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Rocky was so excited.
He hurried to wriggle into his Earth bio-dome suit, eager to get to Grace’s house on the beach and share the news. There had been an excruciating delay since the Eridian medical team specializing in human biology wanted to make sure the resuscitation procedure was successful before bringing it to their human hero’s attention.
Rocky had just received the “go-ahead,” as Grace was always saying, that morning. Adrian had pushed him out the door to tell his friend, just as eager as their mate.
He tripped three times climbing the rocks to Grace’s house. He almost couldn’t contain himself.
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Rocky’s knocks were even more insistent than usual.
“Jeez, Pal, you know I’m coming!” Grace called out, laughing. He enjoyed that his friend was always so eager to see him, even if he was overly enthusiastic about it. He pulled on his shoes as he pulled open the door.
Grace! Rocky chirped, his flowing musical tones almost breathless. Other Grace is here! Other Grace is here!
That made Grace pause. He thought he had a pretty firm grasp on the Eridian language, but what Rocky was saying barely made sense.
“I’m not sure I’m understanding, Rock,” Grace said. “I know I’m here. You know I’m here.”
Not Grace! Rocky said, Other Grace. No more stupid questions! Come! Come!
That made even less sense. Grace was thinking about if he remembered where he stored his translator laptop when he was pulled out the door by an insistent rock claw curled around his pant leg.
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Several small sections of his bio-dome branched off for various interactions Grace had with the Eridian people, which he was grateful for, along with a few airlocks so Rocky and others could come and go safely. One of these bays was made specifically for medical purposes. Armando took care of the majority of Grace’s needs, and its data had been downloaded and studied by a special branch of the bio-dome team. Even if Armando was damaged in some way or there was something he couldn’t handle, the Eridians were determined to still have the ability to take care of Grace.
Grace’s heart swelled every time he thought about it.
Rocky was insistent as he led Grace closer to the med bay. Grace’s confusion only grew.
“I feel fine, Rock,” Grace said. “Why are we going to medical? Is there something you’re not telling me?”
I tell you now! Rocky said. Other Grace is waking up!
Rocky pulled Grace into the cool, sterile atmosphere of the med bay. Several Eridians were trotting about in bio-suits similar to Rocky’s, activity focused around a tall figure stretched out on a cot, positioned low to the ground to accommodate the Eridians. Grace’s breath seized in his chest when he saw that the figure in the bed was a human.
The man in the bed wore a simple flight suit, a mask over his face connected to a tube with oxygen from a tank Grace didn’t recognize. It certainly wasn’t one of the ones in the Hail Mary’s stores. His hair and his beard were very long, grown over the course of a lengthy journey through space in a silicone life-support suit to keep the body inside alive.
It was a journey Grace knew well.
The man’s face was obscured, but it was one Grace instantly recognized. That was the face of…
“CeeCee,” Grace breathed out, stumbling over to the cot and sinking to his knees beside it, reaching out to his brother with shaking hands. He reached down and clasped Courtland’s hand in his, reaching up with his other to smooth the hair back from his brother’s forehead. The warmth of his skin made a sob burst from Grace’s lips; his heart so full, he thought it might burst.
Cee’s blue eyes fluttered open, looking around the med bay briefly before focusing on Grace. Condensation bloomed across Cee’s mask as he breathed out a word, almost too quiet to hear, but one Grace would know anywhere.
“Ry…” Cee whispered, his voice hoarse. “Told you…I’d be there…for you.”
Grace sobbed again and touched his brother’s forehead with his own.
Other Grace is home! Rocky crowed from behind him.
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“You stowed away? On a spaceship?”
Grace and Cee (sporting a fresh shave and a haircut) were perched on some rocky sand in the bio-dome, watching Rocky supervise a crew of Eridian builders constructing a second house just down the beach from Grace’s. They’d welcomed “Other Grace” just as heartily as Grace himself, even more so when Grace explained that he was his twin brother, with one sticking point.
“Sorry they keep calling you ‘Other Grace’,” Grace had said apologetically. “The Eridians are…not great at naming things.”
Cee had just shrugged. “I don’t mind it,” he had said.
They started building a house for Cee even before he’d gotten on his feet. In the meantime, Grace was more than happy to share, glad to finally be able to just spend time with his brother after so long apart, so many years mourning him with a hole in his heart.
It was better than he could have ever imagined.
“Not a stowaway, per se,” Cee had defended, running his hand through the rocks on the beach. “More like took the weirdest off-the-books caretaking job ever.”
“Caretaking for what?”
“They’re still bringing the stuff down from the ship,” Cee said. “I don’t want to ruin the surprise.”
“C’mon, you have to tell me now.” Grace gave his brother’s shoulder a nudge, relishing in the contact he’d been denied for so long.
“Stratt sent a care package for you,” Cee said. “Every different type of seed and bio-material she could think of to start a little farm pretty much anywhere. Just need a sun, which I hear you already took care of.”
Grace stared at his brother’s smug face, his jaw slack.
“She sent all of that for me?” Grace asked.
“You and the Eridians,” Cee answered. “She thought their scientists might like to study some earth vegetation as it grows. She offered me a spot on board, and I took it.”
Grace’s heart twisted in his chest. He looked over at his brother’s wistful expression as Cee closed his eyes against the cool breeze coming off the water.
“You gave up…everything…” Grace was breathless with the implication. He didn’t have a choice about going into space, settling here on Erid, not that he had any regrets at all.
Well, not anymore. Not while his big brother is here with him.
Cee turned to look at him, meeting his eyes for the first time.
“I didn’t give up anything,” Cee told him. “Everything I need is right here.”
Grace looked down, digging into the sand with the toe of his sneaker.
“I’m glad you changed your mind,” Grace said. “I’ve really, really missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too,” Cee replied. “There wasn’t much of a…retirement planned for me back on Earth, so I took one. Do some gardening and spend time with my brother. No palm trees, but it’ll do.”
Cee’s shoulders relaxed in a way Grace had never seen on his brother, like a little of the enormous weight he had carried their whole lives had lifted a bit, escaping a world that had been nothing but cruel to him. Grace’s happiness flooded him with warmth.
Cee bumped shoulders with Grace, and the two brothers fell into an easy silence, watching the waves on the alien planet they now called home break against the shore.