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Grace wandered the ship. He was trying to keep track of the stock of different items in the lab.
He wasn’t really looking where he was going as he scribbled down on the small whiteboard. Grace bumped head first into Rocky’s tunnel, knocking his glasses from his face. It was always the same tunnel and the same tunnel every time. He groaned as he rubbed his eyebrows.
A hissing sound came from the tunnel in front of him. Grace looked up and squinted at the tunnel. There was the smallest of cracks on the panel to the adhesive. Grace opened his mouth to shout for Rocky, but before he could, there was a burst of hot ammonia toward his face.
As quick as it was there, it was gone. But it was already too late, Grace had tried to drop out the line of the leak, but it still hit him in the eyes. He screeched as he fell to his knees.
“Grace, question?” Grace tried not to rub his eyes, he knew that would only make it worse.
“Yea— I think—” Rocky was at his side, letting out a whole range of noises that Grace didn’t recognise. He presumed he was trying to check what’s going on.
“Chemical burns detected. Seek medical assistance immediately.” Grace knew that Mary was right. He needed to get to Armando now.
“Grace go see Armando, now, statement!” Grace pushed himself upright. His eyesight was completely blurred. He could feel his eyes watering. Grace could feel his eyelids swelling up from the burns.
He stumbled his way to the infirmary, Rocky was behind him in case Grace fell. Rocky could sense Armando throwing his arms around. It was the first sign that Grace was in a bad way. The computer always seemed to know when Grace was injured even before Grace knew.
Grace used the walls for support as he heard the sound of Armando whirling his arms around. His vision was almost completely gone now, it was just colours in front of him. No discernable shapes whatsoever.
It was like when he first got his glasses as a kid. He had no idea he was viewing the world completely different to everyone else.
Right now though, he was concerned with permanently losing his vision.
“Doctor Ryland Grace, chemical burns to and around eyes detected. Treatment: eye irrigation.”
He practically fell into the bed as Armando tried to help him. He was laid on his back as one of the hands came to his eyes. It started running cold liquid into his eyes, which he expected, but it still made him flinch a little. He tilted his head back to keep the water from getting into his mouth or nose or splashing down his shirt.
“Armando leak into Grace’s eyes! Bad bad bad!” Rocky rolled himself around at the foot of the bed, where most of Armando’s mechanical instruments were housed. Rocky rolled into the wall a couple of times in an attempt to get Armando to stop.
“Rocky, it’s okay! This is to help me. I need to clean my eyes out of the ammonia.” Rocky rolled back to the head of the bed.
“Oh. Grace eyes okay, question?” Grace bit his tongue, he didn’t want to scare Rocky. The thought of never seeing again did scare him, how was he meant to pilot the ship if he couldn’t see? Heck, how was he meant to get around the ship in general without his eyes? He knew the layout pretty well but not that well. Especially with Rocky’s tunnels all over the place.
“I— I don’t know, Rock. I’ll have to wait to find out.” He could hear Rocky tapping his claws in thought and nervousness.
“How long until Grace found out, question?” Grace shuffled a little on the bed, trying to get comfortable as his eyes continued to burn. Whether it was from the ammonia or the water currently flooding his eyes, he wasn’t sure.
“Computer, how long do I have to irrigate my eyes for?” There was a moment of silence.
“Doctor Ryland Grace, irrigation treatment recommended for fifteen minutes. Time remaining eleven minutes and twenty-seven seconds.”
Grace heard Rocky let out what he had come to recognise was a huff. He knows Rocky doesn’t like to wait around, Grace sleeping for eight hours a night was bad enough.
Grace heard Rocky wordlessly roll away, out of the room. Grace blinked through the pain in the hopes it would help, it kind of did and it kind of didn’t. He had no idea how long he was laying there for, he had no way of telling the time other than asking how long he had left on the irrigation.
He opened his mouth to ask for the remaining time but stopped when he heard something from the other room. It sounded like some kind of mechanical work going on. Grace listened more closely to try to figure out the specific noises, but the water was clogging his ears up too much.
“Rock! What are you doing?” The noises stopped.
“Rocky fix tunnel, statement. Grace not get hurt again, statement. Rocky should have seen crack. Apology apology apology.” Grace couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face. Rocky was always so apologetic when something went wrong, but this wasn’t his fault.
“It’s alright Rocky! It’s not your fault! These things happen, bud!” Grace heard the sound of Rocky’s tools cut off before the sound of his ball coming to the infirmary.
“Rocky tunnel broke. Rocky should know if tunnel is broke. Grace might lose eye organs because of Rocky. Rocky fix tunnel. Will not happen again, statement.” Grace opened his mouth.
“Doctor Ryland Grace, irrigation treatment complete. Diagnosis; no permeant damage sustained. Eyesight should return. Apply burn cream to skin around eyes morning and night. Check in with medical bot daily for checkups.” Grace sighed in relief.
“You hear that, I should be alright, Rock.” Rocky purred in response.
“Good good good.”