Simon basically blipping onto the Mary some way or another.
I think it'd be really cool if Simon's mom was Mary too. Because there's this otherworldly voice telling him what to do, and giving him assistance when he needs it.
And it doesn't sound like his mother, but he latches onto it.
"Would you like to go on a walk, Simon?"
And maybe he thinks the COI sent him on another mission with other people. But two of them seem to be dead, and the other one- the other one is still comatosed.
He has no specific feelings about this, just walking around the Mary, eating food and asking questions to Mary. Messing around with this and begrudgingly reading things when his mind can't really focus on the words (I'm trying out dyslexic Simon, bare with me) before just asking Mary.
"Mom, what's going on here? Why are we here?"
"To collect samples from Tau Ceti and send them back to Earth."
"Earth? Jesus, how old is this ship?"
But it can't be very old. It's brand-spankin-new. It has more food available than Eden did, and there's only four of them.
Maybe they expected him to be the pilot to the destination while their team rested. God knows he picked up the controls of the Mary fast enough.
But what gets him are the stars. He can see them out the windows. Every window available showing the same picture at different angles.
It would take too much power to blast this 24/7. Then again, the lights were on almost 24/7 anyway, so how much power does it really take to show a fake screen of stars?
Either way, Simon is suspicious.
"What's all this equipment for, Mom? What's it do?"
"The equipment is for capturing and studying various chemicals and compounds on the mission to Tau Ceti."
"Okay? How is that helpful?"
"For more information, a manual has been provided in cubby unit 438219648-"
"No, No manuals. Skip the manuals. How can I learn about this without all the reading? Isn't there a video I could watch or something?"
"For additional help, I suggest a conference with the Science officer."
"Where is the science officer?"
"Science officer Dr Ryland Grace, Comatosed."
So Simon attempts to wake him, much to Creepy Arm Robot's dismay as he managed to override the coma beds and bring the science officer's down.
He's in a weird water bag bed thing, and when Simon opens it all comes out all over the ground. He has to manually pull out the tube- which is terrifying cause that thing is so freaking long- and tried to slap his cheek away.
"C'mon, wake up already,"
But he doesn't, even when Creep Arm Robot shocks him with a defibrillator and puts in a heart monitor.
He definitely did something wrong, because this guy was now getting 24/7 attention from the robot. Maybe he should've let it pull him out instead.
"I'm sorry," he says one night at the man's bed side, his head level with the man's flat resting body. "I hope I didn't -... But then again I'm -... I'm the butcher anyway. What do you expect?"
He helps Creepy Arm Robot- Aptly now named CARson, cause Creepy Arm Robot is getting to be a mouthful, bath the guy, and cut his hair.
He looks more human. This Dr. ryland Grace. Sleeps so peacefully that Simon has fallen asleep at his bedside, lulled into clam by how soundly the man sleeps. Then again, coma, so what does he expect.
But it's a nice routine. Among all the things that confuse and frustrate him while trying to figure out what exactly to do, taking care of this unconscious man makes him feel a little better more in control.
Not control control. He's not like- treating him like a doll or anything. But it makes him feel a little more stable? That's not right.
There's a being that relies on him. That's more like it. He'd probably be fine without Simon, really, but it feels nice not being the one helping instead of hurting.
He eats food by the man's bed while CARson sticks him with a nutrient saline bag. Goes off and tries to figure out what the hell he should even do in a situation like this. Last time he did what the COI asked for it him killed. But there's not exactly anything else he can do.
He tries looking more into the science stuff, even though going through those manuals and tablets is like hell itself.
He goes back to the sleeping chambers, helps CARson wash the guy, then makes dinner, eats it, stares out at the stars, and returns to the one of two unoccupied sleeping beds.
It's a calm routine, and eventually he figures he might as well get with the program.
Talking to him clears his head. Crying over his chest feels like the most human Simon has ever felt.
"I know you'll wake up, Ryland," he says softly, brushing back blonde hair from the man's forehead. "Take your time. We're in the safest place we can be."
It isn't until one day when Simon's scrubbing the guys legs with the washing mits, rubbing off dead skin as usual, that the man opens his eyes, peaking down.
Which makes Simon's head snap over his shoulder to look at the very awake Science Officer, who's squinting at him with a pinched expression.
Anyway yeah, now the scientist is awake. And very confused on who he is and what he's doing here.
"I don't think so," Ryland says, where he shoved himself into the crevice tunnel sort of area of his bed, wanting to feel more close in. "I don't remember- why are we in space?"
"You woke me up. Why don't you know?"
"I dunno what kind of bullshit this is-"
"This is the biggest station I've ever seen! Even Eden wasn't this big!"
"Eden? Like the garden of Adam and Eve?"
"What the hey is filament station?"
And that's when they begin to realize that neither of them have any clue what's going on.
Grace minorly understands something, it takes some time before his mind comes back to itself and they're actually making progress. Simon is way better at making stuff that he is. He's crafty with what they have onboard.
Anyway yeah, I mostly like the idea of Grace being like "okay, so what's next?" And Simon being like "why are you asking me, you're the science guy!" "You're the captain. It says it on your space suit!" "I took this off the dead guy! My name isn't Yao!"
I just think it's funny, because when he was alone, Grace was just figuring it out, but there's already a guy here taking care of stuff and is labeled as the Pilot so sure, he's head honcho, tell me what to do. What do you mean you want me to tell you I don't know anything, you tell me what to do. Please, I'm pretty sure I'm just a teacher, I don't know why I'm here.
Bonus points for things coming later on with Rocky and all that and they're both freaking out and Grace's just keeps pushing Simon towards all the dangerous stuff like "you're the leader, so lead, I'm a coward"
Till the end whenever he remembers.
"you weren't on this mission." Ryland whispered after coming off Rocky's ship, staring into the ground.
"I didn't... I didn't volunteer... They drugged me... And you weren't... Your not supposed to be here."
And that makes it so much worse cause Simon has been using the fact that he didn't want to be here doing this as a way to get a leg up in their arguments and now Grace is finding out that he was murdered and forced here too.
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