Chapter Text
“Drop the convict and surrender yourself to council authorities.”
The voice came through Grace’s radio. It was incredibly hard to hear, “and if I don’t?”
The man on the other end did not answer.
Grace stopped dragging the body for a second as “the convict” started to cough up blood. A lot of blood. Too much blood. Once he was done his breath came labored and heavy, his eyes opened just barely. Grace couldn’t Imagine that the convict would remember any of this.
Grace continued to drag the man by his arm (singular) along the floor, his back leaving a trail of blood on the harsh surface of the moon. He constantly had to rearrange his grip through his spacesuit. Turns out it was a lot harder to move a muscular unconscious man when he was covered in blood all while wearing an EVA suit.
“We are almost there…” Grace whispered to himself. He didn’t actually know how far he was away from Mary, but believing he was close didn’t do any harm.
“Drop the convict. Now.”
“Argh!” Grace paused, still holding the convict, “who even are you! Convict means that this guy is a danger to you, right?– That he’s done something unforgivable. Why go through all the effort to retrieve him? Why put him through hell just to fight tooth and nail bringing him back to salvation?”
The Tow-ship hovering above was silent. The only light available came from Grace’s helmet and the giant spotlight shining down on the two bloodied humans below. The giant propellers on the spaceship were just barely audible, meaning that there was some kind of atmosphere on this moon. There had to be at least a small amount of air or else the convict would be dead due to oxygen deprivation by now. Whether there was enough Air to keep an exhausted rapid-breathing middle-aged man lucid was questionable. Therefore, Grace decided against removing his helmet, even if it meant tediously pulling a man with the hindrance of an uncomfortable visor and spacesuit.
Eventually, the voice spoke again, “Who are you.”
Grace was becoming frustrated. He didn’t know how much time the convict had left to live. He needed to get him back to the Hail Mary and fast, “I just asked–”
“You are on C.O.I property, you answer the council before the council graces you with answers. I ask again; who are you and where are you from?”
Grace answered through gritted teeth, starting to pull the convict along once the tow-ship had nothing more to say about it, “I am Doctor Captain Ryland Grace of the Hail Mary. I come from Earth, just like everyone else.”
The man’s tone changed slightly, “Don’t lie. Where are you from, Dr. Captain Ryland Grace. A station of the C.O.I? Eden?”
“I don’t know what answer you want me to give! I’m from Earth! I have a doctorate in molecular biology! I taught middle school! Do I need to tell you my birthday too?”
The man on the other end was growing more agitated, his professional exterior deteriorating, “what the fuck are you saying. Every goddamn person in the universe knows Earth is dead. The stars are gone! There is no Earth anymore and there hasn’t been an Earth for years!”
Grace’s breath caught in his throat. C.O.I, or whoever these people were, seemed so sure of themselves. Like there was no possibility of reality saying otherwise. Grace’s thoughts drifted away in a confused frenzy. No, there was no way. It was scientifically impossible. Having that much mass removed from the universe would destroy it entirely. Matter can neither be created nor destroyed. Having 99% of the universe’s matter disappear into absolute nothingness is not only impossible, It goes against all known laws of physics. Even if it was somehow possible, having a mass extinction happen that quickly would mess with time and reality to an unfathomable amount.
Earth was still there, or at least the planet was. He didn’t want to think about the alternative right now…
An idea suddenly crossed his mind. Astrophage. It couldn’t explain the disappearance of planets, but it could explain why all the stars are dead. Grace had noticed the lack of stars in this part of the universe around a year ago, although he didn’t bring it up with Rocky, he didn’t want him to worry. It was possible that some anomaly in this section of the universe was the origin of Astrophage. The microbe has been slowly growing its influence ever since. Even so, Earth wasn’t gone. The way the man inside the tow-ship said “years” made it seem like Earth was long dead, more than four years. It could be possible that the absence of stars could be messing with this section of the universe’s relativity. Possibly even sending it so far in time in such a short amount of time that most everything disappeared from the perspective of this deep space colony in a matter of seconds.
“Look,” Grace sighed, letting himself relax for a second as he loosened his grip on the convict, “I think I have an answer to your problem. Or, at least some piece of the puzzle. Let’s make a deal; I take the convict, then I give you the information I have. Is that fair?”
Static. Until a sigh, “fine. Take the convict. But tell us all you know, or the C.O.I–”
“Yeah yeah I get it, you’ll blow me up or drown me in a giant bathtub of blood. Just be patient,” Grace brushed off whatever words were said in retaliation against his remark, he didn’t care. All he was focused on now was getting the convict to Armando, he would be able to take care of him much better than Rocky or Grace could.
It was about now that he wished he brought Rocky out to help him carry the man. But he figured it would cause more commotion bringing an alien out into the open for the C.O.I to see. So here he was, pulling along a nearly unconscious, potentially dangerous, human into the spaceship he calls home.
“Let go of me,” the convict slurred his words, his mouth very clearly still full of blood. He tried in vain to tug away from Grace’s grip to no avail.
“Save your air.” Grace heaved, pulling him a foot or so more towards the Hail Mary.
Grace was becoming increasingly worried for the health of the convict. He wasn’t sure how much air this blood moon had, and the convict had been breathing it in for a substantial amount of time by now. Second, he was covered in blood. Obviously he would be, he was submerged in it. But it was clear that he consumed a lot of it in the process. He was still coughing blood up, although with little effort. Grace worried about the effects of Hemochromatosis. This much iron consumption doesn’t just cause vomiting like it does now, It causes liver failure, heart failure, and even death in a matter of weeks. Armando would need to force the convict to purge everything he can before his body absorbs all the iron from his recent blood only diet and fast.
“Human heartbeat slow. Grace must hurry. Grace pull faster. Statement.” The Chirping of Rocky could be heard inside the ship. His heavy legs scurrying along the metal floor in a panic and his ball banging against the walls.
“I’m going as fast as I can, Rock,” Grace made a grunt of extreme effort as he finally lifted the man onto the ramp leading up to the entrance. With heavy breathing, Grace dragged him inside, shutting the airlock behind them with a heavy arm, pressurizing the room and laughing quietly.
“What is funny. Question?” Rocky tapped his foot twice.
“Nothing,” Grace breathed, taking off his EVA suit in a hurry, not even bothering to put it back in its place, “It’s one of those laughs of disbelief.”
“Oh. Rocky understand. Grace in shock.”
“Yeah, uh. Now help me carry him to Armando. Quickly.”
Without another word Rocky grabbed a makeshift stretcher made up of rope and cloth. Grace then lifted the convict with immense effort onto the cloth. He quickly tied the rope around Rocky’s ball, then gave him a thumbs up. Rocky responded with a thumbs down before running off in the direction of the medical bay.
“Hey! Be careful with him!” Grace quickly walked behind them.
“Rocky is careful. Help human.”
Grace obeyed Rocky’s command, gently holding the cloth up as they made their way through the dormitory section of the ship. The med bay wasn’t far and thankfully wasn’t up any ladders, so their trip was rather swift. Once they reached one of the medical beds under the watchful eye of Armando, Grace gently set the stretcher down on the floor and untied the rope around Rocky’s ball.
The convict coughed in a frenzy, “no- no no- let me out. Leave me alone–” he vomited blood onto the floor, it was much more intense than before.
“Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay. Deep breath in, deep breath out, alright?” Grace tried to reassure him as he hefted the man onto the medical bed. He couldn’t help but think back to his children, helping them calm down from their panic attacks.
Once the man was laid out under the mechanical arm, he immediately started to panic even more. His eyes were wild, yet still barely open, “where am I? What are you doing?”
Grace tentatively reached out a hand to touch the Convict’s only arm. The man immediately flinched away, “Don’t fucking touch me!”
“Okay! Okay okay. Just please relax, we’re trying to help you.”
The convict almost seemed to growl, as if he were about to shout or cry but thought against it. It was like there were a million things he wanted to say, but nothing came out. He was too afraid.
Grace suddenly felt guilty. But he knew this would need to happen if the man were to live, “Armando, evaluate him, please. And purge his stomach of all the blood he swallowed, I don’t care what needs to be done, just do it. I’ll get some new clothes for him so you can clean and dress him,” Grace spoke uneasily. He tried to clear his throat, but it did little to calm himself down.
“Yes, Dr. Grace,” Armando responded, immediately rotating into action and carefully evaluating its new patient. The convict suddenly seemed much more terrified as he watched the machine inject sedatives into his system. He made a few cries of retaliation and angry obscure questions before passing out.
“Grace breath rate is twenty-three. Grace normal breath is seventeen. Grace is worried for new human friend. Question?”
“Yeah, bud. I–” He squeezed his eyes shut, pinching the bridge of his nose with a deep breath. “I’m a bit worried. Yes.”
“Grace worry about ship outside. Grace no worry about human. Rocky watch new human sleep. Rocky get Grace if problem.” Rocky’s carapace lifted high in confidence.
Rocky made mistakes before, just like Grace. But unlike Grace, his mistakes were rare and far between. Seeing Rocky so confident somehow calmed Grace down, at least a bit, “okay, yeah. I better go talk to the C.O.I or else we might get evaporated by some kind of laser beam cannon or something. I’ll be back.”
“What is new word. Question?” Rock tilted his body with two stomps of a foot.
After four years traveling through space together you would think that every word would be translated by now. Guess not, “laser beam cannon? Oh gosh how do I explain a laser beam cannon…Y’know what, I’ll tell you when we are back on our way to Erid, alright?”
“Yes.” Rocky stated, letting his human friend run off while he stayed by the convict’s bedside.
It was much easier running along the glossy surface of the Hail Mary without a bleeding human in your arms. And thanks to stress and fear, Grace made it to the airlock in a matter of seconds. He swiftly put on his red EVA suit, and opened the hatch to the outside world after adjusting the pressure.
“Hey! C.O.I! We can talk now!” Grace shouted into the speaker of his suit, it was set to the same frequency as it was before.
Words were said that came across as static before slowly turning over into English, “...The Quiet Rapture. Tell us all you know.” the spotlight shone down on him again, blinding Grace. He held up a hand over his eyes as he stared up.
Grace didn’t bother to ask what the rest of the sentence was, “All the stars were killed by Astrophage. It’s an alien microbe that consumes the heat of stars to propel itself forward. It likely originated around here and has grown rapidly, eating every star in its path. Look, I don’t know why the planets disappeared. But my best guess is that the lack of stars in such a fast succession, and in a secluded confined section of the universe, messed with the law of relativity around here. planets are still out there, it’s just that relativity has messed with your sense of time. Now you have somehow traveled much further into the future than anywhere else in the universe. It doesn’t make any sense, and I don’t know how it can even be possible, but that’s all I have.”
The Tow-ship responded faster than usual, “Is there a way to stop it?”
“Yes,” Grace thought for a moment. Did he really want to help these people? He saw what they did to one of their own, criminal or not, it was unethical. He responded anyway, “I named it Taumoeba. It’s the natural predator to Astrophage. I have some on my ship but you will need to breed it yourself. Every star is connected to a neighboring planet through a migration zone called a Petrova Line, it's basically the path that Astrophage takes to and back from the sun. You will need some kind of telescope that can detect infrared light, that’s what the Astrophage, and therefore the Patrova Line, give off. Once you find which planet a star is connected to, breed the Taumoeba to survive the star's connected planet so that the Taumoeba can eat the Astrophage. It’s a tedious process, but it works.”
Grace took a few steps backward into the Hail Mary, “I think the stars around here are a lost cause. They seem to be dead already. But, you can at least stop it from spreading. You should also move away from this area of the universe. If you travel a few or more light-years in any direction you will start to see planets and stars again, relativity should return to normal at that point.”
“Hm,” The man representing the C.O.I responded, “thank you, Captain Dr. Ryland Grace.”
“Dr. Grace is fine.”
A sound of acknowledgement, “some of your Taumoeba will suffice. You may leave after you have delivered.”
Grace sighed, “I imagined so.”
He turned around, and walked back inside the ship. Grace decided to keep the EVA suit on, only taking off his helmet and leaving it at the entrance. Rocky scrambled over from the med bay in a hurry, eager to hear what Grace had to say. It still scared Grace at times to know Rocky could hear anything that happened on the ship. Sometimes, Rocky would know where Grace would be before he even got there. Running all the way from across the ship, similar to right now.
“What did ship say. Question?”
“They need some Taumoeba, then we can leave. I’ll explain it all later. Hey, can’t you hear everything I talk about? Why are you asking?”
Rocky shook his carapace in frustration, “Atmosphere quiet on moon. Rocky can not hear clearly.”
“I should have thought about that.” Grace sighed, he wasn’t thinking clearly. He needed to deliver this Taumoeba quickly. And most importantly, he needed sleep.
Grace quickly gathered one of the backup Taumoeba breeders from the lab up above and carried it back down, quickly putting his helmet back on.
“I have your Taumoeba! Where should I put it?” Grace called into his helmet, awaiting a response as he stepped outside once more unto the desolate landscape of the blood moon.
“Why don’t you come aboard, Dr. Grace? Then we can discuss face-to-face.” the voice responded. He sounded curious, almost friendly. Almost.
“No can do, sorry. I don’t trust you guys in the slightest. No offense.” Grace shrugged, “how about I leave it in some wide open area and you guys can come on down and get it once I leave, yeah?”
The tow-ship was silent for a moment, “at least consider it.”
“No,” Grace began to walk in a random direction closer to the ship, finding an open area to set down the breeder tank, “I think you are terrible people. You tortured another human without any expectations of him coming back alive, let alone finding answers. It doesn’t matter the kind of person he is, actions like that to another life is something I can’t forgive.”
Grace couldn’t help but think about Stratt. How her team had held him down, sedated him against his will, and never expected to see him ever again. Even if he found answers. Even if he fulfilled his purpose.
No. He couldn’t trust anyone like that. Like her. Never again.
The voice on the other end suddenly became defensive, “If you were in our shoes. If you were in charge of the last of humanity, or what we thought was the last, you would have done what we did. You might have done even worse! We saw our species’ extinction and we fought to survive! We would do anything to survive.”
“Do you have any idea what it is like on the other side?” Grace snapped back, stopping in his tracks, “How many people have you sent on your suicide missions? Hundreds? Thousands? And how many have come back? You are killing people! Real human lives! At some point extinction is the better way to go than to be sacrificed against your will by your own kind.”
Grace placed the breeder down in an open enough area and turned back, walking at a rigid pace towards the Hail Mary.
“There are only a few thousand of us left,” the man on the other end sighed, reflective. “Humans will always be divided. We are what we are. Even now, we are divided. Far from our home. We might as well be a different species. I’m sorry, but here death is something that we have evolved to fear more than torture. You can’t understand that.”
Grace sighed, “I can’t understand that. And I don’t want to.”
A moment, then a question, “...do you even know his name?”
The C.O.I gave a simple answer, “No.”
They were silent, both of them were. The human down below reached the entrance of his ship, looking back up to the spotlight above with squinting eyes, “despite everything, I wish you luck.”
“Good luck, Dr. Grace.”
The next half hour was a blur. Lack of sleep was really starting to catch up to him. He remembered briefing Rocky on the situation before starting up the ship. He remembered the long process of going through the motions of launching Mary. He remembered staring out the window, watching the blood moon drift away. And he remembered searching through his deceased crew mates bags for clothes that would fit his new roommate. Eventually, he found that Captain Yao’s clothes were the closest in size. They would be big on him, but not crazy huge.
Grace brought one of Yao's hoodies and sweatpants, along with a few other things, into the med bay. Grace half expected to find a still bloodied man on the medical table, but he was surprisingly rather clean. Well, besides the clothes of course. Armando had been patiently waiting for new clothes to dress him in, Grace gave it a pat on the head. Arm?
“What did you find?” Grace asked, setting down the clothes.
“Patient has experienced lethal amounts of radiation. Lethal amount of Iron ingestion (now cured). A near fatal amount of alcohol ingestion. And unusual transformations to the body (side effects unknown).”
Grace’s heart dropped in his chest, “Jesus Christ…”
“Rocky worried too.” Grace jumped. He almost forgot the engineer had been watching the human.
Grace looked the man over. Armando was right, the convict looked much different. Now that he was under the light and cleansed of any blood, his form was a terrifying sight. Monstrous.
He had gills running along his neck, a set on both sides. The nails on his hand were sharpened and stained red. A red scar ran diagonally across his face, as if it was dripping with blood, although it was clearly dry, a permanent addition. However, the most horrifying part of it all was his cheek. A section of his left cheek opened up slightly, revealing a set of deadly sharp teeth that ran along the inside of his mouth. You couldn’t see far into it as skin seemed to cover a majority of his open orifice. In the places where there wasn’t skin, teeth hid the rest.
“Holy shit,” Grace rarely swore. But right now was an appropriate time.
“What is word. Question? Grace never explain word. Frustrates Rocky.”
“It means I’m scared.”