Chapter Text
The human ship is interesting. And small. I must’ve hit my head about 8 billion times since coming here. The human Grace is very accommodating, but also strange. His friend, who I suspect is more than just a friend, is… Is it wrong of me to call him stone-faced? He IS a rock. More specifically, he has an exoskeleton made out of rock. Nature was feeling very creative when it made the Eridians. Grace called this star 40 Eridani, and Rocky’s people are native to its first planet. I don’t know why we didn’t detect them. I think we’re just stupid. It’s hard to miss the giant orbital elevator now that I know what to look for. Also, why 40 Eridani? Is there a 38 Eridani? 37? They liked the name so much they used it 40 times?
I’ve been on this ship for several local-days now. Human food is absolutely delicious. I especially enjoyed the meat dishes, but Grace had a strange expression when I told him that. I guess humans are just more territorial over their meat compared to other foods. He might be worried I’d steal more.
Eridian food is decidedly NOT good. I can’t even eat half of it anyway, it’s just metal and stone. The meat parts are very bitter and I threw up a lot of excess material. It apparently has a lot of heavy metals, which I obviously can’t use. Besides, it takes forever to wait for it to cool down.
Xenonite is fascinating. But it’s a gas, I’d said. Apparently that was no obstacle for Eridian science.
Not to mention human science. Also THE SHIP IS ALIVE. Her name is Mary, and she’s a computer system that is 8x more advanced than ours.
I think I’m starting to understand the appeal of humans. Don’t tell my mother I said that.
Grace
He insists on using just his clan’s name
Grace is a very strange person. He hasn’t had any socialization with his conspecifics for over half an octury and it shows. He is basically a tall, four-legged Eridian at this point. It’s hard to understand him sometimes. His English sounds Eridian. His CRYING sounds Eridian. And he doesn’t even realize it. I hear him whistling to himself sometimes, and THAT sounds Eridian.
The Eridian language is like ours if you removed all the words. They don’t have a mouth, so they just use internal vocal organs. I don’t really know how Rocky eats. He has holes on the top of his head. Maybe the food goes there? He’s very cranky. He speaks to me very little, but he’s constantly talking to Grace in his music language. I’d almost think he’s jealous? He saw us hug once (Grace was crying, he does that a lot) and I think I heard him punch something in the other room.
Lussonians don’t cry (you know this, I don’t know why I’m even…) but humans cry a lot. At least this human. Sometimes he tears up just from seeing me. Maybe I look like a human from afar? That’s sad. I hope the Captain treats him well when he visits. If anything bad happens to either of these two, I think I would kill somebody. I still have to ask them to visit the scout ship. I just know my mother is going to be ecstatic. I’m a little nervous.
“Hi, people I just met! Please come visit my alien spaceship full of other aliens twice your size!”
I don’t think that’s going to go over well. I could be wrong, though. Grace is a very special type of person. It takes a brave sort to voluntarily live on a hostile alien planet for fifty years. Apparently he almost died of starvation on the way and knew he might. Yeah, I think he’ll say yes.
It’s Rocky I’m more worried about. I think if anything touched a hair on Grace’s head with bad intent, he would become more murderous than a Fulgoran trabiniki.
Leyol felt an aggressive poke on his leg. He was sitting in the corner of the dormitory with his journal.
♬Stupid alien.♬ “Look.” Rocky poked him again.
Leyol set his notebook aside. “Hello, ♩Rocky♩.”
“I told you use English name. Need tell story.”
“Sorry. I’m listening.” Leyol sat up straight, ears swiveling to attention.
“Many days before trip, Grace was attacked by crazy people. Wanted to use him for the science of his body instead of his mind. They broke into his home and tried to steal him.”
“Oh my, what—”
“I killed them.”
Leyol froze, hairs rising all over his body as a chill ran through him. “You killed them…”
“I did. I would do it again. Do not make me do it again.”
“I… Of course not.”
“Good.” Rocky walked away, leaving Leyol in the dust.
Leyol found Grace having lunch in the lab. “Hello, is there a private place I can call my mother?” He asked.
Grace looked up from his rehydrated scrambled green-eggs. “Uhh… I don’t think so. I guess you could go on a spacewalk real quick?”
“Alright… I’ll be back.” He headed out again. He suited himself back up and left the ship through the airlock like it was the most casual thing in the world. He clung to the outside of the spinning ship.
«Hey, mom.» He spoke in his native Lussish.
Akha’s voice came through the earpiece immediately. «Is something wrong? What’s going on, love?»
She knew him so well. «I don’t think they like me. Well… No, I think Grace does. But Rocky… I don’t know. He’s.. protective. Yeah, protective. He thinks I’m gonna hurt Grace. How am I gonna ask them to visit the ship?»
«We don’t know everything they’ve been through. I’m sure the Eridian has a very good reason to be protective. Just give them the offer and if they say no, then they say no.»
«Okay.. Thanks, mom.»
«I’m proud of you, dear. Be safe. Love you.»
«Love you too.»
Leyol returned and found Grace and Rocky in the lab, still partially dressed in his EVA suit. “I need to ask you guys something. Both of you.”
Grace had been chatting with Rocky as the Eridian browsed on the laptop. He looked up at the Lussonian. “Yeah? What’s up, hm?”
Leyol noted the very Eridian-sounding inflections in Grace’s voice.
Rocky appeared to still be focusing on the laptop, but he was listening.
Leyol took a breath to steel himself. “I was just wondering… if you guys wanted to visit our ship?”
Grace perked up. “Really?? Yes! Yes, absolutely! I’ve been hoping you would ask. I don’t want to intrude but… Yes!”
Rocky hummed in thought. ♬Are you sure, question? It is risky.♬
♫It risky meeting you.♫ Grace whistled back. ♫Risk good. Big science. Short visit.♫
♬Short visit. Big science. Okay, if you insist… Maybe they will have things that can help you.♬
♫Exactly. We go. Big science. Safe together. Love, love, love Rocky-mate. No danger with Rocky-mate here.♫ Grace reached over and grabbed his hand.
Rocky let a sigh out of his vents. “We go.” He told Leyol. “Short visit.”
Leyol tapped his own chest with a fist in affirmation. “Yep, just a short visit. Bring whatever you want and meet me by the airlock.”
As Grace started hurrying away to the dormitory, Leyol chased after him. He hit his head hard against the hall hatchway. “Ow! Wait. Hold on.” He crawled through the halls in a somewhat undignified manner. “Grace!”
Grace stopped. “Yeah? Oh geez, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Leyol put a hand to his head. His fingers felt a little wet. He glanced at them, seeing thick yellow blood. “Oops.”
Grace approached and went to put his hand on the wound. “Here, let me…”
Leyol jerked back, his ears brushing the ceiling. “What part of ‘my blood has nitric acid in it’ don’t you understand?”
Rocky walked over in his tunnel system. “Grace sniff Rocky mystery capsule when first receive it.”
“Rocky, don’t out me like that! I have good lab safety etiquette, I swear.”
“Grace fall asleep and trust Leyol to watch after only knowing for a few hours.” Rocky countered.
“I was tired! He seemed trustworthy. And he is! See? I’m not dead!” Grace gestured at himself to emphasize his point.
“Very risky. Leyol take risk too. Trust Grace Rocky not to vaporize Lussonian ship with spin drives.”
Leyol swallowed. “You can do that…?”
“Can. Might.”
“Rocky, we’re not vaporizing them. Nobody’s getting vaporized! Deal? Adrian will be really mad if she finds out you vaporized a whole ship of people.”
Rocky huffed. “Fine. Deal.” ♬But you will promise to bring your self-defense device.♬
♫Always have.♫ Grace confirmed in whistle-Eridian. ♫Always bring.♫
He couldn’t stop himself from humming lowly. ♫Scared without… Thank…♫
Leyol glanced between them, one tail tip twitching awkwardly from where it was tucked into his EVA suit leg. “Right… Anyway, I was meaning to tell you… Don’t wear that yellow outfit you had when we met.”
Grace glanced down at himself. He was wearing one of his pun shirts and the red jumpsuit, with its sleeves tied around his waist. It was definitely one of his preferred outfits. “Why, do I look bad in yellow or something?”
Leyol showed Grace his bloodstained fingertips. “Yellow is the color of blood. Traditionally, only warriors would wear yellow. It’s a symbol of aggression and hostility.”
“Oh… I probably didn’t give the best first impression then…”
“The waving didn’t help either.”
“What’s wrong with that? Do I wave funny?? Now I have a new thing to be insecure about.”
“An open hand is also a sign of aggression.” Leyol demonstrated the traditional gesture. It looked like a slightly more tense version of a human wave. Grace recognized it as the “no” gesture too. “It shows our claws.”
“Ohhhh… So a fist is like ‘I come in peace’, then.” Grace did the Lussonian “yes” gesture, tapping his chest lightly with his fist. “You guys would hate boxing.”
“Rocky is best boxer! Better than human Rocky!” Rocky announced from his tunnel, shadow boxing the xenonite wall. Was it also a threat? Maybe. “Rocky need Leyol be okay with something very quick.”
“Uhh, sure?” Leyol gave Grace a confused glance as Rocky scurried away.
Grace just smiled.
Rocky returned wearing a mottled green sweater.
“Wait, you were naked this whole time? You guys wear clothes??” Leyol’s eyes widened slightly.
“Eridians don’t wear clothes as often as humans do. They don’t need it for temperature regulation or anything. They just wear clothes for self-expression or for special occasions.” Grace explained. “Technically they can hear through our clothes anyway.”
“Ah…” Leyol’s ears flattened, not enjoying that new fact. “I’ll be at the airlock. Um, you can wear any color besides yellow. In my colony, white is usually for scientists and red is usually for the captain of a ship. I guess either one would work since you’re kinda both.”
“Can I bring a camera? I wanna record everything.”
“Oh umm… Like pictures and stuff? Yeah, go ahead. I’m gonna go… bandage my head now.” Leyol waddled away, not wanting to stand up straight and hurt himself on the ceiling again.
Dr. Grace joined Leyol in the EVA room and suited up. Rocky was with him, of course.
“Alright. Do you trust me?” Leyol asked.
“Yes.”
♬No.♬ “Yes.”
“Okay. When we go out there, you need to hang onto me as tightly as you can. I’m going to fly us over to the scout ship.”
“How, hm?” ♬Grace, the centrifuge.♬
Grace jolted. “Right! Sorry, one sec.” He went over to the cockpit and turned off the centrifuge.
Leyol tensed, not expecting the sudden change in gravity. He pressed himself between the ceiling and the floor. “A warning would have been nice.”
Rocky giggled and wiggled his fingers like a cartoon villain gloating. “Now you know.”
“Great, thanks…”
Grace floated into the room. “Okay, now we’re ready.
Rocky held onto Leyol’s waist with an iron grip, three arms holding the Lussonian and two arms operating his light sensor. Grace was tethered to their alien acquaintance. Rocky was not. He just had to rely on his own strength.
He let out a strained yelp when Leyol suddenly moved away from the Hail Mary. The Lussonian seemed to be using small jets of air coming from near its hands. The noises went unheard in the vacuum of space. He just held on tightly as the image of the alien vessel grew larger in his sensor’s monitor. Grace seemed to trust the alien. Grace was always much quicker to trust than he was. Hopefully Leyol understood the danger it was in if it dared to do anything that threatened Grace. Rocky had to be the cynical one to protect them both.
Grace stepped through the airlock. The Lussonian ship had gravity through some mechanism he didn’t understand yet. It felt blessedly light.
He was immediately pulled into the embrace of long arms.
“Oh! Uhh… Hi…” His voice was muffled by his helmet.
A light gray Lussonian crouched in front of him, releasing him from the hug. They had eyes similar to Leyol’s, though less lavender and more violet in color. “It is safe. We fixed the air for human breathing.” They assured him. They sounded feminine. Her English was completely fluent, though it sounded a little outdated.
Grace took off his helmet and took a deep sniff. He coughed. The nitric acid smell was strong. He glanced around. It seemed they were in some kind of storage room. It made sense, having storage right next to an airlock. He cleared his throat. “Hi… Err… Hello. I am Captain Dr. Ryland Grace.” He tried to sound professional.
The Lussonian lady cupped his cheeks in her large hands. “You are beautiful! I am so happy to see a human again!”
Leyol stood off to the side and took off his EVA suit. «Mother, please…» He whined, ears burning bright yellow with embarrassment.
«Hush, child. Let me greet our guests!» She admonished him gently. She turned her attention to Grace and started petting his hair. “I am Dr. Akha Susutek, chief alien-anthropologist of our colony. The Captain wants to see you, but I get to have you first.”
“Hi… That’s… mmmm…” He closed his eyes. Akha seemed to know all his good spots.
Rocky tapped her leg. “Hey! Rocky turn!” He griped.
She let Grace go and turned her attention to the Eridian. She hummed. ♩Great greeting. Happy have you in home.♩ Her Eridian was crude but thoughtful. She attempted to mimic the Eridian gesture greeting. Grace got a much better look at her. She was wearing a white sort of coat or shirt with dark pants. She also had a tarnished silver ring on her left middle finger. It looked handmade.
Rocky perked up at her greeting. ♬Thank you! I am Savior Rocky of the Central River Valley, senior member of the Engineering Cluster and the Xenobiology Hive, Mate of Adrian and Grace, born to the ♫♩♪♭ Clan.♬ He did his full formal introduction.
«Mom, how do you…?» Leyol began to ask.
«I have my ways.» She smirked.
♩I am honor to meet you.♩
Rocky nudged Grace. ♬Do yours!♬
Grace put his arms together to show his marriage scars. ♫Am Savior-Alien Grace of Third Sol Planet, senior member of Biology Cluster, Mate of Rocky and Adrian, born to Grace Clan.♫ He also did his full introduction.
Akha’s eyes widened slightly. “How long have you lived with the Eridians?”
“Two thousand— Uh… About fifty Earth years.”
“Oh… Oh you poor thing.” She picked him up like he was a kid, standing to her full height. “You’ve been alone for so long.”
Rocky stomped his feet. “Grace not alone! Grace is Eridian.” He protested.
Akha nodded. “I understand.”
Grace squirmed a little in her arms. “Okay, put me down now. I need to get out of my EVA suit. Will we see anyone else? Where’s the captain you mentioned?”
Grace was speaking somewhat quickly.
Akha looked down at him, gaze laced with confusion. “What?”
“Put me down please.”
She set him back down. “I’m sorry. You speak… You are a little difficult to understand. I have never heard a human speak like you.”
Grace started removing his EVA suit. “What do you mean? I sound normal. I think.”
“You sound different.”
“Yeah, he speaks like an Eridian.” Leyol agreed.
“Fascinating… You have an Eridian accent.” Akha marveled at him.
“But Earth understood me just fine when I sent my video.” Grace questioned.
“Response arrived later than expected. Earth take long time.” Rocky said. “Maybe need time to translate Grace.”
“Wait, you have communication with Earth?” Ms. Susutek asked, crouching down again to be closer to Grace’s eye-level. “What method do you use?”
“We send astrophage-powered probes back and forth. Responses usually take about four-hundred and two years each way.”
Akha’s eyes widened.
Rocky sighed. “Is seventeen Earth-years. Grace bad at math. Give you Erid-years with Eridian numbers.”
«He did the same thing to me. Eridian time seems to be his default.» Leyol commented.
Akha nodded. “That is still a long time. You do not use faster-than-light communication.”
“Well yeah, nothing is faster than light.”
“We use… hmm… Call it... quantum telegraph. The engineers can explain more.”
Rocky perked right up. “Yes! Amaze! Want want want to talk to engineers!”
“I can ask them. I’ll show you to the Captain now. Follow.”
Akha led them to the bridge.
A bright white Lussonian in a red uniform was waiting for them. They looked down at the two visitors with an unreadable expression. «Are they ready to stay?» They asked Akha.
Akha glanced down at Grace and Rocky. «How long are they staying for?»
«We can discuss the details later.» They returned their focus to Grace and Rocky again and pulled a small Earth book from their pocket. It looked like a dictionary. “Name Captain Ghiisen Belektok. You stay long time. We do very science. Learn much thing. Study with human. Study with rock. We teach. We learn. You stay with for many time. Good?” They sounded slightly similar to Akha, so Grace assumed the Captain was also female.
Grace nodded. “Thank you for your hospitality. We’re excited to learn from you.”
The Captain looked at Akha for a translation. Akha obliged. «He says yes and that he’s excited for the opportunity.»
She tapped her fist to herself. «Good. Please show them to their quarters in the xenobiology lab. A chamber is prepared with each of their atmospheres, yes?»
«Everything is ready… Are you sure we can’t give them proper rooms?»
«They will be most comfortable in their natural environmental conditions.»
Akha sighed, her two tails curling around each other. “Okay, I will show you to your rooms. You’ll be staying in the biology labs for now, but you are welcome to explore at your leisure. However, very few of our crew members understand English or Eridian.” She explained. “Though you might be hungry. This way.”
Akha led them to the ship’s mess hall first. She had left to get species-appropriate food for Grace.
Grace sat on a tall bench, feeling like a little kid trying to use adult furniture. Rocky was next to him.
♬Why do we need rooms, question? How long are we staying for, question?♬
♫Not know.♫ Grace hummed, kicking his feet idly. ♫Maybe few days. Learn from them. Exchange big science. Everyone very nice.♫
♬Their captain is weird. I do not trust her.♬
♫Culture difference maybe, question? Very serious. Like Stratt. Excite excite excite to see lab! Alien science! How gravity without spin, question? How fast messages, question? How fuel ship without astrophage, question? How bodies work, how how how!♫ He wiggled his body, subconsciously mimicking the body language of an excited Eridian.
♬You know how I feel about Stratt.♬
♫True… Am optimistic. Trust Akha, she very nice. Leyol too.♫
Speaking of, Akha returned with a tray of… goop. It was grayish and mushy. “I’m sorry. We can work on more appetizing versions of human food, but this will have to do. We also have very old samples of Earth food if you would like to try those.”
“Mmm… alien gloop… I think some form of alien gloop is at least half of my diet nowadays.” Grace joked. He took a bite. It tasted like wet flour and straight monosodium glutamate. He couldn’t stop himself from pulling a face. “It’s… better than taumoeba. That’s for sure.” He tried to remain diplomatic.
Akha sat next to him. Rocky hauled himself up into her lap, so she started petting him like he was a loafing cat. “What is taumoeba?”
“It’s an amoeba-like creature we found at Tau Ceti. It feeds on astrophage.”
Akha blinked, ears swiveling as she processed what she heard. “The predator… The red-light-microbe’s predator. You ATE that???”
“I lived on it for almost fifty-five years.”
Akha was struck speechless, her mouth hanging open.
Rocky tapped his foot. “Grace use Eridian years again. It is thirty-five Erid-years in human numbers and four Earth-years.” He explained.
“Oops. Right. Thanks, Rock. Yeah, I ran out of normal food pretty quickly on the journey to Erid, so I had to survive on taumoeba and coma slurry.”
Akha remembered to close her mouth. “And you were fine?”
“Well, taumoeba is pretty much just empty calories. I ended up with just about every nutrient deficiency a human could get.”
“How old are you? Biologically. From your time perspective.” The Lussonians were very familiar with the nuances of time dilation from their own extensive history of spacefaring.
“Grace has experienced eighty-eight Earth-years of life.” Rocky answered for him.
“You look great for over eighty. Was it the taumoeba?”
Grace opened his mouth to answer, but Rocky interrupted him. “Is classified.”
Grace nodded. “Yep.”
“Interesting… I’ll bring you to your rooms now. You can take the food with you.” She got up.
They followed her through the ship until she stopped in an area inside of the xenobiology lab. They were met with a wall of containment chambers. The chambers were about the size of the average prison cell or dormitory room, featuring transparent front walls and a transparent door-sized airlock. Each one also had a smaller airlock off to the side. There were about a dozen chambers total, with only one being occupied. Inside was a bald wolf-like creature with four front-limbs and two hind-limbs. The occupied chamber was labeled in Lussish.
Akha stood in front of two neighboring chambers, which were also labeled. One had a human-style bed and the other had a nest of cushions. The one with the human-style bed also featured a human-style toilet out in the open. “I apologize. I was hoping to get you more decent accommodations, but this offered the most appropriate environmental controls. Please let me know how it can be adjusted. I personally think this is… undignified… but it’s the Captain’s orders. Go ahead and get settled.”
“Thanks. Is there a way to—”
“Need eating space! Need privacy!” Rocky interrupted him bluntly.
“Yeah. That.”
“I will ask.” Akha assured them. “For now, make yourselves at home. I am sure you are eager to explore the ship on your own. My room is down that hall and to the left.” She pointed.
“Thanks. I’m sure we can make do for now. It’ll only be for a few days after all.” Grace nodded.