Chapter Text
It’s been + years since they’ve arrived. The Hail Mary is in stable orbit with centrifugal mode active, so that the human Grace can have gravity while waiting for the biodome to be constructed.
The worst thing about the human Grace, ♫♩♪♫ decides, is that its presence is making their reuinting with ♫♫♩𝅗𝅥 take far longer. Conversely, the best thing about the human Grace is that its presence allows for them to reunite with their mate at all.
There are V reasons why ♫♩♪♫ has not been able to see ♫♫♩𝅗𝅥 yet. Reason ℓ, all pilots on the ship died of radiation poisoning, and it would not be safe to attempt a landing on a populated planet. I is that the ship they returned on has no system of docking with the space elevator, and any attempt to create a makeship dock will either risk failure or damage to the ship or one of the most difficult and experimental engineering projects that 𝅝♫♩♪ has ever achieved. V, despite the human Grace bringing up the asinine docking suggestion in the first place, ♫♫♩𝅗𝅥 does not want to leave the human alone for the remainder of the time that the biodome will take to be built, for reasons ♫♩♪♫ has not understood.
At the very least, ♫♩♪♫ is grateful that they have been able to call their mate over this time. Hearing their voice for the first time in countless seasons was so moving that they involuntarily began to resonate so deeply that other ♪♫♩♪ hurried over to check on them. After that, they spoke every day, giving updates. This they appreciated very much, despite most of ♫♫♩𝅗𝅥’s updates being about the deteriorated health of the human Grace and not very cheerful.
They have been keeping themselves as busy as possible to distract from the deep longing that has caused them to sing and sing and sing while alone. They are already pushing the various biodome teams, the geologists, the engineers, the chemists, and the designers (among others) as hard as they can to hurry, and they have been putting their own dust into it by manually adjusting details of the interior.
However, their newest project is by far the strangest of all. Their mate has informed them that a significant day is coming up. Apparently, humans celebrate the yearly anniversary of their hatching, which they feel like is far too often, but ♫♫♩𝅗𝅥 reassures them that it’s more reasonable because years on Earth are much longer. This celebration often involves the exchange of gifts, and even stranger, the communal appreciation and then consumption of a special sort of food. They were entirely shocked when their mate informed them that an approximation of this special sort of food would be the perfect diplomatic gift to welcome the human Grace to their world. The complete casual tone in which ♫♫♩𝅗𝅥 presented this idea to them felt entirely perverse, but they assured them that this is taken completely differently in the human’s culture.
So, of course ♫♩♪♫ calls a thrum of the brightest minds not already working on the biosphere to tackle this idea, because the miracle that is their beloved returning to them is something that they will never take for granted. They could not imagine denying them any request, no matter how embarrassing.
This request was no simple one either. The human Grace could not process any food from 𝅝♫♩♪, because its body could not handle the metals that were imbued into every food source on the planet. Currently, the human Grace was subsiding off of meat made from the proteins from its own body, soups made from the fat from its own body, vitamin supplements created by chemists, and caloric drinks made from the same amoeba that were saving ♫♩♪♪♪. These items were then packed into xenonite containers and then propelled towards the Hail Mary’s airlock from the space elevator whenever they were lined up correctly. The outer airlock was left open, and once the containers struck the inside, the outer airlock would close and the process of pressurization would allow the two inside to retrieve the containers.
When ♫♫♩𝅗𝅥 brought the idea up to them, lifting up and down their carapace in excitement with speeds that made them think of a small child, they had made them use their light sensing device to sense a ‘video’ of the construction of the food item. They had immediately remarked that this object was excessively complex in construction, and had to subsequently sit through a lecture on how humans care a strange amount about the flavor of their food and derive much pleasure from it. Their mate had said that it was important to the mental wellbeing of the creature for it to have varied flavors of food.
♫♩♪♫ had called together λ teams based on the instructions of the video. A team to create the rising agent, a team to create glucose, a team to work on flavorings, and a team for synthesis of the fats and protein needed for structure. ♫♩♪♫ themself would act as the final team, construction. It had taken many days for the teams to figure out ways to synthesise the available materials. The rising agent would come from the incorporation of the taumoeba into the mix. When fed glucose, it would emit gas, which would allow the entire structure to remain light and not dense. The glucose itself could be made from chemically processing the natural formaldehyde that was created by methane in the atmosphere into sugars, and powdered protein and slick fat would hold the mixture together. Starches could also be made for filler from glucose chains. They would also need to harvest sodium chloride, which is the salt that humans need the most of.
The flavoring team had the most difficult job, constructing various pyrazines, aldehydes and polyphenols from carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. They have been flavoring the human Grace’s soups for the past few deliveries, and ♫♩♪♫ has been getting updates from their mate about which combinations it likes and doesn’t like. Apparently any combination that it describes as ‘dessertlike’ is one that should be highly considered.
They have already been attempting to construct these ‘cakes’, which they have been informed must be put together in two parts, wet and dry ingredients, aerated, and then heated up enough so that the proteins and sugars on the outside break down and then recombine, creating a hard crust. This is all done with tools in a pressurized room with the same atmospheric construction as the human’s native atmosphere, as it apparently found ammonia unappealing. The construction also required ‘frosting’, a simpler mixture of fats and glucose aerated and combined, to be put on top of the cake.
Nothing in the composition of the cake was harmful to consume, so they had tried to eat a few of their creations. The texture was the strangest thing. It was dry and full of tiny holes, and the frosting was slippery and gritty, denser but softer than the cake underneath. It was almost enjoyable in its novelty. The flavor though, was completely unappealing. It was only the tiniest hint savory, mainly plain, and some of the cake flavor combinations also had hints of bitterness. You couldn’t even taste the salts. ♫♫♩𝅗𝅥 had informed them that the human Grace could taste more flavors, including ‘sweet’ which mainly came from the sucrose, and that it would most likely enjoy the cake no matter what as long as it had sugars in it.
After a few months of tests, they were finally satisfied with their result, sounding the right shape and texture compared to the ‘video’ referenced. This would be an incredible surprise for the human Grace, but there was an even more incredible suprise for ♫♫♩𝅗𝅥. ♫♩♪♫ would be delivering it personally.
They had ♪𝅗𝅥♪𝅗𝅥, a talented engineer, construct a pressurized suit for them during this time. One that allowed them to move all of their limbs comfortably, but still have enough space to circulate ammonia freely. They knew it worked correctly, because those who participated in the thrum had finally adjusted the biodomes native pressure and atmosphere to be habitable to the human, and they had tested out their new suit there.
They would go up to the elevator during the time of one of the scheduled food deliveries, and once the Hail Mary was aligned, they would attach themselves to the elevator by tether and then propel themselves into the outer airlock doors. Once there, they would detach the tether before the outer airlock door closed, and enter the ship, bringing the cake. There was only ∀∀ days left until the biodome was projected to be finished, and there was plenty of food remaining on the ship. They would spend the remainder of that time with their mate.
They had cleared this plan with the group involved with the biodome thrum and the group involved with the cake construction. Both groups had great protests, unwilling to let someone as integral and important as them do anything risky, but they had been firm about it, and they had always been good at getting their way.