Chapter Text
Your eyes open very suddenly, tearing instantly from a muffled, yet still bright, light shining into them. Your brain, however, feels sluggish and stupid as you try (and fail) to get a bearing on your surroundings. Your body is sweaty and useless, constricted in what feels like a giant Ziplock bag, and yet you don’t detect any injuries. Your limbs feel stiff, as if they haven’t been used for a very long time. Blinking crust out of your watery eyes, you start to panic, unable to discern where—or who—you are.
“What is two plus two?” A robotic female voice asks, as a shock of cold air hits your naked body. The plastic sheet is pulled away by numerous metal arms, and you struggle to look around, noticing what seems like hundreds of little tubes and wires poking out from your body.
“What?” You try to ask, but all you manage is a wheezing gasp. Your vocal cords instantly feel strained from that one attempt, as if they haven’t been used in… years. You try to sit up, but only end up flailing a bit, falling to the ground with a thud. As you hit the cold, hard surface, some of the tubes are ripped painfully from your body.
“Aughh…” You gasp, the noise a lot quieter than it normally would be. Flopping around like a fish out of water, you use trembling fingers to gradually pull the rest of the wires from your flesh, wincing at each one. The catheter, which you save for last, is worse and finally gets a real yell out of you, the sound echoing slightly in the large chamber.
Chamber? Wait, where are you?
The robot is still hovering, robotic limbs placed delicately in front of a metal body as if to display stress and concern. “What is two plus two?” It asks for what seems to be the millionth time, grabbing at you with cold finger-like protrusions. This time, however, you can finally manage an answer.
“F-f-four,” you grunt out, facedown on the floor. Pushing up with wobbly limbs, you manage to sit up and let out a triumphant smile, which quickly fades as you take in your surroundings. And your… obvious nakedness. Normally this wouldn’t bother you, because you seem to be alone, but the chamber is getting cold, and goosebumps are starting to prickle up along your malnourished flesh.
Crawling along the floor, you find a box shoved in the corner behind some beds, random shirts and pants piled on top of it as if they’d been thrown. Grabbing a t-shirt with the periodic table on the front (wait, how do you know what that is but not anything else?) and a pair of jeans that are clearly way to big, you quickly get dressed as best you can, then start surveying your surroundings. Turning around from the corner, your voice has obviously returned to full power as you let out an involuntary yelp/scream.
On the bunkbeds beside you are people. Or, more accurately, bodies. Their grey-tinged skin and dead eyes imply that they have been lying there lifeless for quite some time. So, why did I make it? You wonder, mourning these people you don’t even recognize. Why me?
Suddenly, loud thuds sound from somewhere far above you, and you freeze, fear pounding loudly in your chest. Footsteps? You had thought you were alone, but clearly there’s someone else here. With nowhere else to go in the wide circular room, you crouch down by the box and try to make yourself as small as possible, with little success.
Clang, clang, clang. Metallic bangs echo in the space—a ladder? You hadn’t noticed it before, but a ladder seems to lead up high into the ceiling, where a lone doorway stands. Doesn’t seem safe to you, but then again neither did the whole strapped-to-a-table-covered-in-wires thing. Leaning forward to peer around the bunkbeds, you see the back of…someone. A woman? Their long hair is tangled and greasy, and they’re dressed in an orange jumpsuit and thick boots. Do the clothes you’re wearing belong to them? Will they be mad?
The seconds seem to tick on endlessly as the person completes their descent into the room with a small jump, skipped the last few ladder rungs. They turn around and you see a thick, full beard, bloodshot eyes, and most noticeably, their naked torso. Definitely not a woman.
The stranger turns around, looking wary. “Hey, Mary?” He calls out, voice gruff with lack of use. “What was that sound? I told you not to touch anything, didn’t I? If I find out your—” At that moment, you feel your newly-woken-up limbs falter slightly, still weak from a lack of use, and you stumble forward. Looking up after regaining balance, you stare like a deer in headlights into the stranger’s eyes.
Frozen with fear, you find yourself at a complete loss. What should you do? Is he friendly? And what if he’s not? You’re in no position to defend yourself. Would the robot help? He was being a little rude. Maybe that can be used to your advantage…
In your musings, you don’t notice the stranger had starting walking warily towards you until he was only a few feet away. When you look up and find him in front of you, you quickly scamper back, stumbling over your feet until your back is firmly pressed against the curved wall.
“Hey, hey, no, it’s okay,” he says softly, walking forward with his arm and hand outstretched as if approaching a wild animal. “I’m not going to hurt you. We’re both on the same boat… well, ship, anyways. Do you know where you are? Or your name? Do you remember anything?”
He looks so hopeful that you almost feel bad as you shake your head no. You’re so focused on disappointing the stranger that you don’t register the meaning of his words right away.
“Wait,” you croak, leaning forwards off the wall. “What do you mean, ship?”
He sighs, running a hand through his long, tangled locks. You grimace, wondering how dirty his hair must be, then remember that your hair isn’t in much better shape. Walking forward off the wall, you take careful steps until you’re a few feet away, still a healthy distance if he decides to try something.
“What do you mean, ship?” You ask again, more urgently this time. He isn’t making any sense. Why wouldn’t you remember anything? Why would there be a ship? Although… it takes him asking that for you to realize—you don’t know your own name. Try as you might, nothing seems to come to mind. You don’t know what you look like, or where you’ve come from. You don’t know anything about yourself.
Your breaths start coming in short, wheezing bursts, and you place a hand on your chest to try and calm your heart. Your other hand stays by your waist, holding your extremely oversized jeans up. “Where—where are we? Why don’t I remember? Who are you?”
He looks concerned, and almost sad, although it’s hard to get a clear read on his expression through the thick facial hair. “I… I’m Grace. Dr. Ryland Grace. You… it’s hard to explain. I think you need to come see for yourself.” He looks as if he wants to come closer, to comfort you, but doesn’t know how.
You look up, trying not to take your fear and anger out on him, this stranger, this Grace. “See for myself? Where?”
He points backwards at the ladder he had just climbed down, and you can’t help but snort out a laugh. “Look at me!” You point, although it’s not very funny. “I can’t even walk in a straight line. You want me to climb all the way up there?”
He sighs, rubbing a hand behind his neck and putting the other on his hip. “Yah, you’re right, I’m sorry. Here I… I have an idea.” He walks over to behind the bed you had woken up in, still covered in wires and tubes, and pulls out a small rope. Walking back over to you, he extends one end of it to you, and you eye him warily.
“What… what is that? That’s your idea? Rope?”
“No,” he says patiently. Tie it around your chest, right below your armpits. He gestures on himself as an example, taking the other end of the rope and looping it around his broad chest. You try not to stare, wondering why the sight is so fascinating. “I’ll do the same, and climb ahead of you to take some weight off. It really isn’t that much of a climb once you get started, so I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
You stare at him for a second, unsure, then shrug and take the rope, looping it around yourself. After all, what other option was there? Stay down here with the crazy math-obsessed robot? Absolutely not.
Once you both were situated, making sure there was a lot of slack rope in-between the two of you so you wouldn’t pull each other, Grace led the way to the ladder.
“Ready?” He asked, looking back at you with his hands positioned on the first few rungs. You nodded hesitantly, wringing at your too-long sleeves, and that seemed to be all the answer he needed.
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The climb was long and arduous, punctuated with frequent breaks as your lungs, weak from years without use, caused you to hack and cough so violently you almost fell several times. Each time this happened, Dr. Grace would stop patiently above you, looking down to make sure you were alright. You couldn't help but notice, between wheezes so violent they caused your eyes to tear up, how Grace's muscular arms gripped on the rungs of the ladder, the way his stomach muscles rippled with each step he took.
Ew, no, bad! You reprimanded yourself internally. This guy had to be way older than you. Probably. If only you knew how old you were. Shaking your head before panic could set in again, you nodded up at Grace without meeting his eyes and reluctantly continued climbing, resisting the (very strong) urge to stare up at him as you made your way up.
Finally, after what seemed like hours but was only about three minutes, Grace pulled himself up through the doorway that the ladder led to, then turned around and quickly extended a hand to you. Letting that large, smooth hand grip yours, you allowed yourself to be hoisted off the last few rungs. Damn, this guy really was as strong as he looked. That sleeper build was no joke.
Hunched over on the floor, you are no longer curious about where you are, or who you are, and instead focus only on catching your breath. Standing up down there had been hard enough, but climbing a 50-foot ladder? You felt like an elephant was sitting on your lungs. Grace stood above you, somewhat awkwardly, not seeming to know what to do with his hands. Comforting people doesn't seem to be one of his strong suits. In fact, any human interaction looks almost painful to him, and honestly? Valid.
After taking a few more seconds to catch your breath, you raise your head and try to get your bearings. A corridor, with the walls, floor, and ceiling all covered in the same shiny metal. Questionable decorating choices, but other than that, it all seemed completely normal. A few different kinds of lockers and storage containers lined the hallway in both directions, with clothing and IV bags scattered everywhere. This Dr. Grace was definitely not a neat freak.
Getting carefully to your feet, You looked over at Grace, who seemed to have been staring at you because as soon as your eyes connected, he looked away, a red tinge spreading across his face--well, the parts of his face not covered by that outrageous beard, that is.
"Are you--" You start, concerned he might not be feeling well, but he quickly cuts you off, seemingly wanting to change the subject.
"We should get going," he interrupts, turning and starting to walk quickly down the corridor to the left. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions and--"
Now, he gets cut off as the rope still tied around his torso tightens. Still standing by the ladder, you are pulled by his quick movement, the rope catching under your arms and tugging your weak body along, closing the few feet of space in-between you and Grace.
You and Grace both let out grunts, yours muffled slightly as your face presses into his back. Oh my God, your face presses into his back. Unable to recover your balance right away, you grab around his thick, unclothed torso, scrambling for purchase with your bare feet on the slippery metal floor. Pushing away from him as soon as you can, you cover your face in your hands, but not before catching sight of Dr. Grace--his face is as red as a tomato, and he seems about to explode with embarrassment.
"Sorry, sorry!" He bursts out, quickly untying the rope from around his stomach. He reaches for the rope still attached to you, then pauses right before grabbing it from where it rests--right on top of your breasts. "Nope, sorry!" He scrambles to regain some sort of dignity, before giving up and slumping with defeat. "...Sorry. I'm sorry. This isn't a great first impression, huh? And I thought I was gonna be alone forever, but now there's someone else here with me but now I probably ruined everything..." He trails off after seeing the look on your face. "What? Are you okay?"
"No, no," you say, slightly panicked. "What did you just say? Why would you be alone forever? The Earth has 8 billion people on it. Where are we? Why did you think there wouldn't be anyone else here? What's going on?"
He just stares at you, seemingly at a loss for words, but its the sadness on his face that really makes you worry. "Listen," he starts, spreading out his hands as an attempt to placate you. "This is a lot to take in, so I really think we should go slow... oh. Great." He stares after you as you run down the hallway to the left, trying to put as much distance between you and him as possible.
Why had your first instinct been to trust him? A complete stranger? For all you knew, he had murdered those people down there, and you were his next victim! What did he mean by saying he'd be alone forever? Just what exactly was going on??
You come to a stop after less than a minute of running, your lungs and muscles both screaming bloody murder. Hunched over, hands on your knees, trying to reorient yourself, you see something out of your peripheral. A circular window, no curtain, with just darkness beyond it. Was it the middle of the night?
Straightening up and staring out the window, your eyes taking a second to adjust, you finally realized why Dr. Grace had been so reluctant to tell you what was going on. Why he had looked so sad. He was probably dreading bursting your bubble of hope, like his had probably broken when he woke up alone however long ago.
Outside the window wasn't complete darkness--there were also little specks of light peppered across the expanse. Stars. They were stars.
The tears came silently at first, as you backed away in denial. No, there was no way, right? You couldn't really be in space? Unfortunately, however, it all made perfect sense.
When Grace eventually came looking for you, concern overriding his instinct to give you space, you were curled up in a ball below the window, tears still streaking down your sleeping face.