Chapter Text
“Thank you, Engineer Rocky, and Friend Grace! We will speak to you soon. Need to contact many important people-will have many questions,” She trills excitedly, and then she added dutifully “We Sing Again.”
“We Sing Again, Uhura.” Responds Rocky, who nods into the air almost reflexively. His voice sounds strained- if he were human, Grace would be expecting some steadying breaths right now.
“Woah,” Grace blinks back tears as he turned down the hissing static of the ambient radio. If they wanted to talk again they would hear it. There's no way they could miss it. People. Other real life people!
I'm going to see people again! Even if they're alien rock creatures and we can’t exist in the same environment, this is huge! I’m gonna need something to drink.
He dragged a palm down his face and huffed a laugh, grinning glassily at the control panels, overwrought by wonderment. Rocky is stock still, other than his (front?) two fore-claws, of which he wriggles slightly in agitation. Grace, high on endorphins, looks over and laughs.
“Oh my god, Rock! You're going home. We made it! I mean I might kinda have to live on tau-goop for the rest of my life but jeez if it isn't worth it,”
Grace thunks back in the pilot seat, Rocky just continues to fidget.
“Ah by the way ,What does that last thing mean? We Sing Again? Is that some kinda military thing like Roger? Roger Roger…?” He trails off.
Grace waits patiently for a response. He's slightly impatient, actually, but this is probably a lot for Rocky to take in so he's not offended by the shock in the slightest; it's been 50 years for goodness sake. The poor guy hasn't heard another eridian in half a century. Half a century… thats- thats a long time. Grace's face falls slightly in concern and he reaches out to touch the slight warmth of the Xeno-ball. He regrets the star wars reference.
“You good, bud?”
Rocky stops his twiddling abruptly like he was just shaken out of being deep in thought - no small feat for an eridian who can focus on multiple ideas at once.
“Oh. We Sing Again is … like see you later, but a formal version of that.”
“I thought the Eridians didn't say goodbye? I thought you-” Grace ran his fist up and down his forearm.
Rocky shuffles slightly and his carapace lowers a little.
“Of course we don't say goodbye. Not physically possible.” He says, cattily. Avoidant.
“Yeah well , clearly? I mean, what is the difference here? If it's something I should be saying, I should know, right? Im a planetary representative now- I’ll need some formal media training, haha,”
“... I was… hmm … “
Rocky curled in on himself
“Back on Blip-A, I didn't want to say…”
Grace leans forward, features drawn in concern and confusion.
“Not really. I said something else. Arm movement is called ()()()(). Its for… occasion,”
“What kinda occasion?”
Rocky hesitates.
“Die.”
Grace stares at Rocky.
Rocky does nothing.
Grace refuses to say anything, he thinks if he tried when hes already so emotionally jumped up on endorphins it wouldn't come out right. He nods, and talks anyway when Rocky doesn't continue, his voice very slightly strangled.
“Explain.”
“When… when you said ‘see you later’, I knew it was a lie. ‘Is just something you say’, you said. I realised, then, I would not see you later. Not ever,” Rocky's voice is low and sonorous, “Humans live so short lives. I mourned you. I said goodbye. When crew died I was stupid. I not say goodbye properly. I was too scared.”
“We Sing Again is formal, yes. It is meaning ‘see you later’ literally. But I could not say this to you, I could not lie to Grace. I think now I lied anyway. Apology apology.”
Rocky lowers his carapace, and ghosts his claw-tips down his arm self-soothingly.
“... you ()()()() back to me. Its something I thought about every day until you came back.”
“I mourned you, too?”
The creak of the flight chair is far too loud. This is not where he thought this conversation was going.
“Grace… I…”
“Its okay! Its okay!” Grace barely restrains himself from launching his leaky body at the Xenonite barrier but settles on clutching the ball like a romcom love interest holding the face of the leading lady in the pouring rain. He's weeping a little, again. Just a smidge. He blames the sad movies he's been watching on this dramatic overture, but Rocky looks like he literally might scuttle into the airlock.
“I understand, okay?”
“You don't.”
“I do!”
“No!”
“Rocky!”
“Grace not say goodbye to earth! How can Grace understand, Question?” Retorts Rocky, loudly, this time.
Grace sits back, shocked.
“I- what? What ??”
“Grace not-” Rocky is about to say it again but stops himself, “No! Apology! Rocky doesn't mean that- forget I say that! Statement!”
Grace is- well, Grace is horrified.
Is this what he really thinks about me?
“I didn't have a choice,” he whispers
“Rocky knows this! Its crazy! Agh! Apology ! Not what I mean!”
“Then what do you mean, Rocky?” Grace is trying hard not to feel totally affronted by a bombardment of emotion. Was rocky saying Grace didn't know what it meant to say goodbye forever just because he was forced on the mission? Or what? Grace thought desperately, the hamster ball in his mind running at full speed. Is this just another gross miscommunication?
“World- Say goodbye to world forever…grace I did not want to leave you, but had no choice! We both had missions. You are like mission. You are like erid, like … adrian, like family…but was no uncertainty that you would die before I see you again… there is no choice in death. There is no choice in mission. I mourn”
What?
Grace attempts to unpick the context of all of that and wishes, not for the first time, he had a better understanding of Eridian. Wasn't Rocky's mission always supposed to have a return?
“Yes, my ship was supposed to return, but we all knew it might not. We all went on ship with that knowledge. Uncertainty.”
Grace blinks at Rocky,-
“Those ridges on your arm , not everyone on Erid has those, do they?”
It dawns on Grace that the marks are too regular, too sharp to be naturally occurring. Would it be normal for every culture to carve into their own arms just to say goodbye when someone dies? Or just to say a normal goodbye! Why didn't he think about this before? His hamster brain is compensating for emotional distress by running through a million ideas a second, he thinks.
The question seems to confuse Rocky out of his hysteria, but not his distress.
“No. Only a few. Significant decision. Please do not ask me why. Is very painful for me. I am sorry, Grace.”
“Is there anything else you wanna tell me?”
Grace asks this almost jokingly, but blanches when Rocky doesn't immediately answer.
“Rocky?”
Before he can get an explanation , the radio babbles spikes again, forcing Grace to tear his full attention from Rocky and adjust the volume control. His gaze lingers on Rocky before he averts his eyes to try and focus on the sound.
“-()()s Hear us? Hello? This is ()()()())))() general ()()()))))-”
“Hey! Hi, this is Grace! How are things?”
Silence.
“.... erm..” There's some more silence and then some whispers . Grace catches the word ‘alien.’
He slaps himself on the forehead. Dumb human brain. They don't understand him, obviously. That's why Rocky was doing the talking and translating. The translating he's not currently doing. Earth to rocky.
“Hello General ()(???) , hearing you clearly. Grace , the Alien, extends his greetings to you.”
There's some chittering on the line I recognise as a chuckle.
“I understand. Quite humourous! It has a very odd voice!”
“Maybe.” Rocky responds, clipped.
“Notwithstanding, I hoped ())))( I could talk to you about procedures ()() reentry? Your vessel is unorthodox, as a ()()( is a (((). How is your fine manoeuvring capability? Do you have ()()))))?-”
The General, who Grace will just call Zod for now (really hopes he remembers to mentally change that name) continues on a string of technobabble and very complex terminology that Grace hardly understands. He speaks in a very elevated lexis, by the sounds of it. Great. Not only is there still a language barrier but also a whole barrel of colloquialisms to parse. Oh dear.
“-Yes. Coordinates are correct. Passing through the eight-world orbit interior. Specification ()())((()()-”
The discussion is very technically heavy, and while scientific language was the principal subject of Rocky and Graces’ interactions, the conversation between the two was heavily reliant upon understanding Eridian infrastructure. Thus, Grace only piped in occasionally to add some more human specifics so that the Eridian space council could better understand The Mary, or whatever.
The conversation was long- about two hours, and eventually devolved into more casual conversation. Zod was still talking in that extremely flowery language- grace thinks he's using a lot of cultural references and metaphors. He's annoyed for about 10 minutes until he realises that his language habits are actually much worse. He zones out a couple times and thinks about their recent conversation. He's glad of the breathing space, actually. It helps him try and see things from Rocky's point of view. He can't begrudge Rock for being emotional- when he left before, it was a real goodbye. It was the kind of goodbye he wished he could have had on Earth; heartfelt and sincere. Reciprocal. He finds himself staring at Rocky, who is animatedly describing the centrifugal function of The Mary. In the light of the cockpit, the wedding mark on Rocky’s arm glitters as he flails away. Fondly, Grace notices Rocky's body language demonstrating an urgent desire to have puppets to illustrate his point, even though the radio wouldn't pick it up.
He's a very physical guy. If he was a human he would be a great puppeteer.
“-()(((()! Well that seems like enough for now. My team ((()))) (sounds like an Eridian colloquial phrase similar to ‘this end/side’) has enough for now. We will contact you soon! Very excited excited to hear you again- in actuality! “
Another voice suddenly joins the conversation, its more buzzy than the others. Probably the Erid equivalent of nasal.
“Greeting greeting! Hello Engineer Rocky ! Apology for interrupt. Just saying hi!”
“No problem. Who are you?” Stumbles Rocky. Zod grumbles like a shipping container being dragged over cement.
“I am )((((())))((((! Just wanted to pop in and introduce myself! I am second science officer on station ∀! Likely that we will be first point of contact.”
“Oh! Awesome, man. Looking forward to meeting you!” Rocky translates this for Grace.
“Ooh!” Some gentle hooting can be heard over the comm, its likely that there are more Eridians on the other side of this line than just the science officer. Grace names them Kelly.
“Much celebration when you arrive! We will wear our best uniforms!”
Uniforms? Interesting.
“Ill try my best to look presentable,” Grace tries not to think about how frail, and honestly stinky he's become (damn the Hail Mary for not having showers!) “I know Rocky has some nice jewellery, maybe I can borrow some?”
Rocky translates the first part easily, but stops before completing and says instead:
“Grace says … uh .. rocky can help look nice.”
“We are sure you are fine! As long as you are dressed! Hahaha!”
Thats an odd thing to say.
“-unless you do not require clothes. Im trying not to make any assumptions. Gosh, this is so exciting…we will plan a party, we think.”
“Kelly please compose yourself. This is a universal line.” Groans Zod
Grace is just completely elated,“Im sure you put on a mean feast! Not that ill be able to eat your food, but I look forward to it.”.
He then remembers what rocky looked like when eating and then imagines a room of hundreds of Eridians doing that at the same time. In the dark. At the same time. Oh boy. Stay strong, Grace. You're an ambassador now. Aliens do alien stuff. Big whoop.
Rocky flat out doesn't even attempt to translate this, and just jumps in immediately, almost interrupting Grace.
“Yes Yes, Grace is very excited. Rocky is excited too! It will be an amazing day. But we still have to get tauomeba to threeworld before we party.”
“Yeah, we cant count our chickens before they hatch, can we? Huh bud?”
“What Alien Grace Say?”
“Weird human aphorism. Ignore.”
“Kelly do not call weird alien an alien. Is rude. I mean Saviour Grace. Saviour Grace. Not weird.”
Its clear the conversation is wrapping up, and all parties are keen to make their excuses.
“We Sing Again! Engineer Rocky and Saviour Grace!”
“Hell yeah! We Sing Again!”
“Of Rocky Grace, We Sing Again!” Sings Rocky, before indicating for Grace to turn off the radio.
Grace does so and sits in silence with Rock for a moment before turning his head and resting a hand on the Xenonite-ball.
Rocky seems calmer and loafs, tucking his claws under his carapace. Its a strange return to the constant inertia of space travel after such an enthralling message.
“Yeah Bud, Rocky Grace Sing again.”
Rocky humms, and the vibration permeates the warm glass of the xenonite barrier.
It's peaceful.
.
“Rocky needs to go and do something.” And just like that, the little guy skitters off in the ball much faster than was probably necessary down into the science bay.
Grace splutters.
“Hey! What's up?”
He is so weird, thinks Grace, hearing the Thunk Thunk Crash thunk Thunk Screeeeeeeetch thunktinktinktinkBLAMBLAMpitter patter of the ball barreling through the ship.
He's so glad they met, against all odds.
THUNKTHUNKTHUNKcrunchscrape scrapeee crunch. Smash…
Crunch.
… tinkle.
“Rocky?”
“I FIX DONT WORRY!”
—--------
—--------
“Rocky has something to say but grace has to promise won't be mad, question?”
Its only an hour later, and Ryland is sitting in the observation window reading a book on an e-reader. Its Catch 22. Hes not enjoying it. Maybe it'll get better soon. He moves to chapter 12.
Rocky rolls out from behind the wall and,
Hes wearing a shirt.
Its a greenish, burlap-like, woven textile . Above each joint are fastenings; black square buttons. Buttons! Each about a centimetre. They attach around a neck(?) hole that circles the top of his carapace, leaving the vents uncovered. His undercarriage is covered by a piece of fabric that is attached to the above shirt by being hooked on like a hammock.
“Holy cow! Nice threads, Rock! Where'd you hide that saucy little number”
“Are my…. clothes”
“Oh - Like the celebration jewellery?”
“I need these to meet other eridians”
“The reps we're meeting are a lil’ conservative, huh? Or is this, like, your uniform?”
“No understand word,” he sighs. His tone is exasperated. He's thinking ’not this again.’.
“Conservative? Uh. Old fashioned? Like things to be the way they were a long time ago? Dislike change.”
“You could say that. Understand word . Eridian word is ((().) but no, I don't think that is the correct word,”
“Okay, then why the get up?”
Rocky mumbles almost imperceptibly, before saying; “All eridian wear clothe”
“Wassat?”
“All Eridians wear clothing.” He says again, still fast but much more clearly.
“Uh.. ok. Sooo-”
“All the time.”
Grace puts down the E-reader and stares. And then stares again.
“Grace listen, i live in space ALONE for 40 years, “
Grace bites his lips together and closes his eyes momentarily.
“-at some point I just . Ugh. “ Rocky nudges a piece of nonexistent lint with his foot.
A chortle of disbelief escapes
“Wait - no,”
Rocky wiggles his fingers and fidgets.
“-You've not been wearing any clothes … this whole time?”
Grace squeals in a thin attempt at trying to keep it in but it’s impossible. He claps a hand over his mouth and speaks through his fingers.
‘What? Are you… are you serious? No, you're not,”
Grace looks at rocky, who looks extremely embarrassed for someone with no face. He drops the hand.
“Oh god he's serious.”
Grace basically screeches. Hes doubled over in laughter now.
“This whole time! The whole time you've been naked!”
“No laugh!”
This doesn't help.
“No laugh!!”
“Sorry-pff buddy! I hoo-hoo-! I juzdf heghehe-”
“Why grace leak now? This is embarrassing!”
“Wow. Just . Wow!”
Grace nudges the tear from his eye with a finger, and takes a steadying breath. Rocky is hopping around in agitation.
“I try be serious! Stupid meat sack being-ugh!!”
“C’mon, buddy- okay, I’m sorry! Just- can you give me a little bit more to work with here?”
“Clothing is customary for Eridians. Socially… socially it is expected that people wear clothing that covers upper hinge and sometimes mouth. I … i think this is stupid. We all have hinge! We all have mouth! Stupid anyway- we all can hear each other anyway. Clothes do very little to stop that. Clothes unnecessary, statement.”
A thought occurs to grace- is Rocky a nudist? He supposes it wouldn't have made any difference to rocky if he was naked all the time, too. But its just more practical for humans when we work. Eridians are physically more robust, so perhaps it isn't so unusual-
“I have to request Grace, please, do not tell other Eridians about this. Would not be good…”
Ah , maybe it is.
—--
Grace is taking this surprisingly well, thinks Rocky
Incredibly embarrassing, yes. But not badly.
Rocky has been the Eridian equivalent of a Naturist for just over 200 years. It's actually how they met Adrian! It's not necessarily bad, some Eridians just can't understand it, and that's fine. Rocky is not here to dictate how to live properly to anyone.
The more important aspect at work here is that people don't usually walk around naked at work. Especially when they're saving the planet from extinction. And also, as it happens, making first contact with an intelligent alien being for the first time in history, is probably not one of those situations either.
A good part of Rocky doesn't really care at all. However, another part of Rocky realises that 40 years of isolation following the unexpected catastrophic deaths of All his crewmates and friends had probably induced some abnormal behaviour patterns. Another, more frantic part of rocky is absolutely mortified. This latter part only surfaced after that first call with Erid, bringing whatever smooth brain version of willful ignorance he had cultivated into stark reality.
In his initial haze of excitement and focus when first meeting Grace, making the chains, fishing on Adrian and surviving extreme odds, he didn't particularly care to remember or be totally accurate when describing Eridian customs. What would be the point? They had ‘bigger fish to fry’ as Grace would put it; They would discuss things as they came up naturally; relationships, biology, language. All these things seemed far more important- and they were!
When Rocky first met Grace, he actually didn't realise until halfway through constructing the ball that he had forgotten to get dressed. At that point it was too late to suddenly turn up saying ‘hii! Hey Mr Alien! Yeah, sorry, I've been walking around with no clothes but my work belt for weeks, like some kind of kinky fashion show, but I've decided to get dressed finally!’
Damn, and if only clothing were the most pressing issue that Rocky had to deal with. This was going to be excruciating.
“Rocky.. ahem.. rocky has another statement to make,”
Grace is still chittering softly like a youngling; he can hear his one heart pumping a more elevated rhythm. Grace inflates his ‘lungs’ in one intentional movement, and exhales; the action seemingly helping his circulatory system regulate and slow slightly. He turns to look at rocky.
“O…kay? Go ahead”
Ah, okay now he actually has to say words. He has to say things.
“When rocky eats, is beautiful-”
“Uh-huhh” Grace scrunches his face.
“Ugh. Well . It is! Yes- yes. But also, this is Rocky's opinion,” he taps two claws together. “It is something all Eridian do- it is biological, uh.” Rocky can feel his ambulatory system heating, if he doesn't calm down, he might fall asleep on the spot.
Grace raises an eyebrow.
“Usually, is…. ₚᵣᵢᵥₐₜₑ” he squeaks.
“Oh?”
“Eridians do not eat in front of others…” Oh Maker, just kill me now.
Grace blinks. He is thankfully not leaking for whatever reason he might have, and there are usually infinite reasons to leak. He's mercifully un-damp right now. He blinks again, and then flutters his eyelids a little faster. Is this shock?
“You ate in front of me , though? You seemed - hah- pretty proud of it. Better than my disgusting eating, right?”
Rocky shudders. Best not to think about that. Grace's mouth just … open, wetly masticating and pulling food into itself with its squishy lips and mouth muscle writhing and- no. No . Not thinking about that right now.
“Disgust… hmm.. disgust is normal reaction to seeing eat. Normal to be uncomfortable.”
“Gonna need a bit more context, bud.”
“To watch someone eat is ()((().. need word. Private, important. Only between people who know each other in special way” Intimate, is the word.
Graces face rushes with blood- embarrassed?
“Oh…? Oh! Oh, um. Intimate? Oh. Wow. Er-” Grace clears his throat and sort of taps his chest with his palm, “hah. Haha. Ok. Er- wish you had told me about this before, Rock.”
Oh no. Bad explanation. Abort, abort.
“No! Not like that!”
“Oh, okay. Haha. Phew”
“... well, erm … is not not like that”
“Rocky!”
“Gra-ace!” Rocky spins on the spot. Why is this his life! The airlock is so close. He could just leave. Leave forever.
“This is why I did not translate for you earlier! It would have been inappropriate to suggest grand .. eating event! To a General! And whole science base!” The idea is so ridiculous its hysterical. He wants to laugh and weep at the same time.
“I was so shocked! Is good thing they didn't understand.”
Grace reaches under his glasses and pinches the bridge of his nose.
“Oh god… cheese and crackers. Yep. I think I get it, Rock. ShhhhhhhsssSugar,”
Sugar?
He barks a laugh and flops his meat arms loosely by his sides.
“-I cant believe I asked one of the most important representatives of erid for an orgy … oh my god. They must think I'm a total freak.”
“WHAT? What does grace mean?”
“Oh- Is Adrian gonna be alright that you… ate…” he gestures his hands in a back and forth motion between them, “-that we ate. Together? Is that alright? Jesus Rocky, I don't even know if Im okay with this!”
Oh no. This is bad. Bad bad bad bad bad.
“Thought Humans like to eat together! You say you enjoy eating!”
“Well, yeah! We do. Its like an evolutionary thing. I don't … this isn't about me, dude. Humans eat together because we evolved that way; its about sharing and feeling safe”
“Is same for Eridian…” Rocky Hedges.
“Doesn't sound like it! Humans eat everywhere- human culture revolves almost entirely around food. Growing food, making food, making places to eat the food, making places to make the food! Making food together- making food for others! Making vessels to eat and drink from! Hell, even just talking about food all the time- the history of it and the physical experience of each food! Its normal!”
Rocky has literally never heard such a graphic statement in his entire life.
Rocky knows everything that was said, logically. Their previous discussion about the importance of food as an enrichment activity for humans and the quality of food when they were investigating possible ways to eschew starvation and malnutrition for Grace said as much.
His carapace lowers a little. It's shameful to have assumed Grace would be okay with this, even if its not his own culture. Grace is fundamentally respectful and curious. Rocky should've known better.
“Apology. Grace I was happy to eat with you for … many reasons. One is actually science! I am first Eridian to meet a human, and you asked to see. Also eat is also still just social custom- not all Eridian believe eat is private- they think we just evolve certain traits that were made taboo by society.”
“What was that word - the one that was like-” grace whistles a very disjointed version of ‘Taboo’ that sounds actually more like the word for a really niche dance done on Erid when someone completes a task and you celebrate sarcastically because it wasn’t very good.
“Thing not spoken about with polite Eridians. Negative or uncomfortable connotation.”
“Ah- țąboó” he says, “Listen, Rock, I'm glad you told me, but I wish you had said something before,”
Why didn't he say anything before? That's a good question. Rocky knows what Adrian would say, and its not helpful right now; “Rocky a freak. Statement.”
Thanks, babe.
“- I kinda don't know what to do with this information?” He laughs anxiously, Rocky sighs. “- can I ask, er , why eating is taboo?”
This is probably easier to talk about if Rocky just engages with this question from a totally objective point of view right now. Focus.
“Eridians all hard, all over. You know this- it is why you called me rocky. We are designed to be sturdy. Eating relates to this, because though we are hardy, our insides are delicate, prone to infection. Very sensitive. It is why like when we discussed pathogens, the inside of an eridian is very important. Enclosed system- if inside is corrupted, not much can be done,” Rocky settles down a little and settles to the ground. One of his claws is fiddling with an errant fibre on his shirt.
“- when eat, as you saw, mouth open. Only one way in, yes? This also mean… one way out, also.”
Grace cocks his head.
“Ah.”
“Hm. Yes. Er. Anyway. That is one reason for … taboo. The waste part. But there is also the er, open nature of this function of ,” Rocky is so fucking embarrassed right now. Why is it so much worse when you have to describe these things? Oh maker, hes looking at me weird. Stop that now!
“-the mouth . Is also all other function. Only time when flesh, when insides, are exposed. Very intimate. Carapace open and food placed inside gently-”
“Gently!?” Cries Grace. Rocky stops and realises his mistake. Fuck . Airlock looks soo nice right now.
“Grace- I am trying to explain! Statement! Patient!”
Grace folds his arms crossly.
“- as I was saying-”
“Gently…” grace mutters to himself, shaking his head slightly.
“-AS I was saying, is very similar to egg laying procedure with partner-”
“What?”
“Shush- so anyway-”
“No. Nope. Rewind. Ok firstly I thought Eridian eggs were produced hermaphroditically and then fertilised by coming in contact with another egg?”
Damn. Yeah he would remember that. Stupid selective human memory. Always working when you don't want it to.
“Yes, that is the fertilisation process. This is more the initial stage. Is not the same process or movements, but because Eridian mouth has multiple function, association of privacy is same. This is why private, statement.”
Rocky is pretty proud he got through that. Rocky never got ‘the Talk’, he mostly learned from his peers like everyone else. Thank every single pebble on Erid that that's over.
“How is it different?”
No way.
“Is just different.”
“How different?” Says grace, his voice is extremely high pitched.
“Dont waant to tlk about thsss anymore!” Oh man Im overheating for real.
“Rock-”
“Nono . Too much. Going.” Rocky stumbles away, tripping inside his ball a few times. He finally reaches the airlock, wherein he clambers to his sleeping nook far, as far from grace as possible and hides like an infant, and then puts a bag over his carapace for good measure.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!”
—-----
“It is not advisable to deconstruct living quarters.”
"Thank you, Mary."
Grace mutters through carefully measured, laboured breaths. He's hanging onto the wall of the sleeping pod ladder, one arm tentatively jittering between grasping onto the rungs and joining his free right arm in trying to pry open a panel in the wall.
Tired of trying to use his fingers, each tug on the wall causing a stinging ache through his nailbeds- he moves onto a screwdriver. He artlessly thunks it into the wall. A hiss.
"Ah... I hope that wasn't important,"
“It is not advisable to deconstruct living quarters.” adds Mary, helpfully.
Thankfully, it seems fine. Angling it down, the panel shudders out with a satisfying 'pop', allowing him to unceremoniously yank off the offending square and let it fall ten feet to the bottom of the room. He pokes his head in the 1-by-1 foot hole enthusiastically. Inside is an organised chaos of wiring, tubes, and other crap. Its all sickly off white,
It's the life support system of Yao's bunk.
Lets see if this baby has some secrets to give.
Despite recent revelations, contrary to popular belief, life goes on. Science also goes on, and doesn't stop. Unless you're a theoretical physicist; in which case you are permitted to take a shot of sambuca right now. Ryland is distracting his very confused brain by attempting to find additional hidden sources of sustenance. The bunks are the best place to start.
The bunks are like the rest of the Mary; not designed to be taken apart by anyone other than the person who made it, or an eventual asteroid. Or any other naturally occuring intergalactic phenomenon, really. Grace is doing slightly better than a black hole right now, because he has found….! Tubes! So many tubes. The tubes themselves, we can take them or leave them. Whats inside? Coma slurry! Really, really manky coma slurry.
Why is Doctor Ryland Grace looking at crusty slurry? Simple: a man has gotta eat.
“Don’t think about eating right now, c’monnn,” he mumbles to himself around his hand torch (now mouth-torch), poking around the hatch with his screwdriver.
There is sufficient coma slurry left to get him to Erid. He's been supplementing a bit here and there with Tauomeba. The resulting pastes he's created have ranged from inedible mush, to still-edible-but-you-wish-it-wasnt wood glue texture. They all taste like- no . I shan't say. It's too terrible. Its worse. Lets say slightly off yogurt mixed with paper mulch. Not close but as he is the only living being to eat an alien, he finds it okay that its completely impossible to describe.
The problem is when they get to Erid. Rocky is adamant that Eridian scientists will figure everything out- he already spent years manually compiling all the necessary data in Eridian readable formats while Grace slept on the journey, specifically so that it could be blasted over radio to Eridian scientists who could get to work on making nutrients for Grace as soon as possible. According to the communications, they have already started the process of synthesizing vitamins and trying to eradicate heavy metal presence in bio-matter!
They're amazing. Truly, Grace is completely blown away by the hospitality of Erid, and he tries not to dwell on comparing the reception they would have gotten on earth.
In any case, Grace is investigating the support systems to see if there are any hidden supplement compartments or lovely goodies that the computer would otherwise refuse to share. So far, he has found ;
- The best find; emergency rations! This seems like a small backup of food in case the stores for the other food were compromised in some way. This was a pretty astonishing find, and even had a chocolate bar! Don't know how long you've ever gone without tasting chocolate, but Saviour Grace did cry when that first melt hit his tastebuds. The buzz was like popping a 10mg zyn.
- A pack of Zyns
- Small - very small- stash of vitamin d tablets.
- An honest to god receipt from a french convenience store. Grace assumes this fell out of someone's pocket.
- Four of his own pens.
- Paperclips
- Some kind of tiny plastic baby? This was a trend for his kids in 2020 what on earth is it doing here?
- A gamecube.
Hes hoping that the extreme pragmatic construction of the life support system will yield something better.
Also, Rocky has been avoiding him. He's not even very good at it- although he can't blame him. It's a small ship.
Their conversation ended badly. Grace honestly cant figure out if its anyones fault- it hardly matters anyway, he just wants to understand why. Obviously Rocky got excessively uncomfortable at the end, and maybe thats Grace’s fault for pushing and not reading the room. On the other hand, Rocky was the one to put them both in this position by being all sneaky freaky on him. Is that fair? Well, yes? And no? The guy was so isolated for so long , it seems like he even forgot what he was doing. But Eridians can't forget? Is habit the same as forgetting? Eridians are like little computers- can social experiences cause glitches?
Okay, in any case, this is all only based on the supposition that what happened is what Ryland is guessing it is. Which is… something? Seriously what is it? Is it sexual? Is it just a quirk? Or is this all totally innocent and Rocky is legitimately a statistical outlier. The spiders Georg of jacking it infront of your best friend. If that's what happened. Is that what happened? He was eating, also he said it wasn't just that. Okay so maybe more like using the bathroom?
Grace twists a random nob at the back of the hatch and a casing flaps open at the back of the cramped tunnel of technical detritus. It has a triplicate white casing with four small tubes that lead off into a dark corner, just out of Grace's line of sight. It has a label ‘Aminos es.’. There's a little more writing but it's far too small to see from this distance, but if it looks like what he thinks it is, he's very lucky. Essential amino acids. Jackpotttt
“Thats the ticket babyyy! Woo!” Mini celebration! He extracts himself from the cubby and swings back, extending his arm exuberantly.
“Hallelujahhh-ohhh . Ooh, nope. Moved too fast. Oww.” He crumpled slightly after straightening up and in the ensuing flail not only got a crazy headrush, but also clarted himself on the ladder rung. Being malnourished sucks . Grace blinks the creeping black shining spots from his peripheral and waits for the rushing pressure on his scalp to recede. Bleh.
“Grace okay? Question?” Rocky is at the top of the bunk hatch, peering down.
“Yeah . Yes - i just , agh, Got a bit carried away. I found some really good stuff in there! Aminos- great for treating malnutrition!”
“Amaze! Need help accessing, question?”
“Maybe, bud!” This is the most Rocky has said to grace in a couple days, now, outside of complete necessity. Grace is pretty happy about it. As much as he wants to chase rocky on everything, he misses his friend, too.
“Uh, also, super quick, I know you're busy but do you wanna maybe watch a movie later?” Very subtle, Grace.
Rocky is quiet for a moment, just ‘tap, tapping the wall of xenonite.
“Grace want?”
“Uh , well yeah! I wouldn't ask If I didn't, right, bud?” Grace smiles kindly.
Rocky is still again before answering.
“Grace pick movie. Let me know when.” Then he leaves, his ball ducking out of sight.
Its a start, thinks Grace.