"Here you are. Are you sure that you don't need anything?" As the man, who had by now introduced himself as Cho Seungyoun, set the steaming hot cup of coffee down in front of Hongjoong, his eyes immediately found Seonghwa, too. The android politely shook his head, where he sat next to his precious human.

"Right... Android, alright, I will try to remember that. Technology sure came a long way."

Hongjoong sipped on his watery coffee, finding it warm his cold body. It was good enough, given the circumstances.

"In the future, they might build them so they can eat and sleep, just for the authenticity of it. But then again, how great of a worker would they be, then?"

Seungyoun nodded jerkily as he pushed his bluish-black hair back. When he sat down, Yohan shuffled over on his stomach to act as a pillow behind his back. Seungyoun leaned back against his friend with an appreciative pat on his flank.

"So, are you ready to talk? I won't lie, I'm dying of curiosity."

Seungyoun was in a state of shock still. He had not expected to suddenly meet people in his very base and nearly fainted in Seonghwa's arms as soon as the imminent danger had eased. The android had worked hard on stabilising his vital signs, and soon, Seungyoun had absent-mindedly begun to make coffee to keep his shaking hands busy. Hongjoong was watching him like a hawk.

"Yes, I- Yes. Let's try."

"I have some medicines at the ready in case you feel unwell again." Seonghwa offered quietly and received a thankful nod. Their new friend searched for words. His fox-like eyes that reminded Hongjoong distinctively of San still appeared overwhelmed.

"I still can't believe that somebody managed to get here. I was so sure that I had to die alone. Could I ask you to question me? I might ramble and- combust."

Hongjoong gave him a sympathetic smile before he motioned for Seonghwa to go on. The man would know better than he when it became too much for Seungyoun.

"How long have you been here, Mister Cho?"

"Seungyoun is just fine. I have been here for" He counted on his fingers, his empty eyes staring at the ceiling "eleven years, yes. Nearing twelve, I think. I counted them in my diary."

Eleven years was a damn long time. Especially on this planet that Hongjoong had hated after two weeks. His frozen smile felt forced, so he washed it away with coffee to replace it with a more honest one.

"Were you, by any chance, a member of the crew from Degasi?"

Hongjoong was tense. The Degasi had been the ship Yunho and Mingi had crashed with exactly eleven years ago.

Seungyoun's face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Yes! That's what it was called! I was a biologist on that ship!"

His eyes disappeared under the force of his grin, and he showed off his white teeth. One of them was slightly crooked at the front, giving him a childish touch.

"Then do you, by any chance, know of other survivors?"

At that, Seungyoun grew sad again. His lashes fluttered as he lowered his eyes.

"N-no... But I had little ways of searching. I barely left this seabase since the leviathans outside were not too kind to intruders. I imagine they had a hard time."

Hongjoong nodded seriously. He wouldn't dare imagine what would have happened if he had stranded alone here. Despite detesting Seonghwa's presence at first, he at least always had had somebody around. He would have gone crazy without a person to talk to.

"I understand. We did find two other Degasi survivors in the crater, where your ship crashed. Their names are Jeong Yunho and Song Mingi. They were engineers on your ship."

"Oh, I- I don't know them, I'm sorry. I had little to do with the people that maintained the ship since I was stuck in my lab all day." Nervously, he fiddled with his thumbs. Pity welled up in Hongjoong's heart, making him nearly tear up.

This man had seen hell.

"It's fine. We believe you. I'm a biologist, too, and know the struggle. They probably heard of you."

Seungyoung nodded gratefully. His eyes were shining with wetness that he quickly blinked away.

Seonghwa spoke gentler when he continued.

"We came here with Alterra. Last year we crashed on planet 4546B due to hull failure. We returned home after two weeks and have just started exploring Sector Zero in a team of fourteen people. If you join us, we can send you home."

Seungyoun's eyes widened in disbelief. For a second, he seemed entirely lost.

Hongjoong cocked his head.

"Alterra? I don't trust them."

Now that was interesting. Hongjoong glanced at Seonghwa, noticing him scrutinising Seungyoun's body with his scanners. However, as he remained silent, Hongjoong saw it as his moment to speak. Seonghwa was probably not programmed to consider going against them.

"You don't? Why?"

Seungyoun's dark eyes were hard as he met Hongjoong's calm gaze. His tense shoulders gave away his current distress.

"It was Alterra who brought me here. And Alterra who ditched us. You say there were other survivors? I thought I was the only one who got left behind, but apparently, they didn't care for anybody." His voice was bitter and laced with distaste.

Hongjoong could only imagine how betrayed he had felt. Being forgotten on a deadly planet for a decade was harsh. Seungyoun was a ball of bottled-up hatred right now.

"While I can't offer any real understanding, I do feel with you. However, I can promise you that this time, Alterra will bring you back. This expedition is led by somebody who cares deeply for us."

He expected more suspicion from Seungyoun, maybe even for the man to recoil from them after gaining this knowledge. However, neither of that happened. Instead, his next question pierced right through Hongjoong's conscience.

"May I ask... Was it Alterra who brought you back after you have been stranded here?"

Hongjoong gaped at him, no words coming to him.

It wasn't. The Sunbeam had not even belonged to their republic. Jackson and his whole team had no bounds with Alterra at all.

"Negative."

A bitter smile painted Seungyoun's lips. It was slightly shaky, but not surprised in the least.

"I see. So you were just luckier than us. Not of any more worth, though."

Hongjoong fell quiet at that. There was nothing more to say; it was a blatant truth. Alterra did leave them behind even after making that mistake once already. Judging from Seonghwa's silence, he had also not found anything on the Degasi that hinted at Alterra even trying to send a rescue team. The human clenched his fists under the table.

A second of silence enveloped them. It stretched like tenaciously like rubber and made all three of them uncomfortable.

In the end, Seungyoun sighed.

"I'm sorry. My emotions are all over the place right now since there are finally other people here. You work for Alterra, and you trust them, obviously. It's not my place to doubt you when you are the one offering help. I would be very happy to join you, but I would like to meet my crewmates first and overthink things before you notify Alterra of my presence. I'm afraid they might dislike the commotion my return would cause. They might refuse to take me back to avoid the truth to leak out." He gave a sad chuckle that made Hongjoong's insides twist.

"No. If they try to mute your voice, we will speak up. Your suffering here won't be in vain, and I will fight if it means that you can come home and rest. Even when I work for them, I can see how much their decisions hurt you. As the person responsible, I will not oversee any tricks from their side."

He had done it once. Hongjoong was ready to do it again, and he knew that Eden and his team would support him. Not everybody that was with Alterra made bad decisions.

Seungyoun's eyes shone wetly. Judging from his expression, he was trapped between extreme joy and disbelief as he stared at Hongjoong.

Seonghwa smiled a little.

"We will keep you off the records for now. Easing back to roaming freely instead of being trapped down here will already be a challenge to you. Talk to us whenever you feel comfortable and need something."

"Thank you so much... I might need a few days to believe this isn't a dream, but you have my loyalty. I owe you my life."

Hongjoong defensively rose his hands, waving them around. He couldn't help but smile shyly at how Seungyoun looked at him like a doting puppy.

"No, no! You are fine, I'm happy to help. When this is all over, I would love to meet you again at home and see you getting back to happiness. I will try everything to make that possible!"

Seungyoun nodded, furiously wiping his eyes.

For a moment, everything was calm, and Yohan snored quietly behind his master.

Seonghwa pointed him out first.

"I see you have managed to domesticate a Snow Stalker. Would you like to share your methods?"

Hongjoong smiled at the obvious challenge in his voice as he saw the possibility of getting his own Snow Stalker Baby in the end. Of course, he just had to keep trying. Hongjoong thought it was endearing.

"I did!" Seungyoun proudly patted his companion's paw that had horrible claws on it. Hongjoong was very much happy that he didn't get ripped apart by those. "He was my sole source of happiness for those many years. I had him join me when my Lifepod was still fine. I wanted to have him with me in the base, but then we got trapped here. Even if I could get around the Shadow, I wouldn't be able to take him with me. I could never ditch him."

His eyes were fond as he ran his fingers through his friend's fur. Hongjoong could see how deeply he cared about the animal and expected the same back. They only had each other.

"The Shadow?" He prompted carefully. Seungyoun's face darkened.

"Aye. It's the leviathan that patrols these waters. He destroyed my Lifepod and tried to kill us inside here multiple times."

So that was what Seonghwa had mentioned earlier. It did exist down here, and it sounded dangerous.

"I see. If you want, we can ask our friend to come down here with one of our larger Vehicles. We can transport you and your friend here back up to the surface so you can see the sun again, finally."

Seungyoun nodded, his eyes wide.

"Yes, please." His voice was barely audible from how much his feelings choked him up. Hongjoong gave him an indulgent smile before tapping at his comms and stepping away for a moment. He idly wandered the base as the signal searched for the team.

San responded quickly enough.

"Hey, Joong. Missing FL? I can get him on the phone if you want!"

As usual, he sounded cheerful and chaotic. Hongjoong hoped that Jongho and Yeosang were around for damage control.

"No, thanks. Keep him in the ice, please. I need you down here with the Seatruck, though. Can you spare a few hours?"

The sound of San's footsteps sounded, then he spoke hushedly to someone. Then, he was right back.

"On it. What do you need?

Hongjoong passed by Seungyoun's bedroom and absent-mindedly scanned the room. It looked boring, not much inside except for the usual things. Hongjoong stared at something on the wall as he talked.

"You and space for three people. Bring the Aquarium Module, too; we should probably take Yunho and Mingi out of here the safe way. Oh, and there's also a Snowstalker here that we need to bring."

San chuckled disbelievingly, jogging through the echoing cave.

"Are you kidding me? What did you do down there?"

"We found another survivor."

That made San shut up. For a second, only his steps sounded.

Then, he cursed under his breath.

"I'll be there in an hour."

"See you then."

Hongjoong tapped out of the connection and lowered his wrist. As he returned back to concentrating on what he was seeing, he froze. Icy shivers made goosebumps erupt on his skin.

A Reaper Leviathan was staring right at him.

Or much rather, it was its skull. Huge, but with empty eye sockets and all four mandibles framing its horrible face.

It hung right above Seungyoun's bed, positively dead.

Like a robot, Hongjoong turned and went back to his companions.

He pretended not to have seen that.