Chapter Text
My alarm rang.
I blindly reached towards the clock and hit it until it shut up. A bad habit from my college days I had never quite gotten rid of. There were few things stronger in this universe than the sirens call of sleeping in when you were supposed to get up. Well, I could think of a few things. But none were applicable to my current situation.
I sat up and stretched, feeling the muscles in my back twinge. Between the coma, the space travel, the time dilation and living on a planet where a year was less than two months, I had no idea how old my body was. My best guess was somewhere mid to late forties. That meant stretching and exercise was mandatory to keep myself in somewhat shape. I was glad to be back to a healthier weight, if more soft than before. Sometimes I mourned the muscles I had woken up with the first time.
Lately, the biodome team had been experimenting with compressed gravity to make it a little easier on my bones and joints. So far, they hadn’t had a lot of luck, changing gravity on the surface of a planet wasn’t easy; no one had ever claimed it to be.
I got dressed, made my bed, had breakfast and coffee. A normal morning. I looked outside the window to the beach. It was a bright morning today, likely to settle into foggy later. Just how I liked it.
I was just putting my dishes into the sink to deal with later, when someone knocked. „Door’s open.“ I called.
It knocked again.
With a sigh I walked across my house to open the unlocked front door. „You know you can just come in, right?“
„Not disturb Grace during private time.“ Rocky chirped at me in greeting. As if there was anything remotely close to privacy between us. He could see through walls, we had lived on a spaceship together for four years; not even the bathroom had been safe.
„Good morning to you too.“ I smiled and pat my hand on top of his carapace.
„Grace ready for trip field. Question?“
„It’s field trip. Let me just get my jacket.“ To his chagrin, I left the door open as I hurried to the couch to pick up my cardigan I had left there. I was debating to annoy him a bit, but closed the door on my way out. It had no lock anyways, so it wasn’t like I could forget my keys.
Rocky was chirping, his notes high and excited. He seemed even more thrilled about this than me, then again I had been on plenty of field trips and this would be the first for him and my students. We wouldn’t go far or anywhere exciting really, just a stroll along my beach, some lessons about water and buoyancy, a tour through my house and then a kid friendly movie. There wasn’t a necessity for another chaperon, but who was I to deny my best buddy some fun and excitement? Besides, he could deny it all he wanted, but he was anxious about letting Little Grace and Mary go off on their own for the first time. I couldn’t really blame him, what parent ever wasn’t?
„Water safe. Question?“ Rocky was seizing up the minuscule waves lapping at the sand, as if he hadn’t played with them multiple times himself.
„Of course, Rock.“ I assured him. „I asked the biodome team to cut down on the waves and currents today. We don’t want them to go into the water anyways, do we?“
„Yes, yes. Big water scary.“
I chuckled. He had thrown an absolute fit the first time he had seen me swimming. Swimming wasn’t a thing among eridians, they sank like- yeah, that’s a little too on the nose. I had to explain the concept of buoyancy and humans being able to hold their breath three times before Rocky had calmed down enough to allow me to go swimming under supervision. We wouldn’t be swimming today, the pebbles would remain on land while I would be standing in the water at most to my knees. Absolutely nothing to be afraid of.
„Yes, buddy. Big water scary.“ Thalassophobia, the fear of deep and wide waters, was very common among humans and apparently also among eridians. For once I was on the side of the minority. Sure, being stranded in the middle of the ocean sounded scary, but there was nothing threatening about a nice swim with the shore well within reach. If anything it was almost therapeutic for me and such a relief for my joints.
Even from afar I could hear the excited chirps and warbles as we approached the airlock. All my students and their parents were already there and waiting; Adrian was standing somewhere to the back and waved at us. Rocky waved back with great enthusiasm. Mates for so long and still so in love; I would be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous of them sometimes.
I stood in front of the airlock and clapped loudly twice to get everyone’s attention. The pebbles went quiet and the parents hushed those still chittering.
„Hello everyone and welcome to field trip day!“ I began, speaking louder than probably necessary, but the teacher voice was too ingrained into me. „I know you’re probably all very excited to get started, but before we do, we have to go over some safety procedures. First and foremost; what I or Rocky say goes. No buts or arguing, if you do, I will have to ban you from future field trips.“ I wasn’t worried about the first rule, all of my kids were great listeners and rarely ever argued. Unless it was about me forgetting something I had taught them four months ago.
„Second, stay in the group. That means no wandering off, no exploring on your own.“ That one I was a little more worried about. They were kids after all and kids could get so excited about new things, all sense of self preservation went right out of the window.
„Third, and I cannot stress this enough: No jumping, roughhousing or anything that could damage your suits!“ The thing I was most worried about, if anything happened to their xenonite suits I likely wouldn’t be able to get them to an airlock before the oxygen of the biodome caused irreparable damage. I had seen Rockys xenonite suit being flung around and crashing into corners and walls with barely a scratch to the surface, but being responsible for all these little pebbles caused my anxiety to flare up. They weren’t even wearing the tailored version, each pebble was in their own xenonite ball that was more resistant to bumping and outside pressure.
„And lastly, you guys all remember your buddies?“ Buddy system was maybe too much for such a small field trip, but hey, never change a running system and all that.
The pebbles quickly formed pairs, grasping their buddy’s claw. Like practiced. Except we hadn’t practiced. I wished my kids back on Earth had been as coordinated as my kids here on Erid.
I clapped my hands. „Any more questions?“ I had debriefed the pebbles and their parents on everything and eridians had perfect memory, so all I got was blank stares from the parents and excited noises from the pebbles. „Alright.“ I shifted a little awkwardly. „I guess then we can start. Everyone get into your suits and come through the airlock, one at a time.“
The pebbles said goodbye to their parents in a great chittering and chirping before climbing into the provided suits and being sealed in by the biodome team.
Jade, a dark brown eridian with green spots that had chosen female pronouns, was the first one. She was clearly nervous, but was very brave in the airlock.
„Hey, good job, welcome to my side of the bubble.“ I held out my fist.
She chirped happily and rolled over, giving me a fist bump. „Happy, happy, happy.“
Next was Neif, a light blue pebble with short legs that had also chosen female pronouns. She stood very still in the airlock and all but bolted out of it when the door on my side opened.
Glim, a multicolored green pebble, was next. He was more hesitant about stepping out, but quickly joined the other two.
Despite there only being twelve pebbles on this field trip, it took a while for everyone to be suited up and make it through the airlock. Almost half the pebbles in my current class hadn’t been allowed to join because of their parents concern. Not that I particularly blamed them.
On an on it went until only Little Grace and Mary remained on the other side of the airlock. Adrian was chirping to Little Grace, through the thick material it was hard to hear, but I could tell she was very nervous.
„Can stay with Adrian if you want.“ Adrian was telling her, holding her while Mary was already getting suited up.
Little Grace fidgeted, her voice too quiet for me to make out.
I looked to Rocky. „Do you want to check on them?“
Rocky shifted his attention between me, the group of pebbles and his mate. „Grace okay alone. Question?“
„Sure, I can handle them for a minute or two.“ The pebbles were just getting used to move about in their balls, rolling them in each direction, careful about colliding.
Rocky waited until the airlock finished circling and welcomed Mary with an affectionate warble and a gentle bump against her ball, then stepped into it himself to check on his mate and other pebble.
„Hi Mary, great job on the airlock!“ I held out my fist to her like I had done to all the others.
„Very excited!“ She warbled and gave me a fist bump. She was just a mini version of Rocky, down to her gait.
I tried to keep an eye on what was going on with Little Grace behind the airlock, but had to keep shifting my attention to the group of pebbles slowly getting impatient with just standing around. „Hey, how about you guys start looking around at the sand and tell me what kind of rocks you can find?“ I gave them as a distraction.
Given a task, they quickly busied themselves looking at the sand under their xenonite balls. I watched a few attempting to dig, quickly ending in frustration from being stopped by the xenonite in their way.
Mary, lacking her buddy, stayed close to me, shifting her ball this way and that and observing how the sand shifted. „Rock move.“ She said, tilting her carapace up at me.
„Well of course they do, you moving on them transfers the energy from your movement to make them move.“ I explained.
She trilled in a way that didn’t have a translation, but exceeded worry.
„Hey,“ I knelt down to her, „Maybe you and your sister should sit this one out? You know you and your parents can come visit any time, right?“
Immediately she puffed herself up. „No! No wait! So excited for field trip, not stop! Statement!“
I chuckled and pat the top of her ball. „Alright, but if you feel anxious, let me know.“
The airlock hissing made me turn my attention to it. Rocky came walking out, Little Grace perched on top of his carapace.
„Hey, happy you’re joining us!“ I smiled at Little Grace, who chirped and held out her claw. I bumped my fist at her ball gently.
„Nervous, but being brave!“ She announced.
„That you are, my Little Grace.“ I pat Rocky’s side and stood up, wincing a little at the noise my knees made. With a clap I pulled the pebbles attention to me again. „Alright, now that we’re complete, time to start. Follow me!“
─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───
The field trip went great. The pebbles were on their best behavior and listened intently to everything I told them.
I had them identify some more of the rocks forming my beach, sorting them into three piles of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary.
I let them sit near the shore while I waded into the water to show them how some things float and others don’t, explaining density and its relation to gravity. I didn’t have anything to write on, but the pebbles absorbed whatever I said anyways, so there wasn’t any reason to. Still, my fingers itched for a piece of chalk. Old habits and all that.
Once we were done with the lessons, I played with the braver ones in the wet sand where they ran from the gentle waves shrieking and laughing. Most hung back with Rocky, a safe distance from the water, chattering amongst themselves.
„Alright, I think that’s enough for now, everyone go back to Rocky and the others.“ I said when I felt my muscles starting to protest. „Come on, Purple, everyone includes you.“
Purple, a black and red spotted pebble trilled unhappily, but listened and trotted towards the gathered group.
I sat in the sand and dried my feet before putting on my socks and shoes, when I heard it; A deep sort of rumbling, the kind that caused my anxiety to immediately spike, the kind that made me think of a volcano about to erupt.
I whipped my head around to see Rocky already on high alert, the pebbles gathered close around him. I didn’t have time to ask what was going on. I already saw it; a piece of cliff had split, a jagged line separating it from the rest of the cliff. It was listing slowly, almost comically. Debris and small rocks were tumbling down the cliff.
My mouth went dry, my adrenaline spiked. I didn’t think, from one second to the next my body had switched to instincts. The only time it had ever happened before had been during a school lockdown. Of course we’d had plenty of trials and trills what to do in chase of an active school shooter. Nothing ever prepared you for when that alarm rang in earnest.
Nothing could have prepared me for the scenario of an avalanche me, my best friend and twelve children were in the path of.
I started running, one shoe forgotten near the waters edge. „Run! This way!“ I gestured toward the far side of the beach, away from the rocks and stones steadily raining down towards us.
The pebbles shrieked in panic, Rocky was calling something but I didn’t understand a word above the noise. Or maybe it was just my own blood that was rushing too loud.
„Go!“ I yelled, motioning them to run. Glim and Neif were the first to start running, their small bodies throwing themselves against the xenonite to get it to move faster. Quickly the others joined. Rocky, more mobile in his fitting suit, pushed them along.
A loud crack reverberated through the air. I didn’t have to look up to know the large piece of cliff had fully separated itself from the rest and was now in free fall.
I was just about to run after them, when I noticed; Little Grace. Little Grace frozen in fear, staring up at the giant boulder hurtling down towards her. It bounced off the cliff, breaking apart into dozens of boulders and tearing more off the cliffside.
I didn’t think, I turned towards her, towards the avalanche. „Grace!“ I yelled, trying to get her to snap out of it. „Grace! Move!“
She didn’t. She stood frozen. The avalanche was almost upon her. Distantly I could hear Rocky shrieking loudly. I could only hope he was far enough away by now. I could only hope he had all the other pebbles with him.
Fueled by nothing but adrenaline and instinct, I raced towards Little Grace. Praying the xenonite ball was as durable as Rocky’s had been back on the ship, I took aim and kicked it as hard as I could. Pain shot up from my foot to my thigh and Little Grace went flying in her xenonite ball. I prayed she made it far enough. I prayed the ball held. I prayed she would be alright.
The next thing I knew was darkness.