But what if Simon got to Erid after Grace lived his life and died of old age?
He wakes up in a dome and doesn’t know where he is, but it warm here and he seems to be on the planet, not in space. Is it heaven?
He is in a house, Simon realizes. No, he corrects himself, he is in a home. Someone’s home. It is lived in, full of small trinkets and personal things. Soft pillows, a fox cardigan thrown over the chair. An assortment of pots with some rocks and greenery in them… Plants?
Simon rushes to them, touching small leaves and drawing a rugged breath. Alive. There is no other explanation. He is in heaven. He didn’t think he would be deemed worthy of it. After everything he’d done (and failed to do)… How could god be so merciful as to grant him this marvel? But here he is. Dead but finally at peace.
Simon spends hours near those pots. Simply looking at them. Basking in the light from the round window alongside this miracle of life.
Eventually though, he goes to explore the rest of the home. He finds the bed with a yellow blanket. Funny misshapen cups with three-pointed stars imprinted on them. T-shirts with absolutely horrendous jokes. Unfamiliar devices and a whole lad in the back. He finds an old battered laptop.
“So, uh, I met an alien”—
“He’s kind of growing on me. At least not growing in me, you know? Which was a concern for a little while”—
Simon lets out a huff despite himself.
“His sun is dying too, so… maybe we can help each other.”
Dying? Are they talking about Quiet Rupture? Did they try to prevent it? He holds his breath, not quite comprehending what he sees.
“Hello Earth! I am Rocky. I am Rocky from Erid, I am not Rocky from movie, no no no no”—
Videos spin one by one. Way longer and way more than he anticipated. A whole life lying bare before his eyes. A life of two people who saved the stars.
“He’s looking at a long, slow, painful death. Alone. I can’t do both. I can go home...or I can save Rocky”—
“This is Dr. Captain Ryland Grace reporting from the Hail Mary.”
Simon looks around for the first time in hours. The home looks different now. Now it has an owner. A face and a name to put on things.
He can now recognize the fox cardigan. And those silly t-shirts. Can tell that the three-pointed indents on the cups are Eridian’s handprints. He can’t name the devices in the lab, be he’d seen them being used. A pieces of a tremendous achievement. Tremendous life.
Home. Lived in. Cared for. A home for someone amazing. Someone who saved the stars (can he let himself believe in it?).
What did it mean for Simon? Did his sacrifice mean anything? He never aimed to save humanity or universe or the stars. You cannot save that which is long dead (and what was humanity if not dead? A rotting corpse slowly devouring itself). Was his mission even worth anything now? His pain? “Bigger than me”. He accepted it. Rage and pain and inevitability. Death.
Was it all in vain? Another life thrown away in an unending line of expendable people?
The stars were saved. Somehow. People had no use for that black box anymore.
Simon looks down on his missing arm. His mangled skin. Body covered in scars that will never fade.
Simon veers around, heart pounding loudly, ready to fight if needed be.
Eridian from the videos is standing in the doorway. Rocky? That was his name, wasn’t it?
“🎶Rocky brings food. Didn’t have human food for very long already. Needed to make some new. Takes much time🎶”
Simon stares at him trying to understand. A thought that persisted on the back of his head becomes clear suddenly. He is not dead. He is on Erid. That place where Ryland Grace went in the end to save his friend and a whole another planet. And Rocky is here. This person whom he just saw archiving the impossible.
Why isn’t Ryland Grace here? Is he afraid of facing Simon? The thought hurt a little, but at the same time was achingly familiar. People were always afraid of him. Simon didn’t get the name Butcher for nothing. Familiarity grounded him, despite being a gruesome reminder.
If people are still afraid of him, it cannot possibly be heaven. He is, indeed, alive. Somehow.
stormborns
vaporwave
