Chapter Text
"Transmission found, locate and recieve transmission?"
Mary's voice broke the silence of the ship, well, as silent as it could get with a bunch of tech everywhere. Mary also woke up a sleeping Grace, who leapt up like a cat and frantically went to the pilot area.
"Uh- uhm- Process- Process the transmission! Locate and process the transmission!" Grace managed to stutter out in his half asleep state, him and Rocky were already on the way to Erid and Grace had planned on sleeping his way through most of it, but this took priority.
A static filled masculine voice rang out of the speakers. "H- hello?! You-you gotta get me--" *crackle* "-ut-out of here!" *static* "There's som--thing down here!" *glitch* "GET ME OUT!!"
Well that was concerning.
"Shit-- Mary, locate the source!"
"Location detected, moon AT-5, 57 kilometers away from current location."
Okay, not too far not too close.
"Go to the source! Now, Mary!"
"Navigating to source."
Grace felt all jittery, pacing the floor and doing this weird hand flapping thing, or at least that's how Rocky would describe it, but to Grace, he's stimming out of stress, nervous and very concerned for the voice.
"Keep the transmission going, Mary. Don't disconnect."
The speakers filled the area with static, ocassional glitches, and the ragged, panicked breathing of whoever was on the other end of the transmission, as well as the muttering as if the man was replying to voices that weren't there.
"You are able to speak into the microphone to communicate back." Mary reminded Grace.
"WHATTHEFUCKWASTHAT-!" The man on the other end seemed to hear Mary's voice because of the microphone being nearby her speaker.
"Woah there, calm down--" Grace was cut off.
"WHOAREYOU?!" The man shouted, Grace could practically HEAR the flinch from behind the speaker.
"Doctor-" he was cut off by the other man muttering "Dont tell me your name." He continued speaking. "But first, where exactly are you?"
"You... you're not with the C.O.I. are you?"
"What on earth is a- Nevermind, where are you?"
"At the bottom of a damned blood ocean.."
"A BLOOD- How- how are you at the bottom of a blood ocean?" Grace spoke directly in the microphone for the second part.
"Because they sent me down here to die."
"Die?! Excuse me?! What did you do to be sent to die?! Did you consent to this?!"
"No." The man only answered the second question, not answering the first for the sake of his own comfort, I mean who'd want a stranger knowing their crime? "I'm.. I'm in a submarine. They welded me in.."
"Well we're on our way to get you, so stay calm!" Grace cut off the transmission before the other man could speak further, not wanting to be traumatized(shocked "traumatized") by whatever cruel backstory this guy had.
It took 30 minutes to get there and when they got there, Rocky had already made a chain long enough. "Grace go fishing, statement." The translator read out his little music notes(i love Rocky even though I'm a little baby to him)
"Fishing it is." Grace replied, taking the chain and a very large magnet to the ermmmmm go space room(i forgot what its called), getting into the EVA suit and going out, securing the chain to the ship and attaching the magnet to the chain.
"Transmission detected. Now playing."
"Who the fuck are you?! I can see your ship on the radar, don't pretend you're not there!" Some woman's voice shouted through the speakers, hurting Grace's ears.
"We're with NASA."
"WHO THE FUCK IS NASA?!"
"Oh boy-- Mary, cut the transmission-"
And Grace's voice was the last thing Ava heard before the transmission line was cut off.
Rocky lowered the chain, going quick while Grace made sure it didn't snag on anything while they "fished". They had to lower the ship closer to the atmosphere so the chain reached far enough, the blood ocean they found was far deeper than expected.
Eventually, the magnet attached to something in the blood, Grace slowly pulled it up, knowing that if it was the man, and they pulled it up fast, the rapid change in pressure would make his lungs collapse.
=============SIMON'S POV==============
Simon was just hallucinating in the Iron Lung, the weird fish thing was attacking the ship and there was blood everywhere. This is before the blood mutated the seed pendant, so he isn't tree-mon yet.
He'd just ripped his arm off, his breathing ragged and panicked, he was in so much pain right now he couldn't think. He shouted at thr
espeaker. "Hello?! You gotta get me out of here! There's something down here!! GET ME OUT!!!"
He knew that Ava probably wasn't listening to him, he knew they were probably ignoring him. But then, he heard the voice of a man he could tell thought that Simon couldn't hear him.
"Shit-- Mary, locate the source!"
Simon just thought it was a hallucination again, on the verge of crying, trying to stay mobile so the blood didnt make gim have to break off another limb.
He heard the man's voice and a female robot voice, but he wasn't paying attention, he wasn't listening to them, he was simply trying to stay sane. The feminine robot voice said something like "you can use the microphone to communicate", which got Simon spooked, making him shout "WHATTHEFUCKWASTHAT-!"
The man's voice spoke through the speakers again, Simon didn't know why, but the man's voice is calming to him. "Woah there, calm down-"
Simon cut him off, the words "Calm down" to someone who is currently trying not to have a panic attack and had anger issues was bothering a good combination(like broccoli and cheese)
"WHOAREYOU?!"
"Doctor-"
"Wait no don't tell me your name.."
" But first, where exactly are you?"
Simon ignored the question. "You're not with the C.O.I. are you?"
He heard the man mumble "What on earth is a-" but he'd cut himself off. "Nevermind, where are you?"
"At the bottom of a damnes blood ocean" Simon didnt say 'god' before 'damned' like most people would, but he still swore like a sailor, we can thank the severe punishment for saying the lord's name in vain back at Eden.
He could hear the man's shock through the speaker. "AT THE BOTTOM OF A BLOOD- How- how are you at the bottom of a blood ocean?"
"Because they sent me here to die."
The man was shocked to say the least. Simon gave him the information that he's in the iron lung and that he's welded in.
And now here we are, Simon felt something strong attach to the submarine and the sudden rising of it. He held his breath without realizing it, holding onto something so he didnt fall into the blood at his feet.
The next thing he knew, he was out of the ocean of blood.