Chapter Text
Yoongi, despite popular opinion, is a bit soft at heart. This means that despite his leather jacket which is heavily adorned with pins and patches (strictly off duty), his smoking habit which he's trying to quit (mostly off duty), and his tendency to not give a shit (on and off duty); he really does try to do the right thing. Unfortunately, this current attempt landed him in trouble with the captain of Red Dwarf. Captain Hollister didn't often take lightly to Yoongis various escapades, and this was no exception.
'Where's the cat, Min.' Being on a mining ship meant lots of protocols, including referring to other crew members by their surname for the most part. In this instance, the captains stress on Yoongis surname makes the question sound more like a statement.
'What cat?' Yoongis nonchalant accented tone was perhaps a bad choice for this situation.
Hollister almost growls as he leans towards the technician, folding almost completely over the top of his desk. 'You know exactly what I'm talking about, you must have found it when you were on planet leave on Titan.' The captain sighs, and leans back again in his chair, looking rather fed up.
'You know you can't bring animals on board that haven't been quarantined, don't you?'
Yoongi shrugs, keeping his face resolutely blank. He did know this, but how could he explain that he HAD to rescue the kitten, which was now residing in the air vents adjacent to his quarters. There had been a trader on Titan who had kept a collection of animals in disgusting conditions, and Yoongi had somehow played a part in rescuing them with a select few... as it were, vigilantes.
'Give me the cat, Min.'
'... what would you do to it if I did have a cat, sir?' Yoongis vowels are stretching out in his attempts to stay calm.
Now, Yoongi realises, the captain has a large vein visibly pulsing in his neck. This only really happens when the Captain is furious, and it seems like it's a lot more frequent when Yoongi is involved.
'I would send it to the lab to be experimented on.'
Yoongi can't help a slight flinch at the threat, but he steels himself and speaks up again.
'I can't give you the cat, sir. I rescued it.' Yoongi, although respectfully, makes it clear in his tone that he won't back down on this.
'So I guess you're fine with going into stasis for the last 18 months of this trip? Therefore forfeiting your pay for the rest of the expedition?'
'Sir! But-'
'Then give. Me. The cat.' Captain Hollisters words interrupt Yoongi, the captains finger prodding the desk steadily until it happens to land in his chocolate muffin. The rather tense moment is kind of ruined, and Yoongi valiantly tries to hide a smirk. His face falls as he considers the threat, but ultimately he makes a decision.
'Sir, I'd rather go into stasis.'
------------
Yoongi trudges past the examination room on his way to organise his things before being put into stasis. He needs to hide his shit before his roommate can 'organise' the room again, resulting in Yoongi not being able to remember where half of his clothes are. Speaking of roommates, his is just being escorted out of the examination room. Kim Namjoon, known more affectionately by Yoongi as smeghead.
'Hey Kim, guessing the officers exam went well?' Yoongis sarcasm is completely missed by the rather dazed Kim.
'I think it went quite well...' Kim looks around quite slowly as he replies. This exam was probably one of the worst recently then. Yoongi looks at the guy accompanying his roommate, and asks 'What happened this time?'
'Started talking about the meaning of consciousness and how we don't truly know ourselves or something... it was a physics exam...' Yoongi snorts in a short laugh, then pulls at the bottom of his uniform shirt as he replies. 'Good luck getting the lanky smegger to the medical ward' he then saunters off to his room, after a short informal salute to the pair.
He arrives at his shared room, and surveys it with a slight frown. He really can't see anything that would especially need to be stored away, apart from his last few cigarettes that Peterson keeps sneaking off with. His handheld is kept in his pocket at all times, so that's not a problem.
Yoongi decides to move over to his bunk, the top bunk, and fish out his small collection of cash that he keeps handy. There's about 50 dollarpounds there, which isn't too shabby considering he's only saved it up through selling off cigarettes and some off-ship beer over this trip. He stuffs the change and notes into his other pocket, and moves over to his wardrobe.
May as well wear my jacket for when I get out of stasis.
Shrugging on his black leather jacket, which is covered with patches and pins from his travels and various bands and rappers he's into, he gets out some smuggled cat food and some water. It was a good thing that the air vent where the cat is hiding leads right into his room, sneaking around with a bag of cat food around the ship would definitely have attracted attention way before now. Yoongi opens the vent and gently manoeuvres the cat towards the food. The cat is pitch black, with bright green eyes that are glowing much brighter with happiness than when he first found it. Yoongi suspects that the increasing chubbiness of the cat isn't just from putting on weight, which is rather frustrating knowing that there'll be kittens arriving and he won't be around to keep them safe. It seems that he'll be asking (read: bribing) one of his friends on the ship to keep an eye on the cat. The cat glances back at him once it's eaten, and Yoongi is struck by inspiration. Her eyes are startlingly similar to the front cover of a Frankenstein edition he had once seen, where a bright green eye looks out from a dark background.
'You're called Frankenstein now, cat.' The cat seems rather nonplussed.
Once Frankenstein finishes eating, Yoongi scratches her behind her ears and coaxes her back into the vents. Peterson's quarters are only a short walk away, so Yoongi decides to visit the guy in person rather than just sending a message.
'Hi Yoongi' Yoongi's just walking out of his quarters when he hears his name, so he looks to the left and sees Kochanski smiling and waving politely. Kris Kochanski, the brown haired guy who's been the focus of Yoongis rather hopeless crush.
'Uhh... hey' Very eloquent.
Kochanski is just a bit taller than Yoongi, although that's pretty much everyone on this tin can of a ship. Tae, Red Dwarfs computer, had once fudged the numbers of the health exams to read that Yoongi was at least a clear foot shorter than anyone else. Yoongi couldn't see the need for a computer with such a mischievous streak. His height complex was rather well known on board Red Dwarf, and his height was not mentioned unless you wanted a rather swift kick to the nether regions. Tae, consisting of a disembodied head on a screen, did not have genitals, and so was able to tease Yoongi without consequence.
Kochanski, meanwhile, as Yoongi is contemplating yet again his lot in life in the height department, continues towards him and asks why Yoongi is wearing his leather jacket. Yoongi snaps out of his reverie, 'uhh, I'm being put into stasis...' he looks down at his feet rather sheepishly as he says this.
'Oh no, why?' Kochanskis eyebrows knit together as he looks sadly at Yoongi. 'Because the captain said that I have a cat on board that wasn't quarantined.'
Kochanski's frown of empathy turns into one of mild disgust as he says 'Oh dear, I don't like cats. I'm allergic and they seem way too lazy to be worth bothering with. You didn't bring one on board did you?' Yoongis rather fragile crush breaks at Kochanskis words. Despite himself he had become quite attached to his cat over the short time he'd kept her. Yoongis secret plan of saving up money from all of the mining jobs he'd been doing and then retiring early to make music in LA with Kochanski, which now included Frankenstein, was rather dashed. This was a stupid, fantastical plan, but he'd thought that one other addition to his five year plan wasn't a bad thing (once Kochanski had finally realised his feelings for Yoongi).
'No, I don't have one. Something must be up with Tae's sensors' Yoongi shrugs nonchalantly, congratulating himself on keeping his face clear of emotion. Kochanski doesn't seem to notice anything amiss, despite the loud cracking of Yoongis fracturing heart that he swears he hears reverberate through the entire ship.
Kochanski again looks sympathetic and pats a hand on Yoongi's shoulder. 'Sorry about you getting stuck in stasis then. I'll see you before you go in right?' Yoongi nods in response as Kochanski removes his hand and walks away, holding up a hand in farewell. Yoongi sighs, carding his fingers through his unruly hair as he makes his way to Peterson's quarters. He pops his head around the door as he knocks on the door jam, and he sees Peterson lounging in his bunk with a pack of cigarettes being thrown from hand to hand. Yoongi's fingers slightly twitch at the sight of the cigarettes but he holds himself back from asking for one. He'd promised himself that his last pack was for selling and that he was quitting, but saying is easier than doing. Instead, he says 'Hey Peterson, I need a favour.'
'What is it?' Peterson's response is directed at the packet in his hands as it moves from hand to hand.
'I'm being put into stasis for the last 18 months. Can you look after my cat? It's in the vents and- yeah I know it's for a long time.' Yoongi adds the last part after Peterson looks up in surprise and ends up dropping the cigarettes onto his lap. 'You just need to feed her and give her water at the vent outlet in my quarters, oh and she'll probably be having kittens soon.'
Peterson swings his legs off the bunk and surveys Yoongi. 'What's in it for me?' Yoongi was anticipating this question. 'I've got the last pack of ciggies in my wardrobe and an unopened bottle of the good beer from Triton under my mattress.' Peterson looks intrigued, but not completely convinced. Evidently Yoongi needs to sweeten the deal. 'I've got left over credits for food in the canteen that you can burn, I'll only be out of stasis at the end of the job so they'll be useless to me then.'
'Okay then, shake on it.' Peterson hops down from his bunk and strides towards Yoongi, his hand outstretched. Yoongi sometimes forgets how ridiculously tall Peterson is compared to him, but it's moments like this where he remembers, with Yoongi looking up at an angle and Peterson having to turn down his chin to meet his eyes. Yoongi grins, 'Thanks man. Here's my password for the credits.' He passes a folded up scrap of paper to Peterson who stuffs it into his jeans pocket.
Peterson grins, and ruffles Yoongi's hair. He's the only one who does, because he's a veritable giant who Yoongi actually is on good terms with. If anyone else tried they would have a broken wrist before they could think. Yoongi therefore only gives him the signature death glare.
'So I guess I'll see you on the other side then Min?' Peterson holds out a hand, and Yoongi reciprocates the fist bump.
It is a short while after when Yoongi reaches the stasis booths after saying goodbye to the few friends or at least good acquaintances aboard Red Dwarf. Yoongi has a backpack with some necessities while his clothes are in a trunk that is currently being placed inside the stasis booth.
'Min, why do you have so many clothes? It's only 18 months that you're in here,' Todhunter says as she hefts the trunk in the booth before relieving Yoongi of his backpack to place it on top. 'Needless to say I don't trust my roommate to not rearrange shit, or Peterson to not pilfer anything that's any sort of value,' Yoongi deadpanned, smirking at Todhunter's laugh. She could be a smug superior sometimes but Yoongi could make her laugh, and it was always a surprise when she would agree with him about what a smeghead Kim could be.
'I guess you're right,' Todhunter agrees, still chuckling. Heaving a sigh, her face falls after a moment. 'It's a shame that you have to go into stasis though, you're a pretty fun guy,' she smiles, 'I'll see you soon, or rather you'll see me soon but I won't for 18 months,'
Yoongi understood the general principles of stasis pods and how they worked, but Todhunter's words slightly confuse him. 'What do you mean?'
Todhunter gets a slight glint in her eyes when she answers, as she often does when really getting into interesting theories and scientific ideas. 'When we close the pod it becomes a vacuum of time so time won't exist for you, so it'll be 18 months for us but only a few seconds for you,' she says, snorting a little at Yoongi's bewildered face.
He kind of understood, but as a technician he had only partially touched upon the theories of these grander inventions. He knew how things should work and how to fix them if they aren't. He had rarely went into why they worked or any overarching theories since his training.
Despite himself, Yoongi nods at Todhunter's explanation after a moment of thought, which she can't help but chuckle at too. With an exaggerated gesture, she swings open the stasis door yet again and invites Yoongi inside. It's Yoongi's turn to laugh and it leaves a rare grin on his face as he steps inside the stasis pod.
'See you in 18 months Min,' Todhunter says, smiling and waving through the porthole window at Yoongi as she shuts the door and sets the code. Yoongi snorts and waves in return, expecting to be frozen in place or something unnecessarily dramatic to happen. It doesn't, and he steps forward to get a better look through the window. When he does the door swings open again, revealing a puzzled Yoongi yet again. He frowns, turning and picking up his belongings and shifting them through the door.
He looks around at the empty hallway, noting the dust covering everything and the small mounds of white powder that are dotted through the corridor. Another thing that Yoongi notes is the overwhelming quiet around him once he sets down his bags. It settles around him like a weighted blanket, a stark contrast to the usual hustle and bustle of the ship during the work day. He steps forward and the sound reverberates oddly through the metal floor and the surrounding corridors, reminding Yoongi of when he first set foot on the ship as a trainee. It had been remarkably clean and empty, construction finished and waiting for its passengers to board. That was the only time that he can remember it being this silent on board, and he's able to clearly hear the hum of the engines propelling the giant mining ship through space.
It's unnerving, making him simultaneously want to scream and not want to make any sound at all. There's a building feeling in his gut that tells him something is terribly terribly wrong, and that feeling tugs him towards the flight deck. He starts off walking quickly, looking through doors and side corridors as he goes, but as he goes he still sees no one and his walk ramps up to a jog, and then almost sprinting towards the control room. Yoongi doesn't usually run anywhere and so he's quite out of breath when he reaches his destination.
Yoongi takes a second to breathe, resting his hands on his knees as he fights the urge to panic by taking measured breaths in and out. They rasp a little but he soon feels calmer. He stands up and looks around, seeing yet more of the small mounds of white powder on the floor and piled on chairs. Yoongi decides to speak, but it takes a moment to do so from the quiet, feeling like it's almost suffocating him.
'Tae? Are you there?' He says in an uncharacteristically shy tone. There's nothing, for a moment, before a voice replies. It's at a normal volume but with how quiet everything else was on the ship Yoongi couldn't help but jump a little at the sound. 'Hello Min!' Tae replies, grinning his boxy grin from the screen at the side of the control panel.
'Tae, you scared me,' Yoongi huffs, scowling a little after his scare. Tae just grins even more. 'You're finally out of stasis, I'm glad because it's been a little boring without you!' Tae says. 'Well, I say little, it's been soooo boring! Manning the controls all by myself is too monotonous to keep me on my toes... I say toes-'
'By yourself?' Yoongi asks, interrupting Tae's ramble. 'What do you mean?'
If Tae could shuffle uncomfortably at Yoongi's question, he would be. As it was his face on the monitor could only pull a sheepish face. Yoongi didn't like that face, it usually came before Tae admitting a prank he had pulled on a crew member or the whole ship. Last time Yoongi had seen that face he and Namjoon (also a technician) had had to replace about 30 shower heads and rewire around a million miles of cables leading from the canteen. Don't ask.
'Ah.' Tae was not often speechless, this wasn't good. 'Well, after you were put into stasis, there was a slight problem with the drive plate.'
'Go on...' Yoongi doesn't like where this is going.
'Second Technician Kim didn't have you to help with fixing it like he usually would, so the scutters were recruited in to help. It didn't work. The radiation killed everyone on the ship, and I had to secure the ship and get away from civilisation until the radiation faded to background levels...' Tae finished.
Yoongi can see his face growing more and more horrified in the computer screen in front of him as Tae continues. 'How long was that exactly?' Yoongi's voice has a slight shake.
'Three million years,' Tae almost spits out. It feels like a punch to the gut. Yoongi sits down with a thump, catapulting dust and that white powder into the air around him.
'Three million years?!' Yoongi's voice is almost a shriek. 'You're kidding. You have to be,' he continues, feeling like this is a fantastically huge prank that the AI had sprung on him. He wouldn't put it past Tae, but it seems like much crueller fare than usual.
'No, I'm really not,' Tae is earnest when he speaks, eyes wide, almost like he's realising how similar to the boy who cried wolf he must seem. But that was the problem, Tae always had a particular expression on his face when he was playing a prank, like hiding a smug or giggly grin was too much. Yoongi is studying the AI's face now, and that hidden grin is nowhere to be seen. Tae is being terrifyingly honest. Yoongi wants to throw up. Tae can see the look on Yoongi's face and his words almost blurt out of the speakers.
'It was unsafe! I had to make sure the background radiation was low enough that you wouldn't die immediately,' Tae's eyes seem to be getting watery and Yoongi knows he can't blame him, but god... three million years. He thinks about his friends, his family, Frankenstein... Yoongi stops thinking before he can actually throw up.
'Wait...' Yoongi's not sure he wants to hear the answer, but here goes nothing, 'so what's all of the white powder piled around the place...'
Tae grimaces. 'Next to you is Navigation Officer Kris Kochanski,'
Yoongi leaps away, horrified. He stands in the middle of the navigation deck and tries not to stand on any of the mounds of white powder. 'And... who's that then?'
'Captain Hollister,' Tae replies, 'and next to him is Second Technician Kim Namjoon,' his voice sounds strangled and his face is twisted up, conflicted.
Yoongi splutters, and his short laugh is high pitched and hysterical even to his own ears. He steps into a corner, taking in the dozens of small piles of white powder just in the control room alone.
'I'm... alone?' Yoongi utters after a prolonged silence full of computers beeping and the low engine rumble resounding through the ship.
'Not technically,' Tae starts to speak, a lighter tone welcome in his synthetic voice.
'What do you mean?' Yoongi begins, his heart soaring high with hope. Maybe Tae was able to save someone else too?
'Morning Min,' comes a voice, and Yoongi half jumps out of his skin at the familiar voice that he had only just realised he would never hear again... but now he hears it.
'Jesus!' Yoongi spins and comes face to face with Second Technician Kim. Only, he’s got a recognisable H symbol in the centre of his forehead, stark silver against Kim’s tan skin. Now he understands the technicality that Tae mentioned.
‘Kim, holy shit, you’re a hologram?!’