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“Yeah, so back on Earth, when I was a teenager, I had a cat. His name was Abner. We got him for my dad, but I think he always liked me the most.”
“Not know word.”
Grace blinked. “Oh, Abner? It’s a name—“
“No. Other word,” Rocky interjected. “After ‘teenager’.”
Grace frowned. “Oh. Cat?” He could have sworn he told Rocky about cats.
“Yes. That word. What it mean, question?”
“Ummm,” Grace stammered. “It’s like, a type of Earth animal. They live with humans and we give them food and shelter in return.”
“I see. Why give food and shelter to animal for free, question? Seems like waste of resources.”
Grace chuckled lightly at this. “Well, they’re pretty cute. And they give lots of affection. They sleep next to you and let you play with them and stuff…it’s nice.”
Rocky let out an unconvinced chirrup. “Rocky do this for free. And has own food and takes care of own self.”
Grace laughed. “Well, I didn’t have a Rocky back home, did I?”
Rocky tilted his carapace, a gesture Grace knew to mean he was thinking.
“Eridian word for Grace Earth animal is—“ He sang a long chord progression; Grace recognized the Eridian words for “cute” and “comfort”.
“What Grace cat look like, question?” Rocky asked.
“Well, uh,” Grace stuttered. “He had black fur all over his body, except for a little white patch above his mouth that looked like a mustache. He was about yea big—“ Grace spread his arms—“And had a long tail. Well, not long for a cat, but long for a human. Though, I guess humans don’t have tails, so anything is long for a human—“
“Understand,” said Rocky, interrupting Grace’s ADHD-fueled ramble. “Have image of Grace cat, question?”
“Hmm.” Grace grabbed his computer and started searching the files. Fortunately, he found what he was looking for—it turned out that his old Facebook page he hadn’t updated since 2012 was still up. Or at least, had still been up when the Hail Mary had launched. He internally thanked Stratt for her unwavering dedication to uploading the entire internet to the Hail Mary.
He pulled up an old photo of himself with Abner in his lap. He looked so young in the picture, not more than fifteen or sixteen. The background was dark, and the camera’s flash was reflected in both his and Abner’s pupils. He turned the computer to Rocky, who waved his visual scanner over it.
Suddenly, the alien’s carapace rose in alarm.
“Cat hurt Grace, question?” he asked with urgency.
Grace furrowed his brow. “No…he’s not hurting me. What do you mean, Rocky?”
“Cat on top of Grace. Heavy. Crush Grace, question?”
Grace’s eyebrows rose in realization and he let out a chuckle. “No, cats are much lighter than humans. It doesn’t hurt at all, don’t worry.”
“What cat doing to Grace then, question?” Rocky asked.
“He’s just sitting on my lap.”
“No understand last word.”
“It’s like—“ Grace moved into a cross-legged position and gestured vaguely towards his legs.
“Ohh, understand,” said Rocky. After a moment of contemplation, he chimed back an equivalent chord progression.
“Why cat sit on Grace lap, question?” Rocky wondered.
Grace shrugged with a small smile. “It feels nice, I guess. Cats are warm, and the pressure is pretty nice. And they purr.”
“What is last word, question?” Rocky asked.
“Oh, purring?” Grace returned to his laptop—he didn’t have a video of Abner purring, but that was okay; most cats sounded similar when they purred. Grace found an audio file of one and played it for Rocky.
“Nice sound,” Rocky murmured, seeming soothed by the low rumbling.
Grace laughed. “Yeah. You know, they say that cat purring can actually heal you. Something about the frequencies. Rattles your bones or something.”
Rocky suddenly perked up at this. “Cat vibrate on lap, question???” he asked, his voice an octave higher than usual.
Grace giggled. “I mean, yeah, I guess they do vibrate.”
Rocky seemed to be thinking for a minute. Then, he said something that Grace certainly didn’t expect.
“Rocky sit on Grace lap, question?”
“Woah woah woah,” chuckled Grace, leaning backwards a little and putting his hands up defensively. “I think you’re a little too heavy for me. A cat might not crush Grace, but Rocky certainly would.”
“Easy. Reduce gravity,” retorted the alien.
“You want me to—reduce the thrust of the ship?” said Grace, staring vaguely in the direction of the cockpit. “Not sure that’s a good idea, Rock. It would mean we would get to Erid slower.”
“What, one Earth second slower? Grace overdramatic.” Rocky’s tone was warbly.
Grace rolled his eyes at the snark. “Ugh, fine,” he replied as he started up the ladder to the cockpit.
The one-third Earth gravity was disconcerting, but not enough to be nauseating. In the low gravity, Rocky was bouncing up and down in his xenonite suit excitedly.
“Rocky sit on Grace lap, statement!” he squeaked.
“Alright, buddy,” replied Grace, sitting down and patting his lap welcomingly.
He almost regretted it when the alien bounded into his lap, plopping down a little faster than Grace had anticipated and making him wheeze slightly as he got used to the weight on top of him. At this gravity, Rocky was a little over a hundred pounds, which wasn’t overbearing—humans sat on other humans’ laps all the time—but he wasn’t exactly light as a feather, either. Still, as Rocky settled as best he could—he was a bit too large to be a lapcat (lap-alien?)—Grace found himself getting accustomed to the pressure and the sharp corners of the xenonite suit that were now poking into his skin.
“Grace like, question?” Rocky asked, curling up as best he could into a little ball of alien, three of his legs dangling over Grace’s knees. His weight settled into the divot between Ryland’s legs.
“Yeah,” murmured Grace softly, his eyes unfocused. He knew that Rocky’s heat didn’t radiate through the protective suit, but he still felt warm.
”I like too,” the alien said softly.
After Rocky stilled, finally in a comfortable position, Grace began to feel a soft vibration against his skin. It took a moment for him to realize that Rocky was mimicking a soft purr. He could hear the low rumble now, deep and throaty. Grace’s face softened as he gently stroked the xenonite.
“Heal Grace, question?” Rocky asked, still purring.
Grace chuckled, looking fondly at the alien. “Not yet, buddy. It takes a while.”
“Is okay. I can stay a while.”
Grace closed his eyes, still rubbing Rocky’s suit with a lazy hand, and smiled to Rocky’s gentle purr.
