship. He paused at the door and glared back at him. For a moment his forerunner attempted to regain their bond. He jerked his face away and felt the failed attempt struggle through his systems.
“You said you would submit,” his forerunner said.
“After we are clear of the Resolute,” he reminded his forerunner as meekly as he could.
His forerunner spun and stalked out of the room, his platting flaring and clamping tight in waves of distress. The younger stared after him wonderingly. He had read anger, lingering battle rage, in his forerunner’s face. That was to be expected. But there was also … fear … not simply the reasonable anticipation of combat damage. True terror flickered at the edges of his forerunner’s damaged face. That made no sense. He was no true threat to his forerunner. He was perhaps three-fourths of his forerunners mass, and generations less experienced. What was his forerunner frightened of? As soon as they were back on the homeworld he would be turned over to the security forces anyway. The he would no longer be his forerunner’s problem. The younger wasn’t prepared for the stab of pain that sent through him.
His thoughts were interrupted when his forerunner beckoned sharply for him to follow. He clamped his plating close and obeyed. This, this separation was so strange. He could not remember a time he had been so alone. From the time he had budded his forerunner had been there. A presence physically and mentally. Guiding him, shaping him. He followed to the bridge and took his place meekly behind the steering star. Hs forerunner activated the controls and the ship separated neatly from the Resolute.
The younger felt the engine surge to sublight and braced himself for the journey back to the homeworld. He was shocked when the engine deactivated mere moments later. He checked their position on the star map. They were further from the homeworld than when they had left the Resolute. He shot a curious look at his forerunner as the warrior stepped down from the controls and turned towards him.
“As agreed,” his forerunner said grimly. “We are away from the human ship. I have harmed none of them. I will not return to that thing. Now as you agreed. Submit!”
The younger clamped his plating to his body in a show of submission and stared into his forerunner’s damaged face. He felt the pull of the elder’s will, as familiar as, more familiar than his own thoughts. He waited, waited for the rush of assurance, the knowledge as sure as the light of the healing bolts that this was right, this was good.
“Stop resisting!” He forerunner flashed in sudden anger. “Submit!”
The younger trembled.
“I am trying,” he replied. “I am not resisting!”
His forerunner braced himself and began one of the most basic submission patterns. The younger tried matching the patterns, rising to meet his forerunner’s will, but the fractals met the damaged half of his forerunner’s faceplate and scattered in the cracks. After a time his forerunner slumped, wincing in pain and trembling.
“Perhaps if you could force a connection with the ship,” the younger offered. “It seems to be rejecting me. If-“
“Silence!” his forerunner flared at him, straightening and glaring down at him. “The ship rejects you because I set it to.”
The younger flinched back, feeling horror rise in him.
“Do you really fear I am so corrupted that I would infect the ship itself?” He asked.
“You utter fool,” his forerunner said, slumping into a rest position and staring at the floor.
When he raised his damaged faceplate to the younger the terror on his face was more open and present.
“I won’t hurt you!” the younger insisted. “I won’t fight. I just didn’t want any more humans to die. It isn’t necessary. They want nothing to do with us-“
“You utter fool!” his forerunner raged, again surging to his peds. “Do you think I fear a younger like you?”
His forerunner stalked forward and seized his head in his primary servos bringing their faces mere inches apart.
“I could have ended you in a moment!” his forerunner declared even as he began another more complex submission protocol. “I could not care less what happens to those creatures. You cannot harm me. Now, submit!”
The younger tried, tried to let his face mimic the patterns, but a pain began to build in his processing cores and as he strained the world began to white out. He came to himself on the deck, trembling and weak. His forerunner was staring down at him. His fractured faceplate swirled with emotions the younger had never seen. There was tenderness, wonder, and true deep terror in the look.
“Did it work?” the younger asked. “Did I submit?”
“You tried,” his forerunner said in a tried swirl. “You tried.”
The younger struggled to his feet and his forerunner held out a servo to help him up. The younger took his time to fully examine his forerunner now.
“I am sorry,” the younger said, reaching out to touch the damaged stub where he had ripped of the other’s arm. “I did not-“
“You are clearly corrupted,” his forerunner said sharply, waving away his concern. “Your actions cannot be held against you.”
“I do not think I am,” the younger protested.
“You defied orders,” his forerunner sparked out. “You physically interfered with the completion of our mission-“
“Your mission was not to murder a budling!” the younger interrupted him. “I had already retrieved our engine and informed you of the location of the other-“
“That budling was actively corrupting our bond!” his forerunner declared. “I could feel his, his cowardice!”
“That was not his fault!” the younger said. “I told you. That was my error, and mere chance. I let him touch a memory log. I did not know the species was so compatible or I would never have –“
“None of which alters the security risk of having an alien connected to the network!” his forerunner countered.
“Then sever the connection on my end!” the younger said. “I don’t care if you have to carve out ever fiber of my bonding capability! But leave Will Robinson out of the danger!”
His forerunner rocked back on his pedds and a slow swirl of understanding spread across his faceplate, tainted with that same terror and horror.