Chapter Text
This was strange... very strange. So it's been two weeks since Simon has awoken, and he has slowly pieced together that if this was heaven, well, he was in a unique situation. He kept getting visits from different angels, but mostly from one. A larger turquoise angle that had light brown, amberish markings on it. Their trills were always soft-sounding to Simon. They were always very sweet to Simon, and only recently did Simon learn their name. It had a little note-taking device of some sort that had a glimpse of English on it. Simon had gotten used to the angel bringing some work with them; usually, it was on a tablet that constantly shifted, but today they had that tablet and a visual display that seemed to be translating on that said tablet. He was able to catch certain words from the bed he was lying in, such as 'specimen ', 'Leafy', 'health status', and 'Adrian'. He had processed it, letting out a hum that sounded like a wheeze, thinking. From what Simon could catch, these forms discussed the health of a creature named Leafy. Apparently, the creature had been hurt, and they were observing it and sending findings to another doctor, whose name Simon couldn't grab. With each one of the reports being written by the Angel, it was signed off with 'Adrian ', and when reading any other reports sent to them, it was addressed to 'Adrian ', so Simon was to assume this angel's name was Adrian.
In terms of his new appearance and ... additions, Simon was still learning to cope when he looked at anything that showed his reflection. It seemed odd that the heavens would bestow upon him in death the likeness of god's promise after the Rapture. He had long vines intertwined in his hair that he could feel when he touched it. His hearing had increased, which he assumed was due to the changed shape of his ears. They were now elongated and pointed at the end with a slight downturn. The left arm he had lost had vines that were thicker, sprouting out of the wound, wrapping around his numb arm. Feeling one with something of such life and purity felt almost like a lie... if he still didn't have the reminder of what he went through. Apparently, the heavens couldn't repair everything, as the left side of his face was scarred. His left eye was purely black with a red pupil, and he had teeth protruding out of his left cheek extending his mouth, reminding him of that demonic eel that took his life. All of this made him ... not feel good. He was just reminded of that damn demon that tormented him during the last moments of his life. He just wanted to survive, he just wanted to live, and he was told he would live.
He just wanted to ... "live..."
His voice came out with a raspy whisper, but it was there. He could speak. He tried to open his mouth again to speak, but nothing came out. This was so stupid. Now that he was dead, the thing he wanted now was to be able to fucking speak. This is a cruel, cruel fate. The ability to be able to vocalize was teased in front of him, and yet... he can't bring it back. What does he need to do?
Adrian had heard it, though rushing in, looking shocked in their own rock-like way. They recognized that language, it's the same language that Ryland speaks. This makes them ponder for a moment before rushing out, leaving Simon stuck in a daze there. It was an hour before Adrian came rushing back in with a laptop in hand. That had been the most human object Simon had seen since arriving. Adrian set it down and seemed to slow as they carefully started to type on the buttons, bringing up software on it. Adrian started to speak again, but the computer started to translate.
" Speak human language, question?"
Now this took Simon off guard. He nodded, a bit unsure in this moment. The hard-shelled angel in front of him stomped their feet, excited before speaking more.
"If understand human does that mean you are human question?"
Yet another nod from Simon as he goes to sit down, feeling out of it. Why would an angel be wondering if he was human? Didn't they already know? Adrian slowly tucked their legs under themselves to sit with Simon, wanting to not overwhelm him. They began to ask another question, but their personal device chimed, making them look over at it and turn slightly. They seemed to be reading a message, looking up at Simon afterwards.
"... Infected question?"
That question stung as he hugged himself tightly, but he could only shrug.
"Always like this question,"
He shook his head as Adrain let out a sad note. They thought in that moment as they pushed the computer forward towards him. The keys on the keyboard were enlarged, but they were in English letters. Simon didn't question in that moment as he looked up at Adrian questioningly.
"Type name statement... please." They had to remember to add in that pleasantry; it was one of the human concepts they learnt from Ryland. He would often get onto Rocky for just demanding things or not using those presents on instinct. Simon slowly started typing out his name, and the computer said it out loud in the same robotic voice that it used for Adrian.
"Simon,"
Adrain let out a happy note before speaking again.
"Name is Adrian... much pleasure to greet,"
ִׄ˚ • 𖥔 ࣪˖ ⭑ ₊ ⭒ *ೃ༄ִׄ˚ • 𖥔 ࣪˖ ⭑ ₊ ⭒ *ೃ༄ִׄ˚ • 𖥔 ࣪˖ ⭑ ₊ ⭒ *ೃ༄ִׄ˚ • 𖥔 ࣪˖ ⭑ ₊ ⭒ *ೃ༄ִׄ˚ • 𖥔 ࣪˖ ⭑ ₊ ⭒ *ೃ༄ִׄ˚ • 𖥔 ࣪˖ ⭑ ₊ ⭒ *ೃ༄ִׄ˚ • 𖥔 ࣪˖ ⭑ ₊ ⭒ *ೃ༄ִׄ˚ • 𖥔 ࣪˖ ⭑ ₊ ⭒ *ೃ༄ִׄ˚ • 𖥔 ࣪˖ ⭑ ₊ ⭒ *ೃ༄
꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦
In the other biodome, there was a different reaction to this conclusion of Simon's human genetics. There was a large whiteboard that Grace was able to get the Erididan to make. He tried not to take advantage of the Erdidan scientists and engineers because they would make anything he asked for, and once he started doing projects that required piecing things together and long math. The whiteboard helped a lot for him. He was writing everything out, trying to process. To start off, Leafy was human. How does a human be birthed from a tree? Second, what type of genetic disaster happened for all of these genetic makeups to happen, phrased differently - HOW THE FUCK DOES A HUMAN HAVE EEL AND TREE DNA? Third question: Is this an invasive species that collects DNA? Adding onto that, what if it was here to collect new DNA before invading this planet? Ok, maybe Grace was starting to spiral, but could you blame him? This was a completely new experiance one he knew nothing about. The majority of the DNA was human DNA, just like his, but it had been altered, maybe spliced. Had Earth been splicing human DNA for space travel? Grace knew that there had been research on gene splicing done on smaller scales, but to do something like this was crazy. Earth was focusing on trying to survive, and Ryland had no clue if the beetles had even gotten to Earth; the delay from the telescopes was too large for him to know, at least for another few years, and even then it could take longer to get an accurate reading. Ryland severely doubted, though, that this was done by human hands, so he could only assume that this was somehow another alien species that collected DNA. Maybe it a plant-based life form that, once it found a baseline for a DNA marker it went into a seed form before hatching on a home planet. That could be believable, but then where did it get human DNA?
... Rylands fallen crewmates... his friends that he commended to the stars. It could have gotten DNA from them. Maybe one of them died shortly after the launch, still having a meal in their stomach, and they, for some reason, had Eel for their last meal on Earth. It was believable.
Rocky watched as Grace mumbled to him self, writing ideas down, before bumping into Grace's leg, making the pacing stop and forcing Grace to look down at Rocky.
"Grace stressing self out statement,"
"Well, it's hard not to. Leafy has human DNA, but how do we know for sure if it is human? What if -"
"Your brain is acting stupid, wait for Adrian, you two discuss, statement"
That made Grace take a deep breath and sigh.
"You're right ... I know you're right, but it won't stop my brain from thinking of all the possibilities."
Rocky's carapace moved in a way showing that he sighed as he gently nudged Grace to the couch and forced him to sit.
"Then we will take mind off yes yes yes ... play game while wait? maybe that one game ?"
"... Fine, but just while we wait... I already forwarded the finding to Adrian... what game do we play?"
"The one game statement,"
"ok yes, you want to play one game, but what one game?"
"The One Game, do you not remember the name of One Game?"
One game....one game one game what did this hard head mean by one ...
"Do you mean Uno ?"