maliciouscottonball

The first night you were there, you heard the typical puffs of air that a whale lets out when it surfaces. You didn't think much of it until you heard a massive thump on the beach. You didn't have time to even fully sit up before you got gently scooped up by a half beached mechanical humpback whale mer. You screamed in terror as he lifted you and cradled you against his spark chamber, humming happily. You had heard about inorganic mers living in the ocean but you didn't believe it. It was hard not to believe it now that your face was being lovingly squished against a windshield. At least he seemed as friendly as a regular mer.

He dragged himself back into the water after a few moments, still keeping you against his chassis and above the water. He called out towards the water and more mers quickly swam over to you both. As your eyes adjusted, you realized that the humpback mer is red and blue. You think you remember hearing something about him in particular but you can't remember what for the life of you. You really need to start paying more attention to the news.

A white and orange nurse shark mer does a scan over your body and a smaller yellow spinner dolphin mer pokes at you, clearly trying to play. You try to push his digits away but he simply seems to think that you're also trying to play as he whistles in delight. Eventually, you're set back down on the beach and they leave, whistling and chirping excitedly.

Your next mer encounter in the morning was less peaceful. You, naturally, freaked out a bit when you heard a whale's blowhole and tried to climb up one of the trees. A giant grey orca mer snatched you up and clicked rapidly at you. A grey sailfish mer with red, yellow, and blue detailing quickly emerged from the ocean and examined you. His voice was shrill as he conversed with the grey mer in an alien language.

You were so caught up in watching the two mers that you didn't notice the navy blue seahorse mer behind you until he carefully picked you up out of the other mer’s manipulator. He examined you for a bit before making a few approving whirring sounds and carefully putting you into his chest cavity. It was warm and humid inside but thankfully, it's dry even as he dove beneath the waves. You banged on the glass window with your fists for a bit before you sat down in defeat. You looked around and noticed the mechanical shells surrounding you in the metal chamber.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” You muttered in shock.

A purple hermit crab mer chittered at you warmly as you emerged from his shell and you yelped in surprise. A red and black cone snail mer chittered back as they both began approaching you. They both seemed very interested in you as they touched your face and shoulders. They dragged you further into the cavity, away from the window, and curled up with you between them. They fell asleep with you snuggled between them, occasionally letting out happy little purrs and trills. You simply layed there and waited as they cuddled you and stared out into the blue of the ocean beyond the window. You were able to see some of the other members of the pod of your current captor occasionally as they swam past.

You were startled by a loud banging noise and the sound of metal screeching and bending in the water. You tried your best to sit up but the grip of the two mers kept you firmly in place. You got shaken like a margarita as the seahorse mer swam as fast as he could, then got slammed into by a light pink female bottlenose dolphin mer. There was the sound of ripping and tearing metal as she slashed at him, absolutely incensed. You huddled against the two invertebrate mers as you wondered how quickly you'll drown if the chest cavity is pierced. She was distracted by a blue sailfish mer that looked almost exactly like the grey one from earlier as he attacked and gave the seahorse mer a chance to escape.

The seahorse mer quickly swam away from the battle. He was met with a sight that made you gasp. You watched with exhausted horror as two mers that you recognized, presumably the pod leaders, duked it out. The silver orca mer raked his teeth along the tail of the humpback whale mer, who proceeded to smash his tail down onto the other mer’s torso. The water was filled with a haze of glowing pink from all of the wounds on both mers. The orca mer sank down into the depths, stunned after the tail bashing, and the humpback mer turned his attention towards the seahorse mer.

His glowing optics looked entirely different than when he had picked you up off of the island. The softness had been replaced by a borderline homicidal rage. He slammed into your captor, dragging him up to the surface. You cowered as he tore the window off of its hinges and scooped up the cone snail and hermit crab mers as they held you. He threw the seahorse mer back into the water and he stayed on the surface as he carefully untangled you from the much smaller mers. He tossed them back into the water and carefully looked you over for injuries. Once he was satisfied that you weren’t physically harmed, he nuzzled his cheek against you.

He called to his pod as he began swimming back to the island you had been stranded on. He held you carefully against his chest and let the other mers check on you. They mostly petted your back and cooed at you like you were the cutest thing they'd ever seen while you sat there and shook like a traumatized baby sea otter.

He returned to the raft about an hour later with a huge, bloated dead squid that had been half torn to pieces. You watched in horror as he began tearing off chunks and putting them onto the raft. He watched your fast breathing and seemed to think that you needed help to learn how to eat. He tore off another chunk and slowly began biting into it and chewing, making sure that you were watching. After finishing his bite, he offered the chunk of flesh to you, humming softly in encouragement for you to take it. He didn’t seem discouraged when you refused, instead leaving the squid for you to eat and returning to circling around your raft like a shark.

You fell asleep that night to the sound of Bruce calling out for his pod. When you woke up, you were surrounded and being poked and prodded. A whole pod of sperm whale mers, both male and female, were either circling you or halfway on the raft as they touched your legs with a mix of curiosity and pity. You were smaller than even the calf, a male with a curious look in his green eyes. They were all whistling to each other and you didn’t need a degree in marine biology to understand what they were saying. They were talking about the messed up calf that their pod leader had found. The calf hadn’t seemed to learn patience yet as he pulled at you to try to get you into the water. He was quickly scolded by the older mers of the pod and gently pulled away from your raft.

From then on, you always had at least two members of the pod with you at all times. They slept surrounding you and usually spent their time trying to interact with you. When the pod went hunting, some stayed behind. There was the calf, who you called Damian, and then at least one babysitter. Damian couldn't hold his breath long enough to hunt on his own and it seemed that they thought the same of you. This time, the babysitter was the second largest male in the pod. He was covered in significantly more scars than any of the others. He shared the same green eyes as the calf and had a patch of white hair on his hairline. You called him Jason.

You liked Jason well enough. He was always particularly gentle with you. He seemed to like floating alongside the rafts and just watching you. He wasn't pushy or aggressive towards you and instead preferred to just watch you. He occasionally brought you small gifts that he found floating in the water. He usually brought you driftwood but once, he found a rubber ducky and seemed excited to give you something so colorful. You were happy to have something familiar. He would quietly chatter at you in his language as he watched you check over all of the different things that he would bring you.

After a few days adrift at sea, you finally became hungry enough to eat what they offered you. The eye of the dead squid stared up at you as Bruce began ripping apart the tentacles for you to eat. You were half starved when you took a chunk from his hand and took a bite. The chewy and unpleasant texture of the flesh distracted you from the overjoyed chirps and coos as the pods celebrated you eating something that they gave you for the first time. Bruce, in particular, seemed exceptionally pleased with you eating. You managed to eat enough to fill your stomach before falling asleep on the raft, the gentle bobbing motion lulling you to sleep easily.

You woke up to a different babysitter watching over you and Damian. You called him Duke because of how regal he looked when you first saw him. He was much more playful and easygoing than most of the others, even the one that you named Dick after he did a flip onto Bruce while he was busy preparing your food for you. You figured that he had some kind of deep sea fish genes from the way that patterns on his skin would glow at night. It was like having a living night light. You were distracted from watching him swimming with Damian when you noticed an oceanic white tip shark mer swimming towards you. You froze when you saw the large mer approaching, knowing that they had a reputation for eating shipwreck survivors. Duke quickly let out a series of loud, rapid clicks as he moved to intercept the other mer.

The shark mer began circling around the raft at a distance and Duke began matching him, still staying between you and the other mer. Damian seemed very upset as he began making loud clicks downwards towards where the rest of the pod was presumably hunting. The shark mer began curiously approaching the raft and once he was only a yard away, Bruce slammed into him from below and launched him up and out of the water.

There was a frenzy of activity as the pod began chasing the offending mer away from the raft. You felt your face being grabbed and you looked over to see one of the few female mers in the pod, Barbara. She seemed very intelligent but her back had a major scar and she had difficulties swimming quickly, likely due to a boat strike. It made sense why she would be the one to stay behind to watch you. Her green eyes stared into yours as she began petting your head and seemingly trying to comfort you. She continued to gently hold your face as she clicked and whistled at you affectionately, still keeping you from looking at what was happening behind you. When the rest of the pod returned and she let go of your face, you saw the massive amount of blood in the water and the lack of injuries to any of the members of the pod.

You were pampered and cuddled half to death for the rest of the day. They were all covered in water but they were warm so you didn't mind too much. Bruce would cuddle you first, then Dick, then Damian, since he threw a tantrum, then Duke, then Jason. Steph and Cass, two of the other female mers in the pod, snuggled up to you on either side, almost sinking your raft. Tim screeched at them when he realized how panicked you were and took his turn cuddling you early after kicking them off of the raft.

The pod was more protective after that. You were left with a minimum of three babysitters whenever the pod left to hunt. The hunters would bring back more squid for everyone and you would be given your portion by Bruce and whoever was babysitting you. You knew that they thought that you were cute based on the way that they treated you. They loved touching you and snuggling you. They tried to play with you with the “toys” that Jason gave you, though Jason would usually get territorial and try to take the toys back to play with you instead.

Eventually, they seemed to get sick of you avoiding the water. You wouldn't go in to cuddle or play with them like a normal calf. They seemed to think that your swimming was worse than Barbara's, which, while true, was for an entirely different reason than an injury. They would try to coax you in and would get extremely frustrated the more that you refused. It evidently got to a breaking point after three weeks of them caring for you.

You had refused to go into the water again. Bruce huffed and dove down beneath the gentle waves. You thought that was the end of it until you felt a jolt on the raft behind you and turned to see what was going on. You began screaming as Damian slashed and bit at the equipment box. Unsurprisingly, it began to fill with water and sink. You screeched and thrashed as you slipped into the water, doing your very best to swim and stay on the surface so that you could breathe. Bruce quickly scooped you up, keeping you afloat and helping you breathe as you sat on his back. The whole pod came together, clicking affectionately as they all touched you and tried to help you feel more comfortable in the water with them. They wanted you to be with them more fully.

You woke up in the Tau Ceti system with alerts that probes had been detected five light-years behind you on their way to Earth. You have to sit down after that. You sacrificed your life for a mission that's already been completed. You take a few deep breaths and remind yourself that you would've just starved on Earth. After a tearful funeral for your fallen friends, you decide to figure out your options. First of all, you decide that some detective work is in order. The Hail Mary wasn’t in the system but you could track it. The astrophage left an ion trail that you could easily pick up. That was the easy part. The hard part was figuring out what to do with the information. You could tell that the Hail Mary had returned to the area from its path to Earth but it was impossible to tell why until you found another astrophage trail. You had to sit down after that one too. There was someone else here with the other team.

You don’t hesitate. You charted a course and follow the trail. You ran tests, calculated fuel usage, and barely noticed the major turn that the course took until the Final Gamble was alongside an alien ship. You scanned it and then decided that based on your microbiology training, there’s probably a reason that it’s empty. You’re an expert in microbes, not in exploring alien cultures. The likelihood of it being a plague ship was way too high for your comfort so you continued following the path of the Hail Mary. 

Your fuel tanks had a higher capacity and your system allowed faster travel than the Hail Mary so it isn’t a surprise when the trip takes under a year. You were led to an unfamiliar planet where, after careful measurements, you find out that the sun in the system isn’t dimming. You knew that the other team had found the solution to the problem but you didn’t expect the solution to be used by another planet. You were so caught off guard that when you send a spoken message to the Hail Mary, you ended up messing up your wording.

“Hail Mary, this is the Final Gamble. I– We were sent after you to find the reason why Tau Ceti wasn’t dimming. We were sent to make sure that the mission was completed. We have tracked you to this planet after finding that the probes from your ship were sent back to Earth. Are you okay? Please respond.”

You waited for hours as your ship fights the orbit of the planet in order to stay above the tracking beacon of the other ship. You broadcasted the recording over and over, just hoping that there will be someone else there. You’d been alone for so long that the prospect of a single conversation with another person was tantalizing. You shot up in your chair when the radio crackles to life for the very first time.

“Final Gamble, this is Dr. Ryland Grace of the Hail Mary. I am the sole survivor of the mission. The locals of this planet have taken me in. They’re very friendly. Would it be okay if I and a member of the local population came aboard?” 

“Dr. Grace, I’m so happy to hear from you! I studied all of your work and procedures! Please feel free to board. We have lots of room for you and your associate. You’re both very welcome here.”

You’re not as concerned as you probably should be when only a day later, a strange shuttle is sent from the surface of the planet to the Final Gamble. You wait patiently for them to dock and open the hatch for them to enter once the pressure in the airlock stabilizes. You barely have time to introduce yourself to Dr. Grace before what looks like an alien crab made of rock and covered in crystal barrels past you and into your ship.

“Make yourself at home…?” You offered quietly as you escort the other human into the main living and working area, offering him some apple juice in a packet.

“Sorry about that. He’s excited to see your ship and another human. He means well.” Grace said sheepishly as he takes the packet.

“Other human much cleaner than Grace when Rocky first see Grace ship. Grace very dirty until Rocky stay with Grace! Very nice! I like!” Rocky interrupted through the translator.

“Uh… Thanks…? It’s standard procedure on Earth.” You reply, still in shock as you watched Rocky skitter around, literally bouncing off of the walls in the lack of gravity. You just watched as he looks through the entirety of the first floor.

“Welcome! Final Gamble much bigger and nicer than Hail Mary! Earth must like you much better than Grace!” Rocky said happily.

“Oh, um… It was just made after the Hail Mary was. It was also designed to hold more people so it had to be bigger.” You said awkwardly.

Grace took the time to start looking at all of the decorations on the ship.

“Where other human, question. Rocky want meet! More friend for Grace! More friend for Rocky!” Rocky exclaimed.

“They… They all died. There were five others on board but there was a glitch that wasn’t fixed from the Hail Mary so I was the only one that survived.” You responded much more sullenly.

Grace whiped around from where he’s fiddling with a bobblehead. 

“Wait, so that was a glitch?” Grace asked.

“Unfortunately. We found out after you were a light year away that the feeding pumps for the top bunk stops working after a few years and then the middle one gives later. I was told that it was fixed but apparently, it wasn’t. I’m assuming that you were on the bottom bunk as well.” You said more quietly.

“Yeah. I was. I’m… I’m so sorry for your loss.” Grace responded.

“I’m sorry for yours too.” You said.

“Twenty-three of Rocky crewmate die. Rocky all alone until find Grace. You not alone now too. You find Grace and Rocky. Better now. Always better when not alone.” Rocky said after a few moments.

Rocky was right. It did make things a little better. You liked talking with both of them. They told you all about their meeting and how they ended up saving each other. You properly introduced yourself to them and were able to find out how Grace’s life support system on Erid worked. After some debating, you agreed to go down to Erid to see what it was like. It sounded nice enough and you were very interested in not being alone anymore.

You explored Grace’s biodome and met Adrian, Rocky’s mate. They were very nice, though significantly taller than even Grace. You found them to be very intimidating at first but were much more comfortable around them after conversing with them. They were very interested in your biology and how you liked the biosphere. You guest taught in Grace’s class and did a lesson on the basics of school systems on Earth and on Earth bacteria. All of the Eridian children enjoyed hearing your stories and seemed to enjoy your jokes.

Eventually, it was decided that you, Grace, and Rocky would attend a conference with scientists and journalists. Rocky would ask you questions based on the ones that the scientists and journalists gave to him while they observed and broadcasted the interview, as well as the translation of your words. Grace agreed to answer most of the questions for you as he understood their customs better and would be less likely to cause offense. As you sat between Grace and Rocky in front of the clear crystal that separated you from the rest of the Eridians, you began regretting agreeing to do the interview.

“How old Grace friend, question.” Rocky asks.

“Oh, um, they’re in their twenties. We haven’t figured out how the coma on the ride over impacts biological aging for us humans and whether or not to include the duration of the coma. It’s a bit complicated.” Grace says warmly.

“Earth send baby to do job, question.” Rocky asked, visibly agitated.

You were a bit taken aback. You weren’t expecting to be called a child and were feeling more than a little insulted. Sure, you were young but that didn’t take away from your accomplishments!

“No, they’re not a baby! They’re an adult! They made the decision to come here and they were fully capable of consenting to do so. They wanted to save our world and they were braver than me.” Grace tried to soothe.

It didn’t work. An entire chorus of “BAD, BAD, BAD” and “IS BABY, IS VERY MUCH BABY” rang out from the both formerly docile council and reporting crew. One translator screeched “BABY ALONE FOR YEARS WITH NO ONE WATCH SLEEP!” and it started up a whole other wave of incensed and horrified speech that the translators didn’t understand. You’d noticed that Grace didn’t usually cuss and that Rocky’s translator didn’t work on too many curse words so you could only imagine how intense whatever they’re saying is. Their distressed chirps and calls were starting to make you feel even more nervous though.

“What’s going on…? Why are they so upset…?” You whispered to Grace, eyes wide as you watched the aliens practically begin to riot.

“So, um, funny story, Eridians are technically infants until they’re like thirty? Some take longer than that to grow so sometimes forty? I’m not really sure about all of the details but Rocky told me about it a while ago. Their culture is super focused on kids so the fact that you were sent out so young is kind of a really big deal to them. I’m sure that they’ll get over it soon.” He whispered back.

“What Grace friend do on Earth, question.” Rocky said loudly, trying to drown out the high pitched sounds from the council with a seemingly less charged question.

“I was a microbiology student. I was working to get my doctorate when I was asked to join the mission. I’m an astronaut now.” You respond.

This time, it’s Rocky’s turn to freak out.

“Earth send baby not yet out school! BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD!” Rocky’s translator shouts as his arms start flailing.

The meeting had to be cut short after the council’s table was flipped by a scientist whose eggs had recently hatched. You sat in Grace’s living room, drinking a mug of hot chocolate that had been replicated by Eridian scientists to be as close as possible to the stuff on your ship. Grace also had a mug. He seemed much happier with the food that you brought compared to what the Eridians were feeding him before you showed up. You took one look at it early on in your visit to Erid and decided not to ask. 

“That was intense.” You said after a moment.

“You’re telling me. I’ve never seen them that worked up before.” Grace said after a sip from his mug.

Your conversation is interrupted by pounding on the front door. Grace got the door before Rocky barged in while pulling something similar to a wagon filled with assorted trinkets and doodads. 

“Rocky bring gift from many parents and children who listen to interview. Much, much concern! All want you feel better.” He says to you, seeming particularly satisfied with himself.

“Do I take some…?” You ask as you gesture to the wagon.

“All for you! All for human baby to play with!” He exclaims.

“I’m not a baby but I really appreciate the thought.” You say diplomatically, trying your best to be professional.

You end up being particularly fond of a plush that looks like an alien creature and a puzzle that reminds you of a combination of a Rubik's cube and Chinese puzzle box. You spend hours trying to figure it out after dinner, much to Rocky’s delight. You found out from Grace’s class the next morning that they were both toys for children meant to develop their fine motor skills and logical thinking abilities. You keep being brought more and more toys and games as time goes by. You’ve been crashing on Grace’s couch and now the pile of your things in the corner has grown to be taller than you. You kept apologizing for taking up so much of his space but Grace insisted that it was fine and that he was just happy to be around another person.

The size of the pile only grew when Rocky found out that you liked the Xenonite figures that he made for Grace. He would sit in the classroom during Grace’s classes to keep an “eye” on you while you helped teach a unit on Earth microbiology while he worked on making more little figures for you. He made one of you, Grace, Adrian, and him. He would insist that you use puppet shows to tell him what you wanted, saying that he didn’t understand you. You understood when he was laughing and he usually did when you did the puppet shows.

After staying for about a week, you wanted to go back to your ship to retrieve some equipment to run some tests and do some research of your own on Erid. You were messing around with one of the plushies that was given to you when you realized that the shuttle that you used to get to the biodome was gone. You decided to ask about it.

“So when do I get to go back to my ship…? I need to get some things for my research.” You said hesitantly.

“You not go to Final Gamble. You stay on Erid. We take care you. Happy, happy.” Rocky said lightly as he continues building the little Xenonite figures that you like.

“No, not happy…! I want to go back to my ship…!” You responded anxiously.

“Earth not want little baby. Erid want little baby. You stay. We take care. Grace help, even though Grace bad at many things. Grace give hug when Rocky not able. Adrian help make more thing for you. Make nursery. Help make more comfortable in house. You happy one day. Hope happy soon.” Rocky replied.

You sat back, eyes wide as your hands begin to shake. You stared down at the plushie of the unfamiliar animal on your lap.

“Where’s my ship, Rocky?” You ask more firmly this time.

“Grace need other human. Grace like you. Grace happy. You good for Grace. Grace talk more when you here. Grace not scared of presenting information now. Ship in many pieces. Never put together again. You, Grace, Rocky, Adrian all happy together. Very good. Happy, happy.” He responded in that light tone again.