Another Life (Oc x reader)

Chapter 5 - Mutiny

"My daughter sang a nonsensical song about a star, and this baby just closed his eyes and fell asleep, all because of the sound of her voice."

"And?" Dubois asks him as they walk out on the field toward the Artefact.

"And that brings me to your favourite bird, the pigeon. So, infrasound was the right idea, but we got the message all wrong. We weren't specific enough. So, I sourced every deep space transmission going back to the 1960s."

"There's gotta be hundreds." Singh says.

"Thousands, so I whittled them down. Took away the background noises of signals to, say, satellites. And on October 24, 2026, a group of scientists beamed 'Eine kleine Nactmusik' by Mozart directly towards Canis Majoris."

"And these aliens head it?"

"A version of it. This version. Play song." He says and the song plays from the speakers. "Drop frequency down to one hertz a second and drop it into infrasound."

The music slows and it gets silent for the human ears. Nothing happens. Dubois sighs and cross her arms. She clears her throat.

"Just-"

"Erik."

"Hold on. It'll work.."

There's still no response.

...

"William, set course for Pi Canis Majoris." Ethan tells him and leave the observation deck to get ready for soma sleep.

"You look ready for a long nap." William tells you.

"Early to bed, early to rise." You joke as you close up your work station before getting in soma.

"Makes a woman healthy, wealthy and wise."

"I'll take healthy. Never gonna be wealthy and if I were wise, I would have found a way to force Ethan to stay on Earth." You then turn to look at him. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Course you can. Anything you want."

"Your name. Why William?"

"After William Grey Walter, one of the founding fathers of cybernetics. I guess I just wanted a name that meant something to me."

"Did you take his form?"

"His form? No." He chuckles. "I ran a bunch of algorithms based on what you and Ethan like, what you don't like, all of the various people of your lives, your friends, your enemies, your frenemies and then using that data, I created your ideal interfaces."

"Hm." You smile, surprised and fascinated.

"But if you don't like it, I can change into any form you want."

"Oh, no! No, it's perfect. It's you." You tell him with a soft smile. He smiles happily. "Do you mind checking on Ethan? If he's ready for soma? I still got some things I need to do here, just tell him he doesn't have to wait for me."

"Of course."

He nods and then disappears, then appears in Ethan's soma chamber just as he walks in. Ethan smiles at him, but then frowns at the others. William turns around to Yerxa

"Ethan Stone. As second-in-command, I hereby inform you that you have lost the confidence of your crew." Yerxa informs him.

"Excuse me?"

"You're putting the mission in danger and so I am relieving you of your duty."

"Ian, we had a disagreement." Ethan tells him and takes a step further into the room. "That's it. So let's go somewhere and talk. Just you and me. Let's just talk."

Michelle walks behind, blocking Ethan's exit.

"Will you change your mind? Because I don't think you will. I think that what we saw today is the kind of leadership we can expect under you.. Weak. Toothless. A style that puts the whole mission at risk, and worse, leaves the Earth completely defenceless."

"William."

"I've alerted the others. Yn is already on the way." He tells Ethan.

Yerxa nods to Michelle and Oliver. Ethan elbows Michelle and jump, kicking Yerxa backwards to the floor. Oliver throws a punch but Ethan blocks his hand and knees him. Yerxa comes up behind and kick him hard where he was exposed and Ethan grunts in pain. Before he can retaliate Yerxa injects him with sedative and he groans. Yerxa catches him and ease his way to the floor, still holding him.

"I've got this now. It's okay." Yerxa tells him.

"William." Ethan groan out.

"I'm locked out of the somatic systems." William says and then you come running into the chamber.

You gasp. "What did you do!?"

You run over and bend down to Ethan just as he goes unconscious. You caress him and check his pulse.

Before Yerxa knows what's happening, you've punched him in the nose. He falls back on the floor and clutch his nose. Michelle grab you from behind and pull you back as Yerxa grab a hold of Ethan, taking him from your hands. Being stronger than you, Michelle drags you out of the room, even though you trash in her hold. She throws you out of the room and walk back in before you get up from the floor and locks the door. You bang on the door, yelling at them.

Yerxa and Oliver lifts Ethan up and put him in the soma, struggling slightly because of the weight of his muscles. There was a reason they had three ready to take him down, but they still knew they needed to use sedation to actually get him down. He was more than strong and skilled enough to take down three people their size attacking him at the same time. But they were prepared for him and they knew he would hold back, not wanting to hurt them too badly.

"Soma initiated." The automatic voice of the Salvare's computer announce.

Yerxa breathes heavily, catching his breath. "Clean up. Get the rest of the crew and meet me on the observation deck."

Oliver and Michelle, who are both clutching a part of themselves in pain, walk out of the soma chamber. William looks at Yerxa incredulously.

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