Chapter Text
As the Blip-A2 drifted through deep space, all seemed well. Astrophage numbers were dropping steadily in response to the introduced predator, taumoeba, and this mission was turning out to be a rather leisurely stroll around the solar system.
Well, that was until the weird thing showed up.
“♫♩♬♪♩?” [What the #### is that?]
“♫♩?” [What?]
The first Eridian scientist directed the second towards the modified Petrovascope. “♬♪♬♩♩♫♪♬♩?” [Look. It’s a mass of astrophage, but there are no stars or planets in its vicinity. What are they doing?]
The second scientist observed the readings from the Petrovascope, which were being turned into physical data they could see. Indeed, there was an abnormally large cluster of astrophage floating through space.
“♪♬♫♫!” [How peculiar!]
“♩♬♪♫♩♩♬♫♪♩” [I suppose we should investigate whatever those microbes are crowding around. If it even ends up being anything at all,] the first scientist said.
The rest of the crew was promptly alerted of the situation, and a course was set to intercept the strange mass. Though the closer they got to it, the more concerning things became.
“♬♫♩♪♫♬♪♫” [They were feeding on high amounts of radiation,] was the conclusion the second scientist had come to. “♪♬♫♬…♪♪♩♫♩♩?” [The mass is less irradiated than it was initially… the astrophage seem to have been feeding on it for a long time. Should we risk getting any closer?]
“♩♩♬♫♪♩♬♫” [We could theoretically eject some taumoeba from where we are, and they would be able to make their way easily over to the astrophage.]
“♪♬♫♫♩?” [Shouldn’t we investigate what exactly it is?] chimed in a third scientist. “♪♬♩♩♪♫♬♫?” [What could possibly be that small, yet give off so much radiation that it has attracted astrophage to it, when they could have instead travelled to a star?]
The handful of crew who had gathered to confer all chirped thoughtfully. “♫♩” [True,] a few of them sang.
Suddenly another crew member rushed into the room, frantically whistling and chittering. “♪♪♩!” [Wait! Wait!] The other crew members startled and sang back queries. “♩♪♫♬♪♪♬♫!” [There is life at the centre of the atrophage! A separate life-form!]
There were a couple of considering whistles. “♫♬♪♫♫♩?” [A ship? Are the astrophage feeding on a ship?] someone said. It certainly didn’t look like any spacecraft they’d seen before, even up this close. It was far too small to be a ship. And as far as they knew, nothing would be able to survive that much radiation.
“♩♫” [That’s not all,] the frantic scientist continued, stomping impatiently. “♪♬♩♩♪♫♬♪♪♬♫!” [The life-form mirrors Saviour Grace’s biological data. The life-form is human! Human!] Then a round of surprised and concerned trills broke out. “♬♪♪♫♪♩!” [It is alive! Weak, but alive! We must act quickly!]
Then everything began moving quite fast, the crew coordinating all sorts of complicated things and trying to calculate the logistics of getting such a structure back to Erid safely. The only thing they all knew for sure was that they had to get this human back to Erid—because Saviour Grace would know what to do.