Chapter Text
Ryland was getting better.
At least according to the results of Armando’s blood tests.
The scurvy and the other maladies had healed, and most of the deficiencies had gone too. Finally, he’d started getting some meat on his bones. He looked better, too. His face was brighter, his mood lighter. The feeling of impending doom that had followed his every step ever since he'd set foot on Erid had subsided. Death didn't feel quite as close anymore.
Ryland liked it on Erid; he really did.
He had his own little dome, his friends, his peace.
Yet, as Ryland stared at the dome's beach, he felt weak. The familiar feeling of dread pooled in his gut.
All of the water had turned red.
The consistency was off, too. It felt thicker, as the Eridians' machines fanned ripples across it.
He had to get Rocky.
Had the Eridians done this? Why?
He had a sinking feeling that he wouldn't like the answer.
Ryland was about to move when suddenly the ripples became bigger. Something was in the water. Er . . . red liquid.
The ripples became more like splashes, as though something were frantically trying to come up to the surface. Ryland took a step back.
He'd watched his fair share of horror movies to know that this situation was unfolding into something very close to one. A creature rising from a pool of blood.
Ryland almost laughed at the absurdity.
Of course, the red liquid couldn't be blood. Perhaps some eridian mineral altered the water's colour. However, it wouldn't explain the strange viscosity. The other issue that remained was the thing, the alive thing inside it, trying to swim upwards.
And then, something appeared. Ryland couldn't understand what he was looking at. He heard sharp sounds coming from it, something that resembled coughing. The only thought in his head right then was to run. This was beyond reason. Nothing alive on this planet should be in his dome.
But Ryland did not run. He remained still, eyes locked onto the thing flailing in the red liquid. It was probably the worst possible timing, but the scientist in him was way too curious to find out what had managed to crawl into his dome undetected. It was getting closer to the shore. Ryland could see better now. There was something . . . something like hair? Though it was mostly covered in the liquid, so he couldn't say for sure.
Then there was a face. A face with a nose and a mouth and eyes and brows.
No way.
As the thing reached shallower waters, it stumbled, then stood, only to reveal the silhouette of a person. A human person.
Before Ryland had the chance to assess his cognitive state or question the integrity of his own mind, the person's eyes locked onto his.
The man's eyes were glazed. He was panting; that's all he seemed to be able to do. How he was staying upright, Ryland could not guess. He looked terrible. Mostly because he was covered in the red stuff. Oh, and also the fact that he was missing an arm.
Ryland instinctively took a step towards him.
Wrong move, apparently.
The man's every muscle tensed, and he moved his good arm defensively in front of him.
"Stay back!" he shouted. "Don't fucking come near me!" He shook his head, and Ryland feared he would dislodge it from his neck. "Stop fucking messing with my head!"
Ryland immediately retreated. He had a creeping suspicion that if he got any closer, the man would claw at him and rip his skin to shreds. He had to talk to him, though. At least he spoke English. Ryland had somewhat been expecting an alien tongue. "I'm—"
The man wobbled, and Ryland sucked a breath.
His knees buckled, and then he fell.
Ryland stared at the motionless body on the sand.
He really had to get Rocky.
There was a man on Erid. A human man. Right across the room. Speaking his language.
The problem?
He'd appeared out of nowhere, emerged out of a pool of blood. Yes, it was blood. Rocky had confirmed.
Ryland really needed to stop jinxing things.
But it was utterly absurd. There was no possible way for any human to come across Erid, unless maybe human technology had advanced so greatly during the past couple of years that they'd managed to build another interstellar ship fueled by astrophage. And even then, it would still take sixteen years, assuming the ship traveled at the speed of light.
And the Eridians would know if anything had entered his dome.
This man had bypassed all levels of Eridian security.
It was as though he'd literally teleported.
And where—where had he gotten all that blood?
Ryland wasn't so keen to know the answer to that particular question.