All right this is it. The last chapter for The Persphone Arc. Thank you for coming along for the ride. This will also be the last chapter or fic that I'd post on FFN. I will be posting all future fic for Trials of Ryder, including the sequel to the Cetus Arc over on AO3 exclusively. I'm natsora over on AO3 and Tumblr as well so feel free to come hang out there with me.
"Is that all?" Ryder asked, peering over Scott's shoulder. He had filled his with coffee beans. Bags and bags of the stuff. "Just coffee?"
She reached in to push some out of the way only to have her hand swatted.
"Of course not!" he snapped, shoving some of the bags aside to show her the small handful of datapads hidden underneath. "Holos of Ma, of Earth, of friends, of places that I'll never see again."
He grew quiet as his grip on his footlocker tightened. She sighed and clapped his back before bending past him. "What's this?" she pulled a small grey brick. Turning it around her hand, she saw it had a four-way D-pad and two red buttons.
"Careful with that," he cried, nearly snatching it out of her hands. "I've spent a fortune for this."
"What is it?" she asked, eyebrows raised. "Looks like a gaming machine, but it's so small and heavy."
Scott's eyes shined. "It's a retro portable gaming machine by one of the greatest gaming companies on Earth. It's a Nintendo Gameboy, the original version."
"Wow." She reached out towards it. "Let me try it out."
"No." Scott slapped her hand away. "I'm keeping this baby for when we set up our first outpost."
Ryder chuckled, turning back to her own footlocker. She wasn't done with hers. Tucking the fountain pen and her mother's last journal into a protective case, she placed it right next to her motorcycle helmet.
"You packed your helmet?" Scott scoffed.
"You're bringing coffee beans, Scott," she pointed out, checking her chunky original generation iPod was secured. She had made sure to purchase extra 30-pin charging cables as well as 3.5mm stereo jack headphones. "You don't get to complain."
"I can when you pack shitty old music player."
"Pot, kettle, black, Scott."
Ryder looked at her scattered belongings. 22 years packed into a single 90cm by 55cm by 38cm footlocker was hard. Letting go of all the ties she had to the Milky Way was harder. Since returning to Theia station, she threw everything she had into the Initiative. Her old life no longer tugged at her, the might-have-beens didn't haunt her like it used to.
She was ready to go to Andromeda.
Ryder walked the sprawling decks of the Hyperion. It was mostly empty. All the non-essential personnel had already been put into cryo. And they, the Pathfinder teams, were next.
Scott grunted as he thumped the footlocker against the counter. "Scott Ryder, human Pathfinder team, designation A-04-Malapa."
The man at the counter nodded, hefting it up to stack it with the others. It came down with a bang against the other footlockers.
"Careful with that," Scott said.
The man rolled his eyes. "There are mini mass effect fields in there to make sure nothing gets jostled around. Don't worry." He scanned the footlocker with his omni-tool. "I'll make sure it gets to the right place."
He turned his attention to Ryder. She slid hers across the counter to him. "Sara Ryder, human Pathfinder team, designation A-03-Malapa."
With that done, they took themselves down to the cryo bay. Harry and Lexi were busy running final scans, checking on the pods and assuring those heading to cryo that everything would be fine. Families saying good bye to each other even though they were all going to sleep right next to each other, close but not touching.
Lexi waved them over and handed them plain white undergarments. "Change into these, then we'll get the final scans done."
Ryder raised an eyebrow at Scott, he shrugged. Everyone else were padding around bare feet wearing those. Kosta called out, he was leaning against his pod, "Hey! You guys are here."
Fisher, Kirkland and Greer emerged from the changing room to join Kosta. Harry was affixing electrodes over various parts of their bodies — temples, chest, arms and legs.
Ryder approached Kosta as Lexi told him to get into his pod. He climbed in and she couldn't help but feel that the pod looked so much like a coffin. Best not to think about it.
Kosta shuffled and shifted to get into a comfortable position. "These things suck as beds," he commented in the end.
"It's not meant to be comfortable, it's meant to keep you safe and alive for 600 years," Lexi pointed out, bending over to inject something into the crook of his elbow. "Just a little sedative to start you off."
"A little comfort goes a long way," he replied before sighing.
"Sleep tight, Kosta." Ryder patted his arm, chuckled, "Don't let the bed bugs bite."
He shuddered. "Fuck, no. 600 years with bedbugs, perish the thought."
She entered the changing room to find Harper undressing. "Hey," she greeted. "You've got all your stuff done?"
Harper nodded. "I've said my goodbyes. You?"
"I wish I had time for more rides on Earth but it is what it is," she replied. "There is never enough."
"Riding? A bicycle?"
Ryder shook her head. "A motorcycle," she grinned. "Nothing quite beats the wind in your hair." She ran her fingers through her ponytail. It had seen grown back out in the intervening months, not quite back to her previous length but short stubble no longer dotted her scalp.
She removed her clothes and put on the pair of white boxer briefs and sports bra. "Done?" Harper asked. "Come on, let's go."
They returned to the cryo bay in time to see Kosta's pod being sealed. "Out like a light," Scott reported, he had also changed.
Harry turned to them. "So who's next? Fisher, Kirkland and Greer are prepped. It's just the three of you."
"What about Pa?" Scott asked.
"He's scheduled to go into cryo tomorrow."
"He could have come and see us off."
"Who says I won't?" a gruff voice asked.
Ryder spun to find her father looking at her. Harper nodded and turned to Harry. "I'll go next."
Harry guided Harper into the next empty pod and was speaking to her. Their father had an arm on Scott's shoulder. "Everything is prepped?" he asked.
"It's a little late asking that, isn't it?" Scott replied, laughing.
She stood awkwardly an arm's distance away. Near enough that others knew they were a group but far enough her father couldn't reach out to touch her — not that he would. She watched, hovering on the edge. The yearning to join in was overwhelming but equal to it was fear. Fear of rejection, fear of those grey eyes looking and judging everything she did or did not do critically. She refused to put herself that position. She had a lifetime's worth of that, she didn't need more, not now.
"Sara."
Her head jerked up. Her father called her name. A hand reached out towards her, but she needed to take that first step to close the circle. Her legs were stiff, muscles twitching. Scott looked at her, his eyes begging and hopeful.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped forward and her father's hand rested on her shoulder. Scott beamed, his smile couldn't get any wider. As quickly as her father's hand touched her, he took it away. Somehow his hand had seemed to burn an imprint into her shoulder even from that brief contact. He held their gaze in turn, "I'll see you in Andromeda."
"Yes, sir," Scott replied, mock-saluting.
Ryder nodded, unable to find her tongue to speak.
The electrodes itched a little. Her fingers couldn't help but pick at them. "Stop it," Lexi chided, shooting her a look.
Ryder dropped her hand like a child caught doing something she wasn't supposed to. She grinned. "How many more people do you have to get through?"
The doctor sighed and shook her head. "Don't remind me. So many more and the Leadership seem to suddenlybe running on some kind of time table. We have to do it right, cryo isn't something to be trifled with."
"And I appreciate the care you give us."
Lexi looked up from her datapad and smiled. The furrow across her brow eased a little, the tension across her shoulders relaxed. "Thank you, Sara."
Lexi's hand reached across the space between them and gripped her shoulder. The contact was warm. Ryder leaned into it a little, not realising how much she missed having simple physical contact. The Ryders had elevated stoicism to an art form.
"It must be terrifying," she blurted, trying to cover up how much Lexi's touch had affected her.
"What is?" Lexi had gone back to her scans.
"Well, if you are the ones putting us into cryo, who would be putting you into cryo? Are they are as experienced and trained as you are?"
Lexi's finger froze in mid-air and her eyes darted to Ryder's. "Why did you have to put that thought into my head?"
She chuckled. "Sorry."
"Stop scaring Lexi." Harry walked over. "We have well trained staff that are not actually coming on this one way trip with us."
"You're clear, Sara," Lexi said, "If you want to talk to your brother before I give you the sedative, now is the time to do it."
The doctors moved onto the next set of sleepers. Ryder glanced at the number of people striding purposefully through the bay. Porters moving pods with the newly asleep to secure chambers, readying them for the long journey. Soon to be sleepers, speaking in hushed tones with their colleagues, friends and families. Some were weeping as the reality of the situation pressed on them. The next time they opened their eyes and breathe, everyone they left behind would be long dead and gone. And they'd to go on with the rest of their lives knowing that. She turned her eyes away. Her eyes were dry, there was nobody she was leaving behind. She had everything to look forward to. A life of toil for sure, but it wouldn't be one of combat and conflict.
And she had Scott with her. What more do I need?
Ryder headed over to Scott's pod. He was already lying inside. "Hey," he greeted, his eyes fluttering. "Harry gave me the good stuff."
"And you couldn't wait to speak to me before getting it, huh?"
He chuckled. "Oops?"
She snorted and tousled his hair.
"Hey!" he snapped. "No touching the hair."
"You'd think the hair is a whole entity of its own."
He pouted but the expression faded quickly as he sat up and pulled her down. Ryder bent awkwardly over the pod as he hugged her. "I'm glad you chose to come," he mumbled into her shoulder.
"Me too, Scott," she whispered, rubbing a hand along his back. "Me too."
He broke the hug and grinned at her. "See you in 600 years, Sara."
"Night, Scott."
Ryder walked back to her pod. Lexi was waiting. She climbed in and lay down. "The sedatives will take a while to work, but don't go running around once I've administer it."
"You got it." A sharp pinch pierced the crook of her elbow. Lexi proceeded to hook the electrodes to wires inside the pod. The exterior of the pods lit up with her vitals. "These will help maintain your muscle tone while you sleep. Just relax, and I'll be back in a bit."
Ryder tried to make herself comfortable, but Kosta was right. It was uncomfortable. There was nothing to do really so she triggered her omni-tool, and it played a song. Strings strummed and a clear light voice started singing.
There's a fire that's growing in me
There's a world that I'm longing to see
Ryder took a deep breath, eyes aimed up at the white ceiling. There was a clenching in her guts, a tightness in a chest. It had nothing to do with the sedative. It was anticipation, it was hope.
Where the wind is alive
And moves like a song
As her eyes drifted shut, she heard the pod being sealed. A solid thunk and a hiss as air rushed over her. Inhale, exhale, and everything slowed down, taking away thought, sensations and fear.
"I wonder what Andromeda will be like?" she whispered as the long sleep claimed her.
Yeah this is where I belong
Lyrics taken from My Morning Star by The Well Pennies