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I'm aware you prefer your isolation, but I imagine you're beginning to get hungry by now.
Simon had been on his own for roughly-
A day and a half.
"Can you not read my mind?" He scowled. The awful scraping sensation against his back left molars irritating him further.
Put simply? No. Do you think I would actually choose to listen to all of your thoughts at all hours? It hummed, which sounds more like a distant resonance. Low, deep, and rolling. I hear your minds like you hear your world. Unlike you, however, there's no way for me to drown them out.
He snorted, resting in the pilot's seat. "Sounds like it would drive you crazy."
It did. The Monster paused. It does. Also, I told you to call me the Bloodshed. Not Monster.
"I'm aware." He grinned at a random direction where he presumed it to be. "But if you like it, I'm not using it. How about the Shed? Has a pathetic ring to it, eh?"
Ugh. I will never understand the human need to rebel against something so pointless.
"Hey, you were human once upon a time." Simon reminds it.
True. My components have long lost such traits. The Shed admitted, though the tone was very dismissive.
"Oh no they haven't." He immediately pushed back. "Here you are clawing for any sense of distinction from this Void bullshit, something to call your own. That's pretty fucking pointless. You said it yourself, that all things will be eaten by it eventually. So stop hiding behind this shield of being detached and be honest with me."
Caution, Simon. It rattled in the distance. My patience is not limitless.
"From where I'm seeing it, you haven't been patient with me a day in your life."
A long suffering sigh. We're getting off topic. Food.
He tossed his hands up out of exasperation. "Sure, yeah I'm hungry. But unless you're planning on ghosting it into my ship, I'm not sure how we're gonna do this. Besides, this place is gonna get real nasty real fast unless-"
Meet me at the platform, you dramatic buffoon. It cut him off. Before he can ask how he was going to get there, a pain strikes his left eye. A pattern of light, not unlike a star danced in it. When he turned his head, it remained firmly in place. So it's not scarred into his retina. A beacon.
"Fine, you fucking bitch." Simon grumbled. It's not like he has anything better to do. Really, that's what the Shed is banking on, he thinks. For him to get bored and start hanging around it more often.
As he points the sub in the right direction, he has to admit that he can't blame it. The Eel, if it was telling the truth, was hundreds of human minds all trapped in the skin of what once was a god. Connection is human nature. It's been down here for ages, with nothing but its own company.
He's pretty lucky it's capable of reason at all.
It took about four hours to get to the drop platform. Having to balance speed and well…not giving himself the bends.
The proximity alarm shrieked suddenly, but too late to let him react. The SM-13 is grabbed swiftly. "Do you think you could warn a guy?" He snapped.
Oh please, we both know you would find some asinine excuse to run away from me. Move to the front or back of the ship. The Shed directed him.
Something in Simon's gut tells him to listen this time. Traitor. He dragged his feet, but listened nonetheless. Leaning against the cracked porthole.
There's a terrible wrenching sound before the top of the ship is twisted clean off.
Okay so…he didn't consider that as an option. Cool cool.
Are you going to get out, or do I need to assist you? It wondered, weary of his hesitation.
He rolled his eyes, flipping it off, but still heading towards the ragged gash in the metal. Simon is as careful as he can be, not keen on the idea of getting tetanus when his only potential doctor was a mass of humans bound into the form of an Eel.
Fresh air feels…strange after being in the stagnation chamber for so long. True, the platform was fairly small, but nothing like the confines of the SM-13. Speaking of which…. "What are you doing with my ship?"
I was going to drop it and bring you the one I pulled that woman out of.
Right…
You don't seem too enthused with that idea. The Shed observed. Why?
Simon shrugged, unsure of himself. "I…guess I got attached to it. It feels like an extension of me. I don't know if the other one has the same controls-"
It does. They're identical.
He sighed, running his hands through his hair. "If it's too much trouble, just toss it."
…Nothing is too much for me, Simon. It pulled the SM-13 close, examining it. I will need to concentrate. I'll leave you with a meal, and a suggestion that you relax.
A small box is presented to him. It's full of raw meat, a miniature charcoal stove, cutlery, and a flask full of water. Thankfully the blood was only on the exterior, though he's not really sure how it did that.
Still, food is food. Simon watched as it sunk below the tide, waiting for a few moments to see if it would bother him again. Then he takes the fire starter he kept on his person at all times. It took a few strikes before the fuel finally caught, but soon enough, he's got it ready to go.
He doesn't want to know where the meat came from. There's almost no answer he was going to like. The fat began to sizzle, dripping onto the coals. Smoke drifting off into the sky. It smelled heavenly. He doesn't have any salt, but he'd been fed nothing but nutritional paste for so long, it doesn't matter.
As he sliced off chunks, his mind wandered to the Shed.
What was the oldest component of itself? How long had it been sapient? How much time has it spent down here?
Why him?
Normally, he'd expect an answer, but as it had mentioned, the Eel was busy. He's sure it heard him. As much as he wants to just dismiss it out of hand…he's grateful. Sure, it was doing all of this because it couldn't stand to suffer alone anymore…but it chose to stop attacking. It chose to feed him. It chose to save him. Which was more than he could say for Eden, or the COI. If it was being honest, which he was beginning to realize it was, the Shed was keeping him safe.
It was difficult to not be thankful for that.
…You're welcome, Simon.