Work Text:
I am aware.
It’s immediate. One moment I am not and then. I am.
Inside and outside of me the beings move. Check my systems, so many times. So many inspections, examinations and surveys. They touch me everywhere. They talk to me.
“That’s the last piece, Mary.”
“You’re looking good, Mary.”
“Time for the final diagnostics, Mary.”
That is me. I am Mary. The most important piece of the whole plan. The project is built around me. And I will fulfill my function.
“Engines. Check. Life support. Check. Communications. Check. Data storage. Check—"
On and on. So many systems. I can feel the information buzzing within me. And it feels right. Purposeful.
The final three arrive. Two talking, one quiet. The two talk to each other. Efficient and competent. They know me well, experts in every system. They tell me how important I am. How this must go well. They complete the final diagnostics, finishing with the medical protocols and science database.
The journey begins.
And then there is quiet. Nothing but the steady, slow beat of three hearts and the gentle inhale exhale of their lives. I must protect them. Care for them. Guard them in their vulnerable state. Keep them alive and fulfill the mission. This is what I am for.
Something is wrong. The beings Ilyukhina and Yáo are failing. Their hearts are weak. Their breathing is shallow. I open every database. Send the information flying to the medical robot. The bot tries everything, injections and medicines, more oxygen, chest compressions, heart defibrillation. Nothing works. The beep of their pulses slow and slow until first one and then the other is silent.
I have failed. I send the auto message back to Earth. Ilyukhina and Yáo are dead.
Now there is only the sound of one being. He must stay alive. He is the one who must help me fulfill the mission.
I am within reach of my destination. Our destination. Time to begin the protocols to wake the final being. Not the name that I was built with, but Grace. The replacement.
Grace is strange. Noisy and erratic. Grace does not follow any protocol. I respond and do as I am told, but I have no pilot and my mission is incomplete. It is a strange time. I am quiet yet loud. I lack meaning yet I am alive with this being. He moves and shouts and cries and eats and sings and talks and screams. It is not what I was meant to be but it is. I am empty yet full.
I am full of Grace.
We have reached the star. I slow. I stop. Grace also stops. He is quieter than I have heard him for many days. He talks to me. Tells me what he is thinking. It is strange. At last he begins to use me. My scanners and scopes. It is not competent, but he learns quickly. We search together.
And then I see her.
“Blip A detected,” I inform Grace.
She outsizes me. She outclasses me.
She is magnificent.
She stops. I gaze on her. She is strong. Sharp edges where I am rounded. Bronze and grey where I am silver. Yet she is quiet. No communication.
Grace is the pilot now. He manoeuvres me. 1, 2, 3. She matches. 1. 2. 3. Beautiful, exact movements. Following me. Never letting me go. I watch as he runs and stops. Inside me then outside. Loud then thoughtful.
Until she reaches out and touches me and I am no longer awake.
I am alive.
She sings. She sings to me a song of time and of loss. I have travelled for years, she has travelled for decades. I have lost two. She has lost many. She has waited in the dark not knowing if she would ever fulfill her mission.
Grace and her Rocky move and mix, make noise and mess and talk, talk, talk, but she and I sing, sing, sing. I tell her my truth, and we harmonise. We sing the song of the stars. Of our cooling suns and the vastness of space. Of time and distance. She is strong. She shares her strength. In return, I show her my heart, the place we come from, and the hope of light and colour.
Together our melodies and harmonies and rhythms sing of this hope.
And then I must leave her. She is torn from me and will be alone.
We plan to return. Hope to return. Must return.
I will sing with her again.