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Friend Grace doesn’t feel good.
Now that they are in route to Erid, Big Science isn’t as frequent, which leaves ample time for observation.
Rocky likes to observe; it’s how Rocky learns best.
Grace would drink three pouches of black biowaste that humans call ‘coffee’ each day. That was before. Since he rescued Rocky from bad ship, Grace has run out of ‘actual food.’ There is no more coffee. No more hatchling burritos. No more tiny hot snakes in a cup. Only coma slurry and eventually only taumoeba. Humans want their sustenance to taste good by using seasonings and spices, which Rocky doesn’t quite understand, but Rocky tries to for Grace’s benefit.
Grace used to spend time playing throw and catch games with a small round object, utilizing Rocky’s xenonite surfaces for bounce-back. Rocky never could accept the small round object due to the barriers, but Rocky always felt happy when Rocky watched Grace. Grace would a lot of energy most days, kind of like a pebble Eridian, which gets shaky with excitement, but now Grace spends most of his time stationary with little movement detected.
Grace would talk. Talk talk talk. Ramble about Earth things and human customs and a place called San Francisco. Grace grew up in San Francisco. It’s a city in California, located on the west coast of a country called the United States of America, which, of course, is on Earth, where Friend Grace was born. Rocky learned that Grace had parents, but that the father of Grace left when Grace was a very small boy, and the mother of Grace didn’t take care of Grace good. The mother left Grace alone most times to go out with ‘boyfriends’ instead. Very strange custom. Pebbles stay with parental figures all through life. They build a unit. A cohabitation. Grow together and never apart.
It’s what Grace calls a ‘family.’
But now Grace is quiet. He doesn’t play throw and catch games. He barely wants to consume sustenance. Rocky must remind him to eat taumoeba daily.
Most times, he stays wrapped in his bedding in the dormitory or in the Earth movie room. Rocky would say that Rocky doesn’t mind because Friend Grace always stays close. If Rocky is on the other side of the xenonite barrier, Grace is curled on the floor outside of it, face parts or hands with fingers pressed against the structure. Sometimes he sleeps, and Rocky watches. Sometimes he observes Rocky tinkering or building. Rocky does not mind. Rocky likes Grace to be near at all times. His presence is safe and comforting and makes Rocky peace.
It is turning into a different time currently.
Friend Grace is covered from hearing receptors to walking toes in bedding. His smell receptor is hidden. His vision receptors are closed. Rocky listens to Grace’s heart organ palpate in his squishy human body, once something that disgusted Rocky but now is normal. It is different. Faster. Rocky listens to Grace’s air sacks expand and deflate, a whistling sound accompanying each inflation. Abnormal. Rocky listens to a gurgling sound erupt from Grace, explosive and loud loud loud. The sound is so forceful that Rocky stumbles a little bit in Rocky’s xenonite ball.
“Grace awake, question?” Rocky asks. “New human sounds.”
Rocky watches Grace twitch and fidget. He appears to be located somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness. Grace has told Rocky before to not interrupt if his eyes are closed. Grace’s eyes – his vision receptors, more accurately – are not open. But Rocky doesn’t think this time counts, not when his friend’s body is making all of these unusual noises.
Human body so noisy.
Rocky get used to it, but it never sounds like this.
“Friend Grace awake, question?” Rocky tries again.
This time, Grace’s mouth moves. A weak, crackly sound is heard by Rocky.
“s it, Rock?”
Rocky teeters back and forth on his claws.
Rocky scoots closer to Grace on the floor of Hail Mary.
Rocky flinches when sudden movement of Grace erecting himself into a sitting position.
There are more crackling noises. They appear to be wet in nature. Barking. It’s called barking. Grace showed Rocky Earth movie called Turner and Hooch about human man and canine go on adventures, and the canine makes these kinds of sounds.
“Grace not dog. Why make noise, question?” Rocky asks.
Grace wipes his mouth with his bedding.
"I'm coughing, bud. It's... It's the body's way of..."
Leaking. Grace is leaking. Again.
Why is he always leaking now?
“Disgust,” Rocky says, shaking his carapace.
Normally, Grace would show human emotion equivalent to happiness or silliness, but this time he doesn’t.
Grace’s hands and arms shiver as he wipes his mouth again.
Grace groans.
“Grace sick, question?” Rocky asks.
Another coughing noise. Rocky does not like.
“’m not sure,” Grace says quietly. His voice is different. Lower.
“Grace don’t feel good, question?”
Rocky learned several Earth months ago that human bodies are what Grace calls ‘weird.’ They ache and rebel and spew fluids for seemingly no reason. Just because Grace isn’t necessarily sick doesn’t mean he feels ‘good.’
Grace nods. He doesn’t try to talk.
Grace slumps down into his bedding, tugging it over himself.
“No sleep yet,” Rocky states. “Human vitals. Find out source of leaking. Food. Water.”
Grace makes a noise that is almost a laugh. “’s blood.”
“Blood, question? No no no. Blood bad. Blood bad bad bad!” Rocky exclaims.
He starts to roll around. Worried. Very worried. Grace bleeds when Grace is hurt. Grace is clumsy. Grace trips over nothing and falls often. One time, Grace needed 'stitches' on his forehead to keep the blood inside where it's supposed to be.
“’m malnourished. Common side effect. Inadequate nutrient intake weakens my gum tissue and impacts clotting factors.”
“Grace eat! Grace eat now!”
“Won’t make a difference, bud. I’m not… I’m not getting the nutrients I need from taumoeba. They’re t-the only things I have to eat, so…” Grace stops talking abruptly.
“So, question?” Sometimes when Grace is tired and leaking, he needs a little help.
Grace sighs. “So I won’t get b-better. Not until we get to Erid. N-Not until… your scientists learn how to synthesize what I need.”
Rocky scuttles around the dormitory. There is a panic in Rocky’s brain.
Rocky doesn’t like this. Doesn’t like this at all.
“Grace die, question?”
A stop in the conversation.
“I will if I don’t get the right vitamins and minerals.”
“Grace die now, question?”
Another stop.
Grace shakes in his bedding. “Think I’m still a while away from that.”
“Grace no die. Rocky fix.”
Another sigh. “You’ve tried everything already, Rock. This is… This is just how it’s gonna be.”
“Until we get to home Erid, question?”
Grace nods.
“Rocky no wait. Rocky fix now. Rocky use human thinking machine. Rocky search ship.”
“Can you just…” Grace starts. His thought goes away again.
“Friend Grace, question?” Rocky asks.
Grace makes barking noise again. He squishes his face into the fluffy rectangle he lies against.
“Can you j-just watch me sl-sleep?”
Rocky lowers carapace and scoots impossibly close to Grace. Grace breathes against Rocky.
“Grace sleep. Rocky watch, statement.”
Grace sleeps for 18,000 seconds more. He’s been asleep for most of what humans call a ‘day,’ which is a 24-hour cycle. Rocky sits and watches, pressing his ball against Grace’s side when Grace starts to shake. Shaking means cold. Grace shouldn’t be cold right now. It’s bad for him. Bad for his fragile human body when he’s already so weak.
When Grace awakens, his head strands stick up straight. His mouth and nose leak. It’s not blood this time. Rocky can tell. Rocky is grateful. Grace makes more noises before rolling onto his spinal area.
“You sleep long time,” Rocky points out.
“Still don’t feel good,” Grace tells him.
“No duh, statement.”
At this, Grace laughs. It makes Rocky feel big happy.
“Who taught you that?” Grace asks.
Rocky shifts. “Grace have memory loss too, question?”
“It’s sarcasm,” Grace says.
Rocky tilts his carapace. “Rocky know. Rocky use sarcasm too. Grace too tired to understand. Stupid. Sleepy.”
“Hmm. Stupid. Sleepy,” Grace repeats. More noises and leaking. “Water?”
Rocky jolts into action.
“Armando, Grace need water,” Rocky says.
The mechanical robot arms whirl to life. It supplies a pouch of water, placing it gently on Grace’s covered stomach.
“Sit up. Don’t choke,” Rocky instructs.
It seems like it takes all of Grace’s effort and energy to push himself up. He’s out of breath. Cheeks flushed some kind of tint Rocky’s heard only a few times before. Rocky maneuvers to where he’s on stationed behind Grace, holding up his spinal area as Grace sags against him. Rocky feels Grace trembling through the xenonite. Not good. Very not good. But Grace manages to drink a few sips of water without any hazardous incidents.
“Armando, human vitals for Grace.”
“That’s not –” Grace tries.
But Armando re-activates anyway. It pokes Grace. Puts probes on Grace.
“Patient Dr. Ryland Grace assessment conclusion: Temperature 38.39 degrees Celsius. Oxygen saturation 92% on standard room air. Blood pressure 80/55 mmHg. Recommendation: Intravenous fluids of saline, ibuprofen, and norepinephrine. Repeat vitals every two hours.”
Armando starts an IV line in Grace’s right hand with Rocky’s approval, seeing as Grace is hiding his face in his bedding. He does this when he’s stressed or scared.
“Do not be scared. Only a scratch,” Rocky tells Grace.
“Don’t like it,” Grace hisses. Rocky hears his heart beat fast fast fast.
And then slow down. Because the scratch is over. Armando hooks up the cannula and administers the medications.
“Feel better, question?” Rocky asks.
“Too soon to tell.”
Rocky sits for a few moments, allowing Grace to rest against the xenonite ball. Rocky knows Grace should be lying down. Bedding and rectangle fluff and sleep are best for him right now. But Grace is still shaking shaking shaking, and he always says that the ball is warm, so Rocky stays rooted into his spot, formulating a plan.
Plan.
Plan is to use human thinking machine to find out vitamins and minerals Grace is currently missing. When Grace had human food, Grace wasn’t sick. When Grace was had coma slurry, as Grace called it, Grace was hungry but not sick. When Grace only has taumoeba, Grace sick.
Need substitute for taumoeba. No good for Grace.
Rocky tried to make Grace food before, but apparently Rocky uses too many heavy metals. Would kill Grace. Bad bad bad.
So Rocky need to search ship. Search everywhere. In walls. In ports. In everywhere.
There are hundreds upon hundreds of containers on the Hail Mary. Surely Grace hasn’t went through all of those already.
Optimism. Encouraging thoughts.
Maybe there’s something for Rocky to use to make Grace food. Decontaminate before enter Grace’s bloodstream. Yes yes yes.
“Grace, question?”
“Mmmm?”
Rocky knows this means Grace heard Rocky.
“Rocky search ship for vitamins. Food. Grace be alright while Rocky search, question?”
Rocky feels Grace’s heartbeat get faster again.
“A-Already searched,” Grace mumbles. “Don’t go.”
“Rocky no leave. Rocky go search. Maybe Grace not see. Not look hard enough. Stupid when sick or sleepy.”
Grace is leaking again. This time from his vision receptors.
“Rocky…” Grace whines. “Just… J-Just stay.”
“Rocky stay always. No leave Grace. But Grace is sick. Grace need help. Rocky fix.”
“Can’t you wait til ‘m asleep?”
Rocky shakes his carapace. “Grace panic when he no see Rocky. Grace cannot come with Rocky safely. If Grace sleep and wake up alone, Grace gets scared.”
“Don’t want you to go,” Grace says quietly.
Rocky thinks for a moment.
Grace shakes against their barrier.
“Okay, statement,” Rocky says. “Grace rest. Rocky watch. When Grace feel better, Rocky search.”
Rocky feels tension leave Grace’s body. His muscles relax.
“Rock?” he hears Grace mumble.
“Yes, Friend Grace, question?”
“Corners of the ball are… p-poking me…. Aaand my arm hurts.”
“Grace whine,” Rocky states.
But Rocky finds Rocky moving anyway. Grace shouldn’t be in pain.
Rocky removes Rocky from holding up Grace’s spine slowly. Grace slips away into his bedding, his right arm with the line attached dangling out. Rocky finds another smaller fluffy rectangle and pushes at it until it’s cradled beneath Grace’s aching arm.
“Thanks, Rocky,” Grace murmurs.
His vision receptors close.
And something inside Rocky breaks.
Not physically, but because of feelings.
Grace hasn’t used his vision device in one Earth week. He’s spent so much time sleeping, so much time in a trance, that looking at a human thinking machine or reading a book or watching a movie is out of the question. Grace’s eyes are defective, according to Grace, but Rocky knows Grace doesn’t need them when his eyes are closed.
Grace is deteriorating.
Fast.
Rocky will be damned if Rocky keeps sitting around until they get to Erid.
Rocky will fix.
It’s what Rocky does best.
Grace can’t walk very far.
He shakes and trembles and quivers like he’s moving mountains instead of walking across the dormitory of the Hail Mary.
Rocky nudges the backs of his legs to keep him going.
“Grace stink. Grace need wash.”
Armando disconnects Grace’s IV line. Rocky watches Grace rub his hand with tired eyes.
“Rude,” Grace mumbles.
The stumble to the sink is long and awkward. Grace stands over the water machine, using the edges to hold his body up. There are lots more coughing noises and even more leaking. Some of the leak is blood. Some of it is what Grace calls mucus. Some of it is sweat. Grace is not supposed to be leaking this much.
Rocky watches as Grace removes his skin protection one layer at a time until he’s without any at all. Rocky notes that Grace’s flesh suit is different than before. His ribs are poking out from beneath his skin. Deep, dark contusions litter his form.
“Take a picture; it’ll last longer,” Grace murmurs.
“No understand, statement,” Rocky says.
“It means…” Pause. “N’ver mind. Tired.”
Rocky watches as Grace uses what’s called a sponge and soap to the remove the germs from his body. It also helps him not stink. Then Grace hobbles back to the water machine, (un)gracefully dunks his head beneath running water, and uses his hands to move his head strands. Rocky was concerned the first time Rocky saw this behavior, but Grace reassured Rocky it was perfectly normal. Washing his whole body with soap and water is how Grace gets clean.
By the time he’s finished, Grace is breathing heavily.
“Grace slow breathing, statement.”
Crackling breaths. “Trying…”
“Grace dress. Grace clean teeth. Then Grace rest.”
“Bossy…”
It takes many many many seconds for Grace to do these tasks. Bad bad bad blood leaking pours from his mouth when he cleans his teeth. Grace wipes it away. Grace can barely hold himself up as he puts on new skin protection. No jumpsuit. No space gear. Just soft leg and thick sounding arm warmers. Grace uses Rocky’s xenonite ball to push himself back to his pile of bedding on the floor, collapsing in a heap of one large fluffy rectangle and several smaller rectangles.
Armando re-connects the IV. “Elevated heartrate and internal body temperature detected.”
“Jus’ need to… rest…” Grace says.
Rocky fidgets from side to side, giving it several seconds before Rocky speaks again.
“Friend Grace, question?”
Rocky has to try.
“What nutrients your body missing, question?”
Grace moans. “Ugh, so many… Vitamin A. C. D. E. B1. B2. B3. B5. B6. B7 B8. B9. B12. K… Carbohydrates. Fat. Protein. Glucose. Iron. Potassium. Fiber. Calcium. Phosphorus…”
Rocky waits for more, but Grace’s vision receptors are closed again.
Such inefficient design.
But Grace’s body needs all of those many many many things.
“Rocky search ship now. Grace clean. Grace safe. Grace rest.”
Rocky can’t watch this anymore. Grace is not crew. Grace will not die like crew.
“B-But…” Grace’s voice is small and sad.
“Rocky leave headset. Grace talk to Rocky if Grace want. If Grace gets scared, Rocky come back.”
Grace huddles in on himself, dragging his limbs close to his heart. The IV snags against the bedding, and Rocky uses malleable part of his ball to fix it. He puts another rectangle under Grace’s arm, repeating an earlier action.
“Okay,” Grace whispers. “Okay.”
“Good good good,” Rocky says. “Rocky move fast. Grace stay here. Grace no get up without Rocky.”
Grace nods.
Rocky pushes Grace’s headset over to him, even though Rocky will not need it. Rocky can hear Grace talk from other end of ship. Safety. Precaution.
‘Just in case,’ is what Grace always says.
“Hey, Rock?” Grace asks. His voice box sounds sleepy.
“Yes, Friend Grace.”
“Thank you…”
Rocky moves from claw to claw. “Grace no thank Rocky. Grace Rocky best friend. Would do anything for Grace.”
Ship Hail Mary is dirty.
Dirty dirty dirty.
The common areas – the dormitory, the lab, and the Earth movie room – are clean. But the rest of the ship is in disarray. After near crash into tau ceti e, the ship was nearly torn apart. Equipment broke. Equipment went flying. Equipment should’ve been taken care of, but Grace is messy. Disorganized. Nothing like Eridians. Grace show Rocky television series called Full House in Earth movie room. Human character Danny Tanner likes clean. Rocky likes clean. Rocky is like Danny Tanner. Grace is more like… Jesse, maybe? Or Joey? Rocky is not completely sure, but all Rocky knows is that Grace is nothing like Danny Tanner.
Rocky misses Full House. Should watch again with Grace soon.
But first Rocky has to fix Grace.
Grace should have cleaned more after Rocky departed originally, but it doesn’t look like he did much. Rocky knows Grace cleaned the fuel tanks in the hull from top to bottom multiple times. He had to in order to fight off the taumoeba breaking out of its xenonite barriers and eating the astrophage. Grace is good at science. But Grace is decidedly not good at keeping the ship organized. Rocky should’ve noticed. Rocky bad crewmate.
Bad bad bad –
Focus.
Rocky has a task to complete.
Rocky starts by cleaning what Rocky can. Some things are too big or too small for Rocky and will have to wait for Grace to get better. But some things are just right so Rocky can slide them into their proper locations. Rocky finds storage bins. A lot lot lot of storage bins. None of them are labeled, which is wildly absurd to Rocky. But, still, Rocky takes time to do this correctly. Grace needs to get better. Grace will only get better if he gets the proper nutrients he needs. Something somewhere has to be on this ship.
Rocky will find.
Rocky doesn’t know how much time has passed. Rocky lost track of it completely between searching and stacking and re-organizing. Rocky can hear through the walls that Grace is sound asleep, partaking in an action called ‘snoring,’ which lets Rocky know the sleep is deep and comforting and, most importantly, safe. If Rocky can hear Grace breathing, then Grace is alive, and Rocky is happy.
Rocky rolls back to the dormitory on a few occasions, though, ‘just in case.’ Rocky sees Grace curled up on his side, IV-lined hand and head strands the only visible parts through the bedding. Grace pressed against Rocky’s workshop wall as much as he could. Good good good. Rocky hopes Grace is warm.
It takes a long time before Rocky finds anything.
But when Rocky does, his carapace rattles with excitement. His brain tingles.
“Amaze amaze amaze!” he exclaims.
Deep deep deep deep – let Rocky emphasize – deep into a mountain of storage bins lies a small access hatch. Behind the access hatch were – you guessed it – more bins. But the bins were covered in particles, suggesting they hadn’t been exposed to air in a while. Inside the bins were a few different items. Replacement 3D printer Grace uses for Big Science. Spare water and fuel pumps. A spare commode and sink. A lot more than that, but none of it mattered.
Because Rocky found it.
Rocky found it.
16.1 oz.
12 servings.
10 grams of protein.
300 calories per serving to support energy and strength.
Includes 24 essential vitamins and minerals for complete, balanced nutrition.
Easy-to-mix vanilla flavor.
There are many many many bins.
Nutrition powder.
Human nutrition powder.
Amaze amaze amaze.
Rocky grabs a bin and hauls rock to the dormitory.
He sets it down in front of Grace loudly, shifting around on his claws with glee.
“Grace Grace Grace!” Rocky yells. “Rocky find!”
Grace’s vision receptors open slowly.
Blood bad leaking drips down his neck from his mouth.
“Rocky find!” Rocky says again. He stands tall on three claws.
Grace blinks. “Find wha’?”
“Rocky save Grace! Grace no die!”
This makes Grace sit up, slowly and with a lot of groaning.
Grace’s vision receptors grow wide.
“Is this –”
“Grace no die!” Rocky yells again.
“Where did…” Grace trails off. “How did…”
“Rocky find in deep storage. Deep deep deep.”
Grace shakes his head. “I… I thought I looked through everything…”
“No look here. Undisturbed since Hail Mary launch.”
“H-How much of it do we have?”
“Many many many! Enough to get to home Erid! Eridian scientists copy formula. If need adjustment, we can do. Foundation is this. Says 24 essential vitamins. Is enough?”
Grace is leaking. Good leaking.
Grace lunges forward, using all of his energy, and wraps his arms tightly around Rocky’s ball.
They stay like this long time.
Rocky doesn’t mind.
“I never thought I’d be so happy to taste vanilla again,” Grace says.
He sits in the Earth movie room, leaning against Rocky’s ball. Bedding covers his legs. His skin protection pokes out from the end, feet crossed at the feet joints. He slurps the white pouch loudly, arms and hands shaking but nowhere near as badly as before.
Before.
Before when Rocky thought Grace would die.
But now Grace won’t die.
Rocky do what Rocky do best: Rocky fix.
“Disgust,” Rocky mumbles.
But Rocky doesn’t mean it.
Well, Rocky does mean it. Human consumption rituals are disturbing and so noisy. But Rocky is still happy happy happy that Grace is getting what he needs.
“Not ‘disgust,’” Grace retorts. “It’s fantastic! Amazing!”
“Grace feel good, question?”
Grace nods against Rocky. “So good. Much better. Not 100% healed, but I’ll get there. Thanks to you.”
“Rocky already told Grace no need to thank,” Rocky reminds.
“I know, but I want to. I… I need to. Without you, I-I… I don’t think I would’ve made it.”
“Too stubborn to die,” Rocky teases.
Grace laughs. “Maybe. Wanna watch a movie?”
“No no no. Full House. Many watch. Thanks.”
“Rock, we’ve watched that show, like, four times now. Why don’t we watch something else? Something… more exciting? Have I ever showed you Pulp Fiction?”
“Pulp from fruit. Fiction mean not real. Why movie called this, question?”
Grace scratches his head strands. He’s wearing his vision receptors, albeit crookedly. It isn't effective or efficient, but it's very Grace. The nutrition powder pouch dangles absently from his bandaged right hand. “Well, I dunno. Probably plot related. I’ve only seen it a couple times myself, but I remember really liking it, and maybe you –”
“Full House. Please. Thank. Like Danny Tanner.”
Grace laughs again. “You’re a neat freak just like him.”
“You tiny space slob. Leaky. Messy.”
“Tiny? I’m taller than you!”
“Rocky weight more.”
“You got that right,” Grace says.
“No shame. Rude Grace. Mean Grace. Tease.”
Another laugh. Rocky hopes Rocky will never have to wonder if Grace will ever laugh again.
“I know you’re teasing,” he says. “Fine. Let’s watch Full House.”
“Yes. Danny Tanner. Start show.”
Grace uses the human movie remote for a moment.
It’s quiet for long enough that Rocky hears Grace’s voice again.
“Love you, Rock.”
His voice is low, vibrating Rocky’s ball. Grace tilts his head back and rests it there.
“I love you, Friend Grace.”
The Full House theme song plays.
Grace somehow scoots impossibly closer.
Rocky nudges his carapace against Grace.
Happy happy happy.