Chapter Text
After a while Simon got the brace done and placed it on Rylands leg. It was much sturdier and stable than his old one he made from scraps. He tested it out and gave Simon a thumbs up, which Simon very ecstatically cheered. Though now, they sit in the lab. Ellie doing her own project, Ryland sitting down in a rolling stool, and Simon standing next to the whiteboard with an expo marker in hand.
He's been writing and drawing different things on the board. One with the Sun, Earth, Tau Ceti, and astrophage. Ryland is trying his best to understand, but things aren't lining up.
"So, you colonized Mars and your stars are dead, right?" Ryland nods.
"Hm.." Simon mumbles a bit and continues to write on the board.
"Ryland stars dead. Astrophage eat, question?" Ellie looks over at them from across the table. She must've been studying the astrophage under the microscope Ryland assumes.
"I don't really know if it was the astrophage.. We've been told how the stars were gone because of our sins. It was seen as punishment by God."
"Maybe was understudied."
Ellie was providing logic that they all could agree with, even if their sense of time was different.
"I agree. You could be part of a different solar system like Ellie is. A totally different universe, I mean, space is so vast we don't know what's out there. Heck, Earth doesn't know 90% of its own ocean."
"But, how did I end up here? I was in a blood cave."
Simon rubs the stubble on his face and looks back at the whiteboard. Even if Ryland likes a more logical than religious answer, he still doesn't know how he ended up near them.
"Wormhole, I guess?"
"No understand"
"Oh, wormhole is like a tube. It's a universe shortcut to get from Point A to B. It's faster than the speed of light, which could explain why we found him and the sub, but no one else from his world."
"What about my stars being gone?" Ryland spoke up a bit.
"The astrophage might've gotten your stars. They're little cells that attract to infrared light and then eats the cO2. Which is why the stars die, except for Tau Ceti. They might've spread to your stars first way before ours."
Ryland looks down at his feet. A whole mission in a blood cave to figure out why the Quiet Rapture happened for nothing. Faced a giant rock creature that played music in the ocean and mimicked the sounds of the other scientists and convicts set down there. Got a horrible mutation by said creature, for nothing. He doesn't know if he should be frustrated, sad, or relieved. He hears a loud scrape next to him that caused him to flinch. He looks to see his mutated rock arm has scratched the fuck out of the lab table. He lifts his arm and crosses them to his chest. Simon and Ellie are both looking at him in concern.
"...But, we figured out that the astrophage has a predator. Tau Ceti atmosphere is full of it, so where gonna go catch some. Save whats left of our stars and go home." There's a hint of pain in Simon's voice, but Ellie is making happy trill noises. Ryland takes note for later.
"How do you plan to get it?"
"Fishing!"
Ryland is a bit confused, but Simon talks before he could say something. "We've been building a long chain that connects to a catcher so we can collect it. Then bring it back in and go back to Alan's orbit, figure out how to breed it, then I send my findings to Earth and Ellie brings hers back home. It's gonna be risky but we're gonna be ready for whatever comes."
They seem so confident about a mission that could kill all of them, but it seems that they planned all of this out well before Ryland appeared there. Not a sense of worry between either of the two. He couldn't help but think of all the possibilities that could go wrong. What if the catcher falls? What if it doesn't work? Will the ship get torn apart? He was so lost in thought that he jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Simon quickly moved his hand away. Ryland misses that contact for a bit.
"Hey, it's gonna be okay. It's dangerous and risky, yes, but I promise we'll be safe about it. I wouldn't promise anything that I can't keep." He puts his pinky out. Ryland stares for a bit. Simon gets embarrassed and goes to apologize but felt a pinky around his. Ryland chuckles seeing Simon's surprised reaction. They let go and Simon stretches back up.
"Sorry, I always did that with my kids and Ellie."
"You have kids?"
"Well, not biological kids. I used to be a teacher in high school that taught robotics. The kids always had fun in my class, I let them use their creativity to make whatever. I didn't really see a limit on what the kids can and can't make. Hell, I even let them run it through competitions." He chuckles.
"I got a whole doctorate in mechanical engineering but changed careers after I did some stuff, I'm not too proud of." He shrugs and looks off to the side. Ryland is looking at him with such curiosity.
"Simon big mouthed. Stupid Stupid Stupid"
"Ellie!"
Ryland bursts out laughing. He can see Simon doing that to someone in a lead position, but whoever that was must've pissed Simon off enough to cause such an outburst. Simon rolls his eyes and looks at Ryland.
"How bout you?"
"Oh, me? Um.. I uh.. I didn't really do much. Hard to do a lot of things in jail."
That caught Simon off guard.
"You went to jail??"
"Y-Yeah, it was.. for something I'm not proud of either." His arms tighten across his chest. Simon would like to know, but he won't pry into his life if it's making him this uncomfortable.
"But, I um.. Was always fascinated with life. Like how it worked, and how everything lived to the smallest degree. My mom taught me a lot of it.. It sucked that I couldn't really use it while being locked up in a cell." Ryland sighs.
"Wellll, we could use that. I'm sure Ellie wouldn't mind some help when we get the samples."
"Yes Yes! More hands! More help! Ellie would appreciate a lot!" She clapped her hand together and made another happy trill noise.
Ryland softly smiles. For once he feels like hes wanted somewhere.