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Mica handled a lot of unpredictable situations in their job as an emergency hatchling guardian. It came with the territory – there were all kinds of reasons a pebble too young to be alone might need watching by someone who wasn’t a cluster member. Sometimes pebbles sneaked out and wandered too far, and needed someone to watch while a parent came to get them. Sometimes a parent or several parents were injured, and there was no family close. Sometimes a pebble needed to be removed from a situation that might be dangerous to them, like if parents were too unwell to look after them, although that was very rare. But Mica had never had a situation like the call they received from the space science cluster.
“The astronauts are back?” they exclaimed, shocked and overjoyed.
“At least one of them – maybe only one of them – and they have a solution – but that’s not the point, Guardian Mica, listen,” said their contact at the space agency.
“Engineer Rocky is on that ship, apparently injured, and he’s brought back some kind of alien with him. It’s very young, only IIVI years old, it doesn’t have any of its own kind, but it learned some Eridian from Engineer Rocky. Can you come and watch it while Engineer Rocky recovers and we work out what it needs?”
“Of course,” said Mica, already thinking through what they would have to do. A baby alien – their specialty was meeting different cultural needs and they knew five languages, they were probably the best person for the job, but no one on Erid could claim they were prepared for this.
***
They fitted me with a suit to resist the atmosphere on the ship – the alien hatchling, Grace, had managed to communicate that its environment was much colder and less dense, and that there was something damaging in it, which was pretty impressive. I waited by the airlock with the medical team while the unsupervised child managed to dock the ship. I wondered how a small alien had ended up alone in space, but that was probably an insensitive question to start with.
I allowed the medical team to enter first, and followed them in. They rushed to the sleeping form of Engineer Rocky, and the alien chirped in distress, first in what I assumed to be its own language, then in clumsy, heavily accented Eridian. “Gentle! Hurt!”
Its single voice lacked tones, but it was understandable, and I was impressed. It was tall, taller than most Eridians, but fragile and soft. It sank to the ground, observing the medical team and apparently paying no attention to me.
“Greetings, Grace.” I said, trying to get its attention off its injured friend. “I am Mica.” I introduced myself with my casual name, firstly because I usually did that with my pebbles, to set them at ease, and secondly because I doubted it could say my full name.
It oriented its flat side towards me, which I took as a gesture of attention, and continued. “I am-” I paused. What words would Engineer Rocky have taught it? Emergency guardian seemed unlikely. “I am here to keep you company while the doctors look after Rocky.” Nailed it!
“Understand,” it said. “Cluster member Rocky okay question?” They considered each other family? I supposed that made sense. Who knew how Rocky lost their crew, or how long they’d been alone. And the science thrum had been considering Rocky as Grace’s guardian.
“Yes,” I said. I’d overheard the medical team, a cracked carapace was a concern, but Rocky would be fine as soon as it was sealed. “Rocky will be fine in a day or so.”
It still looked stressed, all curled up like that, so I decided to try and distract it while the science team replicated its atmosphere. “How did you and Rocky meet, question?”
I guessed its vocabulary was pretty limited, as it took a moment to respond. “Grace Rocky meet at home of warm eaters. Rocky alone, Grace alone. Rocky family gone. Rocky not fix home alone, Grace not fix home alone. Cluster member Rocky Grace together, find warm eater eater and Rocky come home. Fix Erid.”
That was a pretty extensive picture with limited words – this strange pebble was smart. Rocky’s crew must have died before they met, but I noticed it didn’t mention its own crew or family.
“It sounds like you were very brave,” I said. I didn’t know how much Grace was understanding, but I didn’t want to speak down to it – even very young hatchlings often understood more than they said. “Why didn’t you go back to your own home, question?”
It seemed puzzled, and just said, “Grace bring cluster member Rocky home.” So for whatever reason, going home just wasn’t an option for it. Hmm.
It took a little time for the science team to work out a solution – I could hear them thrumming in the rest of the space elevator, although Grace apparently couldn’t – either its species had worse hearing, or it was a bit deaf as an individual, hard to tell. It was a bit of a shock when the atmosphere analysis results came back, though – Grace was apparently comfortable in an environment of primarily oxygen!
The thrum arranged a space for Grace to stay near Rocky, and the right kind of atmosphere to keep it in. Hopefully it didn’t need to eat until Rocky woke up to tell us what it needed, because there was no way it could tell us.
When we offered it the xenonite suit and explained it could come down to the surface, it seemed pleased, and busied itself getting dressed. I assumed the equipment it wore had some purpose, and it seemed to know what it was doing, so I didn’t interfere.
Once it was dressed, it picked up a bulky object made of xenonite. It looked like a musical instrument, but made for alien hands, not Eridian.
“What is the device, question?” I asked it.
“Gift from Rocky,” it said, and my hearts melted. It must be pretty important to it if that’s the only thing it wanted to bring. I wondered again how it had ended up all alone in space, with apparently no family that was missing it aside from an engineer from another species.
It also directed the science team that came back for it to the sealed boxes in the laboratory space. It directed them to very carefully take a single box of ‘star eater eater’ to study, leaving four backups alone until Rocky was awake.
Once it was ready, we led it to the elevator down to the surface. It was big enough to get Grace in with room to spare, but when it saw inside it backed up, visibly reluctant. It said something in its own language that sounded stressed or distressed.
I gave it an encouraging nudge, and it said “No. Box scary. No box.”
Was it afraid of small spaces? Who would put a child afraid of small spaces on such a small spaceship?
“It’s perfectly safe,” I said, resorting to logic – and a white lie. “I take it every day.” Not true, I had never taken it before today in my life, but that wasn’t exactly reassuring. “Don’t you want to be near Rocky again?”
It visibly wavered at the thought of its cluster mate. “Box small, Grace big. Bad bad bad. No box.”
I tried another tack. “It’s not far! Only λλℓℓ seconds.” I was gambling that Rocky had managed time with it, but I assumed they had, because it communicated its age to the radio crew.
Grace finally entered the elevator, but immediately tucked itself into the corner in the same stressed position it had been in when the medical team took Rocky. We were not doing a good job of looking after this alien pebble – I worried that it had needs that it just didn’t have the language to communicate, and I couldn’t evn ask or guess like I might with my usual hatchlings, it was just so different to us. I sent the science crew to one of the other elevators, so it didn’t feel so observed, and sat against the other wall.
How would I distract Grace from its distress if it was one of my usual pebbles? I went through my pockets, and found a puzzle cube. It was a popular children’s toy, and it would help me to assess if I was right about it being a little deaf – pebbles that were hard of hearing took longer with puzzles like this, and I already knew it was smart, so that wouldn’t be a confounding factor. Grace accepted the toy and the explanation eagerly, but struggled to manipulate it through the bulky xenonite suit – a miscalculation on my part. It held it strangely, in front of its upper part, and I wondered if it heard better in specific places or angles. There was no reason to believe an alien species would hear in all directions, especially one that seemed to have a “front” and “back” like this. But that was a question for the science or medical team, once it could communicate enough to understand and consent to a proper examination.
Still, it distracted it for the rest of the journey.
At the bottom of the elevator, it staggered as it stood up, dropping the cube and nearly falling over. Luckily, years of reflexes with clumsy pebbles allowed me to catch Grace before it hit the ground. It was strangely light, and I wondered if it had been eating enough. It was impossible to know what was normal from a single example of a species, of course, but I had noticed more and more warning signs that this hatchling hadn’t been well looked after before it met Engineer Rocky.
“Apology,” it said. “Need sleep.”
Of course it did – this would have been a long day for anyone, and pebbles needed a lot more sleep than adults anyway.
“You can sleep in the room with your atmosphere,” I told it. I didn’t want to risk it sleeping in the suit instead of in a room where we could monitor the temperature and air composition – who knew what it was doing with that oxygen? The science team had a theory it was catalyzing a reaction in its body, in which case it might get too hot in the suit and get sick. “It’s not far. Your cluster mate Rocky will be awake when you wake up.”
I offered to take the instrument, but it wouldn’t let me take it and insisted on carrying it itself. Cute, but another warning sign – pebbles who were possessive of their things had often had them taken or broken before.
I carefully resealed my suit like the science team showed me when we got outside the airlock. The last thing I needed right now was oxygen burns. Once we got safely into Grace’s room, I helped it get its own xenonite suit off, and to my happiness, it took the other outerwear suit off too. Hopefully, that meant it was feeling comfortable in here, like it was in its own nest.
We had worked out at least that it needed something soft to sleep on, and provided suitable nesting material, which I indicated. “Grace can sleep now.” I settled in, ready to watch until it woke or Rocky came to take over.
“Mica no need watch sleep,” it said, settling on the soft nesting area. I chirped in confusion – what was it trying to tell me? Would it rather someone else watch it? Who?
It tried to explain. “Grace sleep many years no one watch,” it said, heartbreakingly. “Grace family no watch Grace sleep.”
Well, that explained a lot. No wonder it didn’t want to go back to its own place, wherever that was, if no one looked after it. Unless it meant – I tried to keep the anger out of my voice when I said “Rocky did not watch Grace sleep?”
“No!” It protested, and I relaxed a little. “Cluster member Rocky always watch Grace sleep. Rocky alone.” Only Rocky had ever watched it sleep? I felt so sad for this poor abandoned pebble. Rocky had looked after it better than its own kind had ever managed.
“Then I will watch Grace sleep until Rocky returns,” I said. The logic seemed to sway it, and it settled down. Its strange huffing breathing and heart rate slowed, and I was left alone with my thoughts. I had a lot to think about.
***
Grace was a strange creature. It moved around in its sleep, and made sounds in its own language – more than once I thought it had woken, but it didn’t respond when I spoke quietly. It slept for a little more than a day, and I watched it and listened in to the science thrum outside the room. Someone had contacted Engineer Rocky’s mate with the good news, and they were on their way. Someone else had had to contact the families of the other crew members, and they were grieving again. The scientists were examining the ‘star eater eaters’ – presumably Rocky had given them a proper name, and he could tell us when he woke up. The medical team had fixed the damage to Engineer Rocky, but he was taking his time waking up.
When Grace woke up, it took a moment to orient itself. While it was still curled up and sleepy, it chirped a “Hello, Rocky family!”, before realizing that it was not on its ship with Rocky anymore. Cute.
It was pretty enthusiastic to talk to the science thrum – members were in and out with questions and information, and Grace made it pretty clear it understood a LOT more than it could say. Watching it put its limited vocabulary together into questions was fascinating. It was clearly frustrated a lot, but still managed to communicate fairly effectively. It's not uncommon for children to understand far more than they can articulate, and often leads to minor distress for them.
It also tried to solve the puzzle cube again, which was fascinating. It was definitely hard of hearing, it couldn’t seem to make out the internal mechanisms at all, but it was clever and its claws were very dexterous, so it was making progress.
The medical thrum outside picked up in intensity as Engineer Rocky apparently finally decided to stir. The doctors were asking him questions and attempting to assess him, but he was being non-cooperative and getting more and more distressed asking for Grace. Eventually, he shouted over the doctors “WHERE IS GRACE?” in a distressed tone, loudly enough that they must have heard him outside the building.
Evidently Grace heard this last call too, because it stood upright as though it could hear better that way, abandoning the puzzle, and called out in its own language.
Rocky must have heard Grace’s cry, because he came to the airlock at full speed, knocking over an unwary lab tech, and put on a stolen xenonite exosuit from the storage by the airlock. Grace shook impatiently as the airlock cycled, and as soon as Rocky entered, it threw its fragile body directly at him.
“Are you okay?” said Rocky, but Grace spoke over him, chirping insistently in its own language. I wished I’d pushed to learn more of it, but there was time for that.
“I’m fine,” said Rocky, “How is cluster family Grace? Tired? Injured? How is internal liquid status?”
Grace said something else in its language, and then brought over the instrument that was a gift from Rocky. Rocky examined it carefully. It was so cute how much Rocky obviously cared for Grace. “Is okay, Rocky can fix. How has Grace been speaking to science team?”
“Grace speak,” it said. “Family Rocky teach Grace. Grace have new friend!”
Rocky laughed. “Yes, I hear that. Grace speaks very well. And Grace made a friend?”
I crossed the room to them, intending to introduce myself, but Grace beat me to it. “Rocky, this new friend Mica. Mica, this Grace family, Rocky.”
I knew Rocky had worked out why I was here from my career-markings, because he said “It is good to meet you. Thank you for taking care of my cluster member Grace while I was sick.”
“It was no problem,” I replied. “Grace is easy to look after.”
Grace chirped to redirect our attention back to it.
“Never mind,” said Rocky. “Bigger problem now is Grace health. Is science thrum working on Grace food yet?”
Grace said something else in its own language, and Rocky tapped in frustration. “Grace health CANNOT wait.” He addressed the science thrum. “Grace is running out of food. Grace was sent to space with insufficient food for trip, and saved Rocky instead of returning to its own planet.”
The science thrum made alarmed noises, but I restrained myself. I already worked out that this child had been hurt, but sent into the Void with insufficient food? It was lucky Eridians were kinder than its own kind, and lucky to find Rocky. And very brave, to save Rocky instead of returning to its home – I wanted to hear that story.
Rocky gave the science thrum directions on where to find things in their spacecraft – food for Grace now, and samples of other kinds of Grace food to replicate. Comfort items that Grace needed for its nest. A device Grace had given Rocky called a portable thinking machine, that had information that would be valuable to Erid scientists.
“Where is Grace water, question?” said Rocky. I wondered what need Grace had for solvents. It said something in its own language, and Rocky responded, “Not acceptable!” and sent the science thrum for some distilled water.
After that, a member of the science team convinced Rocky to change into a better fitting pressure suit. When he came back in, Grace pressed its body against Rocky like a very new hatchling that couldn’t distinguish its surroundings yet, and Rocky held its body close to his own. Grace was chirping happily and Rocky was humming, so I decided it was fine, if strange.
“Why are Rocky and Grace restraining each other, question?” said one of the science thrum.
“This how Grace family show love,” it explained. “Need for Grace, Grace get sick if not.” Definitely a cultural thing, then. I wasn’t sure if that meant it was a psychological need or a physiological one. I wondered if this had contributed to its unstable health, as clearly Rocky had been the only one fulfilling this need for some time.
Before I could ponder this any further, Grace squeaked in surprise, clinging to Rocky harder. As we all clicked in confusion at what had happened, it said "Grace thing broken. No special thing, Grace can’t hear." Rocky elaborated further, explaining that Grace used light particles in order to hear, but could not produce them itself. It had a contraption that produced them, but that had been broken. So I was right that Grace had limited hearing! It couldn't use it to navigate at all, only to converse. That would explain why it struggled with the puzzle cube as well. It might not be able to perceive the mechanism using its light sense at all.
Suddenly being unable to sense your surroundings would be disorienting for anyone, so it came as little surprise to me that Rocky made sure to keep physical contact with Grace as he explained to the scientists exactly what they would need to do to create more light for Grace. He kept cooing reassuringly at Grace, loudly enough that even with its poor hearing, it would be able to register that its cluster mate was nearby.
When the science team returned with the water for Grace, they left the room politely. Eridian babies often need assistance with their food, so I remained nearby in case, but moved to the other side of the room to allow it some space. Rocky opened the container for it and hovered closely until it had finished, like an Eridian parent with their first clutch.
Once it had finished with the liquid, the scientists came back, this time with the additional nesting material Rocky had requested for Grace. It wrapped itself in the material, and then wrapped Rocky in it too, huddling close. I guessed with its low body temperature, it might need help thermally regulating - it was warmer than its atmosphere, but not by a lot.
“Can you teach me some of your language, Grace?” I asked. It seemed pleased to be asked.
“Grace teach,” it said. “Teach. Grace is Grace,” it said. “Mica is Mica. Grace teach Mica.”
“Grace teach Mica!” I agreed.
“Good!” said Grace, and then “Good!”
“What does my name mean in your language?”
It hesitated, and then said something to Rocky. I caught Mica, and another word that sounded like its name for Rocky.
“Grace says your name is the name of a soft silicate mineral often found as an inclusion in other rocks. It picked that name because to its light sense, you look shiny – reflective of the light – in a similar way to how the mineral does, and its species thinks that that is a pretty, notable characteristic.”
“Oh, I like that,” I said. I thought it was pretty cool, actually. Grace was the only one who could use that name, and I thought it was cute that it had picked a name based off something only it could detect, and that said it thought that I was pretty to its light sense.
Speaking of the light sense, the engineers from the science thrum came back with the devices Rocky had described. They were attached to the wall of Grace’s room, and once they were activated, it relaxed noticeably. It was a strange creature, with body language that was easy to read, even though I had known it only a day. It often waved its upper limbs animatedly as it spoke.
The diplomatic liaison followed the engineers into the room and said “Engineer Rocky, your mate has arrived and wants to speak with you.”
Rocky leapt up from where he had sat, chirping in joy. “Adrian! Adrian is here!” He paused, and I heard a low distressed hum – I didn’t think Grace could hear it. “Grace-”
Grace interrupted before Rocky could finish. “Rocky go find mate! Grace Mica good. Grace teach Mica speak many." It said part of the sentence in its own language, using the words it had just taught me.
“Grace Mica good,” I agreed. “Go to your mate, Rocky.”
“I will be back soon,” he said. “With Adrian.”
***
While Grace was teaching me a few words of its language and working on the puzzle with Adrian, Rocky was hard at work fixing Grace’s musical instrument. He pressed a couple of keys experimentally, then handed it to Grace. “Instrument is fixed. Grace can use.” To the science thrum, he said “The rest of the science team should come back for this.” They were a little confused – and so was I – but they were reluctant to deny the savior of Erid anything, so they all came back in, or at least everyone that had an atmosphere suit.
Grace settled down with the instrument on its lower limbs and the bedding around its shoulders, and Rocky chirped reassuringly. It put its claws to the keys and played “Formal greetings! It is nice to meet you all properly! I am Captain Grace of the Hail Mary, teacher of children and scientist. I look forward to collaborating with you all properly, now I can speak to you more easily.”
The science team were stunned into silence. It made sense to me suddenly why Grace had been able to rescue Rocky – why Rocky had insisted that they had collaborated – and I had to stifle a laugh at the successful prank Rocky had pulled, that Grace seemed none the wiser to.
I responded before any of the science team managed to, with the most diplomatic statement I could manage. “You speak Eridian very fluently, Grace – I wasn’t expecting that. Hopefully this makes it quicker for me to learn your language, if you’re still happy to teach me?” I wasn’t lying – I would still love to learn more about Grace’s language and culture. And it would still need a cultural liaison and advocate that it trusted, since the diplomatic liaison for the science thrum here had completely fumbled the box on that one.
Grace responded “Of course, Mica, I’m happy to hang out and teach you more of my language, as long as you keep letting me ask questions about your culture! Rocky hasn’t been very keen to explain cultural questions, we’ve both been pretty busy with the science.” The accent that the keyboard had was very strange, almost mechanical, but I had known Eridians who needed communication devices before, and I would get used to it.
“Yes,” said one of the members of the science thrum, finally recovering from their shock and jumping on the diplomacy transport, “This will make collaborating on science much easier! We have a lot of questions for you, Scientist Grace.”
Rocky was visibly suppressing laughter at his successful prank, and finally let out a stifled chirp. Grace turned its flat side to him in confusion. “What’s so funny, question?”