Archive of Our Own

Knock, knock.

“Mm-‘omin!” Grace tried to say to the best of his ability with a toothbrush in his mouth. 

Knock, knock, knock!

“--eit!” he mumbled, spit and foam dribbling down his chin. 

He spit out the rest of the foam into the sink and wiped his mouth on his way to the front door. He opened it to find Rocky, in his tight xenonite suit, rapidly tapping one of his limbs on the limestone of the front top step. 

“Why always so late, question?”

“Why you always gotta be so early?” Grace said, a smile cutting through the fake frown.

“Grace face funny when annoyed. Amusing!” Rocky wiggled, his way of laughing. Grace rolled his eyes playfully.

“Glad to be your personal source of entertainment.”

After so many years knowing Rocky and living on Erid, Grace had become quite adept at reading Eridian body language (at least Rocky’s). Despite his typical whimsical attitude, Grace could tell Rocky was a bit fidgety today. He noticed the subtle way in which he shifted his weight between one limb and another, like when he’s working out a problem.

“Want to walk together on beach, question?” Rocky offered gingerly and Grace quickly accepted.

“Sure. I mean, today is my day off from school, and I wasn’t expecting you – I thought Adrian was sleeping, so you had to watch – but you know I’m always up for a beach walk with you.”

“Adrian wake up early, so I come see you. Have much to discuss,” Rocky explained.

“Alright, let me get my cane and cardigan,” Grace said. 

Rocky tilted a bit. “Biodome temperature not comfortable? I tell Adrian.”

Grace shook his head. “Nah, the temperature’s perfect. I just like wearing it. It’s a comfort thing.”

“Human thing?” 

“No. It’s a Grace thing.”

“Weird old man Grace.” 

They began the walk along the shoreline in silence but soon they were discussing Rocky’s panspermia theory, wondering what other worlds in Tau Ceti’s vicinity, aside from Erid and Earth, could possibly host intelligent life. Rocky had been trying to rouse up interest in scientific community thrums for an exploratory mission to nearby stars. Although his suggestions had been positively received, the community seemed currently focused on the continuous study of Earth science and technology. In the sixteen plus years Grace had been on Erid, he’d seen their science make incredible strides. They poured themselves into their research with childlike enthusiasm. It reminded Grace a bit of his students back on Earth; the really passionate ones that would hyperfixate on what they found interesting and not let it go until they figured it all out. So, he couldn’t really blame them for not jumping on Rocky’s idea to go check out exoplanets just yet. One day, though.

They settled on a nice spot on the sand and continued their conversation, now shifting to more mundane topics, such as interesting and funny questions Grace would get from his Eridian students (“Why Teacher Grace have four limbs but only use two for walk, question?” or “Why Teacher Grace leak water from face when laugh, question? Gross, statement!”) which always cracked Rocky up. Then Rocky pivoted to gush about cool things Adrian did or said lately (which was basically anything). Adrian could burp and Rocky would think it was the most incredible thing they ever did (and tell Grace all about it, of course). Grace humoured him. He knew Rocky was ecstatic to be reunited with his mate again. He remembered a conversation they had while on the Hail Mary. Rocky had confided in Grace that during his time alone in space, he had basically come to terms with the likelihood that Adrian would have moved on from him, seeing as how he’d been away from Erid for so long. It made sense.

So, when they arrived and Rocky saw Adrian actually hadn’t and had actually been waiting for him to come back after all this time, even rejecting advances from other mates…Well, Grace had definitely never known anything as romantic and epic since reading “The Odyssey” in high school. He sometimes facetiously called Rocky “Space Odysseus,” though the reference went over Rocky’s figurative head, as most of them often did.

A beat passed and their talk drifted to quietly watching the waves until Rocky finally got around to the real topic of his visit. 

“Grace?” 

“Yeah, buddy. What’s up?

“So… you met Adrian. And you like Adrian, question?”

“Of course! They’re awesome! Why do you ask?

Rocky drew a little line in the sand as he spoke. “Grace enjoyed meeting Rocky family member, question?”

Grace smiled. “Of course! It was a great honor to meet them! Thank you for the opportunity.”

Rocky rotated his carapace towards Grace. “Good good! Glad to hear. Because…”

“...Because?” 

His claws dug in the sand. 

“Because… other family member want to meet you too.”

“Oh!” Grace said, blinking. “Who?”

“My parents.”

“Grace face opening is unusually large. What mean, question?”

Grace shut his gaping mouth. 

“Your parents!” He blurted out.

“Yes.”

“As in, your mom and dad?”

“Hm, no understand words. What mean ‘mom’ and ‘dad’, question?”

“They’re– nevermind, I forgot it’s different for you guys.” Grace shook his head. “I mean, they’re the Eridians you came from.”

“Yes.”

“And they want to meet…me,” he stressed, finger pointed back at himself, incredulously.

“Yes.” Rocky huffed. “Grace ask dumb redundant questions. Grace must be tired or hungry.”

Grace raked his fingers through his hair, trying to get ahold of his nerves but ended up pulling on the ends instead.

“That would be amazing!” He fibbed, grabbing his hair by the fistfulls. “When are we meeting?”

“No confirmation yet, but…”

“Where are we meeting?” 

“I determine best location for–”

“Are they coming over to mine?”

“Preferably–”

“...or I to yours… how would that work?”

“That is–”

“Where do they live? Do you–”

“So many questions!” Rocky cried out, shaking his arms up in exasperation. “Please organise thinking! Then ask.”

“Okay, okay!” Grace threw his hands up as well, releasing the hair and the topic for a moment. 

Rocky (calmly) went over the details of how it would work. He suggested they come over to Grace’s house because Eridian homes may not be suitable for humans. Not just because of atmosphere issues, but dimensions. The non-Eucledian geometry of Eridian enclosures was just not meant for soft, tall bipedal creatures.

Grace had at some point wondered, though, what an Eridian “house” might even look like, since anything outside the dome was essentially pitch black for him. He proposed taking a flashlight and using one of the xenonite suits Rocky had once made for him (like the one used to go aboard the Blip-A), but in the end, they both agreed that it was all less complicated if the Eridians made their visit at his in tight xenonite suits like the one Rocky typically uses to come over.

Yet, aside from logistics, what struck Grace the most about it all was that Rocky’s parents were still alive. He figured they must be quite advanced in age. So much more time passed for them than it did for Rocky due to time dilation, also accounting for the years Rocky spent alone, trying to figure out the astrophage problem on his own after his crew died. 

Plus all the time it took them to work out a solution together, go to planet Adrian, breed the Taumoeba, make the trip back… It had certainly been a while.

And now Rocky showed up back home, alive… with an alien!

Suddenly, the collar of his faded polo felt tight.

Would they like him? Would the fact he helped save Erid and Rocky endear them to him? Or would they be afraid? Hostile, even? Were they coming to give him a good talking to? Not that he would blame them; it’s what any self-preserving creature would do.

Grace tried to swallow, but his throat was dry.

“I didn’t even know Eridians had parents! I thought you guys just popped out of quarries or something." The joke was for the benefit of his nerves, but it seemed to irk Rocky even further.

“I explain Eridian biology to you before. Stupid question again. Grace act weird. Usually weird, but today extra weird. Why, question?” Rocky tapped the sand twice, a little harder than normal.

He moved closer to Grace and sat in silence, studying the human intently. 

“Grace… no want to meet Rocky parents, question?”

His tone was soft and a bit low. Grace winced. The thought of making Rocky sad felt infinitely worse than the waves of nausea that usually came with first-time social interactions.

“No! I mean, yes. I do want to meet your parents. I’m just nervous.”

“Oh! Why Grace nervous, question?”

“I just…” Grace slumped his shoulders and sighed. “On Earth, being asked to meet someone’s parents is kind of a big deal. I had to do it once and it was a disaster. Remember I told you I had a mate once? Well, she asked and…well, let’s just say it wasn’t long after that that we went our separate ways.”

Rocky gave a little flustered jerk, suddenly embarrassed. “Meet parents request inappropriate Earth culture interaction, question?”

Grace shook his head and hands. 

“No, no. It’s that I’m bad at it. There’s also the parent-teacher meetings I had to do when I was a school teacher on Earth. It would always end in disaster: either they would yell, or I would, and in the end the school decided I should probably skip them altogether unless it was absolutely necessary. It’s just… it was always so hard to deal with parents who thought that science was either boring or unnecessary. Like always, I just couldn’t keep my mouth shut.”

“Like now?” Rocky pointed out. Grace side-eyed him but Rocky just wiggled, amused.

“Yes, like now. See? I ramble when I’m nervous! You know that!”

Rocky nodded. 

Grace let out another sigh – longer – and dropped his head between his legs, digging heels in the sand and fingers further into hair. 

“So, I’m worried I’ll just shoot my mouth and make a bad impression.”

“Like I always do,” he underlined, giving the ocean a dejected look.

“Rocky parents no scary space monsters. Only Rocky super cool scary space monster! Grace no worry.” Rocky assured, resting a claw on Grace’s arm.

“Thanks Rock,” Grace chuckled, laying his own hand over Rocky’s. “When it's about science, I’m fine, I’m in my element. But when it’s about any sort of social interaction, I feel like a fish out of water. It’s never gotten easier.” 

Rocky hummed. “To be fair, I also a little nervous.”

“Oh?” Grace blinked. “How come?”

“I not see parents in a while. Last time, just once after our arrival on Erid,” he explained.

“Rocky, that was like, ten years ago!” Grace rose to his feet in surprise. Rocky shifted his carapace in what looked like a shrug.

“Is it that you don’t get along?” Grace asked.

“No. Relationship is good.” Rocky paused. “Eridian family life dynamics difficult to explain. After rearing period is finished, parent don’t usually remain much in touch with child. But there are special cases. Like mate joining ceremony, or hatching of first egg, or…”

“...Or child coming home from space with an alien!” Grace concluded.

Rocky nodded and wiggled. Grace laughed as well.

“So I unsure because I not know what to expect. First time occurrence.”

“I get that.” Grace sighed loudly, expelling tension. “It’ll be fine. It’ll be good.” 

He repeated the last phrase a couple of times under his breath, more to psych himself up  than anything else, but Rocky took it as enthusiasm and bounced cheerfully. 

“Yes yes yes! Grace Rocky parents meet. Good good good! So Grace agree, question?”

Grace nodded with a smile. “I’d be honored to meet your parents.” 

The smile was sincere this time. Rocky did a little cartwheel of joy in the sand. 

They walked back to Grace’s and settled on Rocky’s parents coming over in a little over nine  Eridian days’ time. Grace asked if Adrian would be joining as well but Rocky explained that they have a prior engagement at an astronomy thrum and they miss it. Perhaps another time. 

The plan was thus settled on Grace, Rocky and Rocky’s parents. 

Together. For a whole afternoon. 

What on Erid did I get myself into? Grace wondered as he closed the front door.

He proceeded to spend the next IVℓ hours having a non-stop anxiety attack and taking it out on poor Armando who was just doing as he was told, which was to make sure the place was spotless. The dutiful robot cleaned every nook and cranny at least three times, because twice was not enough in Grace’s eyes, and he could have sworn Armando complained about it on the third pass when Grace told him to make absolutely sure there wasn’t a single speck of dust anywhere. Now, why would Armando, a highly specialised, million-dollar medical piece of machinery, be doing housework? Well, because Grace decided he’d rather do research than dishes, so he used the expertise he gained on the Hail Mary from doing everyone’s job and hacked Armando to program him to do anything he didn't want to do himself. 

Grace chuckled, imagining Dr. Lamai’s face, should she ever find out what he did with her life’s work, while running a finger over a chess piece, confirming it was perfectly smooth and dust-free.

He had planned to get up extra early on the morning of the actual visit to, again, make sure everything was perfect, but forgot that when he’s very anxious about an upcoming thing, he tends to stay up late worrying about it. 

Which was exactly what he did, waking up with just under 45 minutes before his guests arrived. 

Grace sprung up from the bed with the heartbeat rate of a man getting chased by a bear and tried to speedrun his whole morning routine in record time (he managed to, just barely). The knocks on the door caught him in the futile attempt of trying to smooth down the piece of hair that always stuck out of his cowlick.

“Coming!” 

He ran out of the bathroom, then back in because he forgot his glasses by the side of the sink. He picked them up and shoved them on his face, grumbling something under his breath about his “stupid brain.”

He finally made it to the front, inhaled as deeply as possible, and opened the door. 

“Hi Grace!” Rocky waved cheerfully. 

“Hey Rock,” Grace greeted back. He smiled as his eyes scanned the area behind Rocky, finding nothing but steps and sand and ocean. 

Within a split second, sweat began to pool under his arms and his “stupid brain” started to catastrophize.
 

Did they cancel? Did they decide they didn’t want to meet me after all? I knew it! It always goes sideways with people. I must be the one unlucky bastard that makes a bad impression even before having the actual chance to make one! I bet–

“♪♪♫♩”

A stocky dark grey rock slid forward from behind the wall, on Rocky’s right. Its whole body, including the carapace, was a deep slate colour, patchy and in some parts almost black. There seemed to be traces of something crystalline on the stone because Grace could see shiny, sand-like specks within the dark surface. There were also inlays, like the green ones Rocky had scattered all about, of a quartz-like material; some areas clear and some kind of milky. It was a beautiful combination of dark hues with clear and iridescent white details, like a dark starry night. 

“♪♪♫♩” said another rock, slightly larger and of the same color as Rocky, emerging from Rocky’s left, previously concealed by the other side of the threshold. The lighter colouring made the etchings on the limbs easier to see and recognize. Grace had no trouble identifying Rocky’s family crest on the front limbs. There were also some spots of other colors/materials on the body but rather than the chitinous green patches on Rocky, these were purple, like amethysts. 

“Grace, these are Rocky parents,” Rocky introduced. “This is ♪♪♩♫♬♩♫♫♪♫♫♬♩♪,” he said pointing to the dark grey one. “And this is ♫♩♬♬♪♪♩♫♫♬♩♪,” he said pointing to the larger, brown one. 

“♪♪♫♩♫♫♪♩♪♪,” said the dark grey one, joining together its two front limbs. The other one followed suit. Then, the three of them began harmonizing, like a melodic beehive, talking all over each other and all at once. 

“Grace? Grace?”

 Rocky’s voice rose out of the thrum.

“Grace appear motionless and unresponsive. Grace OK, question?” 

Huh?

“Grace?” 

Grace felt his eyes come back into focus and settle on the three Eridians, standing motionless on his front step, ‘staring’ at him. 

“Oh crap! They’re here! I mean, you’re here! I mean-”


He meant to bow slightly to greet them but surprise and his inherent lack of coordination caused him to slip. He ended up slamming his forehead against the door. Rocky jerked back, a little bewildered, and the other two Eridians nearly tumbled down the stairs, quite taken aback.

“Grace! Grace OK, question?!” Rocky shrieked.

“♬♬♩♫♬♫♩♩!,” the other two screeched loudly.

Grace raised a hand up to let them know he was fine, using the other to steady himself against the threshold. The others visibly relaxed and Grace tried to downplay it with a laugh but it was clear by the Eridians’ body language that the (metaphorical and physical) damage was already done.

Good grief. Grace sighed, rubbing his forehead. 

“I’m sorry, please let’s try that again.” He straightened his glasses and posture. 

“I’m Grace. Nice to meet you. Welcome to my home.” 

He then extended a hand out for a handshake.


Immediately, the Eridians started up in another harmonic thrum, more high pitched than the last one. Grace mentally facepalmed himself and drew back his hand (Eridians don’t greet like that, dummy!). He couldn’t recognise most of the words but the tone suggested scalding commentary on the ‘weird’ alien. 

“Grace bring translation laptop for introductions.Then we try again. Agree, question?” Rocky suggested, helping him save a bit of face. 

“What? Oh, yes. Yes! Great idea!” Grace agreed with an emphatic nod.

Although he could understand Eridian pretty well now, personal names and titles were still not easy to infer on his own. Having a bit of help from the computer wouldn’t hurt, if only to get the conversation started.

“I’ll be right back!” Grace slammed the door and rushed back in to grab the laptop.

“Gra-!” 

After the initial string of embarrassing faux-pas and a round of apologies from Grace, they all finally made their way inside the house. Grace led them to the living room and they arranged themselves around the coffee table, where Grace’s and Armando’s chess game sat in a perpetual stalemate.

Grace set up the translation device. He addressed the dark grey Eridian first. 

“Again, I’m sorry about earlier… My name is Ryland Grace. I’m Rocky’s friend from Earth. It’s an honor to meet you. Could you please tell me your name?”

“♪♪♩♫♬♩♫♫♪♫♫♬♩♪.” 

The tone was curt and low. Felt stoic. Grace  scratched his head, trying to find a way out of making more offenses and looked over Rocky.

“Rock, help me out here. What should I call them?”

Rocky hummed low, thinking. “This parent engineer like Rocky,” he said about the dark grey one. “This parent also engineer, but also lay egg that became Rocky,” he said about the larger brown one. 

“For the sake of… making this easy on everyone, mainly me, I will call them ‘’Dad’ and ‘Mom” respectively,” Grace said, typing on the keyboard. “I can change it later. Is that OK with you?”

Rocky nodded. “Earth language insufficient but enough for first meeting. Rocky translate for parents if/when necessary.”

“Got it.” He gave Rocky a thumbs up that Rocky returned with the thumb down.  

He then turned back to Rocky’s ‘dad.’

“OK, Mr., um, Rocky’s ‘dad.’ Do you mind stating your name again, so I can put it into the computer?”

The dark grey Eridian made a gruff sound and positioned himself up again, lining up his front legs together. The family crest etched on his limb formed as he sang his name. Grace could see it better with the indoor lighting. Effectively, it was the same as Rocky’s. He then input the Eridian’s name in the computer as ‘Rocky’s dad.’

He turned towards the other one. “Would you mind as well?”

The larger, brown Eridian lifted themselves up with a nimbleness that didn’t seem evident, judging from their size and appearance. They too joined their limbs together and formed the family crest as they sang their name. ‘Rocky’s mom,’ Grace wrote into the laptop.

“♩♪♪?” 

Grace turned his attention to Rocky’s dad. He could recognize his own name in Eridian without the help of the translator.

“What was that?” 

“We brought something,” Rocky’s dad said. 

“Oh!” Grace blinked, surprised. 

“Something to show you,” Rocky’s mom clarified.

Grace gave a quick look around the room. “I didn’t see–”

Rocky interjected with something like a groan. “I not agree with this but cannot persuade them to relent. Parents stubborn,” he grumbled.

“If parent stubborn, child more stubborn,” Rocky’s dad admonished, shifting his carapace towards Rocky. Rocky sank a bit, folding his arms. 

Like father, like son. Grace snickered. Across time, space and species. 

“It’s outside,” Rocky’s mom clarified, cutting through his thoughts. 

Grace stood up. “I’ll go check. Be right back.” 

Grace walked back to the door. He didn’t see anything at first when he opened it, but when he went down a couple of steps, he did see it: a large heap of duffle bags, like the ones Rocky used to haul his stuff onto the Hail Mary. Not as many, thankfully, but similar in size and appearance, about four or five of them sitting on the lower steps of the stairwell. 

“Found it–er them!” 

“Grace can bring them in, question?” He heard Rocky’s mom ask.

Grace considered the pile of bags with a weary look. I mean, it’s nice they brought gifts and all but I’m gonna throw out my back hauling heavy Eridian luggage and I’m not 35 anymore.

“Rocky!” He popped his head back in and yelled. “Could you, um, come over a moment please?”

He heard scuttling footsteps hurrying over to him. Yes?”

“Rocky, what is thi–”

“Why whispering, question? Can hear from a distance anyways,” Rocky cut him off, a bit smugly. Grace shot him a pointed look that said Can you hear this? 

He pointed to the bags with an open palm. "Is it normal on Erid to bring over the whole house and the kitchen sink when you go over to visit people?”

“No kitchen or sink in bags,” Rocky said. “Just memories.”

“Memories?”

“Yes. I a little embarrassed at parents bring these, but…” Rocky tapped his little fingers together a little anxiously. "Don't mind Grace seeing them.”

“Huh. Okay…” 

Grace scratched his head. He looked down at Rocky with a mild glare.

“Okay, but this time you’ve got to help me carry these. I’m not that strong anymore, you know.”

“What? No true.” Rocky pretended to disagree. “Grace strongest human I know. Can do alone.”

“Cheeky little–”

“Rocky?” Rocky’s mom’s voice carried clearly from the living room. “Grace need assistance, question? Rocky help Grace. Remember good Eridian manners.”

“Ha!” 

“♪♪♩♬♩♪!!”

“See, even your mom agrees. Let’s go.” 

Grace smirked at the sulky Eridian and gave him a little shove out the door. “Not getting out of it this time, pal.”

After a bit of time and effort, they finally brought in all the bags back to the living room and arranged them in a pile between everyone. Rocky’s parents then began taking out what was inside. At first, Grace thought they had brought building materials because they kept pulling out piece after piece of xenonite; different sizes and colors, and in different shapes. He started to get flashbacks of his living quarters gradually becoming an Eridian workshop. It felt like a strange way to make a house visit but then again, he was still learning about and getting used to Eridian social norms.

But then he realised that they weren’t “raw” pieces of xenonite, but carved out objects. Some weren’t even made of xenonite but of stone and other materials he couldn't readily identify. They reminded him of the first gifts that Rocky gave him when they met in the tunnel, particularly the large models.

“Rocky,” Grace mumbled through gritted teeth, uselessly trying to conceal his words. Old habits die hard. ”Are they expecting me to do a puppet show? Seriously?”

“Yes! Grace do puppet show!” Rocky squealed excitedly at the prospect.

“No, please,” Grace groaned. ‘I don’t want to do a pupper show!”

“No more tease Grace, Rocky,” Rocky’s mom waved a finger. “Unkind.” 

“♬♬♪♩♫♪♪♫♪!!” 

“Language!” Rocky’s dad rebuked. 

A chortle escaped Grace’s nose; he didn’t quite catch the word but definitely the context.

Rocky crossed his arms again with a huff as his mom picked up a small object and offered it to Grace. 

“Look!” They said.

Grace took it from them and studied it. It looked like a miniature figure of an Eridian: a torso, five limbs, body about the size of an apple, but thicker in the torso and much smoother, almost like it was polished. It had small etchings and inlays of other types of stones as well. As he detailed the patterns on it, Grace realised some of them were the same ones on Rocky. It was like a mini figure of Rocky. 

“That is Rocky when he was λℓ,” Rocky’s mom said. “I think that equates to about 30 years in you planet. Very cute as pebble. Agree, question?”

Grace contemplated the mini Rocky in his hands and then it hit him.

It was a ‘picture.’

Of course! Grace thought. Eridians don’t have vision, so naturally they wouldn’t have photographs but as an intelligent species with memory, they obviously have a system of capturing time, and that is to make figures or sculptures. We do the same on Earth; make busts or statutes to commemorate people of the past. But as visual beings, we also rely on visual media like video and pictures. Eridians, having no sight, keep records of things as physical objects, like markings, carvings, etchings and, of course, 3D figures. The little figure Rocky made of me catching the Blip C is kind of like a little snapshot he took of me. 

Grace ran his thumb over the markings embossed on the bottom and turned it over. There were Eridian numbers on the base. Dates! Grace realised. Like on old printed photographs back on Earth; the small orange digits placed discretely on a corner, sometimes on the back, of when the picture was taken. 

These, Grace realised, looking at the array of figures scattered all around the living room, are essentially their family photo album. 

They brought their child’s baby album to share with me. 

“The alien’s face is leaking,” Rocky’s dad said, a tinge of disgust in his voice. “Is it in pain, question?”

“No,” Rocky clarified. “It mean happiness. Sometimes sadness, but happy this time.” 

He then moved over closer to Grace and asked, “Right?”

But Grace could only nod weakly in reply. 

He quickly wiped his face with the back of a hand and gave a nervous laugh to diffuse tension. He then set his eyes back to the mini Rocky in his other one. “Definitely cute. Reminds me of my students. I bet he was a handful!”

“Yes yes!” Rocky’s mom perked up, scuttling around the figures, looking for something. “Rocky very cute when little! Very fast! Always running around. Almost cannot catch up when run.” They then picked up a couple of figures and set them on the ground in front of Grace. 

“This is Rocky a few weeks after hatch from egg. Also me and Rocky dad.” 

Rocky’s mom lined up the figures next to each other so the juxtaposition would explain who’s who. Dark and stocky: Rocky’s dad. Large, slender and brown: Rocky’s mom. The tiny five-legged critter in the middle: baby Rocky.

“He’s so little and smooth!” Grace beamed, exaggerating his voice to annoy Rocky and it worked. Rocky groaned. Grace chuckled. If Eridians could blush, Grace wagered, Rocky would look beet red by now.

“Please do not show embarrassing figure,” Rocky pleaded, but ‘mom’ waved him off with a hand.

“Where is Rocky figure of first time eat and release waste?” Rocky’s mom hummed, rummaging through the scattered figures. 

“No! No show Rocky eat / defecate figure!” Rocky shrieked.

Grace burst out laughing, tears streaming down his face. Rocky’s dad made another (louder) disgusted sound. 

Rocky’s mom then picked up another figure of Rocky. It was a little bigger, but still smooth. It didn’t seem to be made of xenonite though, or even stone. They handed it over to Grace, who carefully felt the material. It had some give to it, not much, but he could squeeze it a little. 

“Eridian have more organic matter when infant,” the ‘mom’ explained. “Softer carapace. Delicate, so must protect. That is why appear soft. Over time, limbs and body take on more inorganic material and become stronger. Tougher.”

“When Rocky small pebble, would cry a lot and stomp limb on floor when hungry or cranky, like this.” Rocky’s mom took the soft “baby Rocky” doll and moved the chubby little legs in stomping motions. They turned it over, motioning their fingers over the bottom orifice. “Then I give food to baby and clean waste. Rocky make very big waste!”

“No no no!” Rocky stomped a limb on the floor, in the exact manner enacted by his mother. 

“See? Rocky is still baby Rocky,” Rocky’s mom chirped. 

Rocky hissed out of his carapace. Grace tried to hide his grin behind cupped hands. Never before did he regret more not having a camera to record everything.

The mom went on for a while on Eridian pediatrics while Grace discretely wiped his tears away so as to not disgust Rocky’s dad any further. As they talked, Grace looked back at the pile of objects strewn all around his living room. A glint caught his eye, something shiny in the sparse light of the foggy afternoon. 

He picked it up. It looked like a long necklace; a string with long jagged pieces of metal dangling from it. The pieces looked sharp and made chiming noises when they clinked against each other. Grace ran his thumb over the string and realized it was a very thin, delicate chain. 

“Oh!” Noticing, Rocky’s mom snatched it from Grace’s hands, exuding happy chirps from their bouncing carapace. “Decorative item for celebration! Rocky make this for me!” 

Grace turned wide-eyed to Rocky. “Wow Rock! You made this?” 

Rocky confirmed with a quick nod.

Grace gently asked for the chain back and Rocky’s mom gingerly placed it in his hand. He ran a thumb over the chain, fondly. “Yeah, I know this handiwork. It’s beautiful!” 

“Thank,” Rocky said, taping two short fingers together shyly. 

“Was always good with hands,” Rocky’s dad joined in, suddenly talkative. They all turned to look at him. 

“Always making object, always poking and prodding and weaving. Always trying to fix.” His tone was a bit terse but Grace could tell there were layers of warmth and even pride deep underneath.

Rocky’s mom preened. “Engineer from birth. Like us.”

Grace could only smile. He thought about how happy and proud they must have felt when Rocky came back home, alive. Not just alive, but as a hero; their only child (or so Grace guessed, since neither Rocky or his parents had mentioned siblings and if there were any, he figured they would have been there today). He couldn’t even begin to imagine the sorrow they would have felt had Rocky died out there. Alternatively, the same unthinkable outcome would have occurred had Grace been successful in escaping his captors and evading the mission. His sacrifice didn’t just save Earth (and Erid). It gave them their child back. 

He sighed. There was always something to remind him of just how far the ripples of  consequence reached and kept reaching. 

It was Rocky’s dad who pulled out the next figure: another Rocky, but larger this time and wearing some form of clothing with what looked like medals pinned to it. The stocky, dark grey Eridian squared himself up, the equivalent of a person clearing their throat to speak, and explained.

“Rocky actually very good at sciences, but always preferred to make and fix things. Almost ruined my ♪♩♩♪. I come home one day and find young Rocky take apart and cry because no can put together again.”

“Did not cry!” Rocky was indignant at that point. “Parent exaggerates."


Rocky’s carapace bounced rapidly, faster than Grace had ever seen it, in utter annoyance. Mom and dad just snickered. Grace joined them, imagining bits of steam rising from Rocky like an overheated radiator and cracking up even more.

“Nevertheless,” Rocky’s dad continued, “Rocky earned these recognitions from his academy for outstanding performance in preliminary knowledge training.” 

He gently ran a stubby finger over the medals, creating a soft, rhythmic tinkling. “He was the best in his class.”

Grace stared at the dad for a bit. He definitely seemed like the kind of guy that didn’t talk often about his feelings or sentimental things, but it was certainly clear he was very proud of Rocky. He was glad he was open about it. Grace could hardly recall his own father ever showing pride in anything he did, let alone verbally express it.

He turned to Rocky with a pair of thumbs up.“Wow, high school valedictorian, huh?Guess we have that in common too.” 

Rocky ‘looked’ back at Grace. “What is val–”

“Oh, this one good good good!” Rocky’s mom’s sudden squeal pulled everyone’s attention. 

She lifted it up, excited and proud. Grace saw that it was (of course) another Rocky but this one looked more like an action figure. His whole torso was angled back, four of his limbs firmly positioned in a stable four-legged formation with one, the leg that had the split opening, raised up over his body. It looked like a scorpion ready to attack its prey. It reminded Grace of how Rocky reacted to their first ever meeting, when Grace got scared and yelled and Rocky squared up to attack out of instinct. Thank God for that xenonite wall because he definitely would have lost that fight.

He asked Rocky about it directly. “Hey Rock, so what’s this ‘pic’ of you about? Did you get in a fight as a kid?”

“Grace humour dumb. No fight but hypothetically, Rocky would win any fight.” Rocky yanked the figure out of Grace’s hand with a huff. 

He tapped it lightly to get a better ‘look’ at it. “Hard to explain. Stance is form of Eridian fighting style. Very ancient; used in early Eridian history during territorial expansion battles. Now only preserved for cultural heritage purposes. Many Eridians enjoy and sometimes participate in tournaments. Rocky especially good at it. Win many tournaments.”

“Yes yes!” Rocky’s dad chimed in. “Defeated many formidable opponents. Strong. Make proud.” He puffed out his 'chest.' 

“Very proud!” Rocky’s mom echoed, with accompanying jazz hands.  

Grace did a single loud clap, laughing. “Wow Rock! You’re a guy of many hats. Engineer, valedictorian and martial artist?” 

“New word, no understand. Valedictorian. Martial art. What mean, question?” Rocky asked, his parents leaning forward also interested.

“OK,” Grace clapped again, getting into ‘teacher’ mode. “Valedictorian means you got the highest grades in the whole school and you get to give a speech at graduation, wearing funny clothing.” 

“Hmm, no speech, no funny clothing.” Rocky said. “But receive many honors. Very amaze!”

Grace smiled. “And martial arts is what we call cultural fighting styles on Earth. I tried one once, or rather my mom made me. Karate. Was terrible at it.” Grace instinctively winced as he recalled, his body twitching as if the memories caused him literal pain. His face smooshed on the stinky mat, damp with the sweat of 20 or so boys, pinned there by his sparring opponent. He had really wanted to be the next Karate Kid, but ended up getting whooped by the local Cobra Kai.

“So Grace bad at fighting. Rocky not surprised,” Rocky deadpanned.


“Ouch!” Grace winced again.

He gave the figure back to Rocky, who moved it around the air a little, playing and probably remembering his heydays as a fighter.

Grace's eyes then fell on a rectangular piece of xenonite in the middle of the pile. He picked it up which made him realise that it was larger than it looked. It looked like a long rectangle, with many carvings and etchings. It had a raised image on it that he recognised instantly.

He ran his fingers over the decorative elements and over the feature he remembered the most: twenty-three embossed carvings. The crew of the Blip-A. 

Twenty-three small dots. Twenty-three brave souls that set off on a journey to save their world. Twenty-two that didn’t make it back and one that did. One that saved Erid, Earth and him.

The tears threatened to make their appearance again, so he tried to blink them back, swallow them down, push them away, but Rocky noticed anyway. Graciously, he said nothing and Grace thanked him silently for it.

But then the dad gently pulled the item away from Grace’s hands and set a finger over one raised dot in particular: the one on the lower-right, the Engineer of the Blip-A.
 

His son.

“Thank.”

His tone was low. Deep. The chords sharp and melancholic.

“Thank thank.”

The mother’s too. 

“For returning our child home alive.”

Like cracks in a dam, the words broke Grace’s resolve, spilling his tears. He tried to bury his face into his shirt to hide it, but a sensation of pressure on his arm, the one with the scar, made him lift his face back up and look.

Three small rocky hands around his scar, shielded by thin xenonite: a dark grey claw, a brown one with purple spots and another brown one, with a familiar green dot and a Petrova line, deeply etched.

Grace pushed his face into a shoulder to wipe, then shook his head. 

“He saved me. In more ways than one. Thank you for him.”

“Thank you for coming! “ Grace said to them at the door. “I hope to meet again soon.”

“Want to discuss Earth science with you,” Rocky’s dad told him. “Make another meeting soon, question?”

Grace nodded. “Anytime.” 

He cocked his head towards Rocky. “Just tell me in advance. I want to make sure everything’s tidy.”

“Grace home very nice.” Rocky’s mom praised. “Rocky say Grace is very messy. Say to not say anything bad, be nice. But home very clean. Rocky lie.”

“Rocky!” 

“Is true.” Rocky defended himself, crossing two arms. “But this time Rocky gave heads up. Help friend not look stupid.”

Grace rolled his eyes at him. 

“Thanks friend.”

Rocky wiggled contentedly.

Grace helped them haul the duffle bags out the door, this time without complaining. It was a near-perfect ending to an eventful day… until Grace extended the invitation for dinner the following week, only to be reminded of how impolite this was, akin to asking them to come over for an evening of pooping together. Once again, profuse apologies ensued, but the parents found it all amusing and took no offence, and Grace was left wondering if he would ever learn to navigate any form of societal norms smoothly, Eridian or otherwise. He had been a lost cause on Earth, so chances were slim.

.

.

.

“I’ll see you soon?” Rocky asked from the door. His parents were making their way down the steps slowly.

“Absolutely.” Grace nodded. “Hope to see Adrian again soon too.”

“Will tell Adrian you say that. Will be happy.”

He hugged Rocky goodbye and watched him go down the steps, feeling a large wave of gratitude bloom in his chest. Ironically, considering his name, he never received much of it from anyone back home. Not even from his family.

Grace shook his head. No, not back home. Not my family.

My home and my family are here now.