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I can’t remember what I was just doing. That's a problem.
I hope those stupid amnesia drugs don't have some horrible side effect of "randomly forgetting the past who-knows-how-many hours".
The memory loss isn't the only problem, though. There's a hissing noise somewhere in the ship, and all the objects I've left floating around throughout the ship are moving gently in air currents, moreso than should be normal. That can only mean one thing- a hull breach.
Just what I need on top of my returning memory problem.
I kick off from one wall of the cockpit- something must be really wrong, the computers are acting like everything's fine- and into the lab, searching for the source of the breach. It gets louder when I get into the lab, so I seem to be headed in the right direction. Once I find it, all I have to do is patch it with some nice, sturdy xenonite glue- or have Rocky do it.
Speaking of, where is Rocky? I haven't even heard anything from him. He should know that this sounds wrong, and it's not like he would've gone to sleep without telling me.
I float into the dormitory.
Crap.
This is one insane hull breach.
Whatever punctured the hull also pierced through into Rocky's tunnels, and the hole is huge. Miraculously, the xenonite didn't shatter- but it's cracked, and that's enough to let my air gradually escape.
It takes me far too long to realize an even bigger issue. One even more important to me than my atmosphere literally being sucked out of the ship.
Rocky.
Tears coat my eyes as I realize he's gone. I may be safe for a while thanks to the xenonite barrier, but Rocky didn't have that luxury. The extraordinarily fast decompression must've pulled him out of the ship. He's gone.
I'm alone in a star system twelve light-years from home. My best friend is dead. Erid's doomed.
I'm doomed. What am I supposed to do without Rocky? He was my best friend. He was the smartest guy I ever knew. He was… I'm going to go crazy out here from grief and isolation, if this hull breach doesn’t kill me first.
I can't see anything anymore- my tears make everything blurry. The hissing sound is getting quieter. I'll start experiencing symptoms of hypoxia soon, if I haven't already.
I just can't find it in me to do anything. Rocky's dead, and I'm going to die too.
~*~*~
"-ace. Grace, question? You okay, question?"
I'm laying in my bed, and I feel… nasty, honestly. I've never ‘woken up in a cold sweat’ before, but I guess that- Rocky. That's Rocky. He's alive!
Of course he's alive. I just woke up. I was having a nightmare.
I'm not used to having nightmares. The usual bad dreams I have are just creepily weird, not legitimately terrifying like that one was.
"You okay, question?" Rocky repeats.
"Yeah," I respond. But that's sort of a lie. "Well, not really. But it's fine."
"Not fine," Rocky says, and I can tell from his tone that he's taken up his "serious" posture. "When you asleep, you heart rate went very fast. Too fast… not normal. Not fine."
"I had a nightmare. It's okay."
"What is that, question? New word."
Wait, really? I never explained dreams and nightmares to Rocky?
"Have you ever noticed me move around and talk in my sleep? Or noticed my heart rate go up and down?"
"Often, yes."
"That's stuff that can happen when humans do something called dreaming. It happens when humans sleep. It's most common during the phase of human sleep called REM, which stands for rapid eye movement. REM is deep sleep. Even in deep sleep, the human brain can be as active as it is when we're awake. This sorta makes us… hallucinate? I guess? And that activity can sometimes make us act like we're awake, even if we're not.
"Dreams can be really weird, too, because usually you think you're awake when you're in the dream, but everything's all wrong. And then there are dreams where things are really wrong. Those are nightmares. They're scary dreams. Bad bad bad."
"Bad bad bad," Rocky agrees. "Understand. Eridians not have word for this. I will call it ♩♫♩♪♫♩♩."
It's just the words for sleep and imagine stuck together, but it gets the job done.
"What you dream about, question?"
"Are you sure you want to know? Bad dreams typically mirror scary stuff that can actually happen."
"Yes," he answers. "Want to know about dream. Interesting."
"I dreamed that there was a hull breach," I say, the fear coming back to me as I recall the dream's details. "You died, and I was about to die."
"Oh," Rocky says, an octave lower than normal. "Bad bad bad dream."
"Eridians really don't dream at all, huh? Your brain just fully shuts down when you sleep. I never actually realized that that means you don't dream."
"Years ago, before I alive, some Eridians let science Eridians run tests on them while they sleep. Brain did not show any activity during tests. So, no dreams."
Rocky's quiet for a minute- it seems like he's thinking.
"Dreams seem fun, though. When not scary dreams. What are good dreams like, question?"
"Good dreams…" I stop and think. I haven't really had too many memorable dreams after waking up on the Hail Mary. I have to dig deep to find a good one. "Sometimes I'll have dreams about Earth- that I'll return to Earth one day and everything will be fine. It's unrealistic and would require insane luck, but they make me happy."
"Sometimes when you sleep, you talk," Rocky says. "You say funny things. Talk about bags made of food. Earth thing, question?"
I have a hunch as to what he's talking about. "Beanbags?"
"Yes! You talk about those. Strange."
"I was probably dreaming about my kids, but I don't remember."
"You don't remember all dreams, question? You have children, question?!"
Hold up, I never told him about the kids? Okay, to be fair, we've been crazy busy with world-saving science until recently, so it's not like I had time to tell him about my old job. Man, that's weird to think about- it's my old job, now.
"I used to be a teacher. I taught young humans about science. Sometimes we would have a game to help them learn, and it involved beanbags.
"And no, humans actually forget a lot of our dreams. Some people remember most of their dreams, and some people don't remember any of their dreams."
"Understand. Human memory bad. Also, you still teacher."
"What? No, I'm not. My kids are back on Earth, and I haven't been a teacher in… well, four years for me, but twelve years for the kids I used to teach."
"No, you still teacher. You teach me science things. You smart smart smart science human, and you able to help others understand science. You still teacher!"
He's right. I never thought about it like that. Heck, I taught Rocky about science and humanity. He knows a lot more now that when I first met him, and vice versa- he taught me a lot as well.
I yawn. That surprises me- I've felt pretty awake this whole conversation.
"How long was I asleep?" I ask Rocky.
"10,932 seconds."
Damn, only about three hours. Not sure if I really want to go back to sleep after that nightmare, though, even though talking to Rocky has definitely helped me calm down.
"Sleep, Grace," he tells me, as though he knows what I'm thinking. "Humans need more sleep than 10,932 seconds. It is okay. Ship is safe- no hull breaches. You sleep, I watch."
What would I do without my best friend, the giant alien spider made of rocks? Y'know, if I didn't already know him, I'd probably have nightmares about him. But he's right, I need more sleep. I yawn again- my eyes really want to close right now.
"When a friend is going to sleep, sometimes you tell them 'sweet dreams', so they know that you hope they have good dreams."
"Sweet dreams, Grace."