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When Grace woke, he was a little confused. He can tell everything was in place…but there's something else. Once he focused, he realized what was different. His new companion had joined him in his bed.
Rocky had linked one of his free arms around one of Grace's. Likely so he didn't drift off. He's tinkering with something quietly, using this strange pair of gloves. They drew material in from a reservoir- oh! They were 3-D printers! Holy cow, that was incredible. He can't wait to figure out how they work.
In the moment, however, Grace had noticed something else. Something that shouldn't be strange to him, but…it was. Rocky had pressed his 'hip' against Grace's, presumably for a few hours now.
Here's the thing. Grace hadn't had 'skin-to-skin' contact since he very first hatched. A scientist had considered it important to try and provide the alien with that vital (to humans) first touch. Using a respirator and a shielded suit, they took their gloves off and…well, there's a reason he wasn't touched directly after that.
This was so wonderful. He tried to subtly huddle closer-
"Why you 𝅘𝅥𝅘𝅥𝅯𝅝♪ sleep?" Rocky wondered.
Dang it! Grace sat back, unbuckling himself. "Sorry."
"Why sorry? Just a question."
He…doesn't know. "I figured you were annoyed at me."
"You do lots to annoy." Rocky agreed, but he set his project aside. "This not one. Why 𝅘𝅥𝅘𝅥𝅯𝅝♪ sleep?"
"I don't understand what 𝅘𝅥𝅘𝅥𝅯𝅝♪ means." He's got a good idea though.
"Not real." Yup.
"Fake, or pretend." Grace offered.
"Thank. Why are you fake sleeping?" His friend slipped off his gloves, setting them in a little toolbox he'd tied to the edge of the bed.
"You'll make fun of me."
That must have gotten under his carapace, because Rocky huffed irritably. "Then you get made fun of, who cares?! Tell me why."
"Because I haven't touched anyone like this in three hundred years!" It feels so stupid when he says it out loud. He's a grown man (he thinks?), it strikes him as silly.
Oh, wow that threw the Eridian for a loop. "Three hundred?"
He nodded, but also hummed a 'yes'. Rocky wasn't used to his human mannerisms yet.
"You are liar."
"Excuse me?" Grace twisted to look at him directly, extracting his arm.
"That means you older than me." Rocky observed. He reached over, closing his claw fully around the thickest part of Grace's arm. "Too thin. You look two hundred."
"I was hatched in 2021!" He protested. "I'm not lying!"
…uh…so Rocky practically froze at that. At first, he thought his friend was doing math, figuring out what that meant on Erid. That is until he lurched into action, pushing Grace over to study him more closely. The Earth-Born doesn't understand what he's looking for, but he seemed to find it nonetheless. Once he's released, Grace scrambled upright, grabbing one of the rails.
"Not being 𝅘𝅥𝅯𝅝, but…what Grace ♬♪♫?"
"Need words." He used their method to indicate which ones. (Really it was just a matter of counting.)
"Uh…" Rocky thought a bit. "Like, not nice? Don't know…"
Grace mulled over it for a moment. "Mean, no you know that…oh! Rude!" That was the only thing that could fit there. So now he's got 'rude'. "What about the last one?"
Rocky seemed…embarrassed about this. "Like fuel for you, not ship. What Grace fuel?"
"Oh, food. What do I eat?"
Got it.
"Hang on- Nanny?" Grace poked his head out into the more central part of the dormitory. He continued once he heard her acknowledging beep. "Food?"
She passed him a small bundle. The teacher brought it over, opening it to show him. Thankfully he was still getting decent meals.
"Sorry for this." Rocky picked up some of it. "You know 𝅘𝅥𝅘𝅥𝅯𝅝♪♬?"
"Word."
"Things that make things what they are?" Rocky pressed the piece, watching how it broke apart.
Not materials, they had that…hm. "Chemicals?"
"Close enough." He hummed. "What percent of 81?"
Okay, so he's actually talking elements again. 81 was the atomic number of thallium. "Very small. Thallium is dangerous to humans."
A loud burst of notes that he'd bet were swears. "They 𝅝♪♬♪𝅘𝅥♬♪♫ you! Eridians need lots of 81! This is why you so thin!"
…He was malnourished? Grace watched as Rocky tossed the piece aside, heading back towards the Blip-A. "They did their best!"
"Not good enough!"
Clearly it wasn't so severe to have killed him but...
Grace was able to keep up until they reached the tunnel. As they approached the hull of the Eridian ship, Grace froze in place. He had learned how many members of Rocky's crew had died in their time here. He doesn't know if it was wrong for him to follow without asking.
He doesn't even know why the crew didn't make it. He wasn't ready for that-
"Grace make ship spin in 600 seconds?" Rocky called back.
"Why?"
"Science." Rocky had learned that most of Grace's equipment didn't work without gravity. "Ready start?"
"Hang on!" Grace grabbed out his stopwatch. "On go. 3, 2, 1, Go."
He had ten minutes, which was plenty. Grace got to the controls, watching the clock like a hawk. Xenonite could handle a lot of abuse, but aluminum…
Go time. He set his ship to spin right as the Blip-A shuddered into rotation. Beautiful. They were getting good at this. He adjusted to the return of gravity before going to wait for Rocky.
Upon his return, Grace wondered. "Why did you apologize for asking about food?"
"Is rude." Rocky explained. He had a little package, clearly food of his own. "You scan. Learn how to eat."
There's that embarrassment again. This was potentially just something weird about him, but was more likely a cultural thing. "Okay. You really think I'm malnourished?"
"Very. Grace a third under weight." Rocky trotted into the Hail Mary, food in tow. "Maybe more. I'm two hundred ninety one. You should be bigger. Rocky fix."
Something fond bloomed near his 'heart'. "Okay…thank you, Rocky."
"No problem." When they get to the lab, Rocky didn't know where to go. Grace took over, guiding him to the spectrometer.
"Okay, pass me what you want scanned." Grace held out a hand, taking the package. He gets the sample ready before running it…oh…yeah, he might be a little underfed. The heavy metals were all higher than in what his caretakers had reconstructed from the wreckage his egg was found in. But the thallium was especially lacking.
He'd been sickly his whole life, and frankly had many close calls. When he'd gotten old enough, they'd admitted he wasn't the only egg they'd found. There were three…and he was the only one that made it. He thinks he gets why at this point.
It's…sobering.
"…Grace?"
He sits up. "Hm? What's up, Rock'?"
"For how smart you are, you don't know much." Huh, that's kinda blunt. But that was just how Rocky was, to be honest.
"Bud', they told me I was an endling, I can't know everything about being an Eridian." Grace chuckled.
"Word?"
He doesn't need clarification to figure out which one he meant. "Endling. Means last living of species. They thought I was the only one."
"Weird you here." Rocky observed. "Risky."
Oh way beyond risky…he doesn't know. Grace would rather not tell him everything yet. "Yeah, well Earth and Erid will die if we don't do something about this. So the risk is acceptable."
A few new words exchanged as Grace finished studying the results. He'll send this back home so they can know how they were meant to take care of him.
"Well, we should probably eat, huh?"
Rocky, if he had to guess, was looking at him like he grew a head.
…OH! "Right, rude, sorry."
His companion sighed, gesturing to the rest of the package he'd brought. The GC-MS didn't need a huge sample, so it was pretty much still whole. "Grace take. I go eat too…you are strange. But ♬♪."
"Word?"
"Like nice. Softer. Warmer."
"…Kind." He offered. Rocky found him kind…that sticks between his vents like a shard of glass. "You too, Rock'. Thank you."
"Welcome."
For the record, Rocky's food was absolutely delicious. Some strange sort of meat laced with heavy metals and minerals. Sure, it was utilitarian, but Grace didn't care. Maybe he'd actually be able to maintain a stable weight for once in his three centuries of life.
After they met back up, they needed to make a plan to sample Tau Ceti's astrophage. But that could wait. For now, he just looked at the readout, amazed that Earth had even managed to keep him alive at all.
But man, he's grateful they did.