Chapter Text
Stratt had only lived through a third of her life expectancy and yet had already seen and done more things than anyone her age had before.
Going from a history major, to an ESA administrator, to being the lead director and coordinator of humanity's last ditch effort to survive the closest thing humans had gotten to an alien invasion. She had worked with world leaders for a million and one different things to get everything ready; an interstellar ship from China, the most advanced and efficient space suits from Russia, medical robot nannies from Vietnam. The entire mission was an amalgamation of every last human that wanted nothing more than to survive. A want that Stratt would do her damnedest to fulfil. There would be absolutely no bias or playing favorites for what got to be put into this mission. It would only be the best possible options available and the most trustworthy equipment on hand. She wasn’t going to let this mission fail just because a few nations wanted their egos stroked.
However, despite her varied and honestly quite impressive record, Stratt had never in her life experienced what she did now. Well, no human in the history of humanity had ever gone through this, so maybe she was just being modest.
She had just been talking with Grace(mostly joking on his end) about the Hail Mary’s progress when they had both heard a loud and Earth shattering boom a few miles away from where they had stood. Grace’s arms had raised up around the both of them as they couched down in response, a crude shield against whatever had caused the horrible noise. An Earthquake? Thunder? A terrorist attack??
Ok, Stratt knew those first two were impossible and foolish. She had deliberately chosen a place that was no where near any fault lines and had extensively researched the weather that was to come(had even used her new authority to get the best meteorologists to plan out the weather for the next month in preparation for the launch). They were foolish thoughts but they had come to her anxiety riddled mind, anyway. That third thought, however…
There was no shortage of doomsday peddlers out there; those that would willingly destroy humanity’s only hope for salvation.
Fear and panic overtook her usually calm and collected exterior as she frantically pushed Grace’s arms back down and looked towards where they had heard the blast. Stratt’s eyes quickly found the destruction and immediately felt both shock and horror. The blast had come from one of their makeshift science tents that they had set up after they were cleared to work on the astrophage on land. It made her sick to her stomach at the possible loss of life and research. She was saying 'possible’ because the thing that was the most shocking was the fact that she couldn't see it.
What should have been a maelstrom of death and destruction was instead replaced by a strange blue mist; stray shocks of lightning crackled along its outer surface and lit up the surrounding desert.
Stratt’s eyes somehow tore themselves away to look at Grace in a desperate attempt to get any kind of explanation. The microbiologist turned science teacher looked even more shocked than she did, his mouth agape in a way that would usually be humorous under different circumstances.
“Is… is that astrophage? A new evolution, perhaps?” Stratt threw out despite knowing that answer. They had been breeding astrophage for months and had never seen anything like this.
“No,” Grace replied as he fixed his constantly disheveled glasses, “this…this looks like nothing I've ever seen before…”
Stratt wanted to say something else, but an exclamation from one of the Russian soldiers surrounding them interrupted her. He was pointing toward the strange cloud, the man clearly trying to say something, but Stratt’s quick look stole any sound from her surroundings. The blue mist had seemingly begun to distort. Its perfectly round shape now had a strange blemish that was slowly growing larger and larger.
“Oh shoot-” Grace mumbled in despair before grabbing Stratt’s arm and running the opposite direction.
Any other person that would have done this would have been immediately and mercilessly reprimanded. Her newfound authority had put her in a protected bubble that no one dared to penetrate. While also keeping her safe so she could do what she needed to undisturbed, it had unintentionally left her subconsciously thinking herself beyond the touch of another. However, Ryland Grace was different. The woman had long ago abandoned any founded doubt about the teacher and now trusted that his actions were at the very least something to be considered in relatively high regard, no matter what the man himself believed. So, instead of flinching away from the sudden touch, she poured that nervous energy into her legs and ran.
She did fairly well in her opinion. She had lasted a good while of running before the inevitable finally happened.
Doubt finally began to creep in after what she swore was a mile straight of running, and she cast a glance behind her; a decision that had granted her both horrible understanding and immense fear. Just as when Lot’s wife looked back to Sodom’s destruction, Stratt had become a pillar of unmoving salt. A frozen statue in the face of something much higher than herself.
The blue sphere was not getting bigger, as Grace clearly deduced already. No... What she had assumed was a deformity in the sphere’s shape instead turned out to be a rapidly approaching beam of light, its deceitful size proving to just be a trick of perspective as the strange and terrifying… thing aimed straight towards them. None of their running had done anything. Any directional changes they made was followed closely, the beam hot on their tails no matter where they went. A sudden clarity broke through any and all panic she felt in that moment; they weren't going to be able to escape this. They were all going to be consumed in what could only be a strange evolution of the astrophage they had foolishly cultivated.
She could hear both Grace and the soldiers urging her to move, one soldier even deciding to leave them behind, but her mind refused to relinquish the death grip it had around her. What was the point? They were going to die. They were going to die just like those in the research center. They were going to die just as all life was going to. So what was the point in running? They had done everything they could. It was better to die with the dignity she forced herself to don like armor.
At least… that is what Stratt told herself. The majority of herself that she had transformed into the perfect scapegoat in the fight for humanity’s survival was ready to accept what was about to happen; already ready and willing to die for this mission. But a tiny, inexplicable part of herself was different. It wasn’t indifferent acceptance. It was white, hot, undiluted fury.
She had sacrificed so, so much for this mission. She had sacrificed the lives of animals she deemed less important in comparison to humanity in order to buy the Earth more time by completely fucking over the ecosystem. She had ordered the Sahara to be paved in order to breed more astrophage. She had made plans to completely melt Antarctica in order to increase the temperature of the Earth so that they wouldn't all freeze to death. She had sacrificed her own future in order to make the decisions no one else had the goddamn balls to do. She was even about to sacrifice 3 of her fellow humans' lives just for the slight chance that it might save everyone else.
She was willing to continue sacrificing anything and anyone possible in order to complete her mission.
But it didn’t matter now.
Nothing was going to matter to her ever again. That did not stop the anger that replaced her blood, however. Not even the burning, writhing mass of evolved astrophage that descended upon them could even hope to rival the fury of a woman that had realized she was about to lose everything.
-
Simon had always known what he was. Had known it the moment his mother had sent him up into space. When Eden had branded him as one of their own. When Eden ripped away that claim the moment Filament Station blew up. When the Coalition of Iron had locked him away for what Simon had assumed was forever. It was an undeniable truth that was his by birthright: Simon, formerly of Eden and now to no one at all, was a prisoner. There was absolutely nothing Simon could do to change this. It was wired into him like the DNA that created him and the blood that coursed through him. So, when a space captain sent by said C.O.I strolled into his cell, he couldn't help but be doubtful of what she promised him.
“My freedom?” Simon blanched, “You’re going to give me my freedom?”
The woman did not look at him, instead choosing to face the bars of his cell.
“Only if you complete a few tasks for us. There's nothing for you but a dingy cell if you don’t accept this deal, convict.”
The fact that the woman refused to use his name did not bother Simon. He had long since been used to the dehumanizing nature of the coalition. Besides, he had his freedom facing him, blinding him in such a way that he could almost feel its warmth. The same warmth he had felt before the Quiet Rapture had stolen away every warm and good thing in this world. That small reminder of comfort had almost been enough for Simon to accept the deal without even thinking. But a distrust born from half of his lifetime being in prison held him back.
“What do you want me to do, exactly?” The man asked, a strange sense of foreboding tainting his hope.
“It doesn’t matter. You will be free afterwards. Isn't that what you want?”
She still refused to look at him. A familiar surge of annoyance hit Simon as he attempted to sit up straighter, an action impeded by the leather handcuffs tying him down to his chair.
“Yeah, right. The coalition has never given me any leeway before. Why are you guys doing it now? I deserve to at least know what I’m signing up for.”
This finally seemed to make the woman turn to face him. He felt a hitch in his throat as he properly looked at her. A large scar had marred the left side of her face going from her hairline down to her neck. It was an ugly thing. It forced one of her stormy blue eyes to turn into a milky white color and it only was made more disfigured as those eyes looked upon Simon with even more contempt than he thought possible, as if sensing his thoughts. Simon mentally cursed himself out for his reaction. He himself had scars that he knew did not paint him in a pretty light and it wasn’t fair of him to judge others for theirs. Oblivious to the prisoner’s silent self-deprication, she began to speak.
“This is not an option, it is your sentence. I could have given you something far, far worse and it still wouldn't be what you deserve.”
She let herself seethe for a few moments longer before she finally collected herself.
“All that you have to do is an expedition. You will go into AT-5 and look at key locations that we found in our surface scans. Once you are done, you will relay the information to us. Do you want this deal or not?”
Despite the pure anger on her face, her words were even and contained. It had sounded so simple.
Perhaps Simon should have been more careful in this moment. But the guilt of his internal stumble and the idea of his one chance at freedom made him irrational; stupid.
When he was younger he had read stories of these creatures called lions. In these stories they would be starved for days and be manipulated into doing the violent bidding for those that used their hunger as an opportunity. Perhaps that example alone should have been enough to dissuade him from accepting. However, like a lion being led out with the promise of meat, Simon followed the beast tamer out into the circus tent.
As he found himself being welded into the SM-13, he couldn’t help but feel as if he had traded one prison for another.
The air was hot and stuffy inside of the sub, the heat of the blowtorch welding him inside trapped itself inside of the enclosed space. Simon was not very good with heat. The cold abyss of space made it very hard for those inside of the space stations to feel even a fraction of what he was feeling now. The prisoner(which he technically still was until he breached the blood moon’s surface) shook his head and attempted to put a few unruly hair strands into his bandana. It didn’t take long for the mechanic to finish up, and soon he could hear the voice of the woman that came into his cell through the intercom.
“Preparing for drop off. All equipment and crew are at the ready. You better hold on to something, convict. It’s going to be a rough landing.”
You’d think landing in a liquid would be easy, Simon thought but strapped himself to the seat anyway.
“Initial touchdown in three…two…o- what?” She was suddenly interrupted, “I’m in the middle of a countdown. What could…”
Simon felt himself hold in his breath, his body filled to the brim with tension as he waited for the drop that never seemed to come. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he could see through the porthole… and what he saw worried him.
The captain was sitting ramrod straight as a man he didn't recognize described something animatedly, worry wracking his lithe frame. His hands were gesturing wildly to a device in his hands. Finally, the woman shot up from her seat and spoke two words that Simon was easily able to make out even without sound. Show me. Simon’s mind raced as he watched the captain rush over to the large council that was right in view of the porthole’s line of sight. It only seemed to worsen the longer that he was left out of the loop. Eventually, Simon grew sick enough of this that he got out of his seat and put his face against the glass.
“Is anyone going to let me know what’s going on?” He asked, loud enough that he knew that they would hear him even without the intercom. It took a while for anyone to acknowledge that they heard him, but soon the captain had turned around and walked towards the submarine. She had the same cold stare as always, but the tension in her body gave her away easily.
“There's strange energy readings here. We don’t want to risk this sub so we are going to a different drop off spot. It’ll take another hour to find a suitable spot so sit-”
Simon felt his stomach lurch. Not about the preservation of the ship instead of him or the idea of sitting in a metal death trap for another hour. No, he physically felt as his stomach flipped on his head as Simon’s view into the outside world dropped a few inches.
“What the Hell?!” The captain exclaimed in alarm, “We are not cleared for drop off. What were you thinking?!”
All he could see was the legs of the captain as rushed away from the sub to approach another pair of legs.
“That wasn’t me! Why the Stars would I do that?!”
“Who else could it have been, David?!”
Simon watched as the two bickered, sweat dripping down his face from the heat. God, how was the heat from the blowtorch still here?
“Whatever, just- let’s just reel it back up and relocate-”
“Captain?” It was the first man’s voice. “We have to go now. Something’s showing up on the cameras and I-”
Another lurch, this one worse than the last.
Simon couldn’t see anything except a sliver of the blood ocean that he was supposed to be dropped into. But, there was a problem. Instead of the deep red that he had expected to see, it was instead an all encompassing electric blue.
“What the hell is that?!” David yelled.
“It doesn’t matter! Go help Jack with the pulleys before we all get caught in it!”
Help Jack pull me up, right? Simon’s brain traitorously thought. They wouldn't just cut their losses and get out of dodge while they still can. They need this sub, if nothing else. But the devil whispered horrible implications into his ear. They wouldn't have the time to cut him out. They said themselves that they would just drop him in at a different spot. Who’s to say that whatever had them so freaked out wouldn’t be there, too? A primal sort of fear coursed through Simon as he wiped away another sheet of sweat and ran to face the intercom.
“You can't do this! You can’t just cut me out so you can save your own asses! What about our deal?!”
The sub only dropped lower and lower in response. Blue took up his entire vision now, and with each deeper hue he could feel the heat of the sub increase until fire danced along his skin. There wasn’t a single rational thought in his brain now. Pure fear and want for survival commanded his legs and, unfortunately, his mouth.
“Look, if this is about Filament Station, I’m sorry!! I never wanted it to happen- it was never supposed to happen! Please just- just reel me up and you can send me down another day! Or you can just send me back to prison! Are you bastards really going to sacrifice valuable resources just so you can haze me for a stupid mistake?!”
Silence. There was only silence.
There were no voices. There were no sounds of clanking chains as the ship above him either pulled him up or dropped him down. There wasn’t even any ambient noises from the moon surrounding him. It was just.
Pure.
Unadulterated.
Silence.
And then the world woke up.
With a suddenness that left Simon reeling, he was completely free from any push or pull of the chains. He was dropping. They dropped him. Simon couldn't even find the time to feel betrayed. He was falling so quickly and so harshly that gravity lost all meaning. His organs were in tatters as they uselessly floated with the sparse items surrounding him as the Iron Lung was subjected to makeshift zero g.
When Simon was still young, far before he lived among the stars and before they all disappeared, he had wanted nothing more than to go to space. He remembered hearing stories of how astronauts would prepare themselves for the low gravity by wearing their equipment in pools and practicing in these things called centrifuges. He had no idea how to pronounce that let alone what that word even meant at that age, but he knew it was something amazing. There had once been an eager yearning to learn, to be a part of something. To be a part of that grand frontier that he only felt respect and awe for. But now… now it was all just another Hell to be trapped in.
As gravity suddenly returned with all of the force of a nuclear bomb, Simon bashed his head onto the console hard enough to leave blood.
In his last moments of consciousness…
All he wanted was to be with a mother he barely remembered on a planet he would never see again.