Chapter Text
It started out as an itch.
Not a bad one, no. But an itch either way.
It’s been at least three and a half years since Grace made the decision to turn around for Rocky. Three and a half years since he’d sent out the beetles to Earth. It’s been 13 earth years since he’d last felt human touch. Adding that with the three and a half years he’d been traveling to Erid. He hasn’t felt, or touched another human person in about 16 years and some change. That’s 5840 days. He hasn’t felt human touch in five thousand, eight hundred, and 40 days.
Grace had never really been a needy guy when it came to physical contact. If anything, he was very touch averse when he lived on Earth. He only really ever felt physical contact from brushes of a shoulder, accidentally bumping into someone, high-fiving Carl, or getting a pat on the back from Stratt.
Even though none of those were really all that touchy, going 16 years without any of that has really begun to take a toll on him. Especially since the last human touch he’d ever felt was being pinned to the ground and having a needle stabbed into his jugular.
Now, don’t get him wrong, Rocky is definitely a great help! But, even with his brilliant mind, he hasn’t been able to come up with a solution to really help Grace with this problem. But, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been pointing it out whenever it begins to bother Grace again.
Remember what he said about an itch? At first it started as a faint little tingle, like the kind you’d get when you spot a mosquito in your house and have to keep brushing your skin because you’re worried it’ll try to bite you. A tingling sensation on the back of his neck, a buzzing feeling under his skin. It used to be something Grace could ignore after rubbing the sensation away with his palm, but after a while it started to grow unbearable. Grace started to grow irritable.
Grace and Rocky are about a year into their trip to Erid when the tingly-itchy feeling begins to grow more frequent. The sensation has intensified into a sort of burning. Grace would scratch the itch, but it wouldn’t help. Grace would rub his fingers, neck, legs, arms, pull at his hair, even going as far as to rubbing his face on a wall, but nothing would help. A burning feeling or irritability would follow every time, nothing is helping.
Rocky has been pointing it out more and more. Which Grace should’ve expected, considering the fact that Rocky had been on Mary with Grace for well over a few years now, and the fact he can see through walls makes it a lot easier for him to spot when Grace has another flare up.
“Grace need to stop scratching himself, will break skin again.” Rocky chitters from the other room.
“I know!” Grace would always snap back. He would never feel good about it, but the fact that his friend would keep pointing it out always peeved Grace off. Rocky hasn’t been happy with him the past few days, Grace would argue with him about not going to bed when Grace is supposed to. Grace doesn’t even know why he’s arguing about it to begin with, since he knows Rocky’s right. But, the feeling of having to lay in bed with nothing but his thoughts always unsettled him. Grace needed something to keep his mind off of the itch.
Rocky and Grace would fight a lot more, storming off to different parts of the ship for hours at a time. But after at least the 5 hour mark, one of them would always come back to apologize. No matter how much they fought, the thought of not being able to talk to each other hurt even more than any words they threw at the other.
✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦
One day, Grace decided to finally do research on how long humans could go without physical contact, and stumbled upon the cloth mother vs wire mother experiment. Reading about that study, along with the information that actual human babies can die if they’re not held, even if they’re warm and fed— mildly troubled Grace. He knew Rocky would freak out at this information so he decided not to tell him.
What would Grace even say to him? “Hey, Rock! The reason I’ve been so mean and snappy is because touch is actually a really integral part of mammalian species in general, and humans more specifically— to where babies would choose to starve as long as they felt human touch. So this is a big issue for me considering I haven’t felt human touch in over five thousand days, and I might die a lot sooner due to the fact! This isn’t something you can help me with and I’m probably gonna die!” So, no.. He thinks he just won’t tell him.
Yes, Grace knows how bad it is to hide something like this from his best friend, but what is he supposed to do? This isn’t something Rocky can fix! All this’ll do is stress Rocky out more and Grace doesn’t think he’s in the mood to deal with that right now.
While he’s doing more research on the topic in his lab, he hears Rocky’s tumbling xenonite ball drawing near. Even though Grace knows Rocky can’t see the screen, he still shuts the laptop as soon as Rocky fully enters the room.
“Is Grace.. Okay, question?” Rocky asks, his carapace tilting to the side as he taps a claw on the ground, awaiting a response.
“Hm? What do you mean, Rockstar?” Grace averts his gaze, hoping the fun nickname might give him some grace for whatever Rocky’s about to say next.
“I have enough food to last all the way to Erid, and even a few months more. Even if it’s not all human food, I’m pretty sure the coma slurry will be able to keep me alive.”
“Not what Rocky means. Something wrong with Grace skin, question? Grace said scurvy or beriberi would not come for at least a couple more years. Grace miscount, probability? Is Grace in pain, question?” Rocky rolls a little closer, trying to get a better look at Grace as he speaks.
“Wh- No!” Grace snaps, why? He doesn’t know. “I’m doing fine! I think I might just be tired or something..” Grace mutters, a hand lifting to the back of his neck subconsciously. The itching is back.
“No! Grace not “Fine” Grace grow irritable! Grace hit things! Grace in pain! Do not lie! Rocky not stupid!” He rolls even closer, only an inch away from Grace now.
“I didn’t say you were stupid!! I-ugh.. I just—” Grace cuts himself off as he begins to scratch even harder at the back of his neck and shoulders, the itching quickly becoming unbearable.
“Rocky saw that!! What is wrong with Grace, Question?! Grace pulls at hair, Grace cries in bed, Grace watches videos of babies dying! What is wrong with Grace!?”
“Augh! I just.. I just didn’t want you to worry.” Grace clears his throat, sinking further into the chair.”
“Rocky is more worried that Grace isn’t saying anything. Why hide problem, question? Grace dying, question? Very very very very bad bad bad.” Rocky lowers his voice, his xenonite ball now pressed right up against Grace's leg. “Please just tell Rocky the truth.”
Grace clears his throat, the feeling of his friend against his leg only somewhat helping the itching.
“Uhm.. It’s a human thing. Humans need other human’s touch to survive. If they don’t get it, they’ll uh… die a lot sooner. As for the “babies dying,” that was a case study I was researching, I’m not insane. What I’ve been feeling isn’t any kind of sensation, but the lack of it. I’m literally feeling the lack of human contact on me. I’m sorry that I’ve been a little…” Grace waves his hand around, hoping the sporadic gesture would get his point across.
“Rocky understands. Rocky did research of his own, is called “Touch starved,” question? Lack of feeling hurts Grace.”
“Yeah..” Grace says with a heavy sigh. It’s been so long since he’s even seen another person, let alone felt one. And now he’s never gonna feel one again, ever. No one is going to brush against his shoulder or give him a high five again— ever. No hugs, no handshakes, no nothing. And he’s going to keep experiencing these phantom pains for the rest of his life because his stupid, weak, needy human body can’t survive without physical contact.
He feels tears prick at the corners of his eyes at the revelation. There really isn’t anything he can do about this..
Grace slumps his body down until his head is right up against Rocky’s xenonite ball with a loud thump. He lets out a long sigh that slowly shifts into a low whine as he begins to weep.
“I don’t know what to do about this, Rock..” Grace sniffles, his voice shaky as he continues “I don’t think there’s anything I can do about this. It’s not like another human would be coming by any time soon.”
Rocky stands for a moment, his voice clicking in a tone low enough for the translator to miss as he thinks. “Rocky will figure out a way,” He finally says, reaching out a claw to press against the xenonite barrier to where Grace’s head laid. “Grace Rocky fixed stars, Grace Rocky can fix this too.” The eridian trills, pressing his carapace up against the barrier as he hums softly. The vibrations of the hum ease the tingling under Grace’s skin, it’s not a lot— but it certainly helps.
✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦
“Hm…” Grace hums to himself, tapping the tip of his dry erase marker on his chin as he thinks.
“If I stretch out the time between eating the remaining food pouches and slurry by a month ‘n a half, I should be able to save the remaining pouches for at least another few more months or so, at least before I have to start guzzling down the taumoeba instead…”
He slumps back in his chair with a groan as he drags his hands down his face “.. But I still have two more years left in this trip…”
Grace sits up once he notices the familiar clanking of a xenonite ball rolling near. “What is Grace doing, question?”
“Oh, hey Rock. I’m trying to figure out how much longer I can stretch out the rest of that vitamin C and iron rich coma slurry, since the other day I noticed that I only have about fifteen bags left.”
“No vitamins is bad, Rocky remembers scurvy lesson. Is lack of iron also bad for human health, question?” Rocky taps a claw on his xenonite ball twice.
“Yeah,” Grace sighs. “Lack of iron can cause things like anemia and brittle bones. Anemia is my bigger worry—though, since it can make my blood get really thin. And that paired with scurvy would be a pretty big whoop. God forbid I get a papercut.”
“Anemia cause a lot more bleeding, and scurvy cause wound not to close, which cause much more bleeding and hurt Grace bad. Rocky understand. Bad bad bad bad bad.” Rocky clicks as he points his texture monitor towards the white board, making a couple of low chirps the translator doesn’t pick up as he does.
They both stare at the whiteboard for a beat longer before Mary chimes loudly from the speakers above. “Blip-D detected.” She alerts. Both Rocky and Grace turn towards the speaker, Rocky tilting his carapace slightly as he thinks.
“Rocky will go check cockpit window, Grace stay here and continue to figure out food issue, is more important.”
Grace gives him a thumbs down with a smile as Rocky turns to roll out of the room, leaving Grace alone with only the white board and his thoughts.
✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦
It doesn’t take long for Rocky to start tumbling back to the lab, panicked notes fill the room as he enters, the only noise Grace can make out being his own name.
“Grace! Grace!!” He yells, almost tripping over himself before crashing into the table beside Grace. “Grace! There is another ship outside! Other ship! Looks human made! Looks like tube! Grace get up what are you waiting for, question!?”
“Woah! Jeez, slow down!” Grace raises his hands in alarm. “What did you say about a tube?”
“Mary found ship! Looks like human ship, or like a cylinder. Rocky think there might be human inside!! Grace needs to hurry hurry hurry and come look!!” The Eridian bobs his carapace up and down as he sings his notes in staccato to emphasize his excitement.
“Wait, really?” Grace questions hopefully as he stumbles to his feet.
Grace and Rocky begin to make their way to the cockpit to get a better look through the long-range optical cameras. The sensitive imaging equipment may allow Grace to be able to get a better look at whatever it was that Rocky thought he saw.
Once Grace is able to maneuver himself over to the camera without activating the pilot seat, he begins to turn the camera array on, letting it raise completely before looking to the display to finally figure out what exactly Rocky and Mary were talking about.
The camera array rotated slowly, Grace moving it around until the targeting brackets locked onto a faint object with a gentle beep. Grace squinted at the screen, then used the controls on the keyboard to adjust the zoom, brighten the contrast until he could finally get a good look at the item, and…
“Holy fudging shirt-balls…” Grace whispers to himself as his gaze stays locked on the screen, eyes wide in disbelief.
“Friend Grace finally see what Rocky was talking about, question?” Rocky taps a gentle claw on the bottom of his dome, the noise snapping Grace out of whatever trance he lost himself in while staring at the now-identified floating object.
“Yeah, yeah bud one hundred percent..” Grace confirms.
Rocky was right, there is in fact some sort of “cylinder” out there? Though it looks less like a cylinder and more like some kind of submarine with wheels.. Maybe even man made. But then again, if it was a submarine— what’s with the wheels, and why does it look so.. Alive?
The object looks as though it had been chewed to bits, pieces of rusted metal hanging on by a thread. Dried bits of red and black orbiting around it like planetary debris.
But, before Grace could gawk at the spacecraft any further, Mary breaks the silence with an alerting “Connection Established.” One of the computer screens beside Grace independently opens a foreign tab and displays a pop-up that asks “The Hail Mary would like to connect to the data center: SM-13, do you wish to continue?”
Grace nearly jumps out of his skin at the new truckload of information. “What!? Connection? Do you think there might be someone in there?” he flickers his gaze from the screen displaying the object floating out in space, to Rocky’s carapace.
“Rocky not know, but what if “SM-13" contains alien data? Rocky and Grace will finally have something to study!”
“Yeah, but it could also be some sort of alien virus, or malware..” Grace considers, his gaze drifting to the pop-up on the computer. “..But, what are the chances that someone would send a virus all the way out here?” He tilts his head back to Rocky.
“Yes! Yes! Click accept!” Rocky bobs his carapace in strong agreement, rolling closer to the computer with his texture monitor in hand, pointing it towards the screen and waiting for Grace to finally click continue.
Almost as soon as Grace presses “Accept” on the monitor, the screen is instantly overtaken with multiple pop-ups of information, downloading files, and then a display of what looks to be the “ship” on the left-hand corner with the words “SM-13 (Hemorover)” hovering above it.
“Hemorover?” Grace thinks to himself. Hemo means blood, he knows that, why would a rover so big need to be used for blood? That’s kind of troubling.. But, on the other hand— at least he knows what kind of “ship” this thing is now.
On the right-hand side of the “Hemorover” diagram shows a growing list of information regarding the ship’s state. None of it sounds good..
< Remaining Oxygen Tanks: One >
< Fuel: Fail >
< Engine: Fail >
< Pressure: Fail >
< Hull: Fail >
< Battery: Low >
“Initiating Black Box Recovery Protocol.” Mary announces. Before Grace is even able to process whatever’s going on, Mary had already downloaded all of whatever “black box” files were on that ship.
“Connetion established, do you wish to attempt communication with Convict 24: Section 8 of the SM-13, Doctor Grace?” Mary questions. The ship finally goes quiet, giving Grace a second to understand all that just happened.
“...What? Convict?” Grace questioned before gasping loudly “WAIT PERSON?!” He shot up almost immediately.
“Grace find human aboard hemorover, question!?” Rocky shared his alarm, almost jumping out of his sitting position next to the teacher.
“Wait! Oh my god there might actually be a person in there! A stranger, we might’ve just found another intelligent lifeform out here, Rocky!!” Grace is fully bouncing up and down now, drumming his palms atop Rocky’s xenonite ball as he fails to contain his excitement.
Rocky seems to be just as excited “Grace found friend, question!? This make Friend Grace less irritable? Solve touch problem?”
Grace pauses his drumming. Huh, he didn’t even think about that.. Would this stranger even want to be his friend? Let alone want to physically interact with him.. But he’s getting ahead of himself, he needs to make sure this person’s still alive first. Judging by the information given to him by Mary, it’s a little hard to believe that this stranger is even conscious.
“Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, we need to see if this person’s even still alive first.” Grace chuckles lightly before moving back to the computer, and turning on the voice recorder. He never thought he’d ever have to use that thing, but there’s a first time for everything! He’d also never thought he’d ever meet a talking rock and develop a very healthy and normal relationship with them, yet here they are.
“Alright.. You ready, rock?” He looks over to the Eridian, totally not stalling as he bounces his knee anxiously.
“Rocky has been ready, connect connect connect!!” Rocky reassures, pointing a claw towards the screen.
Grace nods in response, taking a deep breath to psych himself up before finally pressing connect. The screen loads for a few seconds before a nice green green text displays on the screen, reading “[Connection Established]”
A Beat passes before Grace finally breaks the silence.
“... Hello?” He asks, his heart pounding in his chest with thinly veiled anxiety.
Static. No response.
“Is anyone there? Can anyone hear me?” He asks again, drumming his fingers on his thighs as he waits.
Still no response.
Grace sighs, slumping back in his chair as his hope begins to slip away.
Then the static sharpened, a voice coming through the gentle buzzing.
“--ello?” The radio cracked.
“HI!” Grace nearly falls out of his chair as he flails forward, trying to sit back upright. “Oh my goodness, hello! I’m here! Do you copy?”
The radio goes quiet again.. Then Grace hears a faint cough followed by a wince. Well that doesn’t sound good.. He thinks to himself.
“Is.. I—” The radio cuts off for a beat “--Real? Are you real..?” The voice on the other side of the line quavers at the question. Their voice sounds rough, as if whoever was inside that sub had been crying for a good long while.
“I’m— Yeah! Yeah, of course I’m real. You can hear me ok, right?” Grace tries to give reassurance. He has no idea what this stranger might’ve just gone through but he’d be damned if he was going to end up losing the guy’s trust this early.
The radio goes silent again, Grace takes a deep breath as he begins to go over what he wants to say next.
“Okay.. Okay.” He hypes himself up as he regains his bearings. “Okay! Hello, sorry. My name is Doctor Captain Ryland Grace, I’m talking to you from the Hail Mary just a bit away from your ship.” He introduces himself, awaiting a response.
Static.
“...Do you need help?” Grace breaks the silence, looking back at Rocky, who gives him a supportive thumbs down as he waits.
A beat.
The stranger spoke up again “Y—uhm.. Yes. Yes I need help, please..” The stranger rasped weakly. “I’m.. I’m stuck, It’s so dark and—” They bite back another sob followed by a wince “I’m almost out of oxygen..”
“Oh. Uh oh.” Grace whispers, panic setting in. “Uhm.. Are you injured?”
Another Beat. Whoever this guy is really likes dramatic silences.
“...Yeah.” The stranger says quietly.
“Okay.. How bad?” Grace presses.
“Uhm…” The line goes static again, Grace can only assume the stranger is checking their physical state. “My… My arm’s gone..”
Grace pauses. “What? What do you mean “gone?” He pushes.
“It uhm—“ The stranger winces again before taking another deep breath and continuing. “It got torn off.. A bit ago. ‘S in front of me.”
Grace’s eyes widen at that, but he tries his best to at least sound like he knows what he’s doing.
“..Okay! Well is there anything else that’s wrong or is it just the arm?” Grace really really hopes it’s just the arm..
“My.. my leg’s broken too, ‘n I can’t get a good look, but ‘m sure the skin on the left side of my face is.. uh.. gone.”
Grace just stays quiet, mouth slightly hung open.
“‘M sure there’s more,” The stranger continues. “but it hurts too much to check right now..”
“Alright..” Grace takes a moment to process the new information. “Alright, is there any way for you to get out? I might be able to meet you halfway if so.”
“No—“ The man strains. “They welded me in..”
Grace slumps back into his chair, dragging his hands down his face with a disappointed sigh.
A beat passes before the man speaks again.
“Please..” The man's voice wavers as he pleads. “I.. I don’t know if you’re just my imagination, I don’t know what’s real anymore, ‘n i’ve been losing track of time..”
Grace freezes, his gaze fixed on the monitor as he listens to the man.
“Fuck—” He sobs before hissing in pain again. “It’s so dark.. It’s so dark and cold, I— I don’t even know if you’re really there but please.. Please don’t let me die down here..” The radio goes static again, the silence only being filled with wheezing sobs every now and then.
Grace didn’t even realize he was crying until he felt a cold tear fall atop his hand. This guy sounds like he’s in so much pain.. Grace can’t even imagine how scared he must be right now.
Grace can’t let this man die in there, Grace won’t let this guy die in there.
“Okay, hold on for a second, bud. I’ll figure something out. Just stay awake for me, okay?”
“Mhm..” The man strains out.
Grace stands up, taking a second to think— Letting out a few pitiful sniffles as he breathes deeply. “Oh boy!” He takes another deep breath before turning to Rocky. “Have any ideas on how to get him out?” Grace questions, he’s currently way too scatterbrained at the moment to come up with a concrete plan of his own.
“Rocky made plan while Grace and new friend spoke.” Rocky perks up proudly, rolling closer before explaining.
✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦
“How are you gonna get enough xenonite for that?” Grace voiced, calculations littered on the white board behind them.
“Rocky has enough xenonite to attach to hemorover if Grace moves closer to it. It will be narrow, though. Need to conserve as much xenonite as possible.” Rocky says as he works on a high powered laser cutter for Grace to be able to cut into the submersible with.
“Alright, that’s good. How long do you think it’ll take before it’s done?” Grace questions, fidgeting with his glasses.
“Rocky will work fast, 1,800 Earth seconds.”
“Thirty minutes..” Grace confirmed. “Yeah, I think I should be able to keep him awake long enough for that.”
“So, is a plan, question?” Rocky tilts his carapace, lifting a fisted claw up against the xenonite barrier.
“It’s a plan.” Grace confirms, connecting his own fist to the barrier in return.
“Grace should go tell human friend, keep them talking until Rocky finishes.” Rocky stands up, before making his way towards the Medical Bay to get Armando to help him fill the airlock with ammonia so he can begin working.
Grace gives him a nod before spinning on his heel and going back to the cockpit to keep their (potential) new friend lucid while Rocky works.
“Hey, bud! You still there?” Grace asks with his voice slightly raised, just in case the man ended up dozing off while he was gone.
“Mhm..” The man responds, albeit drowsily.
“Good! Okay—” Grace pauses and begins drumming his fingers on the arm of his pilot seat as he tries to flip through topics to keep this man awake.
“Oh yeah, we finally came up with a plan on how we’re gonna get you out!” Grace announces proudly, only now noticing how quiet the Hail Mary is when he’s alone.
A beat.
“..We?” The man asked warily— seemingly troubled by Grace’s usage of the word.
“Yeah, we! Me and my friend, Rocky.” Grace thinks for a moment. “Is there not anyone with you on your sub?” He asks. This would be a good thing to know at the moment, considering Grace’s—ahem— food issue..
“N-no.” He winces, Grace can hear subtle shuffling over the line. “They only sent me down.”
“Oh! Hey—woah!” Grace shoots up. “Try not to move much, we don’t know the extent of your injuries, but if the torn arm is anything to go off of, I’m sure it’s not anything manageable..”
The line goes quiet again.
“Sorry..” The man breathed stiltedly.
“It’s alright, bud. We’ve got a plan to get you out—you’ll be able to relax soon.” Grace reassures. Yes, he knows how bad it is to make such a promise, but what else is he supposed to do? Tell this poor guy that he doesn’t know if this plan will really work at all? That he could be giving this guy false hope only to fail halfway through and watch him die? He’s not going to say that to him; and no, he’s not catastrophizing.
“Really?” The man on the other end of the line rasps, his voice raising an octave at the question, but the grit in his throat prevents him from doing so.
“Yeah! Basically, our plan is to have my friend build a tunnel from the airlock of my ship, to the surface of yours. After it’s connected, I’ll cut a hole into your ship, retrieve you, and bring you to our medic!” Wow.. Saying it out loud really does make it sound a lot easier said than done. Grace thinks to himself.
“Medic?” The man sniffles. “I thought there were only two people on the ship…” His voice grows wary again.
“Hm? Oh! No, our medic is a big robot arm. He came with the ship. His name’s Armando.” Grace reassures, before snickering to himself and continuing. “Heh, get it? Arm–ando? ‘Cause he’s a robot arm.”
Maybe this is just wishful thinking, but Grace swears he can hear the man huff a laugh on the other end of the line.
“But anyways,” Grace starts again, breaking the silence before it even has a chance to form. “Point is, we’re gonna get you out of there. You’re gonna be okay; you’ll be safe.”
A beat.
“...Do you promise?” The stranger’s voice breaks. The wavering in his tone is almost enough to make Grace start crying again, maybe he already is, he can’t really tell anymore right now.
“Yeah, promise.” Grace said softly.
The line goes static for a moment before Grace speaks up again. “Oh, yeah! By the way, what’s your name? I don’t know why I haven’t asked until now.” He jokes.
The line stays silent.
Grace’s brow furrows for a moment at the uncomfortable silence. This one feels a lot longer than the usual momentary hushes.
“Hey, bud?” Grace raises his voice again, lightly tapping his finger atop the microphone in front of him.
No response.
“Hello?” Grace asks again, his voice almost at a shout. “Are you there?”
No response.
“Ohhh no..” Grace whispers with a shuddering breath, worry enveloping every corner of his mind faster than he could even think. Did he finally run out of oxygen? Did he end up passing out? Oh god, oh god please please please don’t be dead please please don’t be dead…
Grace sits up out of his chair, speed walking towards the airlock and knocking on the door, hoping he gets Rocky’s attention.
“Yes, Grace, question?” Rocky scampers over, xenonite tools still in hand. “Why is Grace not keeping new friend busy, question?”
Grace takes a deep panicked breath, on the brink of tears. “He—uhm.. He passed out.” He’s fidgeting with his hands, his nails picking into the dead skin of his cuticles. “How much longer do you think the tunnel’s gonna take?”
Rocky thinks for a moment. “600 Earth seconds.” He says. “Maybe faster if Rocky hurry hurry hurry.” Rocky taps a free claw on the ground thrice.
Ten minutes.. Grace thinks to himself, he’s not gonna make it. He’s gonna die in there because Grace was too late to save him, he’s going to die in there because Grace wasn’t able to keep the man awake..
“Doctor Grace, you’re a coward, and you’re full of shit.”
Grace begins pacing, biting into the dead skin around his fingertips, the stinging only somewhat grounding him.
“If it’s any consolation, you’ll be remembered as a hero..”
The familiar itching under his skin rears its ugly head again, he begins scratching against the rough burn scars on his right arm, the sensation only somewhat helping.
He’s been pacing for what feels like forever before Rocky knocks on the door of the airlock, back in his xenonite ball. “Rocky finish tunnel! Rocky filled tunnel with oxygen so new human doesn’t die in the move.” He stands up straight in triumph before exiting the airlock and dropping the xenonite laser cutter by Grace’s feet.
“Rocky will begin setting up MedBay for new friend, will communicate with Grace on the line while Grace does job.” Rocky reassures, before placing a closed claw against the xenonite shell. “Grace will do great, fist Rocky.”
The statement catches Grace off guard, and causes him to bark out a laugh. The joke does a great job at soothing Grace’s nerves. “Thanks, Rocky.” He bumps his fist against the shell in response.
Rocky bobs his carapace with a soft trill before making his way towards the medical bay, leaving Grace to go retrieve their new friend.
Grace races to put on his EVA suit almost immediately, almost busting his butt as he does. He wraps one of the spare lights he used in Rocky’s tunnel around his waist, and holds the laser cutter in his non–dominant hand.
Once Grace finally made his way into the airlock, he started up the pressurization sequence. Even though he knows Rocky filled the tunnel with fresh oxygen, he still felt the need to wear his EVA suit, just in case.
Once he was greenlit to go, he opened the door and began pushing himself through the xenonite tunnel. This one is a lot smaller and narrower compared to the one Grace and Rocky first made contact in. Rocky told Grace it was because he needed to conserve whatever little xenonite he had left.
The closer grace inches towards the sub, the more visible the mess of it all is. Grace swears he can see something pulsing deep under the rusted metal, the iron surrounding the hull covered with a thick layer of what Grace prays isn’t blood.
The thought makes him feel sick to his stomach, so instead of dwelling on it any further—he shakes the thought out of his head and begins to cut a hole into the side of the hull.
The hull hissed loudly as the laser cut into the metal. Grace twisting his arm around the metal wall to get as perfect of a circular cut as he can. He notices that the more he cuts around the sub, the more small beads of dark red begin creeping up to the surface. Eerily similar to the way blood beads on an arm after being cut. He really, really hopes he isn’t unknowingly cutting a massive hole into the unconscious man in the rover.
Once he’s finished cutting, he sets the tool beside him and begins to push the cutout forward. Only for him to be met with a sickening snapping sound, followed by a rush of blood pouring out, floating inches away from him.
Grace squeezes his eyes shut while he pushes the hole the rest of the way in, once he squints his eyes open to see the damage— his stomach lurches as he lets out a loud gasp.
The entire inside of the hull is covered head to toe in what is unmistakably blood. Veins and tendrils relative of torn sinew cover the walls of the sub, caked in inches of clotted blood.
Oh my god no way he exploded.. He panics to himself as he stays frozen at the entrance of the sub. Then Rocky’s voice cracks through the static of the line.
“Is Grace doing okay, question? Rocky heard gasp.” Rocky asks, his automated voice snapping Grace out of whatever spiral he found himself in.
“Y–uhm. Yeah, bud. I’m good,” Grace stammers, blinking away the shock. “There’s just.. A lot of mess.”
“Rocky’s sure Grace’s room is messier.” Rocky jokes, and Grace can hear a faint chittering noise in the background, which could only be described as the Eridian equivalent of a snicker.
Grace huffs a laugh, trying to calm his nerves as much as possible before dropping into the sub. His boots make a horrible squelching sound once they hit the floor, the noise sending chills up his spine. He almost gags before squeezing his eyes shut and thanking the stars that he at the very least can’t smell the inside of the hull. Unlike the stranger in the sub.
Right, the stranger!
Grace takes a very deep breath before opening his eyes again and searching around for the man. One of the second things he notices is a completely severed arm hanging from one of the pipes in a death grip. He catches notice of branches and crimson-colored leaves that have seemingly sprouted from the mass.
Once Grace tilts closer to the arm, he notices the sprouts surrounding the arm all come from a small glass pendant tied around its wrist. Inside the pendant is a small sprouted plant pressed between the panes. Now, Grace being Grace snaps the thread of the pendant off of the arm, the material of the strand giving little to no give as he does.
Yes, Grace knows how bad it is to just snatch up a random item without asking, but think of the research! For all he knows, this plant could be from an alien planet! And even if it’s not from an alien planet, he’s able to have a little piece of home to keep with him, maybe he could add it to his green room on the Mary— maybe he could research its properties and use it to make something.
A few moments after Grace takes the time to turn the charm around in his hands, he hears a raspy whine of pain behind him.
He nearly jumps out of his skin at the noise, but once he turns around— he’s locking eyes with the man he heard on the radio.
The man is clinging weakly to the pole behind him, his breaths coming out in shallow little gasps as he stares Grace down in horror.
Grace gasps at the sight of the man, which earns him another worried call from his friend.
“Grace okay, question? Rocky heard Grace gasp again.” He chirps, Grace can hear shuffling in the background as Rocky works on whatever he’s been working on to prepare for their new guest.
“Yeah, yeah. Our friend’s just— not doing too hot..” He reassures.
Yeah, that might’ve been the understatement of the century. This “guy” before Grace looks like a mess. This quote unquote “human” has fudging teeth growing out of his body. He has a completely exposed brachial artery, and almost all the skin on the left side of his body is gone. And Grace can’t even begin to describe all of the fishy aspects of the man. Also, to make matters worse, this guy’s caked in blood.
Grace takes a deep breath before pushing himself forwards towards the man, only to be rewarded with a breathy hiss and the man pushing himself further away before wincing in pain.
“Hey no— it’s okay, you’re okay!” Grace raises his hands placatingly as he speaks. “It’s me, Grace. We spoke over the radio.”
The man doesn’t seem to register Grace’s words— only letting out quick wheezing breaths threaded on whimpers that only grew more panicked the closer Grace drew.
Grace freezes in place as he takes in the sight before him. The wounded stranger pushing himself further into a corner while he continues to sob pitifully almost makes Grace want to sob himself.
“Doctor Grace, you’re a coward, and you’re full of shit.”
Grace takes a sharp breath in before closing the gap between him and the other man. “Alright, bud. This is gonna suck but I promise you’ll be okay.”
The man wails in pain as Grace places an arm around his torso, hoisting him up and pulling him out of the ship.
The blood on the stranger sticks onto Grace’s suit, the stranger’s nails dig tightly into the material of the EVA suit, yet Grace perseveres, because the last thing he’s going to do is run away again.
The man squirms beneath Grace’s grip while he’s pulled into the airlock, sobbing out words in a language Grace isn’t sure he’s ever heard before— The man's lure flickering from light to dim as he does, his voice slurring more and more with it.
Once Grace makes his way fully into the depressurization chamber and holds the man tightly against him, the first thing he does is shout out to Rocky and Armando.
As Grace waits for his friends to arrive, he makes sure the exposed artery of the other man is held shut until they do.
As carefully as possible, Grace placed a hand above the open wound. Then, with as much force as he could, pushed down onto the man’s shoulder, hard.
The sound the man beneath him made was barely even human, a loud shattered wail escaping from his throat, morphing into raspy sobs as his own grip around Grace’s arm tightened hard enough to bruise.
Grace winced as the man's nails dug into the EVA suit, but at least the bleeding stopped.
Once Armando and Rocky arrived, the robot quickly applied a tighter tourniquet above the man’s shoulder to replace the pressure that Grace provided.
The stranger is then carried away towards the medical bay in the arms of Armando—Rocky staying behind beside Grace.
They can both still hear the man kicking and screaming in the other room, loud pleading wails echoing through the hallways as Grace stands outside of the airlock— still in his EVA suit.
He’s choosing to keep his EVA suit on until he’s sure the man’s put to sleep. Just because, if Grace ended up getting even a drop of blood on him, or was able to hear the man’s screams perfectly without it being muffled by his helmet— he would definitely have started bursting into tears. Or— at least more tears than he was already shedding.
Yeah, he’s crying. Sue him. This stranger he found floating in the middle of space is torn almost completely to shreds. He looks like he just lost a fight with a velociraptor, or thrown in a blender. Grace can’t even begin to imagine the amount of pain the man must be in right now, or how painful it had to have been when it happened to him.
Without thinking, Grace immediately begins speed–walking towards the Medical Bay once he notices that the agonized keens of the other man have stopped, Rocky following close behind.
Once Grace enters the room, he’s able to see how quickly Armando got to work. He’d already scanned the man from head-to-toe, and placed him in a xenonite dome of his own, similar to Rocky’s bed. But instead of this dome being filled to the brim with ammonia, it’s filled with oxygen–rich sterilized air to make sure the man is at the least risk for infection. And because the stranger must’ve had incredibly bad carbon monoxide poisoning, considering the fact that his oxygen tank was almost completely empty by the time Grace found him.
After a beat, Armando begins to list off all of the man’s injuries and all Grace can do is stare at the monitor before him, mouth agape as he reads.
< Acute Alcohol Intoxication >
< Cutaneous Necrosis >
< Blunt Force Trauma >
< Cachexia >
< Hypercapnia >
< TBI >
< Traumatic Amputation >
< Third Degree Burns >
The list goes on… And Grace watches in horror as more and more injuries continue to pop up. Man, if it wasn’t for Armando, Grace isn’t sure the man would’ve survived. He thinks to himself.
Grace immediately removes himself from the room once Armando begins cutting the man out of his bloodied clothes. Making his way into the hallway and beginning to change out of his EVA suit. After he’s changed out, he hears the faint growing tumble of Rocky rolling towards him, presumably to ask about the state of their new friend. But, as Grace begins to make his way towards his friend, his foot slips on a slick trail of blood leading from the hallway, all the way down to the Medical Bay, and oh he’s puking.
Grace scurries over to the nearest trashcan before lurching violently, heaving out the remains of his last meal, and then some.
Rocky rushes over, letting out a string of panicked notes as he freaks. “Grace shoot out bile!! Grace okay, question!?” He hits a claw against the floor twice as he asks.
Grace dry heaves a couple more times before slumping down beside the trashcan, breathing heavily. “Yeah, bud. I’m okay, I just slipped on a bit of our friend’s blood..” He pauses for a second as his stomach drops. “...And it just dawned on me that I’m going to have to clean all that up.”
Rocky shakes his carapace in disapproval before rolling up to Grace’s side. “No, Rocky will take care of mess. Grace needs to take a break.” He demands.
Before Grace can begin to object, a wave of exhaustion hits him like a truck.
“...fine.” He groans before pushing himself back up.
He squeezes his eyes shut as his vision grows static from the sudden change of positions. Once his head stops pounding, he begins to make his way towards the Medical bay, taking a seat just outside of the room until Armando’s done working.
✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦
It’s been at least 4 days since Grace had retrieved the man, and Armando had already finished patching him up.
Grace sits at his bedside, a fist pressed against mouth as he stares at the stranger. Now that he’s finally clean and all bandaged up, Grace can actually get a good look at the guy.
Almost half of his body is covered head to toe in bandages, tightly wrapped around stitched wounds and removed masses.
A large wound hidden under the bandages covered half of the man's face, surrounding his eye and stretching over his nose.
The readings from Armando regarding the man’s blood shows that the guy definitely is human—yet Grace can’t even begin to process how he could be. His blood is definitely that of a human’s, yet he still possesses so many non-human qualities— like the angler lure on his head, the fins that have grown over his ears, the fins all around his arms and spine, or the long, toothy—malformed tail relative to that of an eel’s. There were so many things wrong with the guy, and yet the only thing on Grace’s mind right now seems to be how?
How did he survive in that sub?
How did he even end up out there in the first place?
How did he survive so long with the most important artery in his body completely severed?
What’s up with the tail?
But, before Grace can send himself spiraling into another headache, he hears Rocky push the door open.
“Grace needs to sleep. It has been about 259 thousand Earth seconds.” He reminds, rolling up to Grace’s legs where he sat.
“‘M not tired.” Grace slurs. He definitely is tired, but there isn’t anything more important to him right now than watching over their new guest.
Rocky trills in disapproval. “Grace needs sleep. It has already been three earth days since Grace has last slept, and Rocky remembers Grace telling him that humans die after eight.”
Gosh darn it… Grace did tell him that..
Rocky rolls closer, pressing up against Grace’s legs. “Rocky will watch new human for Grace, Grace will rest over there.” The Eridian points towards the hallway, the room right in front of the MedBay was another sleeping quarter.
The bedroom tempts him like a siren. He really really wants to protest, but he’s so tired.
Grace groans loudly, dragging a hand down his face as he speaks. “Fine, whatever.” He sneers before leaving the room.
Rocky chirps triumphantly as he watches Grace lay down.
Maybe Rocky’s right, as frustrating as that is to admit. It’s been four days since they’ve brought the man aboard.
What are the chances he’s suddenly going to wake up the moment Grace takes his eyes off of him?
Besides, people don’t heal from injuries that severe overnight.