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Rocky knew what he had to do. Grace was asleep, he had used another word for it previously, but Rocky didn’t understand. Grace’s heart was still beating, but his chest wasn’t moving like it was meant to. It was being crushed by his chair.
Rocky could sense that Grace — or at least his body, was trying to make his chest move. He had called it an instinct. A basic bodily function in order to live.
Grace was going to die if Rocky did nothing.
He kept shouting at his human companion. The laptop must’ve been thrown somewhere because it wasn’t translating his words into English for Grace. Not from a distance that Grace could hear at least.
It wasn’t doing anything. Grace’s eye organs were closed, that was a tell-tale sign that he was asleep or at the very least not responsive.
Rocky looked around his ‘bubble’ as Grace had called it. There was nothing he could do. His ball had detached, stuck just behind Grace’s pilot chair. He had no way of helping Grace.
Not safely at least.
Rocky didn’t think twice about it. He headbutted the Xeonite as hard as he could. It didn’t break. He headbutted it again.
The cold, searing pain of oxygen covered his entire body. It was somehow freezing cold for him, but his body burned with the heat of a thousand suns. The oxygen was poisoning him, but Rocky still reached for the centrifuge controls. He had to if he wanted Grace to survive. For a chance at either of their planet's survival.
Human bodies were all squishy and gross, but they were also delicate. Even the smallest of things could make them not work properly.
Rocky pulled the centrifuge handle, he felt the artificial gravity kick in as Grace’s chair swung back into its correct position. He could sense the human’s chest started moving better. Rocky still needed to get him to Armando. Grace still wasn’t awake yet.
His entire body burned but so did Grace’s arm as he dragged him toward Armando. His vent was on fire now and Rocky felt every single second of it as it burnt him from the inside out.
He continued to pull Grace along until he could sense Armando a little ahead of them. Armando was frantically waving its arms around, trying to communicate.
Rocky got as close as he could to Armando. He was still trying desperately to call out Grace's name. Rocky watched as Armando easily lifted Grace’s limp form onto the bed. Grace had begun to stir at the movement. He kept hold of one of the arms of Grace’s EVA suit so he was on the bed too.
Rocky placed himself over Grace’s chest, not sitting on it, he would crush Grace if he did that. Rocky kept calling his name out as his eyelids fluttered, and a groan escaped the human.
Armando began working on Grace, placing a mask over the human’s face before ushering the Eridian off Grace’s chest. As much as Rocky didn’t want to move, he knew he had too if Grace wanted to live.
Rocky manoeuvred himself off the human. A task that took a lot of energy despite it being such a small task. Rocky’s radiator had covered itself in soot now. A protective and healing measure against the human’s atmosphere. It stung into Rocky’s bones.
Rocky knew he didn’t have much time. He needed to get back to the Erid atmosphere, or he would die. Although, even if he did die, at least Grace was there to save their planets.
Rocky dragged himself back along the metal floor toward the lab bubble. He watched as Grace reached out to him with one arm. Rocky couldn’t understand what Grace was saying, he was probably just calling for him anyway.
Rocky needs to focus on getting back to the lab right now. He needed to get back into his atmosphere, or he would die.
He could sense Grace falling into a deep slumber as he dragged himself to the lab. His legs burned with every movement, but he had to keep moving. He was dragging himself along on two legs. It was excruciating work but rocky could see the start of the lab now.
The reverberation of Xeonite gave him just enough of a spark of hope to have him keep going. He was so close.
He pulled himself to the bottom of the lowest part of Xeonite and pulled at it with all his remaining strength. He lost grip on it for a moment as the smooth surface slipped from his claw, but he kept pulling.
Once Rocky had a big enough hole in the Xeonite, he clawed his way into it. He pulled it closed behind him, the Xeonite resealing against itself.
His radiator wasn't on fire anymore, but it sure felt like it still was to Rocky. His entire body was somehow burnt and freezing at the same time. Human’s atmosphere was far far far cooler than that of Erid but Eridians were flammable in oxygen so it made for a lovely, if confusing cocktail of pain for Rocky.
Rocky breathed deeply for as long as he could. His life support on his side of the Xeonite would account for the hole he had just made. He just had to breathe through the pain.
And make sure he was there for when Grace woke up, but that was looking less and less likely. He could feel his strength giving out, he slumped to the floor of the Xeonite with a loud thunk. He was in a completely sprawled out mess of limbs. He had to stay awake for Grace. There was no one to watch Grace sleep, but Rocky felt the exhaustion overcome him. His carapace becomes more and more heavy with every Earth second that passes. He needed to rest, he didn’t know if he would wake up again though. With one last ounce of strength, Rocky uttered.
“Save Earth. Save Erid.”