Chapter Text
It coats his throat and lungs and clings to the skin like glue. He cant choke it out- there's no where for the blood to go that isn't already blood. He screams anyways. Screams into the uncaring ocean, curses it all.
Prays.
Begs.
His vision goes red- then black. Then white.
Grace and Rocky had been traveling a year now. A year of being the only living beings in light years. Grace doesn't think about it too much. He just thinks about the fact he is with his best friend. That was less existentially horrifying.
He isn't one of two living things anywhere.
He is one of the two crew of the Hail Mary. He is with his friend.
Honestly it was boring. No star eaters to destroy, no big tasks, just attempts at normal routine. Maintenance and looming food scarcity. He and Rocky only had one major argument- they didn't talk to each other for almost nine hours… before they both found the silence suffocating and apologized. That was roughly three months ago.
All things considered they were doing well.
It was only natural for something to happen.
"Rocky you gotta stop leaving things on the floor you're going to kill me."
"Exaggeration, question?"
"Barely- I could if-"
"We passed something."
"What-"
"Something was outside. Heard its heartbeat."
"You- wait what?"
"We stop, question?"
"Uh-"
"Should be nothing out here."
"Yea- yea there shouldn't be. Which is why we shouldn't look."
"There was human shape inside."
Grace didn't move for a moment. There really should not be something out here. something human less so. Stopping was a horrible idea. the worst idea ever actually.
It takes an hour to find it. A long series slow rotations and back tracking the thousands of kilometers they traveled before stopping. But Grace has done this before, and he had the hail Mary's flight tracked. It was similar to driving a road when you know you dropped something out of the window- just slow, careful, and slow again. They bounced ideas during the slowest parts, about what it was, who. Rocky claimed not to have had enough time to tell what it was. Just that it was small, had a heartbeat, and looked like Grace.
Stratt hadn't sent another crew- they were way too far away from earth to that have been plausible. And he had sent the beetles back within the window that it was expected- so no. It wasn't from Stratt. A fringe group who got bored waiting maybe, but that made less sense. It took all of earth to send the Hail Mary.
Maybe Rocky was wrong…
Then they found it. It was a miracle that they did- the ship was maybe 14 feet long. Half as tall. A literal drop in the space-ocean. He stares at it through the camera- it wasn't even a space-ship. No way to move in the void.
"It looks like a submarine…"
"Need word."
"Like a space-ship but for under water."
"No have word for this."
Grace had already moved on, "Its not supposed to be in space- it has no way to move. It cant have enough fuel. Never mind oxygen or food."
"Human inside. Alive, but quiet, not moving."
"You're sure it- they are a human?"
"Yes."
"Well… we cant leave them. We'd need to find a way to connect it to the airlock-"
"Rocky make tunnel. Will take an hour. Grace wait."
And Grace did. He sat on the floor and watched as a small tunnel was scrambled together.
In the hour he sat, he spiraled. Who was inside? Were they human? From where? Is this a bad idea?
The last question has an obvious answer. Yes. It was a horrible idea to open this submarine. It should not be out here. Logically it couldn't be out here.
From what he could see of it, it was rusted. Red-orange patches blotting the surface. It looks cobbled together. It probably wouldnt survive a lake, never mind an ocean.
Rocky had simply built around the ship, an awkwardly shaped bubble enclosing it. It didn't have an airlock, so they had to hope the pressurizing didnt cause too much damage… they also had to hope the atmosphere was the same. If what was inside was human it probably was- hopefully.
Just in case he took the EVA suit. It was better safe then sorry.
He stared at the port-hole, welded shut. Blobs of metal in a hasty but solid job. It looked air tight. But it melted easy, lead? Copper?
Nothing explodes when the two airs meet. The same atmosphere, or similar enough to not matter.
Then something drifts out of the cuts in the metal. Deep red.
When the metal hatch finally disconnects from the sub, it flows out freely. Splashes the visor, coats the fabric. Deep red and- "Oh my god-"
"Grace okay, question?" He can hear the warble of anxiety, can imagine Rocky pacing.
"Its all blood." More of it is floating around the tunnel- it starts to reveal the inside of the submarine. Tumors grow on the walls, horrifically human- "Oh Im going to be sick-"
How much blood is in here- whos? No human has this much blood.
"Grace should leave."
"You- you said someone is in there."
"…yes."
"Where."
There is silence. Grace almost backs down.
"Two feet in-front of you."
He stares into the red, shuts his eyes and plunges his arm in, he has to lean in and swing his arm around. Even through the thick suit he can feel the heat of the blood. He turns his head- gags. Its hard to move through. Like its trying to keep whoever is inside.
Then he makes contact with something. Its hard, rough. Not a human at all. He grabs it anyways, nudges it out of the metal tube and into the tunnel. It floats past him, the blood floats around it. Despite where it was it seems almost clean- it looks like bark. Like a tree. A sphere of wood, untouched by the blood. But not a human.
"Rocky are you sure theres someone in here? Im not feeling anything-"
"No. Not in… water ship. In tunnel now, statement."
"In… the tree?"
"Yes."
He stands there, watches it drift, watches as the blood seems to simply bounce off- like oil with water.
They bring it in, along with a sample of the blood. The tree ball floats in the air lock.
And it is a tree- Japanese maple wood. Thick- nearly 5 inches. The whole thing was big enough to fit an adult if they were curled up.
According to Rocky someone was inside. Curled up, breathing but barely, a slow, flighty heartbeat. It was hard not to compare it to an egg.
They decided to wait before trying to break the person out. If it was helping them it could kill them. If it was hurting them then they needed to know that first.
So he let Rocky monitor while he went back out- in a clean EVA suit- to look at the sub again. Most of the blood was floating in the tunnel now. Blobs drifting lazily back and forth. Some of it is clinging to the xeonite walls, more of it attached itself to the metal of the sub. This should not be possible. There is nothing creating a significant gravity. The blood shouldn't be able to seep into the walls like it would cloth.
Grace files this isn't the list of question.
Inside of the submarine in coated in blood and tumors. It looks almost human. Like at any moment something could blink at him. He cant shake that feeling. Even as he looks the ship up and down, takes notes of the blood coated controls. Its all rudimentary- basic controls.
"What were you sent for?" The blood doesn't say anything, thank god. Carefully, he cuts a piece of- well he's not sure what it is. It cuts and bleeds like flesh. Better not to think about it.
There's static on the radio, then panic. Quick trills he can barely translate. "Grace! Grace human is moving!"
*
The first thing he knows for certain is that it is warm. Not hot- warm. Comfortable. He cant remember ever being this comfortable. He's curled up on the floor, knees up to his chest. He can hear something outside, music maybe.
Nothing hurts.
Something should hurt.
Pain fires; down his back, engulfs his head and into his arm. He flails, legs smacking into a wall- have his eyes been open this whole time? He cant see- spots of light are dancing in rhythm with the flares of pain.
Where is he.
He slams a hand against the wall, it shoots pain into hi palm, up his arm. He does it again. And again. Its hot now, not warm. Suffocating. Panic and pain content for what little air exists.
Then something splinters behind him. The room rolls sideways then steadies. He sobs- Something slams into the wall again.
"Please don't-"
"Stay on the far side! Im getting you out!" Its shouted, not in anger but desperation. He obeys without question. Slams back against the wall. Pain flares again as something cracks through the wall- light pouring through the crack.
Without thinking he kicks. throws all his weight into his foot. It break through, makes the crack into a hole. Its so bright. He screws his eyes shut and kicks again. Then again. Hes slamming his foot into a wall and he doesn't notice until his foot hits air and throws him onto the floor.
Hes sobbing, gasping for air that feels far too fresh to be real. The floor under his hand is cold.
"Oh my god are you okay-"
He shoots back, then forward, something wrapped in his hand. He doesn't' think through anything when he lunges, connects with the voices body. They hit the floor, he cant breathe. The person- a man- stares at him.
Wait. A person?
Something heavy slams into him, sends him off the man and onto the floor. He doesn't move. The room is spinning- blood is thumping in his ears. Black is dancing in his vision.
Hes going to pass out.
"Im sorry-"