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The tree, the tree, the tree. It seemed all anyone could talk about nowadays was the pulsing, twisted mass of flesh and wood that had sprouted from the depths of AT-5, everyone speculating how the first plant to grow in years came to be.
Everyone, that was, except for two lone men.
“It’s like none of them even care,” David spat, arms folded as he leaned back in his seat, one heel bouncing triple time against the floor.
“I think they’ve got bigger things on their mind, lad,” Jack rasped from beside him, laying stock-still on his cot save for the subtle rise and fall of his chest. “It’s not the first time we’ve had to make grief wait its turn to be felt. Ava understood the quest for stable survival was worth more than any one person.”
David set his jaw at the sentiment, crossing his arms tighter over his chest and tapping heel somehow managing to pick up speed.
Jack gave a long, ragged sigh through his nose, the scope of his weariness forcing its way past the malevolent bulbs hiding amidst his organs. “She should have let me be the one to stay behind and try to meet back up with the convict,” he conceded, the words coming in fits and bursts along with his breath. “Saved herself a seat on the escape pod. She’d be a lot more useful up here than I am right now. But a captain goes down with her ship, I suppose.”
David scoffed but couldn’t help giving the slightest twitch of a smile. “Have you seen yourself lately? I don’t think Ava trusted you to live long enough to make contact with the convict.”
Jack copied the grin, the pair sharing a chuckle, though Jack’s was accompanied by a series of coughs. “Fair enough.”
Silence settled between the pair, making room for bitter memories to take hold once more, but David’s anxious leg bouncing did not return.
Eventually, Jack dredged up his failing vocals to continue, “I don’t need a reflection to know how obvious it is how fast the clock’s tickin’ for me now. Think I could trouble ya for one last favor?”
The tone of the dying man was more than enough for David to pull his gaze away from the blank wall his chair faced, turning his head to properly look at his friend and ask with the same low earnestness, “Watcha need, Jack?”
“I don’t like the way we handle our ‘burials,’” Jack answered after a moment’s pause. “Gettin’ shot out into an infinite void, no hope of runnin’ into anything magnificent, not even any of the poor saps who went before ya. Skeeves me out.”
David gave a single chuckle, the corner of his mouth quirking upwards in a smirk. “What, you want me to find you a stuffed animal to keep you company?”
David had hoped to get at least a little laugh out of his friend, to share another moment of gallows-bound joy. Instead, without missing a beat, Jack said, “Wouldja put my body in the blood?”
Instantly, David’s smile fell away, replaced by disbelieving dread. “Why,” he said, turning his chair to fully face Jack, “would you possibly want that?”
“Ack, what did I say about crowdin’ me? You’re looming, knock it off.”
“Not until you give me a straight answer,” David said, staring Jack down.
Despite his position, how exhausted his body must be, Jack managed to give a full-fledged shrug. “At least it’s a place to be laid down ‘stead of just floatin’. And who knows? Maybe I’ll find Ava, keep ‘er company.”
David scoffed once more, this time without humor. “You think you’re just gonna reunite with her in some Great Beyond? You’ve spent too much time with the prisoners.”
“David,” Jack deadpanned, staring up at him.
“How would I even get you down there, huh?” David asked, briefly throwing his hands in the air before collapsing them back onto his knees. “All eyes are on AT-5 right now.”
“All eyes are on the tree,” Jack stressed, shuffling a little closer to David, raspiness overtaking his voice. “The ocean’s a lot bigger than that one site. Just sneak me to an air vac, point me at the moon, and fire. If you think you can temporarily swipe a pod during all the commotion, even better. I just don’t want to be left alone.”
“I can’t just—”
“David,” Jack said. “Please.”
Staring into the desperate eyes of his last friend in existence, David found his resolve folding. “Fine,” he said, abandoning his looming and refacing the parallel wall. “I’ll figure something out.”
In the face of all the universe had become, Jack smiled. “Thank ya, big man. Could always count on ya.”
“Yeah, yeah,” David dismissed, recrossing his arms. Several minutes passed with no words exchanged between them, the sounds of the C.O.I. bustling beyond the door. Then, as thoughts of Ava festered in his mind once more, David asked, “Jack… I know based on the coordinates, that tree was probably caused by something that convict did, but… do you think part of it was her, too?”
Silence.
“Jack?” David asked, turning his head to look at the other man, only to find Jack laying stock-still, chest no longer harboring any sort of movement and half-lidded eyes staring up at nothing.
Biting down a trembling lip, David leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees as he buried his face in his hands and let grief have its turn.