Chapter Text
Beyond your bonds of flesh and bone, metal and rust lies the answers you seek
Answers which you yourself have always known, yet chose to live amongst the deceived
For it is amongst those deceived which you found your peace
But even that was too good for you
Okay, so it may have been a poor choice on Simon’s part for drinking during his twelfth Disney classics marathon. He couldn’t tell if the colossal migraine was from the alcohol or the amount of crying he’d done. Thankfully neither Adrian or Rocky were there or else he’d have woken up to a barrage of ‘Humans very leaky leaky leaky. Disgust. Smelly drink make Simon stupid leaky clumsy blob, Statement.’ Then again he wasn’t sure if the engineering team were done soundproofing the dome or not. Probably not knowing his luck.
Safe to say that convincing the science team to synthesize alcohol from leftover vodka was the best and worst decision he’s ever made. And that they will never let him forget any of it!
The loud, frantic knocking from the front door was playing paddy cake with the migraine in Simon’s skull as burrowed his face deeper into his pillow in an attempt to escape the noise. After a few more seconds of Simon trying to become one with his bedsheets, the door finally burst open followed by multiple sets of skittering feet? Claws? Limbs? Didn’t matter as one set audibly dominated the rest as his door was shoved open to the sounds of sharp, melodic chirping.
“Simon did not answer the door so Adrian chose to force it open. Will have Rocky fix it later, Statement.” huffed Adrian as they clambered onto the large, circular bed splaying out their limbs so that they were essentially standing directly over him. They start poking and prodding at Simon's back when he doesn't respond fast enough, “Science team has big big big news for Simon. Has received a new discovery from the probe, Exclimation.”
“New discovery? Like what, a new star or asteroid?” he lightly swatted at the eridian’s claw as he forced himself to sit up, grumbling out a request for pain meds to Armando who was quick to provide along with a bag of water.
“No no no must get out of bed first. Science team want to tell directly, all very excited.” Adrian chirped as they pushed their body behind Simon's in an attempt to get him out of bed faster, which was quite effective given that they were a bit larger than him. Leaving the human to huff in amusement as he was forced out of bed and nearly carried into the living room when he stopped to put on pants.
True to their word, the entire science team was piled into his house, filling and overflowing the open space between the kitchen and living room with Mort, the smallest of the bunch taking center stage on the dining table. “Greetings Savior Simon, team has big big big news to share, Exclamation.”
Simon couldn’t help the little chuckle as sat down on the floor in front of them, watching as Mort gestured around excitedly even using his fifth, more pincer shaped limb to further exaggerate his point, “Probe had drifted into empty void and discovered dead solar system, Statement.”
“That doesn’t sound very exciting, bit more sad than anything.”
“No interrupt, Demand.” the little eridian puffed out his carapace and stomped his limbs against the table in a huff. “Mort is getting to part of excitement, Simon has no patience, Statement.”
“Sorry sorry, I won’t interrupt you.”
“Probe investigate closely and find multiple planetoids stuck in orbit with no star. Very strange, Statement.” The eridian pointed his claws of his front limbs towards each other, leaving small bit of space between them. “Probe get closer to center and found a very small, red planet in place of its star. Very strange but very interesting, Statement.”
This struck Simon as odd as even with his college textbook level knowledge of both gravity and the solar system, none of what he said made any sense. Usually when something like a star or planet isn’t big enough, they’re gravitational pull wouldn’t be strong enough to hold anything in its orbit. But for an entire solar system to be held together by a tiny planet with no star in sight goes against any law of science, hell maybe even all of them.
Pluto, eat your heart out.
“What is even more strange is what probe picked up when get close to tiny red planet, Statement.” Mort then waved over a larger, round eridian, Tomato, who was holding up one of the many laptops Simon had stocked aboard the Hail Mary. There were a few audio files to choose from with the most recent one already pulled up.
Simon carefully took the laptop into his lap and pressed play.
“Respond damn —--! Can’t you —--------- bigger than us!------- back to the surface —----------- out! —----- still needed —----!”
“No!----- refuse —---- another —-------—--- fucking —------- pigs!------ die than let —---- monsters —--- me —------!”
The audio was distorted with static and other weird noises before the file ended. Simon sat motionless as he stared at the screen as he slowly processed what he’d just heard. Voices. Human voices. Somewhere out there in that depressing pocket of space are humans just like him.
But how? Why? Had Earth sent out another ship because he took too long? Were they also sent on a suicide mission? Do they not know that he and Adrian already solved the astrophage problem? Were they just out there trying to do the same thing they had done all those months ago? Sounds like, though judging by the audio it doesn’t seem like it’s going well. Maybe he could help them, or at the very least send them home. The beetles should’ve made it to Earth by now.
“Space team want to investigate and try to find other humans. Want Simon's opinion before preparations are made, Statement.” Tomato spoke softly as she reached over to gently close the laptop, snapping Simon out of his trance. He appreciated that she made no move to take the device back as Mort scuttled back into his line of sight. “What does Simon think, Question.”
It took a moment for Simon to gather his thoughts knowing that what he’s about to say might be alarming, “Sure as long as I get to come with.”
“What, Exclamation.” Adrian slammed their back claws in disbelief at what he’s suggesting, “Why Simon want to go back into space, Question. Space was bad bad bad for Simon. Give Simon trauma, Statement.”
He knew they had every right to have apprehension about sending him back into space after what happened with their fishing, the scars on his arm still ached sometimes, and his starvation during the trip to Erid. It made Simon wish that eridians didn’t have perfect memories because he knew that watching him slowly wither away haunted Adrian. So much so that the first thing they did when they finally managed to create a livable bubble for him on Erid’s surface was to feed him coma slurry that they’d managed to synthesize via some leftover droplets they'd scraped out of a bag.
“I-I know that my first time in space was an absolute shit show, but what if those people were sent out there for the same reason we were? Hell they probably don’t even know that we saved the stars already. Especially if they’re stuck in a dead solar system.”
Adrian shifted their weight and tapped their limbs against the floor in thought, physically rolling it around in their carapace. They both had a terrifying first experience in space with it being sheer luck that they found each other in Tau Ceti. But these people were alone, drifting through the celestial remains of what the astrophage had left behind, and were quite literally in the dark about their discovery of taumoeba.
“If Simon go then Adrian go too, Statement.” Simon wanted to protest because Adrian had spent more than enough time trapped in space, longer than he’d been alive. But the way they puffed out their carapace and stomped their front limbs left no room for argument. They were going together whether anyone liked it or not. Including him.
Mort looked a bit surprised by this, but seemed no less enthusiastic. Galloping in circles as he spoke, “Yes yes yes, Simon and Adrian join astronaut team in space to strange new system. Must go inform engineer team quick quick quick, start work right away, Exclamation.”
He was gently scooped up by his mate Julian, he was lanky with a light grey carapace, dark rings climbing up their limbs, and orange, green geodes lining the thermal vents. “Apologies for mate. Much excitement about new discovery, Mort try to convince space team to let Mort join. Will get squish, Statement.”
“Mort will not get squish, Statement. Want to find new planet and name after mate.” They cooed sweetly to each other as Tomato stepped up with an almost annoyed rumble, “Space team will begin preparation immediately. Adrian and Simon wish to inform Rocky first, Question.”
“Yes will inform mate right away. Will not be very happy, but will be supportive.” Adrian hummed as they tapped away on their communicator, something Simon and Rocky had made shortly after the biodome was fully finished. Meanwhile Simon and the science team continued to chat about travel time, moving Armando back onto Mary, food and medical storage, and giving the Hail Mary Mk2 and Blip-A an extra once-over before launch.
They talk for well over an hour going over the basics with the space team joining in via communicator before they finally leave. It is now midday with Adrian nudging Simon towards the kitchen before digging around the cabinets, dumping a few granola bars onto the table and planting themself on the bench in front of the dining room table. “Simon no eat when wake, eat now before Rocky arrive, Statement.”
“You don’t have to watch me eat.” The human sat next to the Eridian, feeling their nonexistent gaze burning into the side of his head as he reached for one of the cereal bars.
“Adrian make sure Simon eat, Statement.” He really wished that eridians didn't have perfect memories with how Adrian sat rigid as he removed that foil, not relaxing until it was completely gone. He remembered how they had explained how eridians saw eating as a private matter, and how they were baffled by how normal, if not expected, it was for humans to eat together during gatherings. It made him wonder if they felt uncomfortable sitting so close to him, watching intently while he ate.
Rapid knocking reverberated from the freshly repaired door before it quickly reunited with the floor. He could hear Adrian quietly hissed in annoyance before melting into a loving coo when Rocky barreled through the now open doorway, nearly tripping over the door itself. The smaller Eridian cooed back, clambering up the bench, and squishing himself between Simon and his beloved mate.
“Adrian Simon want to go back to space, Exclimation. No reason to when space team do good good good at finding lost human ship, no need Adrian Simon to go with, Statement.” Rocky melody quivered with anxiety at the thought of his mate and human friend going back into space, especially without him to watch over them. Having spent so long separated from his mate, short as it was, still left a deep ache in all three of his hearts and a pit in his stomach.
“Adrian know Rocky is scared for Adrian Simon, but must go to help humans. Space humans do not know Adrian Simon save stars. Humans will need help home or they die, Statement.”
“But why Adrian Simon must go, Question. Space and science team smart, they help humans get home, Statement.”
“Humans no speak Eridian and have no translator. Might scare humans by accident. Will need Simon to talk to humans to help them home, Statement.” They gently stroked their mate’s carapace soothingly while Rocky chittered nervously, reaching over to cradle them in his limbs while curling a rear claw around Simon’s lower back.
“Don’t worry Rock, the trip will only last a couple weeks. Then we'll have movie night when we get back.” Simon knew how much Rocky enjoyed their movie nights or ‘human research time’ as he likes to call it. As if watching Tom Cruise cling to the side of a moving plane, and hauling ass through a shit ton of water and glass counted as ‘accurate representation of the average human’.
Rocky hummed in thought for a bit, visibly cringing at Simon finishing off his second cereal bar. He watched the larger eridian’s thermal vents twitch in a moving arch like a rolling wave. Sort of like the alien version of trapping one’s fingers on a desk. “Make movie day then Adrian Simon have deal, Statement.”
“Any requests I need to write down?” Simon has a feeling he already knew the answer.
“Mission Impossible movie marathon, Exclamation.” Yep.
“Rocky Simon talk too much. Need to start work on preparation for space expedition. Soon to leave mean soon to come back.” Adrian trilled as they stood up, nudging their mate to follow. The pair hum their goodbyes as they gallop off to help their respective teams work to get the ships ready for the trip.
“Guess I’ll be the one fixing the door then.” Simon shrugged as he got up to make his trek to his workshop. He couldn’t count how many times his front door had either been broken or shoved clean off its hinges despite having an easy to access handle that he specifically designed because it happened so often. Yet here Simon was fixing said door for the third time this week.
Then again having his hands busy helped him think, and with the revelation of there being other humans out there within reach there was A LOT to think about. The most important one being how and why the hell they were out here to begin with because last he checked, or was told really, Project Hail Mary was their last shot at finding a way to fix the whole ‘dying sun’ issue. There’s no reason for Ava and the world governments to have sent out another ship when the beetles would’ve no doubt reached Earth by now.
And even if they did, from what Mort had said, they were way off course because they completely skipped over Tau Ceti and ended up in a starless system. Then there were the stray radio signals that were being projected out for the universe to hear. It just didn’t make any sense.
The laptop with the aforementioned signals sat abandoned on the coffee table, tempting Simon to listen to more of what it had to offer. He at least had enough self-control to finish fixing the door first before dropping onto the couch laptop in hand. Letting his curiosity fully take hold as he scrolled back to the first audio file and clicked play.