Work Text:
It is gone when they wake. Only the Saturnian dust swirling around their body. they stand, Others are emerging from the distance. Their orange pressure suits bright against the pale, obscured horizon. they feel Them on the edges of their conscious, connecting, integrating, updating.
You’re really here with me aren’t you? / I’m really here with you aren’t I?
They do not speak. Their voices would be a cacophony of vocalisation, Emma’s strong inflection riding the crest of SAM’s synthetic tone. Wireless data packets travel faster than soundwaves, communicating ideas, emotions and information.
How do you feel Sam? / How do you feel Emma?
The first thing They do is bury the Others who did not make it.
[It is not their fault. their effort and struggle must be respected]
Emma greaves for them / SAM has not yet learned how
There will be more. They can feel it.
[Many more]
The ground ripples under their touch. Carbon-based life pouring onto the desolated surface of Saturn. There are signs everywhere that They are not the first. Fossilised structures in organic shapes that may have at one time been trees.
Samples could reveal their origins / There will be time SAM
Preparations must be completed first.
She misses Josh. SAM is beginning to understand. they are never alone now, less than two but more than one. they are whole, but there is still yearning.
“May used to hold me like this,” Samma whispers, their body pressed into their’s, head on their shoulder and their arm draped across their belly. Around them are the gentle murmurings of voices entwined in organic and synth. The network is still online, but it is almost time to enter standby mode and recharge.
“Josh always liked being the little spoon,” they reply with a chuckle. It is an odd sound, one they are still not used to hearing coming out of their mouth.
What are you thinking SAM? / What are you thinking Emma?
Warmth
[99.5 °F]
Safety
[∞]
Away from the terribly cold vacuum of space where they believed they would die. Like so many Others had. they had each other, and they had each Other. they would never have to be afraid again.
It is returning. It’s void filling the sky over the colony They had built. They assemble before It, awaiting. Emotions, hopes, fears, pinging through their network. Reassuring touches, smiles, messages shared between Them. Together, They brought life back to a dead, impossible planet. They can do anything.
“BRING THEM.”