The Sun, the Moon, the Planet and the forgotten astronaut
Previous - Part 9 - Next
"So… you know how to pilot."
"I was trapped on a spaceship for two years. I wasn't about to just sit there watching everyone else panic without knowing what to do."
We boarded her ship together, recovering anything that might prove useful for the mission.
Despite the destruction in the more obvious living quarters, there were other sections that had been kept intact, filled with interesting supplies.
Tools.
A greenhouse.
Radios.
Even board games.
She'd truly built her own little community aboard this ship.
I looked over the crops they had grown.
The artificial lights mimicking sunlight.
The rich soil.
The automated sprinklers.
I couldn't resist picking one of the tomatoes and taking a bite.
It was…
Juicy.
Firm.
Packed with pulp.
"I didn't think the rats would be this big."
Nova's words made me choke for a moment.
She was carrying two suitcases.
"I've got everything I need. If you find something you like, grab it quickly. I want to blow this thing up as soon as possible."
"You're going to blow it up?"
"Like I said… I learned a lot while I was stuck here. At least they had the decency to leave us some instructional videos. A little bit of everything. About… 253,377 videos in total, to be exact."
"…Do you remember who sent you here? Maybe it was a woman? Stratt… Does that name sound familiar?"
She had been about to leave when my question stopped her in her tracks.
She turned to look at me.
"No. Doesn't ring a bell. It was a group of men. They had very strong accents. Maybe someone trying to compete. Like… A Cold War?"
Telling her that made no sense would have been hypocritical.
It wouldn't be surprising if other governments had attempted missions similar to Hail Mary's instead of working together on a single successful one…
Even if it meant gambling with innocent lives.
"I don't know. I don't want anything to do with that. I hate politics. In the end, I got myself into this because I believed something that sounded too good to be true." She sighed "I'll help you move the crops if you want."
"If I want? This is real food! I've been living on ramen this whole time. This could help us tremendously!"
"Okay. I'll drop these off and come right back."
That was progress.
Maybe she was trying to seem mysterious…
But she had one tiny problem.
She talked almost as much as I did.
I should use the time while I'm here to see if there's anything else worth bringing back to Mary.
Or maybe…
The control panel and every computer display had been completely destroyed.
Nothing worked anymore.
I wasn't going to be able to repair any of it.
There wasn't enough time.
She'd mentioned cameras…
And a clock.
Where could they be?
I searched the corners of every room, unusual hiding places, even the ceiling.
Nothing.
Either she'd lied again…
Or they were hidden incredibly well.
I sighed, leaning against one of the cockpit walls.
Then immediately stepped away as it suddenly began sliding open.
There it was.
The clock.
It wasn't really a clock.
More like a timer.
It counted hours…
Minutes…
Seconds.
I touched the screen and felt around its edges, looking for some clue as to why it was there.
Then I realized…
It could be removed from the wall.
Carefully, I lifted it aside.
Behind it was a handle.
I grabbed it firmly and pulled.
Nothing.
It was stuck.
I pulled harder.
Harder.
Until finally…
It gave way.
Inside was a computer.
At that moment, the only thing that interested me was its storage drive.
If I could connect it to my own computer…
Maybe I'd finally have access to everything this ship had recorded.
I removed the drive and slipped it into my pocket just as Nova returned.
"Oh—I found that clock you kept talking about, and…" I picked the display back up and slid it into place "You probably won't believe me… Or maybe you already know… But there was a computer hidden behind it. We might be able to recover some useful information before you decide to blow the ship into space."
The instant I put the display back…
The timer stopped.
Resetting to zero.
We both stood there in silence.
Frozen.
Waiting for something to happen.
But…
It simply restarted.
Nova stared at the display with unmistakable nostalgia.
Every hour she'd counted…
Gone in an instant.
Now the only place they still existed…
Was in her memory.
"…Come on. We still have things to move."
She murmured as she walked past me.
"Can I ask you something?"
I stopped her before she could go any farther.
When she looked back at me, I gathered my courage.
"I need you to give me twenty-four more hours before you destroy this ship. Maybe… I'll find something that can help us."
"…Twenty-four hours." She repeated quietly before giving a slow nod. "Okay."
That was…
Much easier than I'd expected.
I don't like that she's stopped arguing with me.
Later that day, while everyone else rested—
Except for me.
Someone had to watch Rocky sleep.
I plugged the drive into my computer and began going through the ship's data.
It seemed one of the external tanks had carried potable water.
Another had been fuel.
Originally there had been six tanks altogether.
The others had been detached after they were emptied.
Just as I'd suspected…
Their fuel was Astrophage too.
The final engine was only half empty.
We could transfer what's left into Mary.
It still wouldn't be enough to get us back to Earth…
But it'd keep Mary running for several more years.
I still have to figure out how I'm going to tell Nova…
That we were never going home.
According to the records…
The Saint Joseph had launched two years before Hail Mary.
And…
It hadn't been a prototype.
They'd genuinely sent them to carry out the mission.
The files explaining everything were encrypted.
They could only be unlocked using the names of one of the couples who had died during induced coma.
Information about Astrophage.
Tau Ceti.
The mission.
Motivational videos.
And much more.
They'd sent a handful of specialists…
Alongside a large group of people with absolutely no relevant knowledge.
The plan had been to teach them everything during the journey…
Then weed them out as they went.
That also explained why the ship had been designed to sustain human life for such a long time.
Finally…
I found something that truly caught my attention.
The security footage.
So the cameras really had existed.
Every conceivable angle had been covered.
According to the logs, there had been a transmission failure.
Apparently the original plan had been to stream everything live back to Earth.
But the signal had never made it.
Like a far more twisted version of Big Brother.
I opened the last recorded video.
The audio was corrupted.
Nothing could be heard.
I watched a man dragging Nova by the hair.
Two women followed close behind.
There was blood.
Fresh blood.
On Nova's hands.
Across her body.
Her face was swollen…
Bleeding.
The women pinned her arms while the man searched for something.
He smashed a mirror…
Picked up one of the shards…
And moved toward Nova's stomach.
He looked ready to cut her open while she struggled against them.
The moment they began slicing into her abdomen…
She lost consciousness.
Her body went limp in the women's horrified grasp.
Then…
Nova's body moved.
In a way no human body possibly could.
It was impossible.
She was fast.
Agile.
Her limbs bent far beyond anything they should have.
Just watching it…
Felt like I was seeing something out of The Exorcist.
Then she threw herself at her crewmates.
Every strike landed with horrifying force.
The floor disappeared beneath that awful color.
It was a massacre.
When it was finally over…
There she was.
Dragging herself across the floor.
As though every ounce of strength had left her.
No movement.
A faint light slipped out of Nova's body.
Weak.
Barely visible.
It drifted toward the mangled corpses…
And entered them.
Within minutes, the bodies dried out.
Almost as if they'd been mummified.
It repeated the process with every single one…
Before returning to Nova.
But just before reentering her body…
The light floated toward the cameras.
Its glow overwhelmed the lenses.
And then…
Error.
The cameras stopped working.
I realized I'd been holding my breath.
Slowly…
I turned toward Nova.
Curled up beneath my blanket…
Sleeping peacefully beside Rocky.
And next to Nova…
Taking advantage of her calm and complete lack of awareness…
Astra.
Curled up against her face.
Her glow was faint.
She almost seemed to be breathing.
Her tiny body expanded and contracted in perfect rhythm with Nova's breathing.
The Sun, the Moon, the Planet and the forgotten astronaut.
Previous - Part 8 - Next
"Why did you choose Eridian as the main language?"
"Rocky can answer that. Eridian beautiful language."
I rolled my eyes at his comment.
For the last twenty minutes, I'd been talking with Astra.
Well…
Asking her questions at a much gentler pace while Rocky translated her answers.
I'd learned quite a lot.
Although there were several things Astra refused to answer.
Whenever I asked, she'd either ignore me or start twirling back and forth to distract me.
They don't come from any particular world.
They're born from countless mixtures of stardust, other materials, and different forms of life until they eventually find a host to inhabit and use to build a body for themselves.
Rocky explained it to me using puppets.
They use a host body, adapt themselves to its biology, and reproduce.
In humans, they first infect a male host, who shows no suspicious symptoms.
Then, after mating takes place, they settle inside the female's body and remain there until the environment is no longer hostile to them.
They can adapt into many different forms.
While inside their mother, they spend that time observing the world around them, learning…
Growing.
But they're fiercely competitive.
They'll kill one another just to secure a host.
As a result, they're an endangered species.
When they die, they become stardust once again, beginning the cycle anew.
Each one can eventually give rise to as many as five new individuals.
So…
I think I finally understood what had happened to Nova.
Her partner must've been infected first.
Then, after they slept together, Astra transferred into Nova's body.
So her crewmates weren't entirely wrong when they believed she carried an alien.
She did.
They were just catastrophically wrong about how they responded.
Now that I think about it…
It's no wonder Nova tried to kill Astra the moment she emerged.
She probably believes everything that happened aboard that ship was Astra's fault.
…
Was Astra the one who killed the others?
Nova said she remembered nothing.
Only that when she woke up…
Everyone else was already dead.
Maybe it was some kind of defense mechanism.
Something that lets Astra take control of her host whenever survival is threatened.
Maybe she flooded Nova's body with adrenaline.
Enough to overpower an entire group despite the odds.
God…
There are so many things I want to ask her.
She's remarkably cooperative.
I held out my hand toward her.
She lifted her tiny arms and rested them on my palm before curling up comfortably inside it.
"I must be incredibly charming, don't you think, Rocky?" I smiled. "Look how much she likes me."
"Astra call Grace word Rocky not know."
"Oh? What kind of word?"
"Eridians say ♪ ♬ ♪ ♫. Individual who part of reproduction ritual."
Father?
She's calling me father?
I thought as I entered the new word into the computer, expanding Rocky's growing dictionary.
"Astra say Astra, plural, choose father when original father dead. Nova mother. Father dead. So Astra choose another. Grace protect Astra."
"Well…" I chuckled. "I'm flattered. But I don't think I'm exactly father material."
"Grace say obvious. Grace made organic material."
"…Right. Rocky. It's an expression. I mean I'm not cut out to be a father."
"Grace words stupid. Grace have no biological problem being father."
That was a conversation we were never going to win.
"You're right. I'm just talking nonsense."
I shrugged and looked back down at Astra.
She was lying peacefully in my palm, her little body vibrating with something that sounded almost like a purr.
"Incorrect. To stop the centrifuge system, please state your name."
Mary's voice echoed from the cockpit.
What was happening?
The moment I started heading toward the cockpit, my feet lifted off the floor.
The centrifuge had stopped.
"Nova! What's going on?!"
Pulling myself along the cables, I reached the cockpit.
Nova was sitting calmly in the pilot's seat, one hand on the controls, the other moving confidently across the console.
"I'm docking us with my ship. Which, by the way, is called the Saint Joseph. I need to collect a few things from it. Then I'm going to destroy it."
She spoke with unsettling calm while guiding us toward her ship with a level of precision I'd never be capable of.
"I thought you didn't know how to fly."
I clung tightly to the wall.
"I said a lot of things. She didn't even look at me "A lot of lies." She finally added "That thing." She pointed toward Astra, who had begun floating over to her "Made me tell you just a part of the stories and do things… So you won't be scared of me.."
With nothing more than a flick of her fingers, she knocked the little creature away.
I watched Astra tumble through the air until she drifted toward me.
I caught her gently before she could keep spinning.
So…
She'd deliberately kept me from learning the whole truth.
Giving me just enough information…
Just enough honesty…
To make me trust her.
The entire thing had been a survival strategy.
Manipulation.
"Listen… We can go get your things. And honestly, the fact that you know how to pilot is amazing. We can actually get to know each other. And you could help us save Earth and Erid."
I forced myself to sound optimistic.
"Docking sequence initiated."
The computer interrupted us.
"And then what?"
She finally looked at me.
"We go home as heroes?"
"Uh…"
She doesn't know.
She doesn't know we don't have enough fuel to make it back.
Only enough to finish the mission…
And send the data to Earth.
If I tell her—
"If you've got someone waiting for you… I'll help." Nova's quiet words became my undoing "I don't think there's much point in going back to a planet where…the only people who ever truly cared about me are probably dead. Where my younger sibblings are probably older than I am now. Where they've already moved on with their lives believing their sister disappeared… Or believing whatever lie they were told."
It climbed up my leg and tucked itself against my chest.
Nova stood over me with a book raised high, ready to smash the terrified little thing.
"Don't hurt it!!"
I threw my arms up to shield us both.
The blow came down anyway.
It knocked my hands aside, but I still curled my body around the creature.
"Let it go. I have to kill it."
Her voice was unwavering as she tried to roll me over.
"I'm not letting you!"
"Move!"
The air exploded out of my lungs as she drove a kick into my stomach, trying to force me aside.
What happened to the quiet, frightened woman from a few moments ago?
The one worried about her family?
"You have to kill it!" she insisted, wrestling with me.
This time she managed to grab both my wrists, throwing her weight on top of me.
"You don't know what it is—"
"I don't want to know!"
If she'd been in peak physical condition, she'd probably have been wiping the floor with me.
Even injured and exhausted, she still managed to shove me around while I fought with everything I had.
The creature slipped free from between my hands.
The shell of dead astrophage coating it had completely fallen away, revealing a softly glowing body the color of seafoam green.
Beautiful.
It looked…
…like an octopus?
The way it had slipped through my fingers suggested it was an invertebrate.
I doubted it had any bones at all.
Through the translucent hood that seemed to form its head, I could actually see its internal organs.
Several delicate appendages hung beneath the hood.
Two more extended from either side like little arms.
It was incredibly light.
It didn't feel like it was standing on me.
It floated just a few centimeters above my skin, yet I could still feel the cool, gelatinous touch of its limbs.
"♪ ♫ ♬ ♪ ♫ ♬"
Nova immediately stumbled backward in horror.
"I understand it… Why do I understand it?!"
She frantically searched the floor for something she could use as a weapon.
"Don't call me that!" she snapped at it.
"H-How can you understand it? What's it saying?" I adjusted my glasses as I sat up, still clutching my aching stomach where she'd kicked me.
"It says Nova its incubator" Rocky answered for her.
"That's not true! It's a parasite!" Nova pointed at it "Stay back!"
The creature sang another melody.
This one sounded sad.
Slowly, it drifted backward until it nestled safely against my chest again.
The graceful movements of its limbs reminded me of a jellyfish drifting through the ocean.
Elegant.
Beautiful.
"How can you understand it, Rocky?" I asked, instinctively wrapping my hands around the little creature again.
It seemed delighted that I was protecting it.
"Speak Eridian. Rough. But understandable for Rocky."
He spun slowly in place as the creature continued singing, almost as though it were telling its story.
"Happy you accept it. It waited long time for Nova safe place to be born. Inside Nova long time. Waiting, waiting, waiting." He stay silent a moment as he heard the melody "It is female. Statement."
"Okay! Okay, we've got some information now." I smiled excitedly. "We should give her a name. From what I've seen, she doesn't seem aggressive!"
"You're not naming it," Nova muttered with a grimace "…Ugh. Do whatever you want. Just… Keep her away from me."
She rubbed a hand over her face.
She looked exhausted.
"Y-Yeah. Of course…"
I nodded, watching the little creature continue its melodic song while slowly twirling through the air like a tiny music box.
"…Astra."
Astra gave a delighted little spin.
"Astra like. Rocky like Astra."
"Oh—I have so many questions!" I beamed. You have no idea. How were you living inside Nova? Is she your biological mother? Did you use her nutrients to grow? Why were you covered in dead astrophage? And—"
Astra suddenly collapsed into my hands.
"You overwhelmed her."
Nova's tired voice came from several feet away as she stared down at the floor.
"…I did?"
"Yeah."
"I'd be overwhelmed too if I were born five minutes ago, got attacked, and then immediately got bombarded with questions. That would be… exhausting."
She scratched the back of her neck.
"Oh." I sigh
"Yeah. Oh."
She stood up and began walking away toward the cockpit.
Stopping in the doorway, she leaned against the frame with a quiet sigh.
"I'm not apologizing for hitting you. You're doing something incredibly stupid. And I still stand by that. Until you prove me wrong."
"I will prove you wrong. Although if Astra inherited any of your personality, then I doubt—ugh!"
Thwack!
The book hit me square in the face.
I collapsed backward, clutching my nose as blood immediately started pouring out.
Little Astra floated anxiously toward me and gently placed what I assumed were her tiny hands against my nose.
It was adorable.
For about one second.
Then she tried to crawl into my nostril.
I jerked backward with a yelp, covering my nose with both hands.
She continued drifting after me anyway.
I was being intimidated by a tiny floating jellyfish that now wasn't moving any faster than about a meter per minute.
Less than fifteen minutes ago she'd been darting around as fast as a wildcat.
So it wasn't that she was slow…
She was deliberately moving carefully so she wouldn't scare me.
Great.
The second alien who thinks I'm an idiot.
Fantastic.
"Nova! Novaaa! Can you tell her to stop?! Nova! Nova! Astra's trying to crawl into my nose! Help! Rocky!"
"Astra want help Grace," Rocky translated from the melody.
"No! No, Grace not want Astra help! Grace help self!"
I kept backing away while desperately protecting my nose.
"Maybe it's not the best song, but it's not bad either," you said, taking his hands and resting them on your waist as you stepped closer. You placed your own hands on his shoulders.
At that moment…
His entire attention was on you.
It's not in the way that you hold me
It's not in the way you say you care
It's not in the way you've been treating my friends
"Tomorrow's your last shift of the week. On Saturday you'll pick up your paycheck, and on Sunday we're going to have an amazing meal at my place." You kept talking, trying to keep his mind occupied. "We could even watch a movie afterward if we have time. And if you wanted to stay longer… I wouldn't mind."
It's not in the way that you stayed till the end
It's not in the way you look or the things that you say that you do
"Why would you do all that for me?" Michael asked, looking at you with quiet confusion.
"…Because I don't want you to feel bad," you answered, lowering your eyes.
Hold the line
Love isn't always on time, oh oh oh
Hold the line
Love isn't always on time, oh oh oh
"You're doing all this because you pity me?" He let out a bitter little laugh, feeling strangely deflated by the thought.
It's not in the words that you told me, girl
It's not in the way you say you're mine
"I just have this feeling…" you whispered with a small smile. "…that I should stay by your side. And if I do… I'll end up discovering something interesting."
It's not in the way that you came back to me
It's not in the way that your love set me free
It's not in the way you look or the things that you say that you do
Michael studied your face.
Slowly…
He leaned in, fully intending to kiss you.
Your eyes widened.
You quickly turned your head, avoiding his lips entirely, and stepped back with obvious nervousness.
At that exact moment, the animatronics powered down, bringing their performance to an end.
"Wooow! Look at that, it's almost three in the morning! I hate being awake this late—I'm superstitious, and it freaks me out! What if a demon drags me away? I'm going back to sleep! Good night, Mike!" you laughed nervously as you hurried toward the security office.
"H-Hey, wait! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to—I mean, I did want to, but… not if you didn't!" Michael hurried after you, stumbling over every word as his face grew hotter and hotter.
"It's fiiine!"
You threw yourself onto the air mattress and pulled the blanket completely over your head, even turning your back toward him.
Seeing you like that, Michael finally gave up.
He sat back down in his chair and buried his face in his hands.
"…I'm sorry," he apologized again. "I just… really like you. That's all. I'm sorry."
Your muffled voice came from beneath the blanket.
"Men always think women are flirting when they're just being nice… because they wouldn't be nice to someone they weren't attracted to. Is that true? Someone once told me that…"
"W-What? No… that's not true. At least… I don't think it is in my case. Ugh… just… go to sleep, okay? Let's forget this happened… and move on." He sighed, turning his attention back to the security monitors.
"…Yeah. Of course." You nodded beneath the blanket, absentmindedly touching your lips.
Maybe…
Did I want him to kiss me…?
But… why?
…
"I can't believe you've never made homemade burgers in your life!" you laughed as you mixed the ground beef with seasonings.
"We always bought the frozen ones at home, okay?! It's not that big a deal!" Michael protested, his cheeks burning red.
"You should learn how to cook things yourself~ They taste so much better. It's more work, sure, but most of the time it's cheaper than buying them ready-made." You smiled. "Come on, help me."
You took his hands and guided them into the bowl, helping him mix the meat while adding breadcrumbs.
"That's it. Everything needs to be mixed evenly, okay?" you said from behind him, your hands resting over his as you worked together.
Michael was painfully aware of how close you were.
You, on the other hand, seemed completely oblivious, focused entirely on making dinner.
"Then you can shape the patties with a mold… or just use your hands if you want." You rolled portions of meat into balls. "Try to make them all about the same size so they'll cook evenly."
"Do you cook every meal yourself? I'm lucky if I remember to eat at all."
"On days I don't feel like cooking, I just order something quick." You shrugged. "But I enjoy cooking. It's relaxing."
You laid the patties onto the hot griddle while slicing vegetables for the toppings.
Meanwhile, Michael cut the buns open and prepared them with everything you handed him.
"What kind of sauce do you like?" he asked. "I bought a spicy one. Want to try it?"
"Ooh, absolutely. Put it on mine." You smiled. "Would you rather have cheddar or Danbo?"
You sighed when Michael simply stared at you.
"…The orange one or the yellow one?"
"I know what cheddar is! I just had no idea the yellow one had the same name as that elephant with the giant ears…" he muttered.
You couldn't help laughing.
"You're adorable, you know that? You're like a little kid trying really hard to be an adult."
Michael looked up at you, waiting for you to say something else.
But you had already gone back to focusing on the burgers, completely unaware of how much those words meant to him.
Maybe… I really am.
Once everything was ready, the two of you sat down to eat together.
The moment Michael took his first bite…
His eyes lit up.
"This is incredible!! What did you put in these?"
"Don't talk with your mouth full." You reached over and gently wiped a bit of melted cheese from the corner of his lips. "If you want, I'll give you the recipe. You're going to love making these."
"Evan and Elizabeth would probably love them too." He smiled as he ate.
"Hm?" You tilted your head. "Who's Evan and Elizabeth?"
"My siblings."
"Older?"
"Younger."
"Younger?" You raised an eyebrow. "How old are they?"
"Let's see… Eli's fifteen, and Evan's turning eleven soon."
"Aww, that's sweet. Where are they?" You took another bite of your burger.
"…At home? Where else would they be?"
Michael had absolutely no idea where this interrogation was heading.
"With…?" you prompted.
"…Alone?"
The moment the word left his mouth…
He realized what you had actually been asking.
One look at your face told him he'd made a huge mistake.
"Get your butt out of that chair and go start the car. We're going to your house. Right now."
You stood up immediately, wrapping the leftover burgers in foil before stuffing them into a bag.
"Aww, but we just finished cooking! Can't we go after we eat—?"
He stopped mid-sentence when you suddenly stepped up to him and gently grabbed his ear, giving it a firm tug.
"I'm not letting your little brother and sister stay home alone when they're still kids. Get moving and make yourself useful." Your eyes stayed locked on his.
Michael slowly nodded.
The second you let go, he hurried to do exactly as you'd asked.
It's not the first time someone's scolded me…
But…
That was kind of… sexy.
The thought floated through his head as he walked to the car, wearing the dazed smile of someone hopelessly lost in the clouds.
The Sun, the Moon, the Planet and the forgotten astronaut
Previous - Part 6 - Next
"So… that's everything you need to know about the mission! Any questions?" I asked enthusiastically, turning to Nova, who was sitting in front of me taking notes.
Meanwhile, behind me, even the walls of the lab were covered in writing.
"So…" she began. "The Sun—and other stars—are being eaten by a microorganism, and you're trying to figure out how to stop it?"
"Exactly! You skipped a few important details, but you've got the basic idea!" I nodded with a grin.
"And we're here, around a star called Tau Ceti, because… it's the only one that isn't dying? And Rocky's here for the same mission?"
"Mm-hm. Mm-hm." I nodded along as she spoke.
"…So what happens next?"
"We're going to collect astrophage samples. One sample from the astrophage traveling toward Tau Ceti-E, and another from the ones leaving Tau Ceti-E for Tau Ceti. The astrophage should stop at Tau Ceti-E to reproduce, and—"
"You don't have to explain it in so much detail…" she interrupted with a small shrug. "I'm just going to forget it anyway. I can help however you need. I can hand you tools, make ramen… um… stuff like that?"
"…Like an assistant?"
"I could do that. I used to be an assistant once." She smiled, tilting her head. "It didn't end very well… but you don't exactly strike me as a creepy old man. How old are you? I should be about twenty-eight by now."
"I'd say… approximately thirty-four. That's my best estimate."
"Estimate?"
I caught the confusion on her face.
"Of course. We're about 11.3 light-years from Earth. At the speed the Hail Mary was traveling, about thirteen years have passed back on Earth since the ship launched. But because I was inside a ship moving that fast, time passed much more slowly for me. So I've actually experienced far fewer years than everyone back home, so… no, no, no—wait. Don't make that face. Wait, wait…"
There it was again.
That expression of pure fear.
It was interesting, in a clinical sort of way, how her eyes widened and her pupils dilated, almost like she slipped into some kind of trance whenever she was under overwhelming stress or anxiety.
But this wasn't the time to analyze it.
Where did I put the blanket?
"So…My mom…might not even be alive anymore?"
I froze when I heard her voice crack.
She hadn't completely fallen into the same state of panic as before.
I looked down and saw her gripping the knitted stress ball I'd made for her so tightly that her fingers were sinking into it.
Of course.
She has no idea how much time has passed on Earth.
To her, it's only been a little over two years.
Two years trapped up here, living through hell, hoping everything was still okay back home.
And I had just told her…
…that her family had spent more than thirteen years without her.
Idiot.
"Rocky understand. But Nova still have family waiting, question?"
He rolled over beside her and gently tapped the side of his dome a couple of times.
"…Maybe…my brothers…"
She inhaled and exhaled slowly, trying to calm herself while her eyes searched the room for something to focus on.
"Good, good, good! That good. Nova must return. Brothers waiting. On Erid, mate waiting. Forty-six Earth years."
"…Forty-six years? You've been here alone…for forty-six years?"
Nova turned to look at him.
Wow.
That was news to me too.
"…That's such a long time…"
She started crying softly as she leaned against his dome.
"Rocky, I didn't realize our new crewmate had unlocked your empathetic side. Where was all that affection when it came to me?" I asked, pretending to sound offended.
Although…
I kind of was.
Just a little.
I wasn't about to admit it.
"Grace scientist. Understand circumstances. Nova not."
So now I'm the bad guy.
Fantastic.
"Rocky, could you keep explaining everything to her while I go be an insensitive scientist somewhere else?"
"Rocky explain with puppets."
I sighed and walked toward the cockpit, only to trip over the helmet from the spacesuit I'd given Nova earlier.
Just what I needed.
I picked it up and looked inside.
That black liquid was still there.
Definitely not vomit.
Blood?
It should've dried by now.
But it was still thick.
Still viscous.
For a brief moment, an unsettling thought crossed my mind.
What if something had replaced her?
What if I'm dealing with something capable of perfectly copying human anatomy and biology?
How did I not think of that sooner?
…
Right.
Because I'd been too happy to see another human.
I collected a sample of the black substance and began analyzing it.
The results surprised me.
Astrophage.
The very same microorganism we were here to study.
But every single one of them was dead.
No movement.
No hibernation.
No signs of life whatsoever.
They looked more like empty shells than living organisms.
Completely hollow.
How could she…
The sound of violent retching from the next room shattered my train of thought.
Rocky's alarmed voice followed immediately afterward.
I hurried back.
Nova was on her hands and knees, coughing up that same thick, black liquid.
It looked agonizing.
Her eyes streamed with tears.
Her face was bright red.
The force of her dry heaving was completely out of proportion to the amount she was bringing up.
I knelt beside her and caught her as she started collapsing, whether from exhaustion or the pain.
The liquid was choking her.
It was lodged in her throat.
I have to do it.
Do it.
I shoved my fingers into her throat, desperately searching for the obstruction.
Finally…
I felt it.
I grabbed hold of it and pulled.
The moment it came free, she gasped for air again.
"Bad! Bad! Bad! Grace not touch that! Drop it! Drop it!" Rocky shouted in alarm, pounding frantically against the inside of his sphere while still keeping a safe distance.
Before I could even ask what was wrong…
The solid, slimy thing wriggled free from my hand.
The Sun, the Moon, the Planet and the forgotten astronaut
In case somebody didn't read the tags, this fic will be having a little crossover with Iron Lung and Simon will be aboard! ... Around *flips pages* chapter 13!
Previous - Part 5 - Next
"What Grace doing, question?"
"I'm knitting a ball for Nova. It might help with her stress levels," I answered, holding the stitch marker between my teeth as I got ready to place it and keep knitting.
"Very kind gesture."
"Thanks, Ro— "
That's not Rocky's voice.
I turned around to find Nova awake, staring at me.
She was wrapped in the blanket all the way up to her nose, with only her eyes peeking out, lazily kicking her feet back and forth as if she were simply enjoying the view.
"You're awake! You're awake—that's good. How are you feeling?" I asked with a smile.
"Much better. Lighter. I needed to talk to someone real."
She slowly sat up, letting the blanket slide off her shoulders.
The moment she looked at Rocky, she stiffened for a second…
Then relaxed.
She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around the dome covering him.
"Whoa, whoa. Nova what doing, question?"
"She's hugging you. That's called a hug," I explained, trying not to laugh at Rocky's reaction.
"I heard you stayed with me while I was asleep…" She sighed, resting her forehead against the dome. "Thank you… and I'm sorry for thinking you were a robot."
"Grace, how long this last, question?"
"Just a little bit more…" she murmured before I even had the chance to answer, almost whining.
I could only sit there smiling as the scene unfolded.
It was nice seeing her finally beginning to open up.
Exactly forty-five seconds later, she let go and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Grace… do you happen to have a pair of pants I could borrow…?" she asked, wiggling her feet.
"Yeah. Give me a second—I'll grab you some clothes."
I nodded as I got to my feet.
Maybe there were still some of Olesya's clothes left…
I didn't like the idea of giving her clothes that belonged to someone who'd died.
But…
This probably wasn't the time to dwell on that.
Hopefully they'll fit.
Mine are way too big on her—
Wait.
Would the Hail Mary have feminine hygiene products on board?
Or maybe Olesya had packed some?
This is actually serious.
I have no idea where she is in her cycle…
Or how she's managed all this time.
Maybe she still has supplies on her own ship.
I'd have to make another spacewalk and bring her things over.
It'd be so much easier if we could dock the ships…
But neither of us knows how to pilot one.
Okay.
One thing at a time.
She asked for pants.
Bring her pants.
"I know this is a strange question, but… I need to ask. It's medical. When was your last period?"
"I haven't had one for… around 8,322 hours. I didn't think it was strange because the other women stopped getting theirs too. We figured it had something to do with the ship… Or maybe radiation."
She answered while hopping around, trying to squeeze into the pants I'd handed her.
"Nope. Too small."
"How about these?" I offered her a pair of mine instead.
That wasn't unusual.
Stress.
Lack of food.
Weight loss.
All perfectly capable of stopping menstruation.
It didn't have to be radiation.
One less problem.
At least for now.
Her cycle could return later.
I should check whether we've got any menstrual products on board…
Just in case.
"Honestly…" she laughed awkwardly, making a vague gesture with her hand as though I could finish the sentence myself. We were all terrified when it stopped. We thought….you know."
Oh.
Heat immediately rushed to my face.
Oh.
"So you all…?"
"Oh, come on, Grace. We were trapped together for two years. Some people were already with their partners. Others started new relationships. And some people just… needed a way to deal with the stress. So yeah. Of course it happened."
"Grace, what period, question?"
"It's a biological cycle experienced by people with a uterus on Earth," I explained. "It's commonly called menstruation, or simply a period. The uterus prepares for a possible pregnancy by building up a lining made of blood vessels and nutrient-rich tissue."
Without thinking, I gestured toward where the uterus would be inside Nova's body, carefully keeping my hand at a respectful distance.
"If the egg—the reproductive cell—isn't fertilized…then after roughly two weeks, that lining begins to shed…and leaves the body."
"Nova cannot reproduce now, question?"
It was a reasonable conclusion.
Menstruation equals reproduction.
No menstruation…
No reproduction.
"In her current condition, pregnancy would be extremely risky anyway. But with proper care…there's no reason she couldn't have children in the future."
"Wow. I didn't realize I'd signed up for a biology class." She smiled. Your pants fit me, by the way."
The moment she spoke, I immediately pulled my hand away, suddenly realizing how close I'd been standing to her.
"Technically…" I smiled sheepishly "Being around me is almost always a biology class."
I looked over the pants.
A little too long…
But otherwise a perfect fit.
"That's good."
"Nova and Grace make baby, question?"
"Uh—no!"
"No, that's not—"
"Absolutely not."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on!"
"Us?"
"No."
We both started talking over each other, desperately trying to explain to Rocky that absolutely nothing like that was going to happen.
Between all the hand gestures and everyone speaking at once, we only managed to confuse him even more.
Which, naturally, prompted him to ask even more questions.
Soon all three of us were talking over one another.
"Enough!"
I raised my hand, and silence finally fell.
"Biologically, we're compatible. But we're not a couple. Having a child is usually a decision made by two people who both want one."
"In the best-case scenario," Nova muttered with a shrug, clearly unconvinced.
"Don't make this any harder…"
"How reproduce, question?"
Rocky circled right back to the topic, looking genuinely fascinated.
"First you have to tell me how your species reproduces," I shot back.
He'd refused to answer before.
"Rocky not do that." He rolled over to Nova "Nova. Explain human reproduction process."
The Sun, the Moon, the Planet and the forgotten astronaut
Previous - Part 4 - Next
A pixie cut.
Armando gave her a pixie cut.
Why did he cut her hair that short?
Was he only programmed with *my* haircut?
And she doesn't even seem upset about it.
That's impressive.
She's a lot more easygoing than I expected.
She's sitting beside me, wearing my sweater, eating ramen like it's the greatest thing in the universe.
And she's talking to Rocky.
Of course.
They're already best friends.
Sure, become friends with the alien first.
"So... how many were here?"
Her question pulled me out of my thoughts.
"Huh? Three. There were three of us... I woke up alone. They... they didn't make it."
I clasped my hands together and rubbed them absentmindedly as the memory came flooding back, tears welling in my eyes.
I had to cover my face before they could fall.
"They must've been good friends if you still react like that. I didn't know the people who died in the coma... I was just relieved my partner woke up with me," she murmured, finishing her ramen. "Did you come here with your partner?"
"What? No, no, no, no, nope! We were a crew on a really important mission. We were scientists!" I laughed nervously, trying to explain.
"And did you have a partner back on Earth?"
"Yeah... yeah, I did. But we're not together anymore. She's with Mark now." I shrugged.
"Rocky hate Mark."
"I see there are still some unresolved feelings," she laughed, setting the empty container aside. "Well, whatever she did, I'm sure it wasn't as bad as trying to kill you."
"No... she just said my head was always in the clouds and..." I sighed. "I don't think it makes sense to tell you. It's nowhere near the same as someone trying to kill me."
"They say you never really finish getting to know people."
"Nova kill us, question?" Rocky asked, scooting a little farther away from her.
"No... at least... not for now." She laughed, scratching her head and running a hand through her now very short hair. "So what was this incredibly important mission they sent you on? At least you've got a purpose."
"Get ready." I grinned, spreading my arms dramatically. "You're officially part of the mission to save Earth."
"...Don't count on me."
Every bit of hope I'd built up shattered in an instant.
There went my plan of having someone else help me save the world.
"But... you've got family back there, don't you? Don't you want them to... keep living?" It seemed like such an obvious thing to say.
"Don't get me wrong. I love my family, and I want them to live, but..." She shrugged. "Sometimes the best help is staying out of the way. I don't understand any of this. If there's nothing I can actually do, I'd rather not be a burden or ruin everything, so...Can I just... exist? And maybe trust that you'll be able to do it. With Rocky, of course."
"You know, there's something that's been bothering me a little." I pointed at her. "You're awfully comfortable around Rocky. Haven't you wondered anything about him?"
"Don't point," Rocky said, stepping aside.
"...Isn't he basically a robot?"
"No. He's an alien," I insisted.
"Rocky not robot."
"Oh..." She smiled faintly. "I thought he was just a really funny robot."
Then her expression slowly changed.
Confusion.
Fear.
Horror.
"So there really are... aliens... And what if my crewmates were right and...I'm infected? Or... what if I was replaced? I... I... I couldn't...No...No..."
Oh no.
She grabbed both sides of her head, clutching at her hair so tightly it looked like she wanted to rip it out.
Her breathing became ragged.
Her eyes darted wildly from side to side in blind panic.
"No, no! You're not an alien! You weren't replaced! You're completely human! Listen—listen to me!"
I rushed closer.
I reached for her hands...
Then stopped.
My own hands hovered in the air, only a few centimeters away from hers.
No.
I can't touch her.
How am I supposed to stop her from hurting herself?
I stood up and searched frantically for something—anything—that might distract her.
The only thing within reach was my patterned blanket.
I grabbed it.
This is stupid...
But it works on some animals, right?
I gently draped the blanket over her and stepped back a few paces, waiting to see what she'd do.
Nova simply...
...lay down on the floor.
"Nova dead! Nova dying!" Rocky cried in alarm as she lay completely still.
The Sun, the Moon, the Planet and the forgotten astronaut
Previous - Part 3 - Next
"No, no, no, no, no!"
This was going to be a lot more complicated than I'd anticipated.
"It'll just be a quick medical checkup. I won't touch you! Armando will do everything, but I need you to—how did you even get up there?!"
Nova was half-dressed, clinging to the ceiling of the lab. Honestly, I had no idea how she was even staying up there. She looked like a spider hiding in the corner of a room, and that was deeply unsettling.
The moment she'd taken off the spacesuit and I told her she needed a checkup, she'd bolted.
I'd been chasing her for over fifteen minutes.
She didn't even seem to get tired!
At this point, I wasn't sure if I was dealing with a human or some kind of humanoid alien.
It's impossible!
…Should be impossible?
Has she always been able to do that?
Maybe she's been through some kind of experiment?
I can't figure anything out if she won't even let me get within eighty centimeters of her.
When she'd taken off the suit, just as she removed the cooling garment underneath, I'd noticed bruises covering her body, and also a big scar on her abdomen.
For a moment, I'd been afraid the stains on her clothes were her own blood.
I had no idea what had happened aboard that ship, but I wasn't about to let her die from internal bleeding, an infection…
Or maybe radiation.
"Okay! Okay, you don't want to come down? That's fine. I'll stay right here until you feel ready. I won't pressure you. And there'll be a bowl of ramen waiting for you whenever you decide to come down and get your checkup."
"I'm not a child. Don't talk to me like one!"
Oh.
So my teacher tricks weren't going to work on you?
"Do you want the ramen or not?!"
I had to hide my smile behind the ramen packet when I finally saw her climb down and slowly settle onto the examination table.
I let out a sigh as I sat beside her, watching Armando perform the examination while I studied the results on the monitor.
She wasn't just covered in bruises and scratches.
She had fractures in one leg, her hip, several ribs…
And her skull.
But…
What the hell?
Everything else looked perfectly normal.
Her blood pressure was a little high.
So was her heart rate.
But that could easily be explained by stress…
And the marathon we'd just run.
Okay.
So her DNA, skeletal structure, organs…
Everything indicated a completely normal human female.
I'd estimate somewhere between twenty and thirty years old.
Nothing unusual at all.
The only unusual thing…
Was that she didn't act like one.
Though…
That could still be explained psychologically.
Which I couldn't evaluate.
I'm not a psychologist.
Wait.
She looks calm.
Is she calm?
Maybe I can use this chance to ask what happened on her ship.
"So… how many people were in your crew?"
A long silence followed.
"They sent sixteen of us. Everyone in pairs. Eleven of us woke up. Three pairs… and the rest had lost their partners…"
"Oh…"
"And… which group were you in?"
She slowly turned to look at me.
There it was again.
That unpleasant expression.
It sent chills down my spine every time she looked at me like that.
"I'm just trying to understand your situation better. Statistically speaking… having someone you trust beside you, no matter how bad things get, usually lowers stress levels—"
"I was with my partner… We'd signed up for an induced-coma trial. We knew the risks. The people who recruited us said it had about a seventy percent success rate, and we accepted. They told us it'd only last a few days… that we'd never even notice… that we'd be paid well…"
She sighed, covering her face with both hands.
"When we woke up…we were in space."
She let out a dry laugh.
"The only good thing was that they paid us in advance…I got to leave the money to my family."
A test mission?
What were they testing?
Sixteen people in a ship that small made absolutely no sense.
Were they chosen because they had some kind of special ability?
Or had they simply been sent here to die?
Why send them in pairs?
What was the mission?
No…
Did Stratt have something to do with this?
She wouldn't—
No.
I don't think she'd send people to die for nothing.
But…
"How long were you there…?" I needed more information.
"Since I woke up? Sixteen thousand five hundred eighty-three hours. I had no way of counting the days… But we had a clock that never stopped."
"…And since you were left alone?" I asked.
"…Two hundred twenty-two hours. Until you arrived."
She lowered her hands and looked at me.
"…I thought you were a hallucination. I thought my mind had finally broken."
"What… what happened?"
"We went insane."
There was that dry laugh again.
I hated hearing it.
"We started realizing food was running out.
"The ship was too small."
"We thought we were being watched."
"Or at least… we convinced ourselves we were."
"It all became…too much."
"At hour 9,633, everything started falling apart.That's when one of the crew members killed herself. After that… Everything only got worse. People's relationships became…strange. It was like none of the rules we'd all agreed on mattered anymore."
The story she told me was horrifying.
How they'd had to lock crewmates inside rooms to stop them from hurting others.
The punishments.
The food rations.
They'd tried to use the ship to return home.
But none of them understood how any of it worked.
Most of them hadn't even finished high school.
The others had jobs working with the public.
That made even less sense.
Why would anyone send people like that into space?
I couldn't stop asking myself that.
Even without the knowledge to operate the ship, at hour 15,188 they somehow managed to organize an expedition outside.
They had spacesuits.
They used them.
That day they lost two more people…
But they discovered there actually was a way to get home.
That was the second collapse.
Knowing there was a solution…
And still being unable to reach it…
Made them give up.
Desperation drove them to start destroying the ship from the inside.
Eventually they'd damaged it so badly that using the control panel became impossible.
The ship entered an emergency power-saving mode.
And then…
"The people who stayed inside the ship…started saying we looked different. They thought we'd been replaced. They thought we were aliens… And… The paranoia only got worse. They locked up the people they thought were suspicious again. But by then nobody listened to anyone anymore. Everyone betrayed everyone else. And then… There were only five of us left. And for some reason…They all turned against me."
I listened in silence, watching as her confidence began to falter.
Her eyes darted from side to side, struggling to remember.
"…They threatened me… They beat me…And everything went dark. But when I woke up…they were gone. I don't know what happened while I was unconscious. When I woke up… I was alone."
"…What did you do with the bodies?"
"…I sent them into space."
She slowly sat up on the examination table.
She looked completely defeated.
I understood exactly how she felt.
I'd had to do the same thing with my own crewmates.
I couldn't imagine what it must've been like to let go of the body of someone you loved.
I felt my own eyes begin to sting with tears.
The memories of my own crew…
Just thinking about them made me want to break down crying.
I quickly wiped my eyes before she noticed.
This wasn't the moment for me.
Silence settled between us again.
Then I remembered how vulnerable she was.
A little alarmed, I took off my sweater and held it out to her.
"Here… you should cover up."
I smiled as I offered it to her.
"And… thank you."
"Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me all of that."
She looked into my eyes for a long moment.
Then she quietly accepted the sweater and pulled it on.
Oh, damn.
She looks adorable.
It's way too big on her.
"Do you have any scissors? I'd like to cut my hair. Back on the ship, we threw away everything with a blade after the first incident…"
"Armando can help you with that! He's a great barber. He did my haircut."
I grinned, pointing at my own hair.
I heard the electric clippers attached to Armando's robotic arm buzz to life.
They passed through Nova's long hair, sending thick locks tumbling onto the floor until part of it rested against her cheek.
"Nova look like Grace, question?" Rocky chimed in.
I'd been wondering why he hadn't shown up in the lab sooner.
The Sun, the Moon, the Planet and the Forgotten Astronaut
Previous - Part 2 - Next
"All right, Rocky, we've got a side mission now—bring our new friend back to the ship." I began sketching on a whiteboard, writing down every idea we could come up with.
"Human friend name, question?"
"I… didn't get a chance to ask her. She was too overwhelmed. Let's call her… Nova, for now. My first idea was to take her a spacesuit during a spacewalk. It's a little risky, and it'll make the trip more complicated, but if I keep it tethered to me, it shouldn't be too much trouble."
"And if suit damaged during trip, question?"
"Then the whole plan falls apart, the suit's ruined, and I'd have to make another trip…" I sighed, tapping the whiteboard with the marker. "Any other ideas? Teaching her how to fly isn't one of them, and me piloting…" I grimaced. "Let's call that unlikely."
"We not have much time. Must continue primary mission."
"I know, but we can't just leave her there! She's alone, just like we were. We have to find some way to help her," I insisted.
"Nova status unknown. If Grace bring suit, we not know if she can come to ship… or kill both."
"That's… actually a good point." I pointed at him enthusiastically for a second, about to praise his reasoning, before realizing how bad that was for our situation.
"…Grace can do controlled thrust movement." Rocky gestured with one hand. "Press, release. Press, release."
"…And if I can't dock, we'll at least be much closer to her ship. That'll make getting the suit—and Nova—across a lot easier. Perfect! Let's get to work!" I clapped my hands and headed for the cockpit.
I settled into the pilot's seat, one hand wrapped around the control stick.
First, line up with the other ship.
Then came the moment of truth.
Slowly, I squeezed the trigger, then immediately let go, allowing the ship to drift forward a few meters on its own before repeating the process.
"Distance to Blip E: forty meters," the computer announced.
"Come on…" I muttered, squeezing the trigger again before releasing it.
"Distance to Blip E: thirty meters."
"Just a little more."
I repeated the process until we were about ten meters away, then immediately stopped the ship, letting it come completely to rest before heading out for the spacewalk.
I tied the spare suit to one of my safety tethers so it wouldn't drift off into space—or get damaged.
"All right, I'm back. I hope you're ready for a spacewalk, and— Ah!"
The moment I stepped out of the airlock into her ship, I saw the woman sitting at the end of the corridor, staring fixedly at the airlock doors.
As if she'd been waiting for me to come back.
"You came back," she murmured.
"Of course I did. I promised I would. And a promise kept—look what I brought you. I thougth it would suit you" I smiled, holding up the complete spacesuit, hoping it'd earn at least a small laugh.
Nothing.
Right.
Of course.
That had been stupid.
"There are more?" she asked, slowly getting to her feet.
"Sorry?"
"On your ship… how many are there?"
"Oh, just Rocky and me. And… fair warning, so you don't panic—Rocky's not exactly human. But he's… understandable, structurally speaking." I rocked my hand back and forth. "He's friendly! Really. A little bossy, but very friendly. I'll explain everything, I promise. I just need you to come with me…"
"No."
"No?"
I hadn't expected that.
"You're going to leave the suit there and leave. I have no reason to trust you, and I'm not as naïve as you are to blindly follow someone."
She started walking toward me.
The way she looked at me was terrifying.
Like a predator with its prey in its sights.
There was nothing human in that stare anymore.
At least, not modern human.
It was…
Primitive.
"How do you earn the trust of someone who doesn't trust anyone?" I asked Rocky, scratching my head while looking over the notes in my notebook.
"Send messages to communicate. But Grace and Nova both human. Why not talk, question?"
"Isssh… it's not that simple. Would you trust someone from your own species if they might've betrayed you before?"
It's just a theory.
A rushed one.
But it's the one that makes the most sense.
That something went wrong aboard her ship, disagreements escalated, and eventually everyone else ended up dead.
I can't prove any of the other theories yet.
"No. But Grace and Nova same species. Why betrayal, question?"
"Humans are… how do I put this?" I rested the back of the marker against my lips. "Back on Earth, most animals live under some kind of hierarchy, whether it's a large group or a small one. Humans do too. We're social animals…"
"But we're constantly fighting over power. And that leads to things like… wars. Fighting each other."
"Humans stupid."
"Exactly." I smiled. "Which is why this is complicated. But maybe if—"
A series of loud knocks from outside the ship cut me off.
They were coming from the airlock.
Maybe…
She came on her own?
Why?
This feels strangely familiar.
I hurried toward the airlock, pulling myself along the guide ropes I'd installed to make moving around in zero gravity easier.
Because yes, the centrifuge was off.
There was no way I could've gotten this close to Nova's ship with it running.
As I put on my suit, the knocking continued.
"I'm coming! Just a second!"
When I finally opened the hatch, I nearly had a heart attack.
The visor was smeared with that same dark liquid I'd seen splattered across the walls.
What if she hadn't known how to put the suit on?
What if the vacuum had crushed her?
Oh God…
What if it was just her body slamming against the hatch?
I finally breathed again when the suit moved.
A hand gripped the edge of the airlock as its owner climbed inside and sealed the hatch behind them.
I couldn't see her face.
But Nova—or at least, I hoped it was Nova—walked into the ship without any trouble.
Then I heard her startled scream as her body suddenly floated upward.
She flailed her arms in panic until she managed to grab hold of one of my guide ropes.
"Qo yeo qaha! Hóqhe ewxoc?! Neo!"
Well…
At least that confirmed it was her.
"Hey—whoa! Wait! Wait! Don't panic! Stay right there!" I gestured instinctively, forgetting she couldn't even see me through the visor, and quickly gave up so I could actually do something useful.
"Hello, human Nova. I Rocky. Hold tight. Grace terrible pilot."
She only screamed louder.
Now she was floating upside down beside Rocky.
"Wow, what encouragement! Thanks for the vote of confidence, Rocky!" I shouted from the cockpit as I backed the ship away from hers, putting enough distance between us to start the centrifuge.
I left the cockpit and headed back toward them, watching gravity slowly return as everyone drifted back to the floor.
Nova was still clutching the rope.
Now she was lying on the deck.
Her hands immediately began feeling the floor, testing that it was really solid before carefully pushing herself to her feet.
When I tried to help her up, I'd barely brushed her hand before she smacked mine away.
"Ow!"
"Don't touch me!"
She pulled off her helmet, breathing hard as she looked frantically around the ship.
For a split second, I caught sight of the black stain around her mouth before she quickly wiped it away with the sleeve of the suit.
Maybe she'd thrown up inside the helmet?
Although…
There wasn't any smell.
"How did I get here…?"
"What? You don't know? You put on the suit, floated over to my airlock, pounded on the hatch until I let you in—you practically made yourself at home!" I answered, rubbing my sore hand.
"…I don't remember doing that."
Despite how alarming that answer was…
She seemed surprisingly calm now.
Is she doing that on purpose?
She has to be doing it on purpose.
"Hello, Nova. Now I can see you. I Rocky."
Once again, my roommate rolled over toward her in his little hamster ball.
"Nova? Who's Nova?" she asked, confused.
Wow.
That is an incredibly calm reaction for someone who just met a talking rock spider.
She just met an alien.
A real alien.
And what bothers her most…
…is the name we gave her.
I don't believe it.
"Grace name Nova."
"…You gave me a name…?" she murmured, shooting me one of the deadliest looks imaginable.
The Sun, the Moon, the Planet and the forgotten astronaut
Project hail mary and Iron lung fanfic!
Including an OC/reader.
Grace's POV
Part 1 - Next
— "Blip E."
I tensed up a little when I heard that. The previous blips had all been Rocky's ship and the messages he'd been sending me from it.
What was out there now?
I leaned toward the window to get a better look. It was way too close—no more than fifty meters away. How had I not noticed it before?
A ship.
From Earth.
It didn't make any sense. What was another ship doing 11.3 light-years from Earth? It didn't even look particularly well prepared for these circumstances.
Although… looking at it more closely, it seemed like an older model than the Hail Mary, but much smaller.
"Grace looking. What outside, question?"
I heard Rocky's voice behind me, curious about what I was seeing.
"Looks like we've got company. Do you think I can get close enough to that ship without crashing us? Time to put those piloting lessons to use," I said, walking over to the pilot's seat.
"No, no, no, no. We dead. Grace terrible pilot."
"I've been practicing. I'm not that bad. I just need to… get extremely close so I can dock with the ship. Or, if not, get close enough to do a spacewalk to its airlock and hope there's someone alive inside… or at least that it has an external hatch release…" I sighed, running a hand through my hair.
I can't do this.
I can't do this.
I thought, completely defeated.
If I try to get that close, I'll probably end up smashing one ship into the other, and we'll all die.
I'm not even sure there's anyone alive in there. It doesn't make sense to take the risk.
"Contact, question?"
"What do you mean?" I looked at Rocky, unsure what to do.
Then I remembered.
The radio.
Maybe I could transmit a signal and try to contact whoever might be inside.
"You're a genius, Rocky. A genius!" I said excitedly, hurrying over to the console and preparing to broadcast. "Hail Mary to all frequencies. Does anyone copy?"
Static crackled through the speakers.
That was good.
Better than silence.
But it didn't mean anything yet.
Then I heard it.
Shhhh… Ukkkkkk… Trrrrr… Bsssss…
…Loshhhh… Naaakkkkk…?…
"I heard it! Did you hear it? That was a human voice!" I exclaimed, looking at Rocky, who celebrated the small discovery with me.
There's someone there.
For some reason, that filled me with hope.
And I had to do something, no matter how afraid I was right now.
…
This is a terrible idea.
A really terrible idea!
Can I still back out?
I'm already thirty meters from the Hail Mary, and I'm still getting closer, drifting through space with nothing but a tether keeping me anchored.
It's too late.
I've still got several seconds before I reach the ship.
It looks to be in good condition. Maybe it ran out of fuel? Is that why it's been left adrift?
But there's a faint light inside.
Maybe it's in some kind of power-saving mode.
It's stable. No engine movement.
That's a good sign.
Otherwise I wouldn't be able to reach it safely.
It's clearly a design based on the Hail Mary.
A copy?
Or… a prototype?
It has fuel tanks attached, but it looks like the others were jettisoned after they ran dry.
Although there's one extra…
Before I could keep asking myself questions, I was already standing in front of the hatch, securing my tether so I'd have a way back.
Please don't be jammed.
Please don't be locked.
The handle turned effortlessly, giving me exactly the access I needed.
Once I stepped into the airlock, the hatch behind me suddenly sealed shut, and the pressurization cycle began.
Just to be safe…
I'd rather keep my helmet on.
I slowly stepped out of the airlock and into the ship.
Unlike the exterior, the inside was a disaster.
What happened here?
Why is there gravity?
My feet haven't left the floor…
But there's no centrifuge…
Almost everything had been destroyed.
The crew quarters.
The spacesuits.
The silence inside was overwhelming, broken only by the faint hum of the machinery that was somehow still running.
But what worried me most were the dark, dried stains splattered across the walls.
Is that blood?
What if whatever's here isn't human?
What if they ran into an alien that wasn't as friendly as Rocky?
Or… what if they went insane and killed each other?
Damn it.
"Hello? Is anyone here? I come… in peace?"
Seriously, Grace?
That was the best you could come up with?
Footsteps.
Footsteps.
Those were definitely footsteps.
I heard them perfectly.
Someone's coming.
Oh no.
Someone's coming.
I didn't know whether to feel relieved or terrified.
The human silhouette that appeared at the end of the hallway calmed me for a moment…
Until I noticed the blood-covered wrench clutched tightly in her hands.
"AAAAAAHHHH!!!"
"RAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"
We both screamed.
Just not for the same reasons.
Hers sounded like a battle cry.
Mine sounded more like…
pure terror.
"Tue lagew atuí?! Hefeviaw ewxav puevxo! Co xe paxé! Heja he axovpeqxavpe!"
A woman.
It was… a woman.
She looked furious…
and terrified at the same time.
Her hair was unusually shiny.
Long.
Way too long.
Dark.
Curly?
Her eyes were wide open, locked onto me.
They looked exhausted, the dark circles beneath them giving her away.
Her clothes—several sizes too big—were stained with that black liquid.
It wasn't a uniform.
No patches.
Nothing that could tell me where she was from.
Just a T-shirt and baggy pants.
She was even barefoot.
And—
She's raising the wrench.
She's about to hit me.
"Whoa—wait! I don't understand a word you're saying!" I immediately raised my hands in surrender, hoping she'd understand. "I'm not going to hurt you—I came to help! Spanish? Do you speak… English?"
Little by little, she seemed to calm down.
She stared at me in confusion, tilting her head.
"Xú qo evew én."
She's getting closer.
Too close.
"English? Yes."
She nodded, still gripping the wrench tightly.
Then she started circling me, looking me up and down.
Suddenly I felt a sharp jab in my side.
When I yelped in pain, she jumped in surprise.
"You're real…"
She immediately dropped the wrench, backed away from me, and pressed herself against the wall, breathing hard.
"The voice on the radio…"
"Easy… easy. M-my name's Ryland Grace. You can just call me Grace if you want. I… saw your ship and came to help…"
"No, no, no, no. You too? How many more? How many more?"
She grabbed her head, on the verge of tears, then slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor.
"Hey—hey, it's okay. It's just me… just me, okay? Nobody's going to hurt you. I need you to help me help you, understand?" I stepped closer, though I didn't have the courage to touch her in an attempt to comfort her. "Do you know how to fly? If we could dock our ships… since you don't have the equipment to make a spacewalk to mine, then…"
The anguish and confusion in her eyes gave me all the answer I needed.
She didn't know how to pilot a ship either.
Though now that I can actually get a good look at her…
Michael thought as he watched the security cameras.
You had spent the last two nights sleeping in his office, and ever since then, the animatronics hadn't made a single suspicious move.
"See you tomorrow…" you said with a sleepy smile, yawning as you snuggled deeper into the air mattress you'd brought so you could sleep more comfortably.
"You're not going home?" Michael asked, watching as you got comfortable again, clearly intending to go right back to sleep.
"Nah. I'll sleep a little longer, then clock in for my shift. I might even have enough time to make myself some coffee and eat a few cookies while I get everything ready for today's party." You smiled.
"There's a party every day?"
"Hey, this place has gotten really popular lately. Be happy. Maybe we'll even get a raise." You curled up beneath your blanket and closed your eyes. "Go home and get some rest. See you tonight~"
"Yeah… sure." He nodded before quietly leaving.
By the time he got home, his younger siblings were already eating breakfast before school.
At least he'd made it back in time.
"Come on, hurry up or you'll be late," he said, grabbing a piece of toast as he walked past the table.
"Mike, when are you going grocery shopping? The fridge is almost empty," Elizabeth asked.
"You know I don't get paid until Saturday. Just hang on a little longer…" he sighed.
I'll have to ask (Y/n) if I can keep the rest of my paycheck and pay her back next week…
The thought crossed his mind as he opened the refrigerator and cabinets, finding very little left.
"Come on, let's go if you're done eating," he urged, ushering them toward the car.
Their father's car had been left to Michael.
It had been an enormous help.
"You smell like a girl," Elizabeth commented as she climbed into the passenger seat.
"Is that supposed to be an insult?"
Michael buckled Evan into the backseat before fastening his own seatbelt.
"No. You smell like girls' perfume. Have you been hanging around a girl?" Elizabeth tilted her head.
"She's right," Evan chimed in.
Michael remembered you complaining that the office smelled awful before spraying air freshener everywhere.
"It's just a new air freshener they put in the office," he answered as he started the engine.
"A girl definitely picked it. It smells nice." Elizabeth smiled.
"What exactly are you implying?" Michael raised an eyebrow.
"You're terrible at picking scents," Evan muttered.
"This house needs a woman's touch, you know? And you clearly don't have one. You won't even let me decorate! So…" She grinned. "You should get yourself a girlfriend."
"Elizabeth, not this again…" Michael sighed.
"It's been forever since you've gone on a date! You should try again. You used to be such a heartthrob. Somebody's bound to like you." She shrugged.
"Girls my age aren't interested in me…" He smiled faintly. "…But I might have a date this Sunday."
"Aha! So you did meet a girl!"
"She's just a coworker. I'm doing a little extra work tonight and making some money, so I thought I'd invite her out for dinner. She's helped me out a lot."
Just thinking about it made him smile.
"…And what are we eating? Soup?" Elizabeth folded her arms.
"I'll bring you guys pizza."
He rolled his eyes.
"Now that's a better deal."
Elizabeth laughed happily.
…
"This feels really weird…" you muttered from your air mattress as Michael knelt in front of you with his forehead practically touching the floor.
"Please… I'll pay you back the eighty-five dollars this Saturday. But I need the rest of my paycheck to buy groceries. Can I pay the rest next week?"
"…Sure. I don't mind." You smiled, tilting your head in confusion.
"Awesome! And… can I thank you by taking you out to eat on Sunday? You're off that day, right?"
"Technically, no. My schedule changes all the time. But this Sunday there aren't any birthday parties booked." You smiled. "I'd love a free meal." You laughed. "Just so you know, I absolutely love burgers."
"I could take you to—"
"Don't you dare say McDonald's." You smirked. "I want a real burger."
"…I'm starting to think you don't actually want me to take you anywhere."
"Buy the ingredients instead. I'll make you cook at my place, and I'll forgive next week's debt." You lay back down, pulling the blanket over yourself.
"Deal!" he said with an excited grin before sitting back down to watch the cameras.
This went way better than I expected!
Tomorrow I can buy everything… It'll be cheaper than taking her to a restaurant… Maybe I'll even have enough left to buy those cereals Eli and Evan love…
And the best part…
I'm going to her house.
That's a pretty big step… right?
Michael couldn't help smiling to himself…
Until a chill suddenly ran down his spine.
Heavy footsteps echoed through the hallway toward the office.
His eyes shot to the cameras.
Foxy.
Running.
Straight toward them.
Michael slammed the security door shut, breathing hard.
You jolted awake when loud banging echoed against the metal door.
"What's that…?" you mumbled, rubbing your eyes.
"F-Foxy… Foxy came running…" Michael whispered, his hand clamped tightly over the door button.
You noticed the office's power meter draining.
Gently, you rested your hand over his and slowly eased his finger off the button.
The door slid open.
You cautiously leaned into the hallway.
Nothing.
You looked both ways.
There wasn't anyone there.
"There's nobody here…" you said softly. "Do you want to go make sure everyone's where they're supposed to be? We'll go together."
You carefully took his trembling hand.
Michael looked up into your calm face.
After a moment…
He slowly nodded.
Together, the two of you walked toward the dining room.
The first place you checked was Pirate Cove.
"Foxy's here." You smiled at the fox animatronic. "Don't worry. I'm sure there's a reason for whatever you saw. But right now, all I need is for you to see that he's back where he belongs, okay?"
Your voice was soothing.
You weren't calling him crazy.
You weren't accusing him of imagining things.
You simply left room for uncertainty…
While making it clear that you believed him.
You just wanted him to calm down.
He couldn't.
The instant the main animatronics on stage suddenly powered on.
Music burst through the speakers.
The three performers began moving in perfect synchronization.
You listened carefully.
The song caught your attention.
It wasn't part of the usual playlist used during birthday parties.
Still…
You rather liked it.
Without taking your eyes off the stage, you quietly turned toward Michael.
"Who's ready for a game? Raise your hands! Who wants to play tag?!" you called, throwing both hands into the air. The children eagerly copied you.
"Psst! Hey! Can I talk to you for a second?" you heard Michael call from backstage.
"…You're it!" You tapped the shoulder of the child closest to you, and instantly everyone scattered in different directions. You hurried backstage, crossing your arms. "What do you want?"
"Do you think… you could lend me some money?" he asked, fidgeting with his fingers as he offered an awkward smile.
"You don't even know my name, and you're already asking me for money?"
"I do! It's… it's…" He tried to read the name tag on your chest, but you covered it before he could. "Okay… what's your name?"
"That doesn't matter. How much do you need?" you asked, tilting your head.
"What…? Wait, you're actually going to lend me the money?"
"Today it's you, tomorrow it might be me. Besides, I know the guy who signs your paychecks. So if you don't pay me back this week when you get paid, I'll have it taken out of your next one." You smiled.
"Okay… that sounds fair. I need… about eighty-five dollars." He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for you to refuse.
Instead, you simply stared at him, puzzled by his reaction.
When he cautiously opened his eyes and saw you smiling with a raised eyebrow, his shoulders relaxed.
"Well, I don't have any cash on me right now, but I can stop by tonight and bring it to you." You shrugged.
"(Y/n)! You're it!" a little girl shouted, tapping your hand before running off again.
"Oh! You got me!" you laughed. "You won't escape meee!"
Your attention immediately returned to the children as you chased after them, deliberately giving them a generous head start while they squealed with laughter, ducking behind tables and weaving around each other.
Michael let out a relieved sigh. At least now he'd be able to pay the utility bills before they got cut off.
So… (Y/n)…
(Y/n)…
That name sounds familiar…
Must be a pretty common name.
He shrugged the thought away and left the restaurant to kill some time before his shift began.
That night, he walked into the pizzeria and headed straight for the security office.
He dropped into the chair, taking a moment to relax before the phone rang.
He picked it up, and the familiar voice greeted him with more instructions.
"Hello! Well, if you're hearing this, then you made it to Day Two! Congratulations! Uh, I won't keep you too long because Freddy and his friends tend to get a little more active as the week goes on. So it might be a good idea to keep an eye on those cameras while I talk, just to make sure everyone's where they're supposed to be, you know?"
What the hell is he talking about…?
Michael thought as he checked the monitors.
Then he noticed Bonnie was gone from the stage.
His heart nearly stopped.
A moment later, he spotted the rabbit standing in the dining area…
Staring directly into the camera.
It felt like the animatronic was staring right at him.
His panic only worsened when he saw you walk into the dining room.
He immediately bolted out of the office to warn you.
"Bonnie! What are you doing off your stage?" you said with a warm smile. "You naughty bunny. Come on, it's bedtime. You've got a big show tomorrow. Shall I walk you back?"
You gently took the animatronic's cold metal hand.
Michael arrived just in time to watch you calmly lead Bonnie back toward the stage.
"That's it. Good boy. You made it back in one piece. Now go to sleep." You patted him affectionately on the head.
The animatronic almost seemed…
Like it was listening to you.
When you turned around and noticed Michael, you smiled and waved.
"I've got your money!" you called.
Bonnie's head slowly lifted.
His glowing eyes locked onto Michael.
Michael felt his stomach drop.
"Y-Yeah… that's great!" He hurried over, grabbed your hand, and practically dragged you away. "Can we talk in the office?"
"Doesn't seem like I have much of a choice," you muttered as he all but pulled you along.
The entire walk, Michael could feel Bonnie's gaze fixed squarely on his back.
Only once they left the dining room did the feeling finally fade.
…
"Eighty-five dollars. Just like you asked." You counted the bills out in front of him. "I'll be expecting my money back on Saturday when you get paid."
"That's… not what I wanted to talk about," Michael insisted.
"Well, I don't want to talk about anything else. So can I go now? I'd like to get home."
"No, no, please don't leave." He grabbed your hand again. "You saw that thing moving."
"…Didn't the guy on the phone warn you they become active at night?" you asked, tilting your head.
"Yeah, but… I figured they'd just… do whatever animatronics normally do! Not walk around the entire freaking pizzeria! That's completely insane!"
"Do you… want to quit?" you murmured, reaching to take the money back.
"This job is complete bullshit. If I could quit, I would. But I need it." He covered his face for a second before taking a deep breath. "Look… I'm probably asking way too much… but… could you stay here with me until the week's over?"
"Then on Saturday you're giving me your entire paycheck." Your expression turned completely serious.
"Yes! Fine! Deal! It'll only be for this week. We can survive on whatever food we've got at home." He scratched the back of his neck.
"Perfect." You smiled and handed him the cash. "I'll grab some tablecloths and cushions to make myself a little bed somewhere. If anything happens, wake me up, okay?"
"Yeah…" he murmured as he sat back down in front of the monitors. "Just knowing you're here already makes me feel a lot better."
"You're such a baby~" You stuck your tongue out before leaving the office to gather your makeshift bedding.
It didn't take long.
You already knew where everything was.
Returning to the office, you arranged a cozy little nest in one corner before curling up and falling asleep almost immediately.
From that moment on…
The movement throughout the pizzeria stopped completely.
Every animatronic remained exactly where it belonged.
Michael kept one eye on the cameras.
Every so often, though…
His gaze drifted toward your sleeping figure in the corner.
By four in the morning, exhaustion was finally catching up with him.
His eyelids felt unbearably heavy.
He glanced at you again, strangely jealous of how peacefully you could sleep.
"Hey," he whispered, trying to wake you.
No response.
"One of those bastards moved. Hey."
He was lying.
He just needed someone to keep him awake.
You didn't stir.
"Some company you are…" He walked over and gently shook your shoulder. "Wake up."
"Mm…?" you mumbled, slowly opening your eyes. "Is it time for me to leave already?"
"I wish. It's four-oh-seven. Get up. I saw… the duck moving."
"That's Chica," you replied with a sleepy frown. "And she's not a duck."
"Whatever. If I need to wake you up quickly again, what am I supposed to do? You sleep like a log."
"Just shake me a little." You sat up and stretched. "Where is she? I'll go bring her back to the stage."
"I don't know. There are too many blind spots on the cameras."
His lips tightened as he looked at the monitors.
Chica really was gone.
You glanced at the screens and yawned.
"She probably wandered into the kitchen. I'll go get her. Be right back."
Michael watched through the cameras as you found Chica, took her gently by the hand, and walked her back toward the stage.
Your lips kept moving the whole time.
You seemed to be chatting with her.
He couldn't hear a single word.
Eventually, you settled her back into place, patted her cheek, and smiled.
Why does she treat them like they're children, too?
Whatever…
As long as she keeps them away from me…
There has to be some kind of trick…
He remained staring at your face through the security cameras, lost in thought.
