Chapter Text
The alien—Grace—is finally asleep. Or, at least, Rocky thinks he is. He’s curled on his side, tucked away under a covering. Rocky sits on the other side of the alcove the human lies in, fiddling away with one of his many repair projects. Typically, watching another as they sleep is fairly straightforward and uneventful. Not much is needed beyond something to do and to keep a lookout for whoever’s resting.
But Rocky can’t help but focus more on Grace as he rests. He just can’t; the way the human sleeps is, quite literally, otherworldly.
It’s not at all like how an Eridian sleeps. He’s still so loud, so fidgety behind the barrier. Rocky can still hear so many sounds that he assumes are the human’s innards beating or squishing away. He would’ve easily assumed Grace is still awake if it weren’t for how many of his sounds seemed to have slowed down. He’s even making some sort of purring noise that’s on time with his slowed intake of air.
It’s almost overwhelming, how loud the other still is, but in a captivating way. Rocky can’t wait until they can communicate enough to talk about their biologies.
Just then, the purrs abruptly stop and Grace shifts once more to lay flat, facing upwards in the alcove. This time, however, it sounds as if he speaks.
”Hmwha-?” The human slurs. Rocky halts in his repairs and tilts his carapace even closer to the barrier. Awake already?
“Grace awake, question?” Rocky calls. Grace’s head twitches towards Rocky’s direction. He lets out a hum.
”Yeah, j’st gimme th’ usual,” Grace mutters. ”Th’nks.”
What?
“No understand,” Rocky says, but Grace doesn’t say anything else. Instead, he goes still once more. The purring sound returns, and it quickly occurs to him that the many rhythmic sounds in Grace stayed relatively slow when he spoke.
Did… Grace talk in his sleep? Humans can talk in their sleep? And he reacted to Rocky talking?
“Amaze amaze amaze,” he whispers to himself. He thinks back to how hesitant Grace seemed about letting Rocky watch him sleep until he relented. It made him wonder why, beyond it perhaps being because Rocky is, to Grace, a being from a completely different world.
But now, Rocky wonders if it’s because humans just don’t need to like Eridians do. Maybe they somehow stay active enough to respond to their surroundings, thus not needing someone to watch them as they slept? Still, it hardly sounds like a proper rest to Rocky.
It also sounds incredibly lonely.
He dips his carapace and tries to avoid the flood of emotions that have plagued him since the first time a crew member fell asleep and never woke up. He reminds himself that, no, he’s no longer alone. That, against all odds, he’s met yet more intelligent life that’s working on the same problem that he is. He doesn’t have to figure it out all by himself anymore.
His attention is directed back to the sleeping human. With it comes the observation that Rocky has made time and time again ever since he first met Grace. An observation that he, very regrettably, can relate to.
Grace’s side of the tunnel connecting both their ships also sounds terribly silent, beyond his own noises. Rocky’s never detected any other voices (besides one that sounds far too emotionless to be a living being) or sounds beyond Grace, nor has any other human come out to meet the Eridian.
Rocky quietly hums to himself and scoots closer to the barrier. He picks up his project again and resumes while listening to Grace sleep. With it, a sense of determination, stronger than he has felt in so long, fills him.
Correction, Rocky and Grace are no longer alone.