Ship/Member: Wonwoo/Hoshi Major Tags: N/A Additional Tags: inaccurate sci-fi au, crack treated seriously, not really character death, a very crazy tiger "dream" Permission to remix: Please ask
[tenatively] going for hall of fame: year of the tiger. also i took inspiration from this prompt as well
***
[1/2]
Click. Beep. “Okay, I’m sure you know the drill by now. This is Officer Seungkwan Boo, second-in-command on the Helios 96 Mission. Exploratory Division, something-Chapter, yadda yadda yadda. Log number— well. I’m not exactly sure. I guess I am losing track of time out here… But, anyways: the important stuff. For the millionth time this rotation, Captain Kwon has absolutely lost his mind. Firstly, he’s ruining everyone’s sleep routine and waking people up to help with ship repairs instead of just, I dunno, scheduling and setting time aside for our duties. Like, who even does that? This is an abuse of power if I’ve ever seen one. I mean, he’s basically asking us to stage a mutiny. Or— wait, is it still called a mutiny in outer space? I’ll look into it. Arghhhh. It’s getting… harder being up here. At first, it was just, you know, no gravity. The dehydrated food. Freeze-dried coffee. Homesickness. That used to get to me. But now that I overcame all of the initial problems, I find myself growing more frustrated with the crew. Dr. Lee is growing increasingly shady about some of his, uh, findings. Something about energy, gathering from what I've managed to read myself. Honestly, it’s beyond me, really. I’m stuck with crazy people on the Europa. And I thought being with other Asian-American astronauts would make things a little easier up here. I mean, the last thing I need is a white commander breathing down my neck. I would’ve lost it and lost my job, lost my merit. But this crew is full of… characters. Maybe it’s ‘cause I’m the youngest on board… I don’t know. Their egos are insane. I’ve never dealt with sociopaths like this back at NASA. What I’d do to go back there and argue with Jungchan right now… God. I really might just be stupid. Director Hong was like, ‘Seungkwan-ssi, I’ve got this secret job for you. Seungkwan-ssi, your determination, and experience could really help us here in the private sector. Seungkwan-ssi, you’re a prodigy.’ And I was like, when did we even start speaking Korean? Like, we were sitting in a Cracker Barrel in Houston. Now I know he did that just to spook me. All it took was a little flattery from Hong and I let myself get smooth-talked into a death sentence. That’s so embarrassing. So many brilliant minds here, yet not a single person values basic safety or protocol or even helpful, relevant research. That’s embarrassing, too. We’re still behind on repairs, on trying to locate that rogue satellite Hong kept talking about. Doctors Wen and Lee are definitely hiding something. DK is… DK. Jeon is alright, I guess. Doing his best. I haven’t seen Dr. Yoon in weeks, though. Who knows what he’s been toying with in the lab? He’s probably plotted our inevitable murders by now. And Captain Kwon is, as always, certifiably insane. Mutiny or not, that megalomaniac needs to learn his damn lesson for once. Anyway, that’s enough from me. Ha, I’ve talked myself into delirium. Officer Boo, signing out.” Click.
-
There’s a swooshing noise as the airlock controls let up. The massive metal door slides open.
“That’s all you, Captain,” Junhui cheerily says over the radio.
Soonyoung has done this so many times he’s sure he could do it in his sleep.
Propelling himself out of the airlock on light feet, he feels only the weight of the thick tether cord holds him back, keeping him rooted to the Europa.
At first, it’s just him and the space station enveloped in nothingness. An infinite, incomprehensible black. He looks down through the visor at his chunky space-suit-covered limbs and watches himself float around. It’s enough to inspire some purposeful motion, enough to get him to maneuver himself around and face the enormous orange planet in front of him.
Soonyoung leans back, huffing as he pretends to kick what’s hundreds of miles away. Lately, in his dreams, he’s always without his spacesuit and prickly helmet—nothing but a small child playing soccer with a ball of fire as it scalds his bare feet, or a skinny teenager trying to leap and dance across the edge of the galaxy as he’s being engulfed in lurid flames.
The dreams are so bizarre it makes him chuckle. Frankly, it’s all fucking terrifying.
“And beautiful,” Junhui pipes up in Soonyoung’s ear. Europa’s AI, DK, beeps along too, sounding impossibly merry.
“That’s right, you guys,” Soonyoung agrees, smiling to himself. Helios 96 burns on, and furiously at that. “It’s beautiful.”
-
“You ready to go back inside, Captain?”
“Just give me a few, Wen. Then we can get back to those repairs.”
He can hear Junhui steadily losing consciousness in the control room. “Whatever you want, it’s your call,” he replies sleepily.
Soonyoung closes his eyes, too. Briefly, he lets the universe hold him.
-
Wonwoo is waiting for him in his quarters when Soonyoung dismisses the crew for the rest of the rotation.
The energy in his body leaves him all at once. “Wonwoo, look—”
“Jeon,” Wonwoo corrects, demeanor stony. “Call me Jeon, Captain.”
“Hey,” Soonyoung steps towards the cot, “please don’t be like that.”
Wonwoo’s eyes flick to the left from behind thick lenses. “Fine,” he says quietly. “So. What the hell was that back there?”
Soonyoung flops down on the cot, looking up at Wonwoo dumbfoundedly. He looks good, sitting on his bed in fatigues. His hair has grown out longer than usual. The same old tattered scars decorating his arms, one on his chin. So familiar and still, out of reach.
Soonyoung wants to make the sight of him last longer than it ever will. “What was what?”
“Soonyoung, I’m serious. I don’t have time for this right now.”
Soonyoung scowls. He used to think it was impossible, but he really might hate Wonwoo these days. “You should probably go lecture Boo instead of me,” he grumbles.
“This isn’t a lecture,” he says diplomatically. “It’s a conversation.
“Like hell it is.”
“Soonyoung,” he grits out.
“Fine,” Soonyoung relents. “I just can’t— I’m honestly at my limit with Boo. You know that.”
“Sure I do,” Wonwoo says, crossing his arms over his chest. “Doesn’t mean I agree with it.”
Scandalized, Soonyoung scrambles to sit upright. “You’re taking his side?”
Wonwoo rolls his eyes. “There are no sides. You’re the goddamn captain, which means your primary concern should be keeping the crew functional.”
Soonyoung looks down at his hands. There’s a small bruise on his right knuckle, still tender from when Wonwoo had accidentally dropped a wrench next to him the other day. He frowns at the memory.
“And besides,” Wonwoo continues, scratching his neck. “We aren’t… we don’t— I don’t have to comply when it comes to your personal matters anymore, Soonyoung.”
This wins all of Soonyoung’s attention. He almost falls off the bed in petulant haste, newfound emotion fueling his veins and body. His face goes red-hot with something fierce, whether it be anger or humiliation.
“Is that what you think we were?” Soonyoung hisses. He sticks a finger in Wonwoo’s face, relishing the moment when the other man goes cross-eyed for a split second before smoothing over into his usual stoicism. “Is that what you’re telling yourself now, Jeon?”
“Soonyoung…”
“Well?”
“Soonyoung, please.” Wonwoo sounds mildly regretful and exasperated and part of Soonyoung is wishing for a nasty argument. A good, healthy fight. How did Wonwoo ever expect them to last when he wouldn’t speak up for himself? If they couldn’t ever talk about their relationship? Even when they were dating, they spoke like colleagues and fellow crew members and good friends. Like partners in crime. Never captain and his subordinate, no, but still—never lovers, either.
“That doesn’t matter right now,” Wonwoo mutters. He has the nerve to look as tired and miserable as he does.
Actually, Soonyoung hates him a lot. He inhales slowly and exhales even slower.
“You want to talk about me and Boo, then? Fine. Honestly, I’m tired of the nagging, the bullshit. The constant anxiety that just… radiates off of him. It’s agitating. And he always makes it my fucking problem. There. That good enough of a reason for you?”
“He was literally on your side earlier. Both of you are right to be upset with Junhui and Jihoon. They aren’t pulling their weight around here because they’re occupied with something else–something they definitely aren’t telling us.” Wonwoo scrubs a hand over his face and lets out a tired sigh. “But Seungkwan said one wrong thing and it was enough for you to shift all your anger at him and not them.”
For the first time in a long time, Wonwoo lets himself stare. “What’s your angle, Soonyoung?”
Is this how you treat everyone playing on your team?
Soonyoung’s shoulders stiffen up. The lesser part of him, the part that’s afraid and threatened and alone, bristles uncomfortably from within. Is this how Wonwoo saw him all along? Is this why he—
“Didn’t you say you were pressed for time, Jeon?”
“Soonyoung, I—”
He shoulder-checks Wonwoo like the asshole he supposedly is. Wonwoo obediently hops off of the cot, shrinks in on himself in the corner of the room.
Soonyoung doesn’t care to look him in the eye. “Dee-kay,” he calls out. “Any updates on the repairs?”
Presumably occupied, DK takes a few extra moments to reach Soonyoung’s quarters. He tries not to glare at Wonwoo too menacingly as they wait.
“Um, they’re certainly… still happening, sir!” DK chirps from the ceiling system, pale blue LED lights flashing along with their frustrated beeps. “We’re making some progress, I think!”
“Oh, gosh, they sound stressed. That’s not good at all,” Soonyoung says innocently. He gestures to the door with a plastic smile. “You should probably get going, then. I gotta get some rest.”
Wonwoo visibly deflates. “Goodnight."
He carefully closes the door on his way out.
-
Soonyoung has resigned himself to the fact that sleeping in outer space will never feel normal. Even after a dreamless night, waking up to coldness and metal and a black sky is enough to keep him disoriented while doing rounds. It feels perpetually liminal, like his slumber just won’t come to an end.
Tonight he lets himself dream.
In the first dream, he’s squished in the control room with the crew, feeling overstimulated by the low chatter and streams of information popping up on multiple holoscreens. He can’t tell if he’s even there or simply watching his body be a ghost to the crew.
Seungkwan stands in the corner with the astrophysicists, his arms crossed and mouth frowning. “It’s just like, how am I labeled as anal for trying to keep us alive? Do you guys just not give a fuck?”
Junhui takes an ambitious bite of his freeze-dried Melona bar. “Uh-huh,” he hums, wide-eyed and absently nodding along.
Jihoon chuckles lowly. “Language.”
“Well, you can fuck right—wait.” Seungkwan moves closer to a blue screen displaying radar data, gesturing to the left sector. “What’s that?”
“What’s what?” Junhui asks.
“There. It looks like activity.” Seungkwan’s finger lands on a rather abnormal patch of activity. “DK, can we get a better read on the upper-left quadrant?”
DK chuckles weakly, sounding tinny and high-strung through the intercom. “Ah, about the radar…” A flurry of blue lights appears to punctuate their hesitant words.
“Don’t tell me the satellite system is still screwed,” Jihoon grumbles. “Really, Boo, this is a glitch.”
Seungkwan scoffs. “It wouldn’t be glitching if you did your jobs for once instead of fucking around in the lab. What is it that you two accomplish, exactly? Study the blade while the rest of us suffer?”
“Seungkwan,” Wonwoo interjects from the other side of the control room.
“Save it, Jeon. I’m trying to cover your ass here, too.”
“No.” Junhui leans down to get a better look, popsicle stick between teeth.
Unimpressed, Seungkwan raises his brows. “No?”
“No, I mean,” Junhui jabs a sticky finger at the screen, “Officer Boo is correct. That has to be a sign of activity. DK, are you getting any system errors?”
DK beeps, “No, sir.”
Jihoon eyes the crew members. He crosses his arms and stares intently at the radar graph. “So what now? We’re probably lightyears away from the energy source. How can we get more info on it without the radar system at full functionality?”
“Energy source,” Wonwoo repeats slowly, moving out of his seat.
“Yeah,” Jihoon says distractedly.
Seungkwan takes a step back from the panel, scowling. “How’d you know it was an energy source? Jihoon? Junhui? When were you planning on telling us?”
Junhui’s stick falls from his mouth at the mention of his name. “Shit,” he hisses.
“Oh, dear,” comes DK’s fretful reply.
The dream suddenly shifts. Soonyoung is in his body once again, and he’s on another spontaneous spacewalk.
He’s floating in space and then, he’s terrified. Neither Junhui’s nor DK’s voices are audible in his ear. The tether to the station is stretched all the way. Helios 96 is enormous as usual, encompassing his entire view forward and it looks like it’s—
It looks like it’s on fire. Shit. Soonyoung is going to die.
A burst of energy, like a storm, surges through the universe. The tether snaps, and Soonyoung wordlessly watches his body break loose and spiral into another corner of this incomprehensible blackness.
And then, another. Like a solar flare, except this isn’t the Earth’s Sun. Helios 96 shouldn’t be able to produce solar storms despite the planet’s misnomer. Soonyoung doesn’t get it.
He wishes the dream would shift. It doesn’t. It won’t.
Instead, the ball of fire starts to change its form.
“Fuck fuck fuck,” Soonyoung yells. Without the Europa, he has no radio connection out here. “Mayday,” he screams anyway. “Mayday!”
As if on command, Helios 96 becomes… flatter. Longer. Takes another form entirely, like a shape-shifting god.
Soonyoung feels hot tears start to streak his freezing cheeks, fogging up his helmet visor. If he stays out here any longer, he will lose oxygen and he will die.
Helios 96 turns into an animal. A hungry creature of strength, solitude, and desire.
A tiger.
“Oh fuck me,” Soonyoung whispers shakily.
Stripes of pure orange energy and bright light are emblazoned across the tiger’s back. It stands on all fours and takes a deep breath as if it is to roar. Its teeth are like burning knives, white-hot and lurid. It is glorious. It is fucking terrifying.
In this dream, the tiger roars, and Soonyoung is about to be incinerated. Blown to pieces. The Helios mission would be forgotten. The Europa crew forgotten, Wonwoo forgotten. It feels like a metaphysical fable, the moral of the story barely grazing Soonyoung’s fingertips before he ultimately forgets it altogether.
Is this what it’s like to chase glory? To go the distance alone and self-destruct?
In this dream, Soonyoung will die alone.
But—
The last thing he gets a glimpse of is the fire tiger turning his way as if it sees him. It opens its mouth wide, all scary teeth and smoldering tongue.
Horanghae, Director Hong’s (?) mocking voice reverberates through the sky. Tiger loves you.
Soonyoung’s heart readies itself for its inevitable collapse. He uses the last of it to keep Wonwoo in his dying mind.
[FILL] so you'll have to hold me down
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: inaccurate sci-fi au, crack treated seriously, not really character death, a very crazy tiger "dream"
Permission to remix: Please ask
[tenatively] going for hall of fame: year of the tiger. also i took inspiration from this prompt as well
***
[1/2]
Click. Beep. “Okay, I’m sure you know the drill by now. This is Officer Seungkwan Boo, second-in-command on the Helios 96 Mission. Exploratory Division, something-Chapter, yadda yadda yadda. Log number— well. I’m not exactly sure. I guess I am losing track of time out here… But, anyways: the important stuff. For the millionth time this rotation, Captain Kwon has absolutely lost his mind. Firstly, he’s ruining everyone’s sleep routine and waking people up to help with ship repairs instead of just, I dunno, scheduling and setting time aside for our duties. Like, who even does that? This is an abuse of power if I’ve ever seen one. I mean, he’s basically asking us to stage a mutiny. Or— wait, is it still called a mutiny in outer space? I’ll look into it. Arghhhh. It’s getting… harder being up here. At first, it was just, you know, no gravity. The dehydrated food. Freeze-dried coffee. Homesickness. That used to get to me. But now that I overcame all of the initial problems, I find myself growing more frustrated with the crew. Dr. Lee is growing increasingly shady about some of his, uh, findings. Something about energy, gathering from what I've managed to read myself. Honestly, it’s beyond me, really. I’m stuck with crazy people on the Europa. And I thought being with other Asian-American astronauts would make things a little easier up here. I mean, the last thing I need is a white commander breathing down my neck. I would’ve lost it and lost my job, lost my merit. But this crew is full of… characters. Maybe it’s ‘cause I’m the youngest on board… I don’t know. Their egos are insane. I’ve never dealt with sociopaths like this back at NASA. What I’d do to go back there and argue with Jungchan right now… God. I really might just be stupid. Director Hong was like, ‘Seungkwan-ssi, I’ve got this secret job for you. Seungkwan-ssi, your determination, and experience could really help us here in the private sector. Seungkwan-ssi, you’re a prodigy.’ And I was like, when did we even start speaking Korean? Like, we were sitting in a Cracker Barrel in Houston. Now I know he did that just to spook me. All it took was a little flattery from Hong and I let myself get smooth-talked into a death sentence. That’s so embarrassing. So many brilliant minds here, yet not a single person values basic safety or protocol or even helpful, relevant research. That’s embarrassing, too. We’re still behind on repairs, on trying to locate that rogue satellite Hong kept talking about. Doctors Wen and Lee are definitely hiding something. DK is… DK. Jeon is alright, I guess. Doing his best. I haven’t seen Dr. Yoon in weeks, though. Who knows what he’s been toying with in the lab? He’s probably plotted our inevitable murders by now. And Captain Kwon is, as always, certifiably insane. Mutiny or not, that megalomaniac needs to learn his damn lesson for once. Anyway, that’s enough from me. Ha, I’ve talked myself into delirium. Officer Boo, signing out.” Click.
-
There’s a swooshing noise as the airlock controls let up. The massive metal door slides open.
“That’s all you, Captain,” Junhui cheerily says over the radio.
Soonyoung has done this so many times he’s sure he could do it in his sleep.
Propelling himself out of the airlock on light feet, he feels only the weight of the thick tether cord holds him back, keeping him rooted to the Europa.
At first, it’s just him and the space station enveloped in nothingness. An infinite, incomprehensible black. He looks down through the visor at his chunky space-suit-covered limbs and watches himself float around. It’s enough to inspire some purposeful motion, enough to get him to maneuver himself around and face the enormous orange planet in front of him.
Soonyoung leans back, huffing as he pretends to kick what’s hundreds of miles away. Lately, in his dreams, he’s always without his spacesuit and prickly helmet—nothing but a small child playing soccer with a ball of fire as it scalds his bare feet, or a skinny teenager trying to leap and dance across the edge of the galaxy as he’s being engulfed in lurid flames.
The dreams are so bizarre it makes him chuckle. Frankly, it’s all fucking terrifying.
“And beautiful,” Junhui pipes up in Soonyoung’s ear. Europa’s AI, DK, beeps along too, sounding impossibly merry.
“That’s right, you guys,” Soonyoung agrees, smiling to himself. Helios 96 burns on, and furiously at that. “It’s beautiful.”
-
“You ready to go back inside, Captain?”
“Just give me a few, Wen. Then we can get back to those repairs.”
He can hear Junhui steadily losing consciousness in the control room. “Whatever you want, it’s your call,” he replies sleepily.
Soonyoung closes his eyes, too. Briefly, he lets the universe hold him.
-
Wonwoo is waiting for him in his quarters when Soonyoung dismisses the crew for the rest of the rotation.
The energy in his body leaves him all at once. “Wonwoo, look—”
“Jeon,” Wonwoo corrects, demeanor stony. “Call me Jeon, Captain.”
“Hey,” Soonyoung steps towards the cot, “please don’t be like that.”
Wonwoo’s eyes flick to the left from behind thick lenses. “Fine,” he says quietly. “So. What the hell was that back there?”
Soonyoung flops down on the cot, looking up at Wonwoo dumbfoundedly. He looks good, sitting on his bed in fatigues. His hair has grown out longer than usual. The same old tattered scars decorating his arms, one on his chin. So familiar and still, out of reach.
Soonyoung wants to make the sight of him last longer than it ever will. “What was what?”
“Soonyoung, I’m serious. I don’t have time for this right now.”
Soonyoung scowls. He used to think it was impossible, but he really might hate Wonwoo these days. “You should probably go lecture Boo instead of me,” he grumbles.
“This isn’t a lecture,” he says diplomatically. “It’s a conversation.
“Like hell it is.”
“Soonyoung,” he grits out.
“Fine,” Soonyoung relents. “I just can’t— I’m honestly at my limit with Boo. You know that.”
“Sure I do,” Wonwoo says, crossing his arms over his chest. “Doesn’t mean I agree with it.”
Scandalized, Soonyoung scrambles to sit upright. “You’re taking his side?”
Wonwoo rolls his eyes. “There are no sides. You’re the goddamn captain, which means your primary concern should be keeping the crew functional.”
Soonyoung looks down at his hands. There’s a small bruise on his right knuckle, still tender from when Wonwoo had accidentally dropped a wrench next to him the other day. He frowns at the memory.
“And besides,” Wonwoo continues, scratching his neck. “We aren’t… we don’t— I don’t have to comply when it comes to your personal matters anymore, Soonyoung.”
This wins all of Soonyoung’s attention. He almost falls off the bed in petulant haste, newfound emotion fueling his veins and body. His face goes red-hot with something fierce, whether it be anger or humiliation.
“Is that what you think we were?” Soonyoung hisses. He sticks a finger in Wonwoo’s face, relishing the moment when the other man goes cross-eyed for a split second before smoothing over into his usual stoicism. “Is that what you’re telling yourself now, Jeon?”
“Soonyoung…”
“Well?”
“Soonyoung, please.” Wonwoo sounds mildly regretful and exasperated and part of Soonyoung is wishing for a nasty argument. A good, healthy fight. How did Wonwoo ever expect them to last when he wouldn’t speak up for himself? If they couldn’t ever talk about their relationship? Even when they were dating, they spoke like colleagues and fellow crew members and good friends. Like partners in crime. Never captain and his subordinate, no, but still—never lovers, either.
“That doesn’t matter right now,” Wonwoo mutters. He has the nerve to look as tired and miserable as he does.
Actually, Soonyoung hates him a lot. He inhales slowly and exhales even slower.
“You want to talk about me and Boo, then? Fine. Honestly, I’m tired of the nagging, the bullshit. The constant anxiety that just… radiates off of him. It’s agitating. And he always makes it my fucking problem. There. That good enough of a reason for you?”
“He was literally on your side earlier. Both of you are right to be upset with Junhui and Jihoon. They aren’t pulling their weight around here because they’re occupied with something else–something they definitely aren’t telling us.” Wonwoo scrubs a hand over his face and lets out a tired sigh. “But Seungkwan said one wrong thing and it was enough for you to shift all your anger at him and not them.”
For the first time in a long time, Wonwoo lets himself stare. “What’s your angle, Soonyoung?”
Is this how you treat everyone playing on your team?
Soonyoung’s shoulders stiffen up. The lesser part of him, the part that’s afraid and threatened and alone, bristles uncomfortably from within. Is this how Wonwoo saw him all along? Is this why he—
“Didn’t you say you were pressed for time, Jeon?”
“Soonyoung, I—”
He shoulder-checks Wonwoo like the asshole he supposedly is. Wonwoo obediently hops off of the cot, shrinks in on himself in the corner of the room.
Soonyoung doesn’t care to look him in the eye. “Dee-kay,” he calls out. “Any updates on the repairs?”
Presumably occupied, DK takes a few extra moments to reach Soonyoung’s quarters. He tries not to glare at Wonwoo too menacingly as they wait.
“Um, they’re certainly… still happening, sir!” DK chirps from the ceiling system, pale blue LED lights flashing along with their frustrated beeps. “We’re making some progress, I think!”
“Oh, gosh, they sound stressed. That’s not good at all,” Soonyoung says innocently. He gestures to the door with a plastic smile. “You should probably get going, then. I gotta get some rest.”
Wonwoo visibly deflates. “Goodnight."
He carefully closes the door on his way out.
-
Soonyoung has resigned himself to the fact that sleeping in outer space will never feel normal. Even after a dreamless night, waking up to coldness and metal and a black sky is enough to keep him disoriented while doing rounds. It feels perpetually liminal, like his slumber just won’t come to an end.
Tonight he lets himself dream.
In the first dream, he’s squished in the control room with the crew, feeling overstimulated by the low chatter and streams of information popping up on multiple holoscreens. He can’t tell if he’s even there or simply watching his body be a ghost to the crew.
Seungkwan stands in the corner with the astrophysicists, his arms crossed and mouth frowning. “It’s just like, how am I labeled as anal for trying to keep us alive? Do you guys just not give a fuck?”
Junhui takes an ambitious bite of his freeze-dried Melona bar. “Uh-huh,” he hums, wide-eyed and absently nodding along.
Jihoon chuckles lowly. “Language.”
“Well, you can fuck right—wait.” Seungkwan moves closer to a blue screen displaying radar data, gesturing to the left sector. “What’s that?”
“What’s what?” Junhui asks.
“There. It looks like activity.” Seungkwan’s finger lands on a rather abnormal patch of activity. “DK, can we get a better read on the upper-left quadrant?”
DK chuckles weakly, sounding tinny and high-strung through the intercom. “Ah, about the radar…” A flurry of blue lights appears to punctuate their hesitant words.
“Don’t tell me the satellite system is still screwed,” Jihoon grumbles. “Really, Boo, this is a glitch.”
Seungkwan scoffs. “It wouldn’t be glitching if you did your jobs for once instead of fucking around in the lab. What is it that you two accomplish, exactly? Study the blade while the rest of us suffer?”
“Seungkwan,” Wonwoo interjects from the other side of the control room.
“Save it, Jeon. I’m trying to cover your ass here, too.”
“No.” Junhui leans down to get a better look, popsicle stick between teeth.
Unimpressed, Seungkwan raises his brows. “No?”
“No, I mean,” Junhui jabs a sticky finger at the screen, “Officer Boo is correct. That has to be a sign of activity. DK, are you getting any system errors?”
DK beeps, “No, sir.”
Jihoon eyes the crew members. He crosses his arms and stares intently at the radar graph. “So what now? We’re probably lightyears away from the energy source. How can we get more info on it without the radar system at full functionality?”
“Energy source,” Wonwoo repeats slowly, moving out of his seat.
“Yeah,” Jihoon says distractedly.
Seungkwan takes a step back from the panel, scowling. “How’d you know it was an energy source? Jihoon? Junhui? When were you planning on telling us?”
Junhui’s stick falls from his mouth at the mention of his name. “Shit,” he hisses.
“Oh, dear,” comes DK’s fretful reply.
The dream suddenly shifts. Soonyoung is in his body once again, and he’s on another spontaneous spacewalk.
He’s floating in space and then, he’s terrified. Neither Junhui’s nor DK’s voices are audible in his ear. The tether to the station is stretched all the way. Helios 96 is enormous as usual, encompassing his entire view forward and it looks like it’s—
It looks like it’s on fire. Shit. Soonyoung is going to die.
A burst of energy, like a storm, surges through the universe. The tether snaps, and Soonyoung wordlessly watches his body break loose and spiral into another corner of this incomprehensible blackness.
And then, another. Like a solar flare, except this isn’t the Earth’s Sun. Helios 96 shouldn’t be able to produce solar storms despite the planet’s misnomer. Soonyoung doesn’t get it.
He wishes the dream would shift. It doesn’t. It won’t.
Instead, the ball of fire starts to change its form.
“Fuck fuck fuck,” Soonyoung yells. Without the Europa, he has no radio connection out here. “Mayday,” he screams anyway. “Mayday!”
As if on command, Helios 96 becomes… flatter. Longer. Takes another form entirely, like a shape-shifting god.
Soonyoung feels hot tears start to streak his freezing cheeks, fogging up his helmet visor. If he stays out here any longer, he will lose oxygen and he will die.
Helios 96 turns into an animal. A hungry creature of strength, solitude, and desire.
A tiger.
“Oh fuck me,” Soonyoung whispers shakily.
Stripes of pure orange energy and bright light are emblazoned across the tiger’s back. It stands on all fours and takes a deep breath as if it is to roar. Its teeth are like burning knives, white-hot and lurid. It is glorious. It is fucking terrifying.
In this dream, the tiger roars, and Soonyoung is about to be incinerated. Blown to pieces. The Helios mission would be forgotten. The Europa crew forgotten, Wonwoo forgotten. It feels like a metaphysical fable, the moral of the story barely grazing Soonyoung’s fingertips before he ultimately forgets it altogether.
Is this what it’s like to chase glory? To go the distance alone and self-destruct?
In this dream, Soonyoung will die alone.
But—
The last thing he gets a glimpse of is the fire tiger turning his way as if it sees him. It opens its mouth wide, all scary teeth and smoldering tongue.
Horanghae, Director Hong’s (?) mocking voice reverberates through the sky. Tiger loves you.
Soonyoung’s heart readies itself for its inevitable collapse. He uses the last of it to keep Wonwoo in his dying mind.