Chapter Text
Life on Erid was peaceful.
Peaceful, if a bit lonely.
Ever since Naomi left for Earth, I'm the only human left.
You don't notice it right away. At first, life keeps moving. There's work to do, lessons to teach, experiments to run. But eventually, in the quiet moments, it starts creeping in.
The absence.
At least when Naomi was here, I had someone to talk to about life on Earth.
Rain.
Plants.
Coffee.
You know, the important things.
Nobody on Erid understood why I got nostalgic over thunderstorms or why I could spend twenty minutes describing the smell of fresh-cut grass. To the Eridians, those things were as alien as echolocation and ammonia atmospheres had once been to me.
At least I've got Rocky.
Oh, and my students—the Eridian youth, or "Pebbles" as I'd started calling them.
The nickname had confused Rocky for weeks.
Still, I missed human connection.
Humans are social creatures, after all.
"Grace thinking question?" Rocky asked, pulling me from my thoughts.
I blinked and looked over at him.
We were sitting on my favorite spot in the biodome's artificial beach, our feet buried in warm sand. The Eridians had built the entire dome for Naomi and me years ago, a small pocket of Earth hidden beneath an alien sky. Gentle waves lapped against the shore while overhead the artificial sun cast everything in a soft glow through the artificial clouds.
It wasn't Earth.
But sometimes it was close enough.
"Yeah," I admitted with a small smile. "You caught me, bud."
"Grace miss Naomi question?"
I stared out across the water.
"Yeah, but it was for the best that she went back to Earth. She's still young and has a lot of life left to live. Whereas I'm old—I wouldn't have much longer if I went back."
I let out a quiet chuckle.
The words sounded lighter than they felt.
Now that I thought about it, Naomi was already about two years into her journey home.
Two years.
I wondered what she was doing right now.
Sleeping?
Working?
Looking out a window at the stars?
"Don't like when Grace talk about Grace dying," Rocky mumbled.
The concern in his voice made me smile.
"I know. I know." I pushed myself to my feet and dusted the sand from my pants. "Just being realistic."
Rocky made an unhappy sound.
"But enough of that," I continued. "That's still years away."
I headed toward the clear divider that separated the biodome from the rest of Erid.
Outside, darkness stretched endlessly in every direction.
Even after all these years, it still felt strange.
Humans were creatures of sight. We depended on light.
Eridians didn't.
Their species had evolved echolocation long before they developed technology, allowing them to navigate their dark world with ease. Where I saw an endless black void, Rocky perceived an entire landscape.
Normally, this area would be full of students.
The Pebbles would gather outside the dome, eager to ask questions about Earth, humans, and anything else that happened to cross their minds.
Today, though, the area sat empty.
Rocky followed behind me.
"How Grace's teaching question?"
"It's going good," I said. "It gives me something to do, so I'm glad."
I rested a hand against the divider.
"Takes my mind off things."
Rocky hummed thoughtfully.
He was about to say something when a deafening roar tore across the sky.
The sound was so sudden and violent that I jumped.
"What the—"
A second later something screamed overhead.
I couldn't see anything through Erid's darkness, but whatever it was sounded massive.
Then came the impact.
BOOM.
The ground lurched beneath my feet.
The divider rattled.
The entire biodome trembled violently.
I lost my balance and landed hard on my backside as another shockwave rolled through the ground.
Somewhere in the distance came the sound of explosions.
Rocky somehow managed to remain upright, probably thanks to having five limbs.
"What is going on?" I shouted over the shaking.
Another tremor rattled the dome.
Did Erid experience earthquakes?
Or Eridquakes?
"Something fell out of sky," Rocky said as he scrambled toward the airlock leading outside.
"What?" I pushed myself to my feet and hurried after him.
Pressing my face against the divider, I squinted into the darkness.
At first I saw nothing.
Then I spotted it.
A shape.
Huge.
Smoke drifted from its side while scattered debris glowed faintly against the black landscape.
Something had definitely crashed.
Something big.
Rocky disappeared through the airlock and quickly removed his suit as he re-entered Erid's atmosphere.
I watched helplessly through the divider.
Rocky froze.
Every limb went rigid.
"Grace," he said.
Something in his tone made my stomach drop.
I had heard Rocky sound afraid before.
I'd never heard this.
"What?" I asked.
Rocky turned toward me.
"Rocky hear human inside."
For a moment my brain refused to process the words.
Human.
Inside.
No.
That wasn't possible.
I was the only human on Erid.
The only human for light-years.
The only—
My heart stopped.
"Rocky..." I whispered.
But he wasn't joking.
"Rocky hear human inside."
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