Neville’s consciousness drifted in and out. One mont, he was acutely aware of the steady beeping of the life pod. The next thing he knew, he was floating sowhere between waking and dreaming, his body pressed against Grayson’s sleeping body.
[Host, oxygen levels have dropped to 23%. I recomnd conserving energy,] Shelly said chanically. [Would you like to refill it again?]
Neville nodded and spent another set of points keeping them alive. The 45 minutes turned into hours until he couldn’t tell the ti anymore.
He wanted to tell her that he was already conserving energy. But he couldn’t help but focus on the warmth radiating from Grayson’s body. He was confirming if he was still alive and breathing.
The life pod swayed suddenly, and Neville’s fingers instinctively curled into the fabric of Grayson’s shirt. Outside the small reinforced glass window, the stars continued their endless, indifferent dance.
How long had they been drifting around?
[Host, I’m detecting an incoming cha!] Shelly reported excitedly. [Looks like it ca from the company!]
Neville tried to sit up, but his body felt so heavy. "Fi...finally?"
[It seed that they had difficulty in finding the position of the life pod because you’re 120% away from the last signal.]
"So we’ve been playing hide and seek in the galaxy all this ti?" Neville retorted weakly.
[╮(╯▽╰)╭]
A tallic clang reverberated through the life pod. Neville’s breath caught in his throat as the pressure seals hissed.
Then, the hatch burst open, flooding the cramped space with artificial light that made Neville’s eyes water. Through his blurred vision, he made out a familiar silhouette.
"Sir Seaton," Neville croaked out, relief washing over him.
Julius imdiately ransacked the life pod. His hands moved to check Bryan’s pulse first, then Grayson’s, and finally landed on Neville’s shoulder. His grip was probably ant to be reassuring, but mostly it just hurts.
"We’ve been searching for three days," Julius said, his voice tight.
"...fried." Neville managed to explain weakly.
Three days? Has it been three days? What about his quest?
Shelly secretly opened the holographic screen of the system and showed him, [D-0]
Since it was in D-0 and not completed, it was still unconfird whether Grayson would survive this.
Julius’s eyes swept over Grayson’s unconscious body. Sothing dangerous flickered in the depths of his eyes.
"What happened to him?" he asked.
Neville tried to recall the scene where he rescued Grayson. "I saw him awake and fighting. Then he fell, then he hasn’t woken up until then."
Julius’s jaw clenched.
"We need to move. Now. Stewart needs dical attention, and the boss—" He cut himself off, but Neville understood.
It seed that Grayson needed more than just any ordinary hospital.
Two other n appeared behind Julius, whose nas Neville didn’t know and couldn’t be bothered to rember.
"Take him first," Neville said, his voice steadier than before. "Bryan needs imdiate care."
They moved toward Bryan, lifting him away.
Julius nodded, barking orders at his team. But when he turned back to reach for Grayson, he found an unexpected obstacle.
Neville hadn’t let go. His fingers were still curled into Grayson’s shirt, knuckles white, grip iron despite the trembling of his exhausted muscles.
"Mr. Hope," Julius said carefully, "I need to move Mr. Maxwell."
"I’m coming with you."
"You need dical attention, too. There’s a dical station on the nearest planet—"
"I said," Neville interrupted, eting Julius’s eye with an intense gaze that surprised them both, "I’m coming with you."
For a long mont, the two n stared at each other. The power dynamic should have been obvious, but Julius looked away first.
"Fine," he said gruffly. "But we’re running out of ti. Mr. Maxwell needs to get back to Xylos—there’s a private facility there, doctors who know his... condition."
Condition. It seed that there was sothing really wrong with Grayson.
"Then let’s go," Neville said.
The transfer was a blur of motion.
Bryan was loaded onto the rescue vessel first, then transferred to a smaller ship that would take him to the nearest planet with adequate dical facilities.
Neville barely heard him. His entire focus had narrowed towards Grayson and Grayson alone.
The ergency flight back to Xylos was the longest four hours of Neville’s life. He sat beside Grayson’s stretcher, refusing the dical attention the starship’s doctor tried to offer to him.
He refused the water and nutrient solutions that were practically shoved in his face. His hand found its way back to Grayson’s. His fingers intertwined with the alpha’s larger ones in a gesture that felt simultaneously natural and terrifying.
[Host,] Shelly gently said, [I need to tell you sothing important.]
’What is it?’
[I’ve been analyzing Mr. Maxwell’s condition. The physical readings are normal—heartbeat, respiration, neural activity. By all asurable standards, he should be awake by now.]
’But he’s not.’
[Exactly. Because the problem isn’t physical. Host... Mr. Maxwell is experiencing a ntal riot recoil. It’s a coma-inducing phenonon.]
’How long will he be going to sleep?’ Neville asked, his grip on Grayson’s hand tightening.
[Without intervention, it will only worsen. His spiritual realm is in turmoil—I can sense the black impurities spreading.]
Black impurities? Another term that Neville didn’t know about, but had no ti to listen to a lecture about it.
’What can I do?’ he asked silently.
[Two options. You can sing him a rmaid’s song, which would soothe his spiritual realm and ease the riot. Or...] Shelly paused dramatically, and Neville could practically see her seashell body bouncing with barely contained excitent. [Or you can have intimate contact with him.]
Neville’s eye twitched. ’And by intimate contact, you an...?’
[Kissing would be the most efficient thod right now! ♪(´ε｀)]
Neville closed his eyes, fighting the urge to bang his head against the nearest wall. He was not—absolutely not—going to kiss his unconscious boss in front of Julius and a ship full of witnesses.
The sexual harassnt lawsuit alone would bankrupt him, never mind the awkwardness of explaining to Grayson why he would act like a prince charming to a Sleeping Beauty with him.
’Can’t I just sing?’ he asked desperately.
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