Chapter Text
Caldera spoke as little while Grace was sleeping as they had while Grace was awake. Rocky couldn’t tell if this was due to his own request or if Caldera would have stayed silent either way. He’d never met this Eridian before, so he didn’t really know their habits.
Not long after Grace fell asleep, Ridge returned. This seemed odd to Rocky. Ridge had not been gone long; surely that had not been enough time to check in with their family, unless said family lived very, very near. Why would they need to do this, anyway? The question buzzed against Rocky. Ridge was an adult with no indication of having a mate, no piece of carapace that was different from their own. Surely a mateless, adult Eridian could do what they wanted without needing to update their relatives. Eridian families were close, but not to the extent that the freedom of a grown adult like Ridge would be restricted.
Rocky would inquire about it, but Grace still needed quiet to sleep. They did not want to start a conversation right now. It would make too much noise.
Caldera buzzed with a sound Rocky placed, after a moment, as curiosity. Though all the information had stayed in his brain, it had been a long time since he heard another Eridian do that. He did not think the sound would wake Grace, at least. Rocky had made similar sounds to this around Grace, and discovered they were outside the human range of hearing.
What was Caldera attempting to ask? Rocky was not good at figuring out what other Eridians meant, sometimes, when they did not use words, and he was out of practice, too. Did Caldera really expect Rocky to answer the unspoken question right now? Grace was sleeping!
Caldera stopped buzzing after a moment, and did not make any other sounds, so Rocky did not bring it up. They could ask later. Or ask Grace. Maybe they were curious about Grace’s biology. That was better answered by the human himself.
Rocky heard a new sound, and focused on it to find that two new Eridians were approaching the ship. He hadn’t seen Stripes since they left earlier. He wondered for just a fraction of a moment why more Eridians were coming when contact was supposed to be limited, a confusion cut short when he recognized, quite quickly, who one of the Eridians was.
He knew them by their resonance, the way sound bounced off their carapace back to his receptors. He knew their voice. Their name was engraved on his memory, over and over, and he could recall thousands, perhaps millions, of times he had said it. Some where he was calling out and knew they would respond. Some when he knew they were too far to hear but he called anyway. Some in that dark time when there was no other Eridian to hear, all dead or waiting on their planet for their saviors to return for a solution. Waiting for friends, family, mates to return. Not knowing Rocky was the only one left.
But someone had been waiting for him. And that someone was here.
Adrian.
No longer sensitive about noise, Rocky let out a trill of emotion, joy and excitement laced into the tone. Adrian responded from the other side of the airlock. Just moments later, they entered. Rocky rushed towards them as well, closing the distance faster. He nearly hugged them, but realized in time that the human practice would seem odd. Instead, he pressed himself to their carapace in a more Eridian way.
“Rocky!” Adrian let out a complex set of notes, something not so simple as words, containing sequences remembered among the two of them. An end to the long heartbreak. The other Eridians fell silent and left space for their joy, while Grace started to stir.
Adrian’s song deepened, gaining a new layer of complexity. This was a voice Rocky had been waiting for, all these years, sometimes wondering if he would ever hear it again. From Adrian’s song he could tell they felt the same. So Rocky joined them.
Many Eridians saw this as the purest form of communication. It was not like a thrum, participated in by many. It was a song among few, and showed deep connection. Like a binding of souls. Eridians had been singing together like this for a long, long time.
Now, Rocky and Adrian added another melody to the count, their emotions reaching through the vibrations that made up sound. Rocky let his speech organs resonate, playing from memory…
The false glimpse of hope as they watched their crewmates get better after their initial sickness, relieved to know it was over.
Only for them to fall even sicker.
After that, none of them recovered and Rocky remained the only survivor.
Rocky faltered, voice letting out some screechy sounds before stopping completely. His limbs locked up but he was not falling asleep.
That didn’t stop all others nearby from watching.
The last of his crewmates falling asleep only to never wake up. Rocky failed their task of guarding them. Rocky failed all of them. Rocky could. Not. Fix. This.
The ship was silent. The only voice belonged to loneliness. Nothing could drown it out. No sound, however loud, could silence it. It was the thing that took all other noises away.
An Eridian year passed. Then IV. They passed like how Rocky’s crew fell ill. First they became aware of just one, then before he knew it, many had come and gone, and they were caught in between them. Rocky did not die and they did not know why. Sometimes they wondered if they really had died and had not realized it. Often they hoped that somehow none of this was real. More than often.
Rocky found himself unable to make another noise. If he had been human like Grace, surely he would be shaking. His hydraulic limbs did nothing of the sort. They did not move at all.
Adrian trilled, but this time it was not an elated sort of trill. Rocky was warm. Too warm.
He wanted to say anything that could reassure them, but it seemed the song had raked his speech organs until they were unusable. He knew, of course, that was impossible. It did not change how he felt.
Adrian was not the only witness to this. The other Eridians were still silent, but this was a different silence than the one they had wrapped around themselves before. Adrian was waiting for an answer from Rocky. Grace was fully awake, just in time to witness this whole scene.
Grace spoke first, in words only Rocky knew the meaning of. “Rocky? You okay?” Grace often asked this even when the answer was obvious.
It could have been eternity or it could have been a moment. That was what it felt like. Forever passed in the length of a single note. A moment, because Rocky made no progress on the problem. Surely they had not been so useless for so long. Eternity, because maybe it had always been this way and Rocky’s previous life and memories were just a delusion. Would it be better, if they had not truly witnessed all the death? The issue with that was that it invalidated all their happy memories too, turning their life to nothing.
No. Their love still waited for them on Erid. Once Rocky solved the problem they would return home and be reunited.
The thought of Adrian kept them going through the solitude.
And now that they had been reunited, why could Rocky not sing? Why could he not sing with Adrian?
Something was very, very wrong.
Finally, Rocky let out a long, flat sound.
“Rocky, what is wrong, question?” Adrian spoke slowly, in the simplest form of language, the one Grace could understand best. Was Adrian aware of this, and speaking that way for Grace’s benefit? Or… were they doing it for Rocky? Did he seem that bad?
“Sorry sorry sorry. I broke song.” The relief of being able to speak again was overshadowed by the continued horror of… whatever that was. He had frozen, and he did not know why. Everyone was listening. Ridge and Caldera, the Eridian outside, Grace, Adrian. Everyone was listening to Rocky and he did not know what that had been.
“Rocky? Is that- is that Adrian? What happened?” Grace asked.
That was the problem. Rocky did not know. He could not fix it because he did not know!
“Both of you leave.” Adrian ordered, the subtones indicating they directed the words at Ridge and Caldera. The two scrambled to obey, shocked by what had happened and moved by the authority in Adrian’s song, which lasted less than an Eridian second. The third Eridian outside the ship went with the two, slowly fading outside Rocky’s range of hearing.
Adrian considered Grace for a moment, but clearly decided not to order him away too. Rocky was glad for that. Grace could not go far anyway.
“Did not mean to.” Rocky uttered shamefully. He had broken the song. Would Adrian take it to mean they should not be together? That Rocky had changed too much? It was a wonder, really, that Adrian had come in singing like they had. Why had they not moved on?
“You are home! I do not care about the song.” Adrian trilled.
Rocky let out a shrill, anxious note. They did not care about the song? Their song of reunion? The one Rocky had ruined? Was it that it meant nothing, really?
“It does not matter because you are home!” Adrian continued before Rocky could spiral much more. “I have been waiting for you, not a song.”
“Adrian wait so long?”
“I could not let myself believe you were lost out there. Yes, I waited for you.” Adrian communicated, the entire sentence passing so quickly and yet having so much meaning. Adrian would not have anyone else. It was Rocky they loved, and every day they had looked forward to his return.
Grace had a slightly perplexed expression, and Rocky realized he was probably not following Adrian’s words. The human had clearly realized it was not fit to interrupt this. His presence was comforting, at least. It would be too unfamiliar to have him gone. Too quiet. Like the ship all those years ago. Like Rocky just minutes earlier.
“You waited so long.” Rocky said shakily, not used to using the more complex tones. In it he put a question, sounding grating to his ears. It wasn’t that they had not talked like this at all in years. In fact, he had used the complex tones just recently when sending information to Erid, before landing. After what had just happened, though…
“You would never not be worth it to me!” Adrian scoffed angrily, offended by the very implication, in those undertones, that Rocky was not enough to wait for.
“Apology.” Rocky stuttered. An explanation was due, now. “Adrian, this Grace. Meet in Tau Ceti system. Help with star problem.”
Adrian scrutinized Grace, and Grace waved tiredly. Oh no! Rocky could not have them not liking each other.
“Grace help bring Rocky home! Rocky stranded in space otherwise. Grace amaze.”
“Thanks.”
“Why are you talking like that?” Adrian asked.
“Grace understand this better. Squishy brain. Not good at Eridian language.”
“Wow, thanks.”
“Why Grace make that noise again, question?” Adrian asked, switching to the simpler form of language.
“Is word. Thanks. Grace sometimes say it when insulted.” Rocky answered, finding he was calming now that he did not have to focus on his sudden inability to sing minutes earlier.
Adrian chirped in confusion.
“Confuse, yes.”
“You know it’s sarcasm, ya goof.” Grace laughed weakly.
“Adrian want to know what happen on mission, question?” Rocky asked nervously.
Adrian trilled an affirmative, doing the jazz hands motion alongside it.
“Are you sure, bud?”
“Start from meeting Grace. Is where most progress is made. Will explain much.” Rocky decided.
Was he avoiding the subject of his lost crewmates? Well. There would be plenty of time to talk about that later.
Rocky did not look forward to it.
“Two more? Is this not still a quarantine?” Stripes asked with irritation. They did not like when reality went against what was promised. Only the three of them were meant to interact with the returned ship. Why risk more Eridians to exposure? They did not know what might have come back with Rocky and this new ship without them knowing. The Eridians had not even risked taking the tanks of the star killer predator yet, though they were working on a method to send them to the third planet.
“Rocky’s mate wanted to be here. It is only right.” Ridge responded.
“Then what is the purpose of the other one being here? Another scientist? Caldera is enough for the moment!”
“That is… my sibling. I could not leave them alone.” The undertones in Ridge’s words indicated they would like to not be asked any further questions about this, which further irritated Stripes, as they had further questions. The other Eridian, Ridge’s sibling, trilled in greeting.
“Now why are you out here, and suggesting I do not go in? Adrian is still in there?”
“Adrian told us to leave. They wanted to talk to Rocky alone (not alone, though, with Grace). I am concerned. Rocky froze up and did not say anything for a good few minutes.” Ridge explained.
This caught Stripes’s attention. “I have not seen anything that should impact Rocky’s speech to that extent. I should reassess the damage. When can we go back in?”
“I will say when I think that is appropriate. They want space. We do not want to cause unnecessary issues.”
Stripes relented. They were still irritated, of course, and wanted to return to the ship as soon as possible. They were in charge of Rocky’s health and felt the need to investigate this incident. Now they had to wait. If only it had not taken so long to talk to the other doctors, who had been separated from Stripes by a barrier. They had many questions which Stripes had done their best to answer. They would surely have more questions the next time Stripes spoke to them. Perhaps even ask for updates on the same questions. So many questions with questionable importance.
No wonder they were so irritated.