Chapter Text
Grace couldn’t really comprehend what he was looking at.
Only minutes ago, Mary had alerted him awake with an alarm-like light system, the red glow illuminating all the rooms on the ship, and the repeated “movement detected” call out didn’t help to ease the stress.
What the hell could’ve been the movement? Was it Rocky? Did he move around in the xenonite barriers while Grace slept? To do what?
But even then, Mary’s systems wouldn’t pick up Rocky as he’d been aboard the ship long enough now that he was recognised in her system, almost as if they a little family together with Armando.
Rocky had alerted Grace as well, his symphony urging him to go look at what was wrong.
As Grace rolled off the stretcher-bed attached to wall and grabbed his glasses, he silently prayed and hoped it was just a malfunction in Mary’s system. Or maybe something had rolled off a shelf somehow and triggered the response.
The red flashing light was not helping at all, as it only made things much harder to see. There wasn’t really any darkness with all the windows aboard, but there were small caverns and areas without windows that provided a decent nights sleep. It flashed very few seconds, leaving Grace in the dark for a moment before being illuminated in red.
Thankfully there were no ladders he needed to climb to find his way around, but his bigger concern was the sheets of xenonite taking over the ship. Even though Rocky had his little ball, they had still built smaller quarters from xenonite so Rocky could have a larger expansion of his atmosphere on board.
In his dazed and still half-sleep state, Grace was trying to memorise the layout of the hallways, and what tables went where with what chairs pulled out from under them.
He’d managed to find his way to the entrance of the labs, where he ran a hand along-
The sound of something being knocked over and hitting the ground filled the silence between Mary’s alert every minute.
Grace didn’t move. He could see Rocky in his peripherals just next to him.
What was that?
“What the fuck was that!?”
A quick whisper came from down the lab room.
It sounded.. human.. almost.
“Can’t see shit here..” another hissed whisper, but from a different voice than the first.
Grace didn’t move. He couldn’t. Was he going mad? Has the time being alone finally caught up to him? He was officially going mad, he knew it. Why else would he be hearing human voices aboard his ship? The ship he had been alone on for weeks?
He needs to turn the lights on, for his own sake, but couldn’t bring himself too. He was just frozen, hand on the wall, still searching for the button to turn the lights back on.
A small, quiet chirp came from Rocky beside Grace.
Grace looked down at Rocky for a moment. He could tell what was there. He can see through walls for Pete’s sake, of course he knew what was there.
“Holy shit..” it came from the lab, but louder this time. Like it was speaking at a normal conversation level.
There was movement around the lab. Grace could hear several things joining whatever was the floor already.
He knew he needed to turn the lights on.
He heard another chirp from Rocky. A familiar sound from creating the translator, a sort of ‘safe’ word the two had created.
The still flashing red light was only making the situation worse, it was starting to give Grace a headache.
He took a deep breath, exhaled, and ran his hand along the wall further until he found a small disk poking out.
He pressed it in, and felt it spring back out a second later.
The flashing stopped for a moment, before the ceiling lights around the lab came to life with a small thunk in the panels of the roof.
Grace was still facing the wall. He really didn’t want to turn around to see what was going on.
The movement in the lab has stopped for a moment, before it started again.
They didn’t speak, but Grace could hear them moving around a little before stopping again. It was like they were rushing and hiding behind things, waiting.
Rocky was the first to move, which was very quickly followed by Grace stepping after him.
Rocky rolled into the lab a little further, but kept a distance.
Something caught Grace’s eye in the corner. Something dark, and frankly quite large.
Grace stood at the ‘doorway’ to the main lab, but still close to the corridor he just came from. He was slow to enter the rest of the lab, but really didn’t want to startle whatever was on board with him.
He waited a moment, but nothing happened.
He tried to think of what to do. Should he have something to defend himself? He didn’t have anything within reach. The closest thing to a weapon.. was.. shards of xenonite? Maybe?
He knew the stuff was durable, but it probably wouldn’t make a very good shank. And, it was on the other side of the lab. Right near the stowaways.
Silence filled the labs, as Grace waited for something to happen. Was he meant to be the something?
He’d seen enough movies to know that in this scenario, he’d call out a ‘hello’ and go head first into whatever’s out there and try to find the answer himself with little to no rational thinking.
But at the moment, Grace had very rational thinking. And it was telling him to stay where he was. Rooted like a tree.
Something rustled.
An annoyed sigh came from behind one of the tables further down the room.
Grace waited.
He watched as a figure started to stand, crouching just below the table.
It was a man? Grace could only see his hair and eyes, and the gloved hand resting on the table.
Another sigh, before the man stood up to his full height.
Grace was incredibly confused.
The man would’ve been about Graces height, maybe a little taller. He had short dark blonde hair, green eyes and a moustache the same colour as his hair atop his lip. He had small groups of freckles along his cheeks. He must’ve at least been Graces age, if not a few years younger.
Grace was just lost. He stood there, still rooted. He gave a look over of the man behind the table.
He was wearing a dull mustard coloured hoodie, with a darker canvas jacket on top. Grace could only just see his belt, which was packed with supplies, similar to a police belt.
He could see a few pockets and thick pouches from his limited view.
And he had a strap across torso that must’ve been holding something behind his back. What? Grace couldn’t see.
Right.
So.
Hmm.
Grace looked at the man for a moment, before Rocky tuned a small symphony next to him. “stop staring. is rude.”
Grace looked at Rocky, who turned his carapace to Grace in response.
“Look..” the man at the table started. “I’m sure we’re all a little confused here…”
The man had a bit of a southern american accent, he must’ve been from the deep south or somewhere along that side of of the coast.
Grace had noticed two more heads had appeared up from behind the table.
Two more men, both with darker hair and eyes than the first one.
Said man stepped aside from the table, giving Grace a better look at him.
He was wearing a filthy dirty pair of jeans, and equally dirty boots. Mud had dried into the fabric of his jeans, with darker spots up the leg.
Grace got a much clearer view of his belt now. Just as he suspected. This man was kitted up.
Grace had seen enough police shows while onboard, and knew a gun holster when he saw one. And this man currently had two, one strapped to each hip.
The man stepped forward towards Grace, but Grace stepped back.
The man stopped, a guilty expression on his face once he noticed.
“Look.. we aren’t gonna hurt you.. or..” he raised his hands to show he wasn’t holding anything, but trailed off once he spotted Rocky.
The alien shifted in his ball a little, looking up at Grace again.
“Je-jesus Brian..” one of the other men from behind the table spat out.
He stood up, but held onto the table for a moment.
This man was even taller than the first. He had a head of dark brown curls, with what looked to be a pair of goggles with orange lenses tangled within them.
He was dressed in a similar fashion, minus the outer jacket. He wore an equally dull green-brownish hoodie with stripes down the sleeves and a blue hood, with what appeared to be a black turtleneck underneath.
He wore darker jeans, and similar boots and belt, but instead of gun holsters, it was two small hatchet axes.
He had a fabric snood? face covering? draped around his neck, like he’d pulled it down from his face before he stood up.
This man looked a few years younger than the other man.
But one defining feature that Grace hadn’t really processed changed his whole appearance. He only really had cheek. On the right side of his face. As for the left one, it looked like it had been mauled through. Grace could very easily see the man’s teeth, molars and all. Just sitting there.
Surely that had to be painful, just looking at it made Grace’s skin crawl.
Grace looked between the two men, and the head just above the table. This was overwhelmingly confusing. Part of Grace wanted to believe he was dreaming, and that this whole thing was just some gas leak or something.
Well, not that. But it seemed to be fitting for the circumstances.
“Stand up..!” the second man pulled up the third from behind the table.
Having a closer look at this third man solidified Graces thought that they were all of a similar age. This man must’ve the closest to graces age, he looked like he’d been through a rough couple years.
He had short, dark brown hair, hazel eyes and a scar running down side of his jaw. He was also wearing a brown jacket, but paired it with a red flannel button up underneath. Similar jeans, boots, and belt situation, with another strap across his torso also holding something to his back.
This man whispered something to the one who pulled him up, with earnt a laugh in response.
“p-planes? th-this ain’t no pl-plane.. you sick..?” he asked, putting on an obviously sarcastic pout with worried eyebrows.
He only received a harsh shove from the other man, who stepped around the table and closer to Grace.
He stopped next to the first man, and looked back behind him to another corner of the room that Grace couldn’t see from where he was standing, his view blocked by one of his rolling whiteboards.
Grace wondered what could possibly add to the situation. Grace’s mind still running, like it always was, but this time it wasn’t about taumoeba breeding or anything of the fashion. He was just so lost in this situation, how did they get here? He could obviously tell they were human, it was clear as day. But Earth was, a 4 year journey ship time, if he remembered what Mary told him. 11 for communication systems.
But humans just don’t suddenly appear places, especially not on a space ship eternally bound to deep space. This was a one way solo trip, and Grace had sent the bodies of the other two out weeks ago. He checked every crevice of this place, and these men had certainly not been hiding in the wall cabinets. Not like they’d fit anyway.
Rocky moved in his ball, chirping at the men.
They just looked at him, a little confused.
“Rock..” Grace started to speak, but more movement noises came from corner that Grace couldn’t see.
The other three men whipped around to the noise, two stepping around the tables to whatever, or whoever, was over there.
“Movement detected.” Mary called out once again.
“It seems you have a major injury. Medical assistance is required.” Mary spoke again, the same monotone voice filling the room.
Grace could fairly hear Armando turn on down the hall, his arms whirring to life.
Grace was just even more confused.
Two of the men had rushed over the corner.
One of the men looked back at Grace, who had a puzzled look on his face. The same blonde man who had first spoken up.
He looked back at the other two over in the corner. He was really debating on if he should open his mouth or just stay quiet.
He ran a hand over his face, scratching his jaw for a moment, before looking back at Grace.
He bit the bullet, and started talking.
“Look, we don’t know how we got here, or-or where we are, but w-we won’t hurt you..! Alright?” he stepped over closer to Grace, keeping a few feet of distance between them.
He raised his hands, but bought them back down momentarily to unclip the gun holsters from his belts, placing them on the table beside him. He also removed the object strapped to his back, which Grace recognised as a shotgun.
What the hell do these guys do that requires them to be this armed? Seeing the guns this man had, there was no doubt in Graces mine that they were carrying a few knives, maybe even something a little worse. He seriously hoped not.
Grace looked at the man for a moment, who had raised his arms again.
“Look. We were on some mission, an-and we got ambushed. We weren’t hurt, but Slender was, alright? W-we don’t know how to help..” he spoke, gesturing to the corner, his voice getting increasingly stressed the longer grace started at him.
What?
What was anything of this about? Mission? Ambush? Slender? Who the hell was Slender?
Grace hadn’t noticed Rocky had moved again, only hearing the high-pitched stress tune he made from the corner. He rolled back to Grace, and pointed a claw back to the corner behind him.
Grace finally decided to check out what was in this corner.