Chapter Text
The day they found that signal, Grace was too busy goofing off.
Rocky had brought over a brand-spanking-new communications system, meant to send a signal strong enough to reach Earth. At least, it would eventually be strong enough to reach Earth. For now, it just stretched far off into the nothingness, probably ping-ponging off some stars and landing nowhere.
They set up their operation on the side of his house. Far enough from the walls of his biodome so that they wouldn’t immediately disturb other eridians, who made it very clear the strong radio waves were not to be pointed carelessly again. They had tested the comms almost a dozen times today. Rocky currency fiddled with some eridian tech as Grace typed their last results.
Other than to check the beetles made it back safely, Grace didn’t feel any specific urge to contact Earth again.Who could he even want to talk to? Turns out, on Earth, he didn’t have any real friends or family… not even a dog.
“Ready. Grace, ready?” Rocky chimed, breaking him out of his thoughts.
Grace smiled. Thankfully, he had Rocky.
“Ready,” he replied. He had a best friend… who was weirdly insistent on testing the coms system.
“System ready,” Grace nodded. With the amount of time they’d spent together, Rocky’s translator was basically obsolete now.
The last time they tested, Grace clicked the coms on and did the usual spiel of “This is Ryland Grace of the Hail Mary, testing communications. Please respond.” Each time, the only answer was the silence of space. Each time, Grace sighed and turned off the coms so he could adjust the infrared light, or Rocky could fine-tune a new frequency.
This time, Grace took a breath and clicked on the coms.
“Flyyyy me to the mooonn,” he sang, “and let me play among the staaarrss,” Of course, he'd never been a good singer, especially compared to Eridians.
“Communication is serious. Grace give microphone to Rocky.” He stomped closer to Grace.
“Let me see what spring is like on,” he lightly shoved Rocky's carapace back with his foot and picked up the microphone. “Jupiter and maaarrs.”
“In other words,” Grace continued. “Please be truuuee,”
“Bad! Bad song!” He nudged around Grace, trying to grab the mic out of his hands. The wire connecting the microphone strained as he stood, holding it close to his mouth, as Rocky jumped for it.
“In other wooords… I love youuu,”
He bowed to the imaginary crowd as he placed the mic back on the desk. “Thank you, thank you very much,” He clicked his microphone off.
“Grace is not taking this seriously. Grace is acting like a pebble.”
“Whoa, buddy. We both know that we're nowhere near hitting Earth. Or… anything really,”
“In case of first contact, first impression cannot be Grace song.”
“No one new is talking back anytime soon, okay? So–”
Bzzzt.
Static sounded through the speakers. A low murmur. Then cut to silence again.
They both froze.
“Maybe it's just interference…” Grace said
Bzz. Bzzz “Who-- s?” bzzzzt. A voice, deep and quiet, emerged from the staice.
Rocky and Grace jumped to reach the button.
“H-Hello?” Grace said frantically. Rocky squeezed close to him. “Is someone receiving this?”
Bzzzt– “hello–?” Bzzt “-are you -” bzzt.
“Human! Human language!” Rocky exclaimed.
“Wait, wait,” Grace responded. “You're cutting off.”
Bzzt- - “who– “
Click.
“No, no, no,” Grace struggled with the coms as they shut off.
“How? Bring the other human back!” Rocky fumbled with the tech.
“Hello? Hello?” Grace repeated into the microphone.
“System return! But signal is very weak!” Rocky tapped excitedly.
Bzzt. Bzzt..
“Can you hear me?”
More buzzing as a response. Trying to parse through the static was like searching for a single straw in a hurricane of hay.
“Can we get it clearer?” Grace urged Rocky, fiddling with the comm systems dials.
“This is clearest, or we lose signal.” Rocky chimed, “Metal banging does not help.”
“Banging?” Grace pulled up a spectrogram on his laptop. Of course, Rocky Eridians were more sensitive to sound.
“Bang, bang, bang. Then stop.” Rocky said.
Sure enough, on the spectrogram, three little spikes appeared buried in the noise.
“Bang, bang, bang,” Rocky repeated, “Explain.”
Again, those three spikes, this time farther apart.
Grace turned on the microphone again, “I-is that you? Are you hitting something?”
That pattern again.
Three short, three long…
“I understand!” Grace shouted, “We'll find you, don't worry.”
“Explain, explain,” Rocky demanded.
“It’s human! Its morse code!” Grace felt like bursting into tears.
There's a human on the line and– and…. he's signaling SOS?!
A pit formed in his stomach
“Oh god, Rocky. They need our help. We need to track the single and get a rescue team out there!”
“Rocky, get help! Erid send help to new human!” Rocky rushed away to the biodome’s exit.
“I'll find a way to track you. Stay on the line, okay?
Grace nearly knocked his laptop off the table as he connected headphones and yanked them on. He scrambled to sparse though the audio, trying to clear the waves of static.
Between his tuning of the controls, he heard a low voice groan on the other side.
Oh god. He knew there was an emergency. Why was it even worse to think they were hurt?
Grace sifted through the mess, pulling apart layers of interference to isolate short bursts of the stranger's voice.
*-- “ - -hot“
“It's hot? Are you near a sun?”
No response
“Hey, hey, stay with me. Stay here”
*- - *. “--ere. I can't.”
“Please try. My name is Ryland Grace. Can you tell me your name? Or the name of your ship?”
“--- piece of sh - -”
Another light of the communicator came on. Finally, the eridians had connected.
“Can you tell me your name?”
“S- mo–”
“What was that?”
“- - please- -”
The static overpowered the voice again. Strange creaking metal noises sounded between the crackle of the comms.
“Alright, look, hang tight. We're coming to get you. We're gonna help you out, alright?”
If Grace tried to save planet Earth, and the billion humans on it, surely he could save this one new person.
Whoever had managed to survive in that unforgiving vacuum deserved to be saved.
Grace just hoped he wasn't alone.
No, there really isn't a greater torture than that.
--------
Hell would be less torture than this.
Still, he couldn't. Wouldn't die.
He couldn't see, couldn't feel his own body.
Couldn't tell if the pressure weighing on his chest was his imagination or the gallons of hot liquid sloshing in this metal coffin.
Then he heard something.
A buzzing, some static, then a voice.
A human voice.
He waited for it to plead, to scold him, to punish or demand.
Instead it… sang.
A shining light in the darkness of this tomb. A divine voice calling him closer. If it was another hallucination, he hoped at least this one wasn't cruel.
The voice stopped. He tried to move, but his body didn't respond.
There was the voice again.
A bright sound. Like a hand reaching toward him.
He tried to answer, his voice breaking as he asked, ” Who sent you?”
“Are you real?”
The voice disappeared.
No, no, no. Please stay, please.
Finally, one of Simon’s arms responded. The sound was close. The speaker had to be right above him. He lifted his arm and pounded his hand against the wall. Again. Again.
He tapped out the only thing he could remember now, an ancient pattern whose meaning had long since slipped away.
And that sweet sound answered again. It spoke, Simon could hardly understand.
It felt like he was melting, boiling from the outside in.
“It's too hot here.” He groaned.
That voice that was dripping with light, spoke of suns? This really must be a hallucination. That voice– this angel should know there’s no such thing as suns anymore.
The angel asked him to stay.
“I can't stay here. I can't.”
The angel asked about the ship.
“You want this piece of shit?”
Maybe it didn't understand. Maybe Simon wasn't meant to be saved by it. Maybe it was here for something else. But whatever it was, at least he wasn’t alone.
It asked for his name. A ringing in his ears. The heat was unbearable.
“Simon, “ He answered.
Maybe the angel was here to end him.
But Simon wouldn't let it. He was drifting back into the darkness. The voice was fading.
“Don’t take me yet… please,”
The angel’s voice sang out again. Sweet words that began to fade away.
Simon dropped into the abyss.