Chapter Text
There weren't words, at least not at first. Experiences were as indescribable as they were all encompassing. You didn't know what was happening, but you sure didn't like it, whatever it was.
Slowly, things started to make sense, at least. There was a strange disconnect from these experiences, despite how world-shakingly intense they were.
Bright.
Sore.
Pressure.
Cold.
There was a lot going on, as far as you could tell, but those things seemed to be the most pressing matters. Things became clearer, senses started kicking in.
"Of all the unbelievably irresponsible-"
"Yell at me all you want! I can't stand this any longer! The way they treated us… what they were planning to do, and it was only going to get worse, I had to!"
"How you feel doesn't matter. What matters is that without a second thought you just flushed years worth of work and funding down the drain!"
“At least we’ll be able to start over!”
Speech, that's what this was. It was loud, but not as loud as that repetitive high pitched noise.
Stifling darkness, interrupted by painful flashes of red light. Figures moving around quickly, and something bright shining an annoying blue light at you. All of this was distorted, not as it should be. Sight was becoming clearer and clearer.
That cold was so heavy. As was the air… why was everything pressing down on you like this? This pressure, it hadn't been here before, though those memories felt distant now… and there was this goop coating everything, slowly dripping away through an uncomfortable grate below you. You’d been suspended in the goop until a few moments ago. You felt the barrier around you, the distortion. It was smooth and cool. There was a word for it, but you didn't quite have all the details sorted yet.
Sound, sights, feeling, processing all of it all at once so suddenly, it was upsetting. It was overwhelming.
A word came to you. Misery.
"Listen to me, for once. It's done now, there's no undoing it. You've got two options. Either you're with me, or you're against me. What'll it be, Moon?"
The arguing ceased. The absence of the noise was a relief. All you could do was slowly wake up to the world around you and do your best not to drown under the experience of it.
"Think of the other attempts, what the investor did to them, how little they care about our ends. Think of why we started this in the first place," that same voice pleaded. “Answers. Responsibility.”
"I hate this," the other voice grumbled. "How dare you make these decisions on your own, like these years in collaboration meant nothing to you."
"That's rich, coming from you. Who was it again who brought on an investor without talking it over in the first place?"
"Sun-! Ugh. This is not the time for this. We have minutes to get everything together and get out of here."
"…Does that mean you're coming with me?"
"What choice do I have?"
There was another stretch of silence.
You were starting to get a grip on things, slowly but surely. As the moments dragged on, everything slowly became more and more bearable. You became aware of yourself, of the physical form you had autonomy over. You were so weird- long in places, squishy in most areas, a little pointy in others. Some things bent and others didn't. limbs and digits, it was so much, and you hadn't figured out how it all worked just yet.
"Hurry, help me with this. If we disconnect this door we can go out the back way and buy ourselves more time," one of those voices said.
There was movement and more noise. You were hardly paying attention anymore now that you were able to somewhat tune things out.
Hands. Fingers. You bent these digits one at a time. You used your hands to gather more information, tactile, feeling. The distortion around you- glass, that's what it was- the remaining goop on you, and your own self. Fingers felt over your arms, your face, the stiff cloth shorts you were wearing. Something told you not to touch the things allowing you sight. Farther up, at the very top of you, something soft and silky. What was this??
You ceased everything else, tuned everything else out, and focused entirely on the soft texture at the top of your head. The word was coming to you slowly and you pushed both hands into the softness. Everything else so far had been horrible, overwhelming, nearly painful, but this… this was nice.
Hair. Soft hair.
You pushed your fingers through it again and again, relieved at the positive experience. You kept this up, and slowly focused back on everything else around you, finding everything to be far more bearable as you kept up with the motion.
There were two beings beyond the glass tube you were in. these two were moving quickly, gathering objects from the environment beyond the tube and gathering everything together in bags. They kept talking to each other, tones full of focus, irritation, and worry.
You didn't care about these other noisy creatures. You wanted to get out of this tube, and preferably someplace quieter. You pressed one hand into the glass, gathering more tactile information. Too strong to push away. Too thick to push through. It encompassed you entirely, so you couldn't maneuver over it. The grate below you was much the same, too strong and too thick, unmoving under your hand.
You looked again to the creatures on the other side of the glass. Why were they outside, and you were inside?? Hardly seemed fair.
You considered communication. You could not get out of the tube on your own. You wanted assistance from these two beings, but you didn't have the complexities of speech worked out in your brain yet. How else could you communicate…?
You used your physical form, as it was all you had to work with. You slapped your hand against the glass, almost immediately gaining the attention of both creatures.
The brighter colored of the two made a startled noise and visibly jumped. The darker colored one seemed surprised as well, and exclaimed something that you didn't catch.
Pat pat pat. You pat the glass again.
"It's still alive. And it's awake?!" the bright one shrieked.
"What did you do??" the dark one demanded.
"What did I do?! I tried to sabotage the project, I didn't expect it to… oh, Moon. Oh, what do we do? What do we do??"
"Calm down, Sun. Obviously we just leave it behind. We have more than enough to start over again," the darker, Moon, said.
Wait. That's not what you wanted. You used both hands now to pat at the glass, somewhat frantically.
"Leave it- you realize what they'll do to it," the brighter -Sun- said, horrified.
"You should have thought of that before you made all these sudden rash decisions for us," Moon said.
"Moon. We are not just going to leave it here. You're the one who's always going on about the responsibility of creation! This creation is ours. It's our responsibility. We can't leave it behind," Sun argued.
Moon made a dissatisfied, angry sort of noise. "Using my own philosophy against me," they grumbled. "Fine, fine. But you're figuring out how to take it with us."
Sun moved a hand around the thing emitting the bright blue light, and suddenly the glass tube was moving upwards away from you, and you watched it lift away with wide eyes.
Finally, you got a clear view of the room beyond the tube. This cylindrical space was filled with sleek control panels and wires and shelves full of tools and vials. All things you were struggling to wrap your head around. There were crates and lots of tall tables and machines you couldn’t begin to understand the function of.
Slowly, you understood more and more about the world around you, your brain slowly working out more and more information. This room was a facility of some sort, the words lab and science coming to you, but to what end, you had no idea.
The walls were white and bare except for the multicolored wires running up and down them. Some wires hooked up to machines, others vanished into the walls or tangled together in jumbled messes. The glass tube had been right in the middle of the room, and you now felt very cold and exposed and unsafe, sitting out in the open right in the middle of this confusing environment.
The two beings were clearer now as well. They were much bigger than you, and had more limbs. Four arms each, all eight working frantically to stuff items into a pair of large bags. They both had circular flat heads, but the mostly yellow one had faintly glowing triangles poking out of the edges of their head. The mostly blue one wore a pair of shiny goggles on their head. They both were wearing matching white coats, though Moon’s sleeves were rolled up, and Sun’s was neatly buttoned up.
What caught your attention most was their skin. It wasn’t like your own, it was hard, smooth, shiny in some places, well worn in others, colors fading into dark grey. Metal, that’s that it was. These beings were made of metal.
Suddenly, Sun moved quickly towards you, jolting you from your thoughts.
PANIC, FOE, ATTACK, HURT.
You flailed in a blind panic as Sun approached, then scrambled over yourself to move away, scurrying as quick as you could in the opposite direction. You acted on sudden overwhelming instinct, fueled by a heart-gripping energy. You climbed up on top of a table, getting that goop all over the poorly organized tools strewn about here.
Moon eyed the scene warily as they kept packing. Sun, who'd been startled away, was now approaching again, much slower this time.
"Ohhhhhkay, you're a lot more aware and active than I thought you'd be," Sun mumbled. They held all four hands out and took a few steps closer.
You shied back, uncertain about what the hell Sun was wanting to do with you. When Sun continued advancing, you grabbed the closest item up off the desk and wound it back to throw it at Sun, threatening to turn the item into a projectile. Sun paused.
“Oh my, please don’t throw that, it’s very expensive,” Sun said worriedly.
“Sun, it can’t understand you,” Moon snapped.
You scowled and threw the item at Moon.
Moon yelped and fumbled, barely managing to catch it. Sun took this opening to dart forwards and grab you.
You hissed and growled and thrashed, extremely displeased with this. Sun struggled, but they were bigger and had twice as many arms.
“You can’t mean to transport it like that,” Moon said. They stuffed a few more things into a bag, then strapped the bag to their back.
“Well I can’t exactly put it in a bag, now can I?!” Sun huffed, readjusting their hold on you, who very much did not want to be held.
Moon thought for a moment while Sun continued to struggle.
“Here. We’ll make use of the incorrectly sized cable you ordered after all,” Moon said, moving to a different desk. From underneath the desk they pulled out a long flexible spool of colorful cable.
Sun wrestled you into cooperating while Moon fashioned a sort of harness around you, tied around your torso and shoulders with the long end of the cable tied in a knot at your back, where you couldn’t reach. Sun grabbed hold of the end of the cable, and just like that, you had been successfully tethered. The word ‘leash’ came to mind.
Sun pulled on a bag, and quickly pulled you away from a table, where you were moments away from grabbing another makeshift projectile.
“Is that everything?? You have our research backlog? Or records?” Sun asked.
“It was the first thing I packed,” Moon assured. “If we have the time, we could run by the storage-“
There was a frantic pounding at the door, and muffled yelling from the other side.
“No time. We need to go,” Sun said.
“Right.” Moon sighed. They cast one last look around the room, hesitating briefly, then hurried towards the other door.
Sun followed, pulling you along with them. You attempted to resist, pulling at the cables and even flopping down onto the floor, but Sun pulled you along easily regardless. As all of you made your way out of the room and into a corridor, you reasoned you’d rather not be dragged, and reluctantly scrambled along behind Sun, quickly figuring out how walking was supposed to work.
Everything was a blur. There were walls and doors and it was all so brightly lit compared to the room, it was all you could do to stumble along. You tried to shield your eyes with an arm, blocking out the visual input.
All at once, the scenery changed. Without warning the air turned sharp and biting- cold. It was dark again, and the ground was no longer smooth. There weren’t any walls to bounce every little sound back and forth in an echoing cacophony of sensory overload, at least.
You struggled to understand what you were seeing. There was meaning for these things around you, explanations, but your brain wasn’t finding the right answers fast enough.
The ground was loose and soft and cold, though small bits were hard and pinched the bottoms of your feet as you stumbled along. Dirt.
Moon and Sun navigated urgently through impressive pillars of something scratchy and hard. You brushed against one of these pillars as it flew towards you through the deep shadows around you, and winced as the speed of the collision scraped at your shoulder. Another word came to you. Wood.
Beyond the shadows, beyond the shapes whirling past, beyond the sound of pursuers yelling behind you, was something vast. You looked up, and though it was partially obscured by a countless collection of small silhouetted objects, you could see that vastness expanding endlessly above you. It was full of dazzling lights.
Stars.
You tripped and flew forwards, crashing into the ground. Pain spiked through your hands and scraped along your arms and knees. You groaned as you struggled to get back up.
“Oh, let me help-“ Sun said. They’d come to a halt instantly upon realizing you had fallen. Sun lifted you under the arms and waited for you to get your feet sorted out below you before they moved away. “Oh dear, is there any damage??”
You squinted down at your limbs. Through the dark, you couldn’t be sure what was dirt and what was dried goop. Your palms and knees tingled unpleasantly.
“HEY! GET BACK HERE!” someone hollered.
Sun jumped. You both looked to see those pursuers rushing towards you, the head start you’d had wasted by the fall.
“Oh no!” Sun turned and looked around in the direction they’d been running. Moon was nowhere to be seen, having left the two of you behind. “Oh no…”
“Stop!! You’re being put in containment!” one of the pursuers yelled.
Sun picked a direction and started running again.
This time, you did your best to keep a better eye on where you were stepping, despite the entrancing beauty and the mesmerizing terror of the impossible cosmos hanging over you. Not only that, but it was so dark out, you could barely see five feet ahead of you. Without Sun's glowing rays casting a yellow glow over everything nearby, you doubted you'd be able to see your own hand in front of your face.
Either the pursuers were slow or you and Sun were fast, or both. After a painfully long while of running, there were no sounds of pursuit behind you. There were also no traces of Moon to be seen anywhere either.
You and Sun stopped to rest. Sun kept looking around and anxiously worrying the edges of their lab coat.
“Oh… what should we do? Do we wait here? Try to find Moon? Try to find the shelter?” Sun muttered.
You looked around. You didn’t particularly feel safe just sitting around out here. Maybe it was just the darkness. You couldn’t be sure who or what was out here with you. You stood back up and stared at Sun, hoping they would get the hint.
“I suppose we can’t stay here… we might be found by the authorities,” Sun said. “Moon is smart. They’ll be able to find their way to the shelter. They’re probably already there.” Sun laughed lightly. “We should go there and join them. Or… wait for them.”
Sun lead the way, now moving at a much more manageable pace. They kept looking behind them, checking on you, or for followers, or both.
You kept glancing up at the stars. You could hardly look away. The sky was incredible. But… you couldn't help but feel like something was missing. You had no idea what.
The two of you walked for a long time. Sun would hesitantly change directions slightly every now and then, weaving a worried and uncertain trail through the trees. Trees, that’s what these pillars were. You were in a forest.
Finally, Sun stopped. You were concerned for a moment that Sun had at last realized you were hopelessly lost.
“There it is!” Sun cried happily. They hurried forwards, leading you along behind them.
The two of you approached a dome-like structure hiding at the edge of a clearing overgrown with grass tall enough to tickle your knees. Hexagonal shapes spaced evenly around the sides of the dome glowed with a friendly pale yellow light.
The door lead to a small room, some kind of airlock. Once Sun and you were inside and the door was shut behind you, there was a hissing sound and a cold mist filled the small space. Then the mist dissipated and the door leading farther into the dome opened.
Within the large singular room there appeared to be three distinct areas. The area by the door was wide open and the furniture appeared mostly for lounging, with chairs and small tables. The space in the back left looked to be for sleeping. There were several bunk cots and large storage containers and curtains hanging around the cots. The space in the back right was full of confusing equipment and machinery. There were shelves and counters and smaller containers.
It all looked very clean and new, as if entirely untouched. Those hexagonal shapes allowed you to view the clearing and the woods outside, even though you remembered being unable to see in while you were outside.
Sun let out a long sigh and dropped their bag by the door. They looked around. “…I guess Moon hasn’t made it here yet. They’ll probably show up any minute!”
You looked to one of the windows. It was too dark out to see much, just the faint outline of the nearby trees. You pulled at the cables and stared at Sun.
“Oh. Well…” Sun looked uncertain. “…Alright.” They went to the door first, tapping at the panel on the wall next to it. When it beeped, they turned back to you and carefully untied the knot at your back, loosening the cables enough for you to wriggle free.
You stretched and rubbed at your skin where the cables had been digging into you all night. Then you finally got a good look at the rest of yourself. You were indeed covered in dirt and dry goop, which had left bright green spots of stickiness here and there. The dirt was dark, mostly purple in color. There was also something red staining your palms and knees.
“Let’s get you cleaned up. Try not to touch anything for a moment,” Sun said.
You got the sudden urge to climb over everything in sight just to frustrate Sun, but you were too tired to enact this plan. You plopped down onto the floor and waited while Sun rustled through their bag.
“Okay, nothing super useful for cleaning in here,” Sun muttered. They went to the cots and shuffled through some of the storage boxes, eventually pulling out a small cloth. “Here we go!” Sun took the cloth to one of the confusing machines in the other back corner and produced a stream of water, which they used to soak the cloth. Finally, they returned to you and crouched down in front of you.
You eyed Sun suspiciously, shrinking away.
“Just hold still, alright?” Sun said, moving in with the cloth.
You hissed and scooted farther away.
Sun huffed. “I’m just trying to help!”
You scooted even farther away, scowling at Sun.
Sun looked at the cloth, then at you. They sighed heavily. “Look, you need to get clean, you’re absolutely filthy. If you won’t let me do it, at least do it yourself?” Sun held out the cloth.
You eyed Sun and the cloth for a moment, thinking it over.
Sun huffed. “What am I doing. Moon is right, you can’t understand me.”
You frowned. You moved close enough to snatch the cloth from Sun, then backed away again.
Sun stared at you. “…Can you understand me??”
You weren’t sure how to reply in the affirmative. You still couldn’t speak, that was far too complex for you to figure out and you were too tired. Instead, you just started to scrub at your arms and legs, getting all the stuff off of you.
Sun hummed and let you be to unpack some of the things in their bag, laying out papers and tools and small devices on the small tables.
You finished cleaning yourself off. You dropped the stained cloth on the floor and got up to wander around and investigate.
Most things in this space were smooth and hard. Some of the machines had interesting textures, and the walls felt somewhat grainy. The door was cold and would not open. You tried tapping at the panel by the door, like Sun had done, but you weren't able to make sense of the icons and symbols there. Moving on for now, you found the chairs were all soft, though not quite as soft as your hair. The cots, however, those were quite soft. You gasped happily and rubbed your hands along the squishy material. You pushed your arms and your face into the stuff, humming happily. You paused when Sun giggled.
Sun had been watching you carefully the whole time, tapping away at some kind of small glowing device in their hands. You ignored Sun and eyed the cots. They were all equally as soft. You set your eyes on the top bunk. There were metal slats along the side of the bunk for convenient climbing, so you scurried up and climbed into the top cot, sprawling out onto the softness.
It was so nice up there, higher up out of reach and surrounded by comfort. You felt your sore muscles relax. You sunk into the cot, moving your fingers in slow motions back and forth over the soft surface.
You paused and stared suspiciously as Sun approached. You gripped the edge of the cot and hissed down at them.
Sun held their hands up. “Easy! I just wanna show you something. See this pad here? If you tap it, it’ll turn the heater on.” Sun tapped a small glowing square set into the side of the cot. Sure enough, the softness suddenly began emitting heat. “See? Tap tap. Warm.”
You gasped and sunk back down into the cot. You hadn’t even realized how cold you were. This was marvelous.
“If you want, you can pull the curtain closed too. Like this,” Sun said, demonstrating by tugging on the curtain hanging from the ceiling.
You pulled the curtain shut around the cot without hesitation. You heard Sun chuckle, then heard their footsteps padding away. You peeked out just to be sure. Sun had indeed gone back to the chairs and their papers.
You curled up contentedly on the cot. You felt absolutely fantastic compared to the confusing chaos you’d been through earlier. This was bliss, it was joy and comfort and calm.
You fell asleep within the minute.