Chapter Text
“Eye movement detected.”
A quiet robotic voice sounds out, the noise echoing slightly in the open room.
“What is two plus two?”
A series of soft groans are heard from a table in the center of the room. The man on the table clacks his teeth at the robot arm in his face, and then shrieks and shakes his head quickly side to side when it tries to bring a razor near his face.
“Incorrect. Repeating query. What is two plus two?”
A loud thud resounds through the room, accompanied by the man screaming in pain for a moment. He attempts to curl into himself, but he is stopped by what appears to be a body bag surrounding his whole body.
“Hnrghhh…”
“Incorrect.”
Tears streaming down his face, the man flops and wiggles around on the floor before his body is lifted partially off the ground. Turning his head back, he can see the robot arm grabbing hold of the bag he’s in, seemingly trying to put him back on the table. The man manages to get free, his body sliding out of the bag with a bit of difficulty. His legs aren’t responding properly. Relying mainly on his arms, he pulls himself along the wall, away from the table and the robot arm hovering nearby.
“HHLLLO!” The man calls out, almost frantic. His tongue feels thick and uncooperative in his mouth, unable to form proper words. Some netting on the wall allows him to pull his body up further, and he bumps against an interface mounted on the wall. “PEEPPL!!” A soft whirring noise can be heard and four beds slide out from the wall towards him, with a screen on each bed, displaying something.
“PEOPLE! HELLO!” Finally, he manages to form words that can be understood. The man pulls himself further up the wall, looking over at the beds for any sign of another human. The bed closest to the ground is empty, a screen at the foot of the bed displaying a name that the man doesn’t bother to read before pulling himself higher up the wall. “HEL-” He cuts himself off. The middle two beds hold people, yes, but they aren’t… the man sighs. The screens at the end of the beds both flash red, displaying names that he can’t pronounce right now, with the words ‘DECEASED’ in bold letters.
He mutters under his breath for a moment, shaking his head in disbelief. Then, lifting his head up, he realizes that there is one more bed to check. This one is significantly smaller than the rest and he narrows his eyes, looking slightly confused. Beginning to breathe heavily with the effort, he climbs higher up the wall, finally on the level of the highest bed. He looks over and can’t quite believe what he’s seeing. He blinks his eyes a few times, but the sight before him remains the same.
…
There wasn’t a human in this bed.
The man tilts his head, extreme confusion on his face.
“What…” He coughs for a moment, clearing his throat.
“What are you…”
He holds on tight to the netting with one hand and reaches over with his other hand, gently running his fingers over the sleeping creature in the bed. He rests his hand on their torso, feeling their lungs slowly inflate and deflate with every breath and their heart beating quickly and steadily within their chest. The man sighs with relief, his brain telling him that this is a steady resting heart rate for a cat… although he’s not sure why he knows that but can’t remember where he is.
“What are you doing here…?”
Leaning to the side to read the screen at the foot of the bed, the display was thankfully not flashing red. Instead, one simple name is presented. ‘Supernova.’
“...Supernova…”
A sharp ache immediately pierces the man’s skull, pounding right behind his eyes. He presses a hand to his forehead and screws his eyelids shut, holding himself tight against the wall.
“...Nova…”
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“_____!” A familiar voice calls out from nearby. The man turns his head and sees a woman waving at him from the side of a parked truck. He tilts his head and quickly jogs over.
“What is it?” He asks once he’s standing next to the truck. The woman smiles wide and grabs his wrist, pulling him to his knees. The man lets out a huff of air as his knees hit the ground.
“Look what I have found.” She speaks softly, pointing into the shade beneath the truck. The man follows her hand, and as his eyes adjust to the shadows, he can make out a furry shape underneath the vehicle. A cream tabby cat is lying on her side, breathing gently as three tiny kittens knead her belly while they nurse.
“Oh my… that’s Ghost! She had kittens…?” His voice drops low and he smiles wide, watching the cat family with an amazed expression. The woman smiles next to him, resting her hands on her knees.
“She must have found male cat somewhere before coming on ship. I did not notice she was pregnant. This is surprising to find.” The kittens at Ghost’s belly are incredibly small still. The man doesn’t know much about cats but they must only be a day or two old at most. “We should make her a home, so that kittens can stay safe.”
He nods in agreement and goes to stand before kneeling back down and looking over at his companion. “We should name them first, shouldn’t we?”
“Yes! Good idea.” The woman looks at the kittens and is silent for a moment. They have stopped nursing and all the cats have fallen asleep. She very carefully reaches over and rolls the kittens gently onto their back one at a time, checking the base of their tails before pulling her hand back and leaving them be. The woman points at each kitten in turn: “Gray one with white paws is male, solid gray one with white tail is male, tan and white one is female.”
The man thinks for a moment, brainstorming potential names before giving a couple options. “Don’t laugh at me but… what about Socks, Smoke and Sandy?” The woman looks over at him and narrows her eyes.
“Those are most stupid names. They don’t even match.” She glares at him and he laughs quietly to himself, feeling a bit embarrassed.
“Hey! I tried! I’m not very good at naming things. Technically they match, they all start with S…” The man grumbles that last part under his breath and he crosses his arms over his chest, totally not sulking. The woman rolls her eyes and gestures to the cats and then at the area around the two humans.
“We are on space mission. Cats should be named after space things, in honor of mission.” She points at the male kitten with white socks. “Cosmo.” Moving on to the male kitten with a white tail tip, “Orbit.”
The man sighs, running a hand over his face. “Those are much better names, you’re right.” He looks over at the female kitten, sleeping off to the side because her brothers have pushed her away. He ever-so-gently reaches over and picks up the kitten, moving her closer to her mother’s head. “What about this one?”
“Only girl of litter, competing with two boys. She deserve strong name. Like Supernova.” The woman says, looking down at the little female, smiling wide. “That encourage her to be best cat on ship.”
“Supernova is perfect.”