Chapter Text
Cracks Beneath the Surface
Chapter 1
A New Friend on Hail Mary
Simon could hear faint footsteps. Well, what sounded like footsteps. The steps were nothing like a normal person’s would be. It almost sounded like a large spider clomping around the room, but Simon knew that couldn’t possibly be correct. He distinctly remembered the blood oceans monster swallowing him whole after his left arm was ripped off. He could conveniently not feel that arm right now either. Simon wanted to reach around and feel for his missing arm, but did not want to alert the creature walking around to his presence. The spider-like noises of its limbs were too worrisome to ignore, and the longer Simon thought about its possible appearance the more uneasy he grew. Was he in some type of lair for a new beast? Had the COI send him on yet another suicide mission? He needed to focus on something else. Something new. Like.. Where exactly was he? He could hear oddly timed footsteps on a metal floor that seemed to be close by, and the sound of a large metal object rolling around- It was almost as if-
Simon shot up out of bed, hitting his head on a metal limb that was attached to a human sized robot. When he attempted to reach up and rub the newly created sore spot, Simon noticed his missing limb. Almost the entirety of his left arm was gone, and only a small stump was left in its place. The robotic arm pivoted around and began making loud beeping noises. Robots weren’t really a thing anymore though. They had been eliminated after the quiet rapture due to how inefficient they were compared to a human being. Life was precious and resources couldn’t be wasted on a metal contraption or the electronics needed to power one. Simon attempted to move away from the metal arm that seemed to be frantically scanning him, but only managed to hit his head again.
“Ow- Where the f-ck am I?”
Simon quickly glanced around the room, noticing a ball in the farthest corner and what appeared to be a door. An odd noise resonated from the ball. Simon couldn’t make out what exactly it was before a massive rock trapped within a ball of glass came at him. This is what was contained within the ball? A massive rock with 3 limbs that seemed to sing at him. Simon had never seen such a thing, and did not intend on keeping it around. He did not need any sentient rocks in his life. The noises it was producing seemed happy, but the singing was unnerving. A rock shouldn’t be able to make such a noise. The rock then sang loudly, likely alerting some other entity nearby. This loud noise triggered movement elsewhere, and Simon heard someone walking towards the room he was in. These steps were even and reminded Simon of walking through the metal halls of Eden. The steps echoed through the room, and brought Simon back to his days with his so-called brothers. The memory itself was a pleasant one, but the thoughts that came with it were not. He missed the warmth of his brothers, and deeply missed the sound of someone coming towards him. He had not heard anyone's footsteps but his own in so long.
The door then burst open and an oddly dressed man stepped in. He was wearing a yellow jumpsuit that was tied around his waste, a blue shirt, and thick brown boots. His clothes were clean and well cared for unlike the ratty cloth of Simon's shirt and pants. There was a symbol on the shirt that he didn’t recognize, but the letters were recognizable. “N-A-S-A.” That must mean something, but Simon had never heard of it before. Who was this man and who exactly was “nasa”?
“You’re finally awake?” The man spoke aloud. Finally a language that Simon could understand. The singing rock would have to wait. This new person spoke English, and Simon needed answers. But before Simon could get a single word in, the man continued to speak. “Rocky and I were worried you would sleep for the entire journey. We put you in here to help you recover, but most of your wounds just seemed to close on their own. It was truly a miracle you survived all of that.” Survived? Simon could only vaguely remember what happened to him, and none of it seemed good. How did this guy save him, and why did he even try? The last thing Simon could remember was releasing the black box into the blood ocean and drowning. That monster punctured his ship, and crushed him inside of it. He could remember the crushing feeling and blacking out entirely. How could anyone be saved from such a fate? Had someone heard his prayer to live? This golden haired boy must be an angel to have done such a thing.
The angel continued to speak while Simon got lost in his own thoughts. He only tuned back in to hear him say, “The tree you were in was squeezed so tightly around you that I was worried you couldn’t even breathe!” The man continued to ramble on about his health, but Simon had stopped listening at the very mention of a tree. Trees have gone extinct entirely, and the blood ocean was barren save for the monster inside of it. This man must be crazy if he thought that there was any kind of plant life on Eden, much less an entire tree. Maybe an angel hadn’t saved Simon, and instead he was simply dreaming up this fantasy of a world. A world where people survived drowning in blood, and trees grew on a barren moon.
“Did you say tree? There are no trees left. Not after…” He trailed off. Filament station was not something he wanted to discuss with this stranger and his odd singing rock. He especially didn’t want to remember such a horrible accident during what seemed to be a dream given to him by the angels.
“You were found inside of a massive white tree. My friend Rocky here-” he points towards the rock residing beside Simon- “and I had to pull the trunk apart to get you out. It’s almost like the tree grew from your body itself. We’ve been taking pieces of it and analyzing its makeup to see if we could use some of it. I can’t believe we found such an amazing resource here on this moon!”
“Well that’s not possible. They sent me down there to find life and all I found was a monster. There is nothing that could grow in that ocean.”
“I don’t know what else to tell you. We found you inside of a tree, and we’ve been using that tree for food this last week.”
Simon stared at the odd man with a displeased look. Nothing good could have come off of that moon, and this man must be crazy.
“Oh- I’m sorry. My name is Ryland. Ryland Grace. Rocky here typically calls me Grace, but I don’t care what you call me. This guy is an engineer sent by Erid to do the same thing.” He pointed down at the singing Rock. “We are on our way back to Erid in order to save their solar system.”
It took a few seconds for what the man -Ryland Grace- had just said. He couldn’t possibly mean- “Save the stars? Those stars are already dead. We’re next. What kind of ridiculous goal is that?” Simon huffed.
“They aren’t dead yet. We are going to save what few stars we can, and we already found the solution.”
Rocky put two of his arms up in the air as Grace spoke and shook his hands. It was an odd gesture, but it seemed to be a happy one. It was difficult to tell how such an odd creature felt. Its lack of a face or even a head truly disturbed Simon. There were only so many creatures that he remembered not having faces, and none of them were pleasant.
Grace then walked over to a computer resting next to Simon's bed. “I should’ve turned this thing back on before you woke up. Sorry Rocky.” He then pressed a few buttons on the laptop while Rocky chirped away.
“Grace find new friend?” A voice came from the laptop. “What name? New friend what name?” The singing rock excitedly moved around after hearing the laptop speak.
“What the hell?” Simon responded. “Why is the computer speaking to me?”
“Computer not speak. Rocky speak through computer.” Rocky pointed to itself while it continued to speak. “New friend not understand Rocky. Grace make translator speak again.”
Simon could not believe what he was hearing. The notes coming from that rock were real words? The rock could speak? Maybe he shouldn’t have been calling it an “it” this entire time. What should he even be calling the thing? They seemed the most appropriate since they're sentient rock. Simon enlisted to act later, but for now he had much bigger questions to ask. Such as how they were eating the tree from the blood moon. The blood on that moon was toxic beyond belief, and Simon couldn’t imagine that some random plant growing in it would be safe to eat. He barely even trusted that something was growing on that moon. Maybe the monster had tricked them too, and they had simply imagined a tree.
“I want to see it,” Simon replied, ignoring the questions that Rocky asked him.
“See what?” Grace replied, confused as to what he wanted.
“I want to see the damn tree you found. I want to know if it's real. Then I want to see how you are ‘saving the stars’” Simon made air quotes around that.
“Oh well I can show you. We kept it all in the lab since there is only so much space on the ship. I can bring you there if you would like,”Grace paused as he looked over Simon's condition. Simon was visibly shaking from the effort to sit up, and he did not look like he could handle even a short journey, “but it may be hard for you to stand. The gravity on this is a lot to get used to.”
Simon's eyes went wide and his chest suddenly felt tight. “Ship? Where am I? Are you the COI?” He began to push himself backwards and away from the two strangers in front of him, suddenly realizing that they could be anyone. They're on another ship. Possibly in the blood ocean. Were they all being sent down together to die? Simon's thoughts spiralled as his breath quickened and his options ran out. “You can’t send me back down there.”
“Send where? Grace Rocky save stars and new human. Save all. Good ship.” The computer spoke for Rocky while he crawled towards Simon. “We save new human from big tree. Not send new human anywhere.” “Do not come any closer to me.” Simon frantically continued to back up on the small bead until his head hit a wall. His mind was trapped in the idea of these two being what he feared most. Just another organization sent to find and punish him. Simon the Butcher. He couldn’t go back to the COI. He couldn’t even go back to Eden. He would never truly be safe.
“Hey hey! We aren’t here to hurt you I promise.” Grace put his hand down on Rocky in an attempt to stop him from getting much closer. Rocky complied and slowly backed up with Grace. “We just found you down there and brought you onto our spaceship in order to give you the medical care you needed. You aren’t trapped here. You can go about the ship whenever you want. You’re free.”
Simon's eyes welled with the beginnings of tears. “Free?” He asked. “You can’t really mean that. I can never be free.” Simon the butcher was cursed to forever be alone. He couldn’t imagine a life where he would be allowed to be with these people and free. Freedom had been denied from him for so long that Simon didn’t know what he would do with himself.
Grace’s face softened, “You can be free. You aren’t a prisoner here. I know the ship can feel a little stuffy, but it is not a prison.” He spoke while fidgeting with his fingers. For someone who had supposedly ‘saved’ Simon, he sure seemed nervous.
“Grace right. Not prisoner. New friend instead. New human friend for Grace.” Rocky excitedly jumped up and down inside of their ball. Simon eyed the creature warily before looking back to Grace and responding.
“New… friend?” Simon pondered the idea. Could he really have friends? This was far too good to be true. Not only had he been saved, but he was his savior's friend?
“Yes yes! New friend!” Rocky’s excitement only grew. “What name?”
Simon debated the idea of giving a false name, and decided against it. It would do him no good to lie to the only kind person he's ever met, and Rocky seemed like a formidable foe to have. Maybe this truly would be a fresh start for him. Maybe this Grace guy truly was an angel who came to give him a new chance.
“My name is Simon.”