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“Our planets are all named after gods that we have old stories about,” I say. “So I think it’s cool that you’ve named a planet after your mate, because that means you think about her like we would think about a goddess.”
“What is word after universe king word, question?” Rocky asks.
“Oh, you mean the “ess” part?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, sometimes we add “ess” to words for people to mean that the person we’re talking about is female.”
“Large egg, question?”
Large egg is Rocky’s expression for female. It basically means someone with large gametes.
“Yes,” I say.
“But Adrian no have larger eggs than other Eridians,” Rocky says.
“Yes, that’s true, but because of how humans are, it would be weird for me to think of Adrian as neither male nor female, so I chose female.”
“Confusing.”
“I hope you don’t mind.”
“No, is okay. Small egg words and large egg words no important. Important thing is can understand you.”
“Thanks. So, yeah, Adrian is like a goddess, or just a god, if you like.”
“Good good,” Rocky says. “Adrian is very good person. Will be very happy when tell her she is special like king of nature.”
“Yeah, that was very nice of you.”
“Stars also have universe king names, question? Eridani mean what, question?”
“Huh, well, I don’t know. One thing I didn’t tell you is that Eridani isn’t the full name we use for your star. There are a lot of stars named something Eridani, because they’re part of a group of stars that we call a constellation.”
“Why put stars in group, question?”
“Because sometimes when we look at the sky and we see the stars, they look like they make pictures in the sky. So we make up stories about those pictures, or connect those pictures to stories.”
“I always forget humans can hear stars. Must be very good. Jealous.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool, but don’t feel too bad. Humans can only understand the part of their surroundings that their eyes are pointing at at that moment, so if my face is turned towards you, I don’t always know what’s behind my head. You see in every direction at once. I think that’s cool.”
“Humans only know one direction at one time, question?”
“Yes.”
“Scary.”
“Yes.”
“Sometime you know thing to side of head, not in front of head. Why, question?”
“Oh, by that do you mean sort of to the front but also kind of to the side?”
“Yes.”
“That’s because our eyes aren’t always pointed exactly same direction as our head is. As long as something is sort of in front of me, I can move my eyes so I can see it, without moving my whole head.”
“I no see difference when you eyes move. Eyes always look same.”
“Well, that’s too bad. Humans can tell where other humans are looking very easily.”
“Jealous.”
“Sorry. Hey, hang on. I’m going to search my computer libraries and find more information on the story behind Eridani.”
It turns out there was a mythical river named Eridanus, which the sun god’s son fell into after trying to drive his father’s chariot to pull the sun across the sky one day. I explain the story to Rocky. Then he wants to see the constellation, but I can’t show him by letting his camera view the telescope, because the constellation Eridanus doesn’t look normal from here at Tau Ceti. All the stars are in different positions relative to each other.
So I show him the constellation by pulling a picture of it up on my computer monitor. He looks at it through his camera.
“No look like river. Look like stars,” he says.
“Well, the truth is, I never thought most of the constellations looked that much like the things they were supposed to be pictures of anyway. There is one I could always recognize though. It’s called Orion.”
We look up Orion, and talk about the story of the hunter Orion, who was apparently put in the stars after a somewhat crazy life on Earth. The stories are contradictory, but Rocky thinks they’re cool. He still thinks the picture of the Orion constellation looks nothing like a human though.
“Do you have any cool stories you want to share?” I ask him.
“Yes. One story. There was young person. Not very young, but less than 1,296 Eridian years. Eridian word for 1,296 years is ♬♩. ♬♩ is 36 ♫♩, ♫♩ is 36 years.”
“Okay, huh,” I say. “I guess I’ll call the first word a hexury and the second word a hexade.”
“Good good. Eridian’s name is ♪♫, age less than one hexury. Promised by still life king that if he go to center of ♫♬ and sleep for another hexury, he is told secret of how make Eridian steel.”
“Okay, so what was he going to the center of?”
“Place where many large still life living things are. Also many large animals. Dangerous place.”
Forest, I think.
“Parents come with ♪♫ together to watch him sleep for one hexury.”
I arbitrarily decide that the sleeping Eridian is going to be called Arora, after Sleeping Beauty in the Disney movie, and switch out the male pronoun I’ve been translating Rocky’s pronoun to for the female one.
“Parents’ names ♩♪♫ and ♪♫♬,” Rocky says.
Stephan and Stephanie, I think to myself.
“Stephan and Stephanie take turn watch Arora sleep,” Rocky says. “But then Stephan is hurt. Cannot walk. Will die soon if no help from healing science Eridian. Stepanie must leave Stephan and Arora in forest to go and bring help. One day when Stephanie gone, large animal come. Stephan weak, cannot fight. Stephan very afraid Stephan and Arora will die. Then, before animal eat Stephan, Stephanie and healing Eridian come. Kill animal. Happy. Hexury end and Arora wake up. Make Eridian steel. Happy.”
“Huh,” I say. “That kind of reminds me of Gandalf in the movie The Two Towers.”
“Explain.”
So I talk about how in The Two Towers, the humans gathered to the fortress to fight against the orcs, and just when they were all about to die, Gandalf, who had said he’d come at first light on the fifth day, showed up with a huge army.
“Good,” Rocky says. “Always like story when help come just before death.”
“You’re like that,” I say.
“Why, question?”
“You showed up just before I was going to die. You almost died saving me. Thank thank thank.”
“Must save you. If you die, everyone die.”
“Well, thanks anyway, and thanks for being my friend. It’s great to have someone to talk to.”
The truth is, I appreciate Rocky for just being here almost as much as I appreciate him for saving my life. It’s good to have a friend here to share stories with. I’d be all alone in space without him, 12 lightyears from all other humans. Talking with Rocky about science and stories gives everything more meaning. It makes life more worth living.
I’m so grateful that even out here, lightyears from Earth, I’m not alone.