Chapter Text
The silence was broken by a hiss from the airlock. Stiles had managed to disable all the alarms, and he hoped the mechanical sounds wouldn't alarm anyone. Everyone should be at Claudia-22's inhumation ceremony for a long while, but Stiles had learned the hard way "should" is never 100% certainty, especially when it came to sneaking around here.
He had learned to be quite good at sneaking in the past 7 years since his birth mother's death, but it seemed like Gerard-19 was blessed by gods specifically to sniff Stiles out. Stiles' grandfather wasn't much better, but at least he wasn't outright malicious in his punishments.
The airlock door finally opened enough for Stiles to slip through and into a small cave that led to outside. He stopped to place a glittery green rock between the door and the frame, just in case, then to attach one of the suit's two clips into the safety cable before he continued out on the asteroid's surface.
It wasn't long before Stiles reached his destination, the edge of a crater, one of many on Kasra's surface, and crept around a large boulder to peek at a dome at the bottom of the asteroid. He was just in time. The mass had reached the point where Claudia-22's ashes were placed in a small airlock, one made just for this purpose, and sent scattering into space.
There was a lump in his throat and tears in his eyes, unwilling to fall in the minuscule gravity of Kasra's surface. Stiles hadn't been allowed to his mother's previous inhumation ceremony, had barely been allowed to mourn. He wasn't allowed in this ceremony either, but unlike 7 years ago, Stiles now knew how to spacewalk and could at least do this for his mother.
"Goodbye mom," he whispered. He knew he didn't have much time before he had to head back, before his absence in the gardens was noticed. But he allowed himself a moment to watch the streak of ashes arching above him, and remember his mother, both the first one and this one too, gone even younger than the previous one. He wondered what the next Claudia would be like, if he would like Stiles like the other two had. Stiles had already been told he would be the one to raise her. Claudia's father was already too old to raise her, and her mother had already died, waiting for her husband in stasis so that they could be reborn together.
Despite the furious face of Gerard-19 in the inner airlock door's window when he got back, Stiles knew his trip had been worth it.
Okay, Stiles had some regrets over watching Claudia-22’s inhumation ceremony. Not about going to watch it, but underestimating how quick on his foot that old bastard could be, and how petty almost everyone in the asteroid could be. It had been weeks and Stiles had barely been allowed to eat, just the bare minimum to keep him alive. He had obviously eaten from his stash, but despite rationing it was already dwindling. Christopher-26 should be coming back from his supply run any day though, and he was one of the few who didn’t treat Stiles like trash. Usually at least turned a blind eye on Stiles sneaking food from his cargo, and sometimes even brought back stuff specifically for him.
Until then though, Stiles had to make do. And today that meant eating what he could while tending the aquaponics in the garden cavern. From what he could tell, today’s menu was mushrooms and duckweed at least, and he was pretty sure he could snatch some shrimp too.
Not the most delicious meal, but it would give him calories.
Claudia-23’s gestation had been started almost immediately after her previous incarnation’s passing. It had been almost 4 months now of Stiles sneaking into the gestation shrine to watch her mother whenever he could. He wasn’t really allowed to, and had gotten some beatings for his insolence, but Stiles couldn’t keep himself away from the dais and the container on it. He pressed his fingers against the cool plex holding his mother.
Just a few more months.
Stiles had to wait outside the chapel for most of the ceremony, but right at the end of it, when he heard the first cries of a newborn, the door opened and he was ushered inside. There he was then directed towards the dais that held the gestation pod, now empty of its occupant.
Gerard-19 turned to him, glaring, and without any more pomp, settled the wet, squirming and still crying infant in Stiles’ arms. Gods, she was tiny. Stiles had of course seen babies before, but it wasn’t often that he was actually allowed close to them.
He raised Claudia-23 to his chest, and slowly the cries quieted down.
Shouting. So much shouting, and crying children and sounds of running and hard things hitting flesh and…
Stiles was stumbling towards Claudia-23's room, his metal leg creaking in protest, he had to get to her mother and protect her. She was so tiny and helpless again. The birth ceremony had been just a few days ago, she couldn't take care of herself for several years yet, Stiles' duty was to…
There was someone in the corridor towards the room. One of the outsiders, with strange body proportions, a helmet covering their head and something resembling a small gun in their hand. The gun-thing was quickly pointed towards him.
"No, wai-"
For a few moments Stiles could only see electric white. Then he saw nothing.