Chapter Text
Mark was happy with his life. He was currently engaged to Linda, the love of his life, and he was slowly but surely moving up the ladder in his job at the engineering firm he worked at.
It was November when things… shifted.
Obviously Mark was aware of the Petrova problem. It was impossible not to be. There were articles about astrophage and think pieces about how humanity should react everywhere.
But… it was hard to conceptualize sometimes. It was hard to make it feel real. Honestly, it sounded like something out of an old science fiction novel. And after all, no one had really started feeling the effects of it yet. The temperature hadn’t started to drop to any noticable degree, and anything being done on a higher level to curb the effects of astrophage was so classified that Mark had no chance of ever hearing about it.
Still, on came November, and Mark and Linda were watching the news. It felt like the right thing to do, even in the way-too-early hours of the morning. It was the least they could do fort he brave astronauts sacrificing their lives to save everyone else on Earth.
Both Mark and Linda were quiet, simply leaning on each other as they watched the reporter.
They were afraid, Mark knew. Afraid that even if the astronauts found a solution, they would be too late. Afraid that nothing would ever get better—things would just get worse and worse as first crops and then people started to die.
“Where exactly the Hail Mary is launching from this morning has been strictly classified, which is why I’m not on location for this,” Shannon White of Channel 2 News was saying, “But everyone in our studio right now is feeling it—nerves, fear… and now the Hail Mary is giving us hope. These astronauts know what they’ve signed up for, and I know I speak for all of us back on Earth that we will think of you. We will remember your sacrifice. The commander, Yáo Li-Jie of China.”
A picture of him flashed up on screen. He was a striking man, and he looked happy in the photo of him and his two children
Shannon White spoke for a moment about his family, and about his qualifications.
Mark just wondered how a man with kids could leave them behind to die.
“The materials specialist, Olesya Ilyukhina of Russia.” Shannon White continued, again speaking about the woman’s life on Earth.
The picture of her showed her with a wicked grin, surrounded by friends. Ilyukhina looked like she would be a fun person to be friends with.
“And, after disaster struck, killing both of the top options for science specialist of the crew, Martin DuBois and Annie Shapiro—who will also be remembered for their sacrifice, the science specialist spot on the Hail Mary is being filled by Ryland Grace.”
Beside him, Linda grew very still.
A picture of Grace came up on the screen. It looked like a yearbook photo, a picture of him surrounded by children holding model rockets.
“Grace was a beloved teacher at Glover Cleveland Middle School. He was the scientist to coin the name ‘astrophage’, and was instrumental in the early research surrounding the Petrova line and astrophage.”
Mark looked over at Linda, who looked horrified, who had tear tracks running down her face.
Who had dated Ryland Grace.
It had been Linda’s most recent relationship when she and Mark had gotten together.
Linda had told Mark, early on in their relationship, that she and Ryland had been ‘fundamentally incompatible’. She didn’t really talk about why they broke up, but she confided in Mark once when she was a little too tipsy on wine that she was pretty sure he was gay.
“He jus’ never seemed that interested in me. And I know ‘m hot. I think he’s gay. It’s the only explanation.”
She had said, with the sullenness of someone who might not entirely be over their ex.
Mark knew it was a fairly amicable break up, as far as break ups go. But he always got the sense that Linda, early on, was still frustrated with the way Ryland had handled it. Like he didn’t fight for her enough when she wanted to break up with him.
(Why she would want him to fight for her, when she was the one that initiated the break up in the first place was a mystery to Mark.)
Shannon White was still talking, but Mark just muted the TV.
“Did- did you know?” He asked his fiancee quietly, “Did you know he was doing any of this?”
Linda just shook her head, looking absolutely devastated.
It wasn’t that Mark was jealous. He knew that Linda’s past relationships were in the past, but there was always something that… irked him about Ryland. Sometimes it would feel like, despite being the one who broke up with him, Linda regretted the way things had ended with Ryland.
She always seemed a little bitter about it.
“Babe? You wanna talk about it.” Mark asked, keeping his voice low.
Linda let out a sob. “He- he was, oh god. Oh god, Mark.”
She pulled her knees up to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them.
“He’s gonna die up there, Mark.” She whispered shakily, “I- I know him. I loved him and he’s gonna die up there.”
Mark was honestly at a loss for words. He wanted to comfort her. He also couldn’t help the flash of bitter jealousy that flashed through his chest.
“Jesus fuck, Mark.” Linda spat, swiping tears off her face, “Are you fucking jealous of him? He’s just shot himself into space on a suicide mission to save the world, have some basic fucking decency.”
Mark scowled, he really hadn’t wanted to get into this, he hadn’t wanted her to see the sour taste her words had given him.
But here they were, both afraid, and both wanting, stupidly, to take out their anger on someone.
“You never could handle my having exes, could you Mark? You’ve always been so fucking possessive with me!” Linda shouted, standing from her place next to Mark on the couch.
Mark stood too, face heating with the accusation, with his anger, “I’m handling things just fine, considering you’re still in love with Ryland. Fuck’s sake, Linda, we’re engaged! I don’t feel great about being your consolation prize after Ryland.”
Linda was still crying, whether from her sorrow for Ryland’s mission, or from Mark’s own harsh words, it was hard to tell.
But her face screwed up in rage, “You were never my consolation prize, Mark. You know that I broke up with him, but holy shit, if I knew you were going to be this insecure years into our relationship, I don’t know if I’d have agreed to go out with you in the first place.”
Mark felt a lot of very strong emotions boiling in the pit of his stomach, “Well sorry I don’t want to have to compete with a dead man!”
Linda slapped him. The sharp crack of it reverberated around the otherwise silent room. Her whole face dropped into a cold fury. “Fuck you, Mark.”
Immediately, Mark regretted his words, “Linda, I’m—”
“Get out.” She said, voice dangerously quiet. “I don’t wanna see you right now.”
Mark left, guilt roiling inside of him, feeling more terrified about the future than he’d ever been.