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It's cold when he wakes, and he shivers.
The ship's air is dry and musty, and he can feel the thrum of the systems coming on-line in the back of his head, a muted, wordless soundsensation that's familiar and comforting at the same time.
"Lights," he says, his voice scratchy from disuse. The fluoros slowly brighten, casting a warm glow throughout the ship, imitating sunlight. He hasn't felt the warm touch of the sun on his skin in a very long while.
The chronometer flashes and he counts the years in his head; too many. Too fucking many.
Gerard is tired, body worn from long stretches of stasis as Helena slowly follows the search pattern they programmed so long ago, he and his ship. A three dimensional cloud of probability, based on the last transmission from Mikey's Bunny Marie, factoring in the velocity, acceleration, direction that they'd been traveling in when they'd sent that mayday.
The further away they search from that data point, in both distance and time, the less likely they are to find Mikey and Bunny Marie.
Helena chortles quietly to herself, pleased to have company again. Gerard knows that she gets lonely, but there's nothing he can do until they rescue Mikey and Bunny Marie. He touches the wall and wishes things were different.
A muted ding draws his attention to the scanner, and when he looks and sees the pingback, he tries to swallow down the hope.
?, Helena asks, eager.
Gerard nods. "Yeah, let's go check it out."
-fin-