History

I dont even remember why we moved to Eden, it was so long ago. It might have been my mom following work, when I think harder about it. All I know is it wasnt long after that when the Quiet Rapture happened, and life turned upside down. Being Eden, it was probably the best place to have started the whole ordeal, with their better stock of supplies and hydroponics. But it wasnt enough.

Despair crept into everyone. Looking back at it now, with better language, I can say for certain a cult formed out of the despair. People too scared to hope fell head over heels for it. Mom was one of them. I went along with it, I never should have, but I trusted her. But I think she knew that I was better at hope, and encouraged it in me.

She left her hope with me, and ended her despair. Alongside the others who didnt have enough hope to fight any more. I fell in with the wrong crowd after that. I was one of the ones that delivered mercy to those who didnt have enough hope. I was good at it, my moniker was well earned.

Over time, I became disillusioned in my Brothers' vision of hope. We had food and water, we were surviving, but just as everyone else, our infrastructure was crumbling. Back and forth scuffles with the COI over supplies gave us a bad reputation. I dont know why we didnt just trade. Something about the cult, if I had to guess. Then Fillament Station happened.

It was supposed to be a peaceful takeover. We get supplies, we get out. Some Brothers didnt agree to the peaceful part; I did my best to monitor that they didnt thwart that, we didnt need any more opposition. I dont care that I got called soft, the amount of death I'd seen over the years was taking a toll on my hope. I wanted just one run where no one died, hard to do in space, but possible. The plan was a distraction, small explosions in parts of the station that would be just fine after the blast. I calculated every payload myself, every location. Then my Brothers betrayed me and a couple others on my side. They put the payloads in unagreed upon spots; I didnt know until I detonated them.

I was caught fleeing. Of course I surrendered to the COI. Another 60-some peoples' worth of blood was on my hands, people I hadnt agreed to take the lives of. People who didnt ask for it. I didnt do it, but I'd also pulled the trigger. I bought into Eden's bullshit. Some of it. Thus, I was the one responsible for Fillament Station.

There's not much to say about being prisoner of the COI. I was treated as lower than scum, but I was a useful set of hands in their back pocket for whenever my lot was drawn, so I was kept alive; too few to rebuild, too many to feed. Eventually, my lot was drawn.

There isnt much I can say about the expedition that the movie doesnt cover. But, for those who cant stomach horror, I can describe it. Not that my description wont be horrific.

The COI found a moon covered in an ocean of blood. Weird enough as it is, they thought it might hold resources, and needed a fucker to go down and explore it. That was my Realization, my Penance. Take photos of points of interest, come back up, and I was free. A member of the COI, with my slate wiped clean. That was the deal. Of course they renegged on the deal. Got some photos, what we all thought was a big fucking alien skeleton, at first. Didnt realize that it was alive and it rattled me around in that tin can.

They brought me up, put a sample taker on the sub. Even with my protests, they broke the deal, said I wasnt done, and I was sent back down. Not before accidentally irradiating the ship's hangar because no one thought to tell me the camera I was taking photos with was fucking xrays. Once more, blood on my hands because people did shit behind my back.

Found the "skeleton" again, got the sample. Alien fish broke the reel as the tow ship tried to pull me in, and dragged me into a cave. All the while I was being shaken around like ice in a cocktail mixer. Got my head bashed good, woke up in pitch blackness who knows how long after. Figured out how to get the tin can back up and running, and sat staring at the coordinates hud for a good long while, delirious. I was off the map the COI gave me, but I made up my mind; there was no way I was dying down there.

It was hot as fuck, and I caught the fish trailing me as I tried to navigate my way out of the cave. I'm not sure when I started to hallucinate. After that knock on the head, the stupid decision to chug isopropyl alcohol, and who knows how much radiation I was being exposed to (the COI fucks seemed to think it was none, but I digress) I'm not even sure what all from here out physically happened, or my brain made up.

I know the SM-08 was real though. My tin can was designated the SM-13, so from there I knew I wasnt the first unlucky asshole to be sent down here. The 08 was in tatters. Like something blew it open from the inside. That didnt bode well. I know it was real because when I finally made my way out of the cave, I managed to get contact with the tow ship again. I told them I found it, even though they told me I was their first sucker down here. Their tones shifted. Seems that was a ship that was worth more than all our lives combined. They'd been told not to retrieve me after the fish cut the tow cable, they'd broken the deal again. But I bargained that I'd go back and get the blackbox info from the 08, in return for them retrieving me.

That worked. In a flurry of hallucinations, including someone claiming that the answer to the quiet rapture was at the bottom of that ocean, I did make it back to the 08. My tin can downloaded their blackbox info. That's when shit went weird.

It's like the ocean itself came alive. Blood creeping in, fighting me to not get that info back to the surface. Growths scabbed along the inside of the hull, holding down the button to the camera, so I could see the fish stalking me. The blood was destroying my skin. The fish destroyed the retrieval unit sent to get me.

I retrieved my tin can's black box. I accepted there was no way I was getting out of this alive, if the ocean and that fish wanted me dead so badly. The COI's stupid motto of "this is bigger than us" drove me at that point. That black box was making it to the surface, even if I couldnt. I wrapped it in the most ironic life preserver I'd ever seen in my life. I asked my mom to keep it safe.

Then I fought like hell against the ocean itself. It may sound like a hallucination, but the blood grew flesh upon the inside of the tin can. It grabbed me and tried to string me up. The only reason I know all this is true is because I'm still missing my arm, from where it tore off trying to free it from the blood's growths. The fish bit into my tin can this time, and enraged, I broke it's tooth with the ship's fire extinguisher. Sounds silly but, man I was angry. I'm pretty sure I drowned after that, as the blood rushed in and filled the tin can. I couldnt keep my feet under me, and with it thrashing around, I couldnt keep my head afloat. I'm not sure, I'd never swam before, but I know you cant breathe with blood in your lungs.

Current

You've paid your penance, Simon. We're not your judges; we cant be your judges. You get a second chance, now--you're free.

Simon arrived with us in a veritable tidal wave of blood, despair, and anguish. Though he knew he was dying in that submersible, he hardly had the chance to accept it before drowning. Lucky for him, and us, this acknowledgement of transition aided him in settling into his new existence--he didnt know what was beyond the veil, but he also couldn't have expected it to be a ragtag group of nonhumans that rushed to aid him and show him kindness unlike any other he'd ever experienced.

Despite everything feeling brand new and overwhelming, he's been settling in well, healing from his ordeal, and learning about what life was like before the quiet rapture. With animals to pet, all the good food he could want to eat, peaceful sleep, hot showers, and good company, he's almost a completely different person--for the better.