Chapter Text
The meeting had been dragging on even by Lila’s standards, and as someone whose meetings often took far too long to discuss things which could've been emails, she would know.
She said had been, because just as Stratt opened her mouth to refute some exceptionally stupid and forgettable politician’s argument, Dr. Grace, the leading expert on astrophage and the man who, until that moment, had been leaning so far back that his chair was almost tipping over, jerked forward violently, smacking his forehead on the table.
Lila didn't want to know what it said about her that her first coherent thought was ‘finally, something interesting!’, but she didn't get the time to figure it out.
The smell of burning meat registered before she realized what she was seeing.
Across Dr. Grace’s arm, two strange, near-identical symbols seared themselves onto his skin, branding the space just below his shoulder with two shaky circles, one larger, each framed with three triangles.
She could only stare, caught between shock and incomprehension, the whole room united in stunned silence.
Stratt was the one to break the silence, her wide eyes the only sign that she, too, was affected by the impossibility that had occurred before their very eyes. “Dr. Grace?” she inquired, shaking his shoulder. “Are you alright?”
He gasped, shooting up, one hand reaching above his shoulder as if to grab something that wasn't there, blinking when he touched only empty air, before his eyes landed on Stratt. “What–” he coughed, voice somewhat hoarse, before trying again. “What's going on?!”
Stratt pressed her lips together, her expression pained as she uttered a single admittance: “I don't know.”
Still, there was silence, the kind that turned the air syrup-thick, and Lila held her breath, half-sure that this was a dream. The moment stretched on like taffy, pulled until it could hardly hold its own weight, and finally, Dr. Grace opened his mouth to break the silence–
The door to the conference room slammed open, drawing every eye to the man who stood in the doorway, brown hair disheveled and tie askew.
“Director Stratt,” he panted, his chest heaving, “we have received a transmission that appears to originate from space!”
“What?!” Stratt exclaimed, her chair almost toppling as she practically jumped to her feet, and her eyes narrowed. “Have you been able to get any information from it?”
“It- it's a video, ma’am,” he explained.
Her sharp eyes glanced at the brand that had appeared on Dr. Grace's arm only minutes before, and Lila knew they were thinking the same thing. There was no way that this was a coincidence.
“Play it,” she demanded, and he scrambled to obey.
The video displayed something which, for a moment, Lila mistook for a rock figurine– until it moved. A strange, musical collage of tones echoed through the speakers, and a gasp cut through the air, turning heads to the wide, teary eyes of Dr. Grace. The melody continued, though, and Lila returned to looking at the screen, watching the creature gesture with their five limbs.
The song ended with a final flourish, and a robotic voice replaced it. “People of Earth,” it began, “We are from a planet which orbits the star you call 40 Eridani. You may refer to us as Eridians.”
The figure– the alien– raised a claw, and Lila inhaled sharply.
At the base of the cylindrical limb, there were three triangle-shaped claws; the shape was a perfect match for the brands on Dr. Grace’s skin.
“We have aboard our ship a solution to the organisms which threaten your star, as they once threatened ours.” Stratt stared openly at the creature, a hunger in her gaze, and yet she seemed wary, too, like a lone, starving wolf might look at a moose, trying to judge if it was worth risking the force of its hooves.
“However,” they continued, and all Lila could think was ‘there it is, there's the catch,’ because how could this ever come for free? “We have one condition which must be met before we provide it.”
The whole room held its breath, waiting to hear the price of their salvation.
“You will bring to us the man you call Dr. Ryland Grace. He has been on record defying the conventions of fools set in their ways, even to his own detriment. He has been willing to both teach others and learn from them.” The creature lifted their body high on straining legs. “He is wasted on you, who cast him out of your supposedly intelligent groups, who stole his opportunities. Bring him to us. After all, have you not already thrown him away?”
The weight of the entire room’s gazes landed on Dr. Grace, and he shrank down in his chair, shoulders hunching up to his ears. He buried his face in his hands, his whole body shaking.
Lila's brows furrowed with sympathy. She couldn't imagine the fear and confusion he must be feeling, knowing he had practically been demanded as a sacrifice.
What were they going to do now?
What could they do?