Chapter Text
The ship was...oddly quiet. Akira couldn't say he was the biggest fan of the silence. The whir of the air circulating had long since faded into the background, barely noticeable anymore. Normally Monas tinkering filled the space but he's been asleep for a while now, clunky yet dexterous legs folded underneath his carapace. Akira had been watching over him for an hour or so before getting stupid bored. His boredom was starting to catch up to him a lot quicker these days which should be a blessing, it means nothing is going wrong but it left him with nothing to do. The breeder tanks for the taumiba were set up and working perfectly, Mary was set on course with no issues. Hell not even the threat of an asteroid was anywhere to be seen. It's not like he was asking for immediate danger or a disaster, just something small so he'd have something to do even if it's only for a few minutes.
Akiras breath was heavy as he pushed himself off the bunk, gently tapping the barrier separating him from Mona.
"Back in a bit, don't wake up while I'm gone."
There was no way Mona was awake but waiting the hour just to be safe had become a habit. At the very least Akira would have two hours to do whatever before his rigid friend would wake up. Maybe more. They'd been busy travelling for a few months now, Erid was still a few years away and despite his best attempts to remain patient he wished to put his feet on solid ground as soon as possible. Go for a run, climb, not have walls always within arms reach. Being cramped up for so long was beginning to take its toll. There had been a few times he snuck out for a space walk just to feel less trapped but the lack of gravity didn't really help. Really he wanted to run and jump and cartwheel his way across the hull of their ship but it just wasn't possible. Not to mention it wasn't worth the risk of his tether to the ship coming loose and sending him off into the vast nothing that we call space. His hands gripped the rungs of the ladder, feet foregoing taking their place to make the climb easier. Boredom often leads to exercise for Akira, making something as simple as climbing a ladder an unnecessarily difficult task by only using his arms to get up to the hatch. It had built a small bit of muscle in his arms over the months but not much. The sound of shoes hitting the floor came a few minutes later, shaky breaths forced out through his nose as he shook his arms to loosen them up.
Not much to do.. Akira looked around the lab and as expected everything was fine.
"Damn. Stupid perfect equipment. Can't you malfunction once?"
At this point he was beginning to consider taking something apart and trying to put it back together but he wasn't an engineer. No way it'd go well. Mona would probably go mad as well. His chirps clear in his ears 'Kira stupid. Now Mona must fix!'. Not something he wants to listen to. It's bad enough Mona ushers him to bed on such a tight schedule, if he took something apart and broke it he'd never be allowed in the lab on his own again. His eyes wandered to the tanks, a sense of pride swelling in his chest. But it quickly deflated as the memory of the outbreak pricked at the back of his mind. A quick tsk and a flail of his hand later and he moved to the control room. The screens flickering to life as he climbed inside.
His arms were starting to get tired now having repeated the climbing process from before. It's not a proper workout but once they got to Erid he wanted to be as ready as possible for the increase in gravity. Not being able to move around as swiftly as he does sounds like a nightmare so there was no harm in preparing early. Even if he had years. Akira climbed into the pilots seat, pulling it closer to the window and the screen he was looking for. A map, dotted lines chart the original course of the mission. His fingers rolled the 'mouse' (it felt more like a bigger version of the tracking ball than a mouse) backwards, taking a few seconds to get a full view of the tau ceti system. Looking at the circle that they'd since named Ann. Akira knew how massive space was but it never stopped being surprising. Truly the planet looked like it should only be a hop skip and a jump away but it would take weeks to get there. Even at the fastest Mary could go. With a huff he flopped further into the seat, zooming in and out mindlessly, mentally going over how much longer he'd be bored sick. How many years it would be before he could run at full speed again. No. No. No point in thinking about it, it'd only make the time drag even harder. It was the least of his worries. The risk of starving to death should be front and center. Can't exactly run and bounce around the place if he's dead. There was only so much he could do though, breeding the taumiba was as easy as breathing at this point but making it taste not like shit was a lot harder. Not to mention the texture. The thought of it making Akiras stomach turn. There wasn’t much on the ship he could experiment with anyways without running the risk of depleting his already dwindling food supplies. If he was lucky, what he had would last until they were a few months from Erid- after that? There’d be no choice but to suck it up and deal with the sliminess of the taumiba regardless of whether it tasted good or not.
Okay maybe this wasn’t the best thing to think about either. That bridge could be reluctantly crossed when they came to it. Akira switched screens, moving to a live view of the hull. He wasn’t expecting to see much. With nothing around them it looked like they were stuck in place despite travelling at around two thousand kps. The stars shone as they always did, lightyears away. The rest of his life could be spent trying to chase one of the balls of gas and he’d never even get close. Fascinating but dread inducing. Right, can’t think too hard about the vastness of the open universe lest Akira be sent into an existential spiral and be useless for a few days. The camera on the hull spun as he instructed, the same view as always. Imagine that. Being bored when the most beautiful thing anyone could hope to see is right outside your window. The human brain has a fascinating way of making things normal no matter how crazy it is. A few months ago Akira was enamoured. Terrified, obviously, but still he couldn’t help but look outside and be amazed. Now it wasn’t anything special really, it was his everyday. Just as the sun rose and dipped, the stars were always there. A constant.
Enough of the camera, he’d spent close to an hour zoning out and staring at nothing; it was probably best to get back to Mona. If he woke up alone he’d never hear the end of it. Unlike the climb up Akira actually used his legs this time, not wanting to fall and break a bone or something- that’d be a nightmare. His steps came to an abrupt halt before passing the lab, it could be another while before Mona woke up so he may as well bring one of the laptops with him and read. Maybe a movie. Whatever took his fancy. Actually it might be a good opportunity to research the surrounding solar systems. It seemed ambitious but once settled on Erid Akira wanted to start healing the planets that hadn’t been eaten. He didn’t know if that would be possible at all but no harm in preparing just in case. The Hail Mary might not be up to scratch for another few lightyears of milage, hell, he might not be able for it. Earth and Erid will be saved but what about the ones still dying? Akira jumped onto the bed, huffing as he folded his legs and placed the laptop in front of him. Most planets in this system were unfortunately a lost cause, long since devoured to the point where the astrophage didn’t have enough to feast on. It was still a mystery how it even got to the sun and venus in the first place, christ it’s what, twelve lightyears away? He knows astrophage can store a ludicrous amount of energy but for it to get that far? With enough surviving so it can breed like crazy? He can think about it all he wants but it’s unlikely he’ll get the answer in his lifetime. It can be chalked up to the crazy rules and nonsense of space he supposed. Anyway! Another star system. Maybe Hyades? It's a whole lot farther than twelve lightyears but it's a relatively dense cluster of stars. If astrophage can travel long distances it’s not out of the question it could get to the system and lick the plate clean. It might be a stretch considering it’s around one hundred and forty lightyears away but maybe not. There’s plenty of other stars in between to feed off of. There wasn’t a hope in gods green earth Akria could travel that far, he’d be dead before getting there but if the Eridians have-
A tap on the xenonite and a barely audible note he’d learn to identify as his name pulled Akira from his thoughts. Eyes leaving the screen and turning to face the now somewhat upright Mona.
“Morning friend. Sleep well?” His smile slight as he gave his full attention.
“Sleep fine. You ask every time. What Kira doing, question?” Mona huddled closer to the barrier somehow, clearly curious. Like always.
It never ceased to amaze Akira how little wake up time Mona needed, he always seemed ready right from the get go unlike himself. He needed at least ten minutes before he could move from the bed and even longer to be ready to do anything.
“Nothing really, just looking for solar systems close by. Tau ceti was the only one I knew of that was infected but there could be more out there.” He shrugged and faced the screen again.
“Just wondering if it’s possible to help out other planets and stars.”
Mona stood fully now and went right back to work on…whatever it was he was working on. Akira hadn’t seen much of it since Mona has been weirdly secretive on his project. At least he has something to keep him entertained.
“Nice thought. But illogical. Kira has done enough. Save two planets already. We not know where else astrophage has travelled, would take long time to find.”
He hated to admit it but Mona was right, he didn’t have a life span long enough to go on multiple interstellar voyages just to see if a system had been infected. What he’d give for a telescope brilliant enough to search the galaxy no matter the distance. Unfortunately the best he has is the petrovascope and it wasn’t exactly built to do what he wanted to do. Regardless he kept reading and researching. Every bit of human knowledge is at his fingertips from right before he was sent off into space, if anyone had noticed an astrophage infection in another system or cluster it would be somewhere on this laptop. It was just a matter of knowing what to look for. Which is easier said then done..with so much information it was hard to know where to start. Okay yeah he gave up about ten minutes into the search, it’s not like it had to be done now. There was endless time to do it. No harm in waiting.
“What ya working on Mona? Anything cool?” A sly grin pulling Akiras lips upwards as he moved to his knees, hands pressed against the warmth of the xenonite.
He moved his head around to try get a peak but Mona shifted his carapace to keep it hidden from view, his back legs pressed together to leave no gap. It was incredible how quickly he adjusted to the concept of eyes and how to hide things from them.
“Nosy. It a surprise, Kira wait. Learn patience.” The notes he sang out clearly had the resonance of mild annoyance.
Akira whined and pressed his forehead against the glass, arms dropping to hang by his side.
“You’re so mean to meeeeee! How much longer?” Obviously he did not learn patience within the last ten seconds.
“Patience.” Mona repeated, “Day or two left until finished.”
Now that was a good answer! He could wait that long. Probably. Maybe. One of the traits they shared was an endless curiosity and it drove both of them up the wall. Luckily it meant they rarely got mad at each other for asking many. Many. Many. Questions since they understood the other just wanted to know. It felt fitting that Mona was curious, after all, his carapace resembled a cat very heavily, two peaks on the top in the shape of ears. Thankfully curiosity had not killed this cat. It almost has but Akira is willing to bet big money that Mona has far more than nine lives. He gave up trying to pry inside the chamber and let himself fall back into the bed, eyes closing just for a few seconds until he gathered the will power to sit back up and climb out of the bed. It had only been an hour since he last checked the tanks but even though everything with the tanks had been going smoothly he couldn’t help but be weary, better safe than sorry. The last thing he wanted was another outbreak.
“I’m gonna check the tanks.”
There was no point in letting Mona know since he’d easily be able to tell with his echolocation but it felt right to announce his departure from a room. The climb to the lab was strenuous but it made his arms feel tight and warm, a nice sensation. As expected, the tanks were perfectly fine. A heavy sigh left Akiras lips as he patted the top of one of the tanks.
Back to the control room he guessed, nothing better to do. He got comfortable in the seat and looked back to the screen showing the view outside the hull, again everything was the exact-
Wait a second.
Akira leaned closer to the screen, he must be seeing things. His fingers brushed against the image as his eyebrows came together. A new dot. It was definitely new. No way he’d miss this, he knew what this landscape looked like by heart and he’d never seen that before. It was in their trajectory about eight hundred thousands kilometers away at a quick guess.
“Mona..?” Akira sounded out of breath, shocked.
Despite him trying to wipe it off the screen it didn’t leave, it wasn’t a smudge. Maybe on the camera? He moved the camera but the dot didn’t move with the lens.
“Mona?” Louder this time, as he pushed his fingers apart to zoom in further, a deep red glow becoming more obvious. It wasn’t astrophage he’d need the petrovascope to see that. It was just it’s glow.
The scuttle of Monas legs and claws got louder as he clearly rushed up to his section of the room. “Kira hurt, question? What wrong, question?” The tone worried and slightly stressed.
Akira pointed to the dot on the screen and looked over to Mona.
“I think-..i think a planet just appeared out of nowhere. It’s directly in our path. Only a few hours away at most. What the hell..”
It was impossible. There’s no way a whole PLANET could just appear out of nowhere. Mona grabbed his sensor and pointed it towards Akiras screen, staying still and silent for almost a full minute. Very unlike the both of them. The clank of the sensor making Akira jump slightly and suddenly high pitched notes came from Mona, if they were words it was ones he hadn’t heard before. His claws opening and closing as fast as his arms flailed about. Without intending to, Akira was copying him, head on his hands as he yelled in surprise and major disbelief. If Mona had eyes he was sure they’d be as wide as his own.
“Not dirt, question?! Not asteroid, question?!” The notes are more coherent but still ear shatteringly high pitched.
“I checked! It’s not moving at the speed of an asteroid! It’s moving with the orbit! Mona, I swear on my life that it is an honest to goodness planet!”
At this point they were both freaking out, it made zero sense. Something like this was impossible for christ sake! There was no way to tell what was on it until they got close enough to look with the petrovascope. Well at least Akira got his wish. Something interesting was happening. Their joint screaming lasted for a few minutes, confused babbles thrown in for good measure just to make sure the other really understood how ridiculous this was.
Finally after what felt like forever they had both calmed down.
“How far away is planet, question?” Mona finally asked, Akiras mouth moving to answer but nothing came out. He held up his finger and scanned the screen for the numbers he needed. It was just some quick math. He was too flustered to get an exact answer.
“Uh..um..Maybe two million kilometers? At the pace we’re going we should reach it in a few hours. Once we get close enough i’ll turn the spin drives off so we can get a better view from the scope.”
His earlier estimate was way of..he couldn’t blame himself really, he was lucky enough to have his brain functioning right now considering the situation.
“Faster! We get there faster, statement!” Two of Monas fists slammed against the bottom of his tunnel.
Akira understood how he felt right now, but going any faster would increase the gravity too much for him. He snickered and shook his head.
“Patience, Mona. We gotta conserve fuel and i can’t handle the ship going any faster.”
It was obvious that Mona wasn’t happy at that answer and especially his own words being used against him. It seems he hadn’t learned how to be patient either. It would take a while before they were close enough, they had time to kill but Akira couldn’t tear his eyes away from the camera feed. A whole new thing to explore and learn about. Not to mention figure out why it just appeared out of nowhere. When did it appear actually? He knew it wasn’t there two hours ago for certain. Did it get booted from its system somehow? That wouldn’t make any sense, it’s not apart of this system and it wouldn’t get here that quickly if it was from another one. If it was travelling here at a steady pace Akira would’ve seen it ages ago but it just….popped into existence. Planets and stars don’t just do that. Oh he could feel his chest tighten and his legs begin to bounce. He wanted to know so badly he thought he might explode. Clearly Mona felt the same, rushing back to what he assumed was the bedroom and the familiar sound of work followed not long after. Good idea. Keep busy so the time goes by faster. A watched pot never boils after all. just - what was he meant to do other than stare and speculate?