Simon cradled his omnitool gently and ran his thumb (Raleighās thumb) gingerly over Catherineās chip. He felt more alone right now than he had in his entire existence. Even back when he had woken up in Upsilon, he had been too confused to feel this isolated. But he wasnāt confused now. He understood his situation perfectly.
And he kept thinking about that other Simon. That other fucking Simon with his ARK and his thousand-year life and his very own Catherine. Simon hated him, sort of, but it was hard to feel anything as intense as hatred out here in the soothing, oppressive dark of the ocean. Simon didnāt hate that other version of himself-- he just... wished they were the same person. He wished he had won that coin toss, because that man on the ARK wasnāt him. That man wasnāt Simon.
He sat down on a rock in the black ocean and thought, because his own consciousness was all he had left. He was pretty sure Catherine wasnāt completely dead-- he just had to get her some power. Somehow. ...and then what? The two of them were trapped here forever. His entire life would be reduced to wandering aimlessly around the ocean floor like he had been for a while, now, and hiding from those WAU creatures in the wreckage of Pathos-II. What kind of a life was that? Hadnāt he killed the Simon at Omicron to spare him from exactly this sort of fate?
āI just... need to get Catherine back online. Before I do anything else, I need to figure out how to fix her.ā He nodded to himself and stood, flicking on his flashlight to help him see where he was going. He had wandered dangerously far from any buildings or lights, but he knew which direction he needed to go to get back.
The beam of his flashlight swept over the ocean floor, then up into the inky depths. He thought he saw a shape out in the distance, and lowered his light again so he wouldnāt bother whatever was out there. The shape was big and vaguely fish-shaped, but far enough away that he couldnāt make out any clear details. That was alright. Distance was good, out here-- hopefully he could make it back before the creature noticed his light and came at him.