Chapter Text
“Well, with that all settled, can we please figure out where we’re doing?” Grace was right, nobody still knew what to do now that they’ve reached Tau Ceti, and met Adrian and Rocky. Sure they had some sort of plan, but it wasn’t necessarily formulated quite yet.
“Alright, what’s the deal now? Like, are we getting any closer to any of the planets here?” Colt crossed his arms and held a hand out to the side. “Can’t quite do much right now.”
“Are we in Tau Ceti Petrova line, question?” Rocky asked, then Grace nodded.
“Yeah, I think so. Or relatively close to it, I’m sure Colt can get us ‘in’ the line. Right?” He looked over to his twin, and said twin nodded.
“‘Course I can. I’m supposed to be the pilot after all.” He said with a slightly prideful smirk, which Grace laughed at, though not everyone seemed as amused.
“We know.” Simon chimed in from the entryway to the lab, looking as irritable as ever. He stepped in with a silent gait, leaning against the xenonite wall where Adrian was sitting by. They schooched to the side a little to be able to echolocate better. Just because they can see through walls, doesn’t mean they want to.
“Did anyone think to, perhaps, collect samples, question? Test samples for Astrophage, see if Tau Ceti Astrophage is different from Earth and Erid Astrophage.” Adiran had chosen the sassyish, yet mildly flirty voice that Grace was extremely against, but was outvoted by Rocky, Adrian and Colt, the crew at the time when they had decided to give Rocky and Adrian voices. Now, it was oddly quite fitting, even if Grace didn’t like it.
“Ah-” In fact, nobody did think of that. Grace clapped his hands together suddenly, which made Simon flinch, Grace shooting him and apologetic look before speaking up again.
“Mary’s equipped with a sampler, we could definitely do that! If we move to one of the planets that the Astrophage is migrating to, we can figure out why Tau Ceti isn’t dimming! Great idea Adrian!” Grace kept talking as he and Colt headed to the main control area. Rocky and Adrian were both chatting, though it was more Rocky showering Adrian with praise, and Adrian getting flustered.
Simon had enough of everyone’s “happy” attitudes, and went back into what Grace had named the “Don’t go crazy” room. It was more of a hall and less of a room though, as the screens seemed to go up endlessly, or at least it felt like it. There was slight lurch as the Hail Mary’s centrifuge was deactivated slowly.
“Gravity will come back in a sec, hang tight!” Colt’s voice came over the intercom in an almost showhostlike manner. Not that Simon knew what a show-host was, but he didn’t really care anyway. Simon watched as his hair started to flow upwards and to the sides for a few seconds, before the ship lurched again and started moving, effectively giving them gravity again.
Simon sat down crisscross applesauce as Grace put it, crossing his arm across his chest and lightly clutching his side. His head snapped to the entryway though, when he heard footsteps, and then saw Grace waving with an apprehensive look.
“Permission to enter, my liege?” He asked with a bow. Simon just huffed and rolled his eyes.
“I’ll...take that as a no?” Grace’s smile disappeared and he turned on his heel, when Simon spoke up.
“No, stay.” He said simply, and Grace practically beamed. Simon hated how much he liked Grace’s smile.
“Yes!” Grace did a mini fist pump before suddenly looking a little embarrassed as he sat next to Simon. “I mean um...yay?” Simon could only shake his head with a huff of amusement.
“So...are you feeling any better?” Grace sat with his legs stretched out, and his arms holding him up by his palms.
“As good as I’ll get.” Grace looked a little worried at that, and Simon added to it. “For now.”
“That’s um..Great!” Silence for a moment, and then, “How are you getting along with my brother? I know you two had some tension for a bit.” Simon’s expression shifted to be a little more like his usual look.
“He’s fine.” Simon said simply, and Grace gave him ‘that look’. The sort of look where he knew there’s more to it.
“Okay, alright. Fine. He’s an asshole. There. Happy?” Grace shrugged.
“Well I’m not happy about that, but I’m glad you told me the truth. Honesty is the best policy after all!” Grace was trying to ease the awkwardness, but the ‘teacher quote’ wedged into personal affairs didn’t work out as planned.
“Right. Why are you asking me anyway?” Simon wasn’t necessarily frustrated, but he sounded a little irked, and that made Grace seemingly ‘deflate’ a smidge.
“Just wondering.” He sighed, before turning to look at the display. It was a beach, one of Grace’s favorite areas. Simon didn’t really like it, but kept it on for Grace’s sake. And he supposed the waves were nice, too.
“The ocean was always really nice to me...every day it looks a little different. It's sort of like how people change each day.” Grace was rambling again, but Simon didn’t mind at all. In fact, he enjoyed it a lot. He could listen to Grace talk about whatever for hours. Simon didn’t realize he was staring.
“It’s sort of like how you seem to sort of un-tense when I’m around...I’m glad you trust me, Simon.” Grace said with that earnest smile. Simon didn’t know how to react to the fact he was just read like a book, but he smiled a little regardless, the teacher’s warmth was infectious.
The two of them stared at each other for a moment, lost in each other's eyes before being uneventfully interrupted by Mary’s robotic voice.
“Contaminant Detected.” It chimed. Grace and Simon’s soft look morphed into confusion as Colt appeared in the doorway.
“Hate to interrupt you two lovebirds, but there’s something you probably want to see.” He left before Grace or Simon could correct him. Wasn’t he supposed to be at the wheel?
“Colt- Wait!” Grace, ungracefully scrambled to his feet, nearly tripping over himself as he went after his brother. Simon followed slowly behind.
In the main lab, the entire crew was rounded up. Rocky was in his xenonite ball next to Colt, Adrian being across from them, leaving two empty spots in the ‘half circle of people’ for Simon and Grace.
“There’s a door.” Simon said flatly. “So what?”
“Door appeared from nowhere!” Rocky exclaimed, holding up his claws and emphasizing the door in a way Grace would with his arms.
“Made a pretty loud sound too, I heard it from the cockpit. I would say I’m surprised you two didn’t hear it but ’t uh....” Colt trailed off and Grace glared at him, before staring at the door with wide eyes. It looked straight out of a sci-fi movie, almost ironically.
“What if it’s a gateway to another dimension?" Grace immediately suggested, which earned him a look from everyone. “What? It’s happened before!”
“Grace is not wrong. Simon is here, after all.” Adrian spoke up. Grace pointed at them and nodded eccentrically. “Exactly! I’m glad someone here gets me!” Adrian then added, “Grace still crazy for mentioning it though.”
“Way t-” Grace cut himself off as the door started to open. Immediately, Grace hid behind Simon, who, like Colt in that exact moment, were both poised to fight. Rocky rolled only slightly closer to Adrian, who was simply standing as normal.
As the door opened, a person stumbled out and landed flat on his face, before perking up and giving a thumbs up.
“Whoops! Sorry about that!” The newcomer brushed himself off and put his hands on his hips firmly, giving everyone else a keen smile. Everyone was still rightfully tense.
“What’s your name?” Colt demanded, and Simon spoke up harshly. “And do you have a weapon?” Immediately the guy held his gloved hands and had wide eyes.
“Woah woah, hey! I’m not looking for a fight! I come in peace! Well, we-”
“There’s more of you?” Grace curiously spoke up from behind Simon.
The newcomer nodded, and Grace took notice of his nametag. Mark. Well, talk about bad first impressions. Or a terrible coincidence. Rocky seemed to notice as well, as he poised to ram Mark.
“Yeah, there’s me and the Captain! Speaking of, have you seen them?” Mark started to list with his fingers as he described the elusive ‘captain’. “They wear a helmet, huge black gloves, they’re great at speeches, they have a bold and attra-”
“We don’t care about your captain!” Simon suddenly snapped, reaching out to grab Mark’s uniform collar, before being stopped by Colt who shook his head.
“Okay...well I’ll probably find them when I leave.” Mark had lost his enthusiasm to an annoyance that was remarkably similar to how Simon appeared the majority of the time.
Mark turned to the door and- The door was gone. Slowly, Mark turned to face the rest of the crew with an extremely anxious smile.
“So....haha, um. So I can’t leave...buuuuut at least you have another crew member..??” He tensed and closed his eyes, expecting some sort of backlash. “The more the merrier?” He barely managed to squeak out. No attack ever came.
“I like Mark.” Adrian suddenly spoke up, and Mark snapped his eyes open and glanced around frantically.
“What?! Who said that?! God?!? I- Uh-! I-I’m sorry for stealing the captain's wine and that weirdly-nice-but-also-evil-alien-lady’s weird mints!!” Mark got on his knees and begged. Nobody didn’t dare say a thing, but it was obvious Colt was trying not to laugh.
“Mark, relax! That’s just Adrian.” Grace spoke up after glaring at Colt yet again. Mark instantly calmed down with the reassurance before suddenly looking confused.
“Who’s Adrian?” He asked, and everyone, including Adrian themself pointed to the blue-green eridian. “Gotcha.” A beat, then, “A TALKING ROCK?!” Mark cleared his throat. “Uh- I mean. A talking rock! Cool, cool...”
“This new human is funny. Can we keep him?” It was obvious Adrian was highly entertained by Mark’s arrival.
“Rocky dislikes. Rocky thinks we should kick him out.” Adrian crossed their arms.
“Can...we do names first?? Who’s Rocky??” Mark was utterly confused. Colt finally spoke up after getting past his amusement. By now, Grace had stepped to stand in-between Colt and Simon, shoulder to shoulder style. Simon was completely disengaged.
“Alright, we can do names. I’m Colt, the pilot,” He pointed his thumb at Grace, who waved awkwardly, “This is Ryland, m’brother, and also the scientist.” Then to Simon, who rolled his eyes, “This is Simon. Dunno much about him yet.” Simon was now glaring at Colt. “Then Rocky and Adrian are the so-called ‘talking rocks’ as you said. Rocky’s an engineer, and Adrian’s a lab assistant, slash technician. I think.” As Colt was talking Mark nodded, which was slightly exaggerated for some reason.
“Got it! Colt, Ryland-” “Grace, actually!” “Oh! Okay, Colt, Grace, Simon, Rocky, and Adrian. Awesome. And does this beaut have a name?” Mark spread his arms out as to motion to the ship itself.
“This is the Hail Mary.” Grace explained. Mark’s eyes widened. “She’s beautiful..” Mark said breathlessly, almost astonished. “I came from the Invincible! Well, the Invincible II, uh...Turns out the Invincible was not in-fact, invincible. But! That’s not important! I made the Invincible II with my own hands! I’m an engineer, by the way. Head Engineer Mark.” He held out his hands to everyone, and Grace shook his hand first, then Colt. Simon didn’t.
“What plan now, question?” Rocky asked, and Colt seemed to remember that Mary was still moving again. He quickly ran to the cockpit, strapping himself to the pilot’s chair, getting ready for whatever was next.
“What about showing Mark around?” Grace offered, putting an arm on Mark’s back and beginning to walk around, Rocky and Adiran moving to follow them. By now, Simon had left back to the solidarity of the “Don’t go crazy room” again. Grace was probably going to talk to him about it, but for now he let him be.
“This is the lab, where all the cool science happens.” Grace showed off the lab equipment, and Rocky pointed at his own, explaining (along with Adrian) the Eridian equipment. Mark was heavily engaged, especially with Rocky’s tech, even asking a few questions of his own.
As the tour went on, Mark seemed to make himself right at home, which bothered Rocky that Grace was just letting Mark roam around as if he'd been there forever. Totally that and not the fact that Mark was getting along with Adrian more than Rocky felt like he should be.
“Rocky hate Mark.” He said again to Grace in the lab, away from Mark and Adrian. Grace was setting up the collection device, while Rocky was making a breeder tank for Astrophage in case they needed to breed the Tau Ceti Astrophage.
“Well this guy isn’t my ex’s boyfriend, even if they do share the same name.” Grace explained. “So, there’s no reason to hate him! I mean, he just got here too.”
“Rocky still hate Mark!” Rocky raised his voice, causing Grace to back off and raise his hands a little.
“Why’s that?” Grace was confused. Mark had just got there, and he was an engineer just like Rocky. “Are you scared of him taking your job?”
“No, Rocky still best engineer. Rocky is scared of Mark spending too much time with Adrian.” Grace nodded with understanding.
“Oh. I understand, but that doesn’t mean you hate Mark, you might just be jealous.” Grace explained. He couldn’t help but go into teacher mode, especially with all the drama he used to hear as a middle school teacher. Those kids had a lot to say about each other.
“New word meaning, question?”
“It means…Well, it means that you’re mad that Mark is getting along with Adrian so well, when you want Adrian to spend time with you.”
“Oh. Understand. That is how Rocky feels.” Grace sighed and nodded.
“Well, why don’t you try bringing it up with Adrian? It can’t hurt to try.”
“Maybe.”
At that moment though, Colt’s voice came on the intercom. “Everyone get ready, we’re about to stop! And I don’t think we should have the centrifuge on this time around.” Grace nodded in agreement, though Colt didn’t see him anyway.
“Everyone ready?! We’re stopping in 3…2…”