Chapter Text
Grace was sad, and now he was high.
Okay! Maybe it wasn't the best course of action, but he was sad, and Rocky was busy with Adrian (who had returned from some space exploration thing to check out a new moon or…something).
Grace had finally started to allow himself to grieve; his life on Earth, the students he left behind, and his overall role on Earth he was now missing out on. But then, immediately, decided he hated the feeling. Crying felt icky and vulnerable and he could just imagine Rocky’s chimes of ‘leaky space blob’.
So he found the most useful (at the time) of the three plants that had been brought onto the Hail Mary – at the time because he had been more than grateful for Yao’s dandelions when he was starving on the way to Erid (and obviously less pleased about his own forget-me-nots - typical Stratt and her symbolism).
He was sure the worst of the overall-trippiness was over, but when he heard bounding on his door, followed by a chorus of muffled chimes, his brain didn't seem to think much of it, until the bounding on his door became a physical being racing towards him.
Grace’s body allowed him a half-hearted attempt at bracing, but the supposedly-gone-loopiness had led to EXREMELY impaired coordination, so, obviously, Grace had completely misaligned his next steps and fell over.
Grace heard muffled chords above him, and, in his delirious state, managed to connect them to Rocky, who…wasn’t even supposed to be back until the evening? Grace looked to the window and…nope. It wasn’t even close to morning. He remembered only a couple of hours of that morning - likely the ones before Ilyukhina’s plant of choice on the Hail Mary had fully ‘kicked in’ - and now? He was paying the price.
His brain struggled to translate the excited chitters and chimes, but made out a few words.
‘...Grace!...Adrian find...!!!..come…quick quick quick!......heart...fast…, question?’
Grace gave a confused look - or he thought so anyway - his heavy limbs slumping uselessly on the floor beside an energy-filled Rocky.
“Look uh..hey, Rock. I’m kinda..” He almost winced at the hoarseness of his own voice.
‘No matter! Grace come quick quick! See what Adrian’s team found!!’
Now that got him interested. They needed him for science stuff? Surely there were other more capable Eridi…doesn't matter. Grace could do this! He was the sole executor of the infamous Hail Mary mission; he could handle the after effects of some edibles and bring himself together to help the Eridians with…
—
Grace woke up feeling like crap, for lack of a better word. He knew his high would have after-effects, but as he registered the heavy presence beside him (not on top, as it had quickly been found out after arriving on Erid that Grace’s torso didn’t fare well under some 300kg), he knew his time for recuperation would be cut short. Grace sat up, and Rocky immediately also bustled up, the nervous-excited energy from earlier having now died down somewhat.
‘Rocky has question. Statement’
“Ugh...ask away, Rock…” Grace’s head ached...
‘Must humans be ♩ ♫ ♩ ♬ , question?’
Grace paused, now brushing away his exhaustion to make place for intrigue, “Don’t think we ever went over that one?”
‘New word, question?’
Grace nodded.
‘uhh…Is when two creatures are slowly introduced. Get used to each other. Do not harm each other.’
“...”
“...”
“…acclimatised?”
Rocky moved up and down in what Grace now knew as affirmation, but Grace paused, the information properly sinking in. Why was Rocky asking this? There weren’t any other humans for 16-odd light years! Maybe he was just curious? Grace would answer nonetheless.
“No, not- not generally…humans meet all the time without…you know.”
Rocky gave that affirming movement again, ‘good good! Eridian ecologists worry about Grace.’
“That’s nice bud, but why do you need to know?”
‘Rocky has surprise!!! Come come come!’
—
‘Grace is positive humans have no acclimation process, question?’
Grace sighed tiredly, following Rocky to the other side of the biodome beach.
There, he saw a small, simple hut of sorts, clearly made to be temporary if its size was anything to go off of. Another Eridian (one Grace had never seen before) scurried aside and started speaking quietly to Rocky, giving sidelong glances to Grace.
‘No acclimation. Grace assures.’ Grace heard Rocky’s reply, feeling like an old pet being introduced to…he didn't even know yet. Another Earth animal? A different species entirely? If Grace got to meet yet ANOTHER species of alien in his lifetime he thinks he'd just explode and-
…what the fu𝚌̶𝚔̶dge?
It was what Grace assumed to be a human (human-shaped and all), but covered in a gloopy red liquid (PLEASE tell him it isn’t blood). He felt a little sick, but curiosity, as always, won. Maybe it killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back? Or however the whole saying went.
The man was also clearly missing an arm, from the mid-bicep down, and, although Grace could barely distinguish the blood from the wound from the blood enveloping the man, he'd be comfortable assuming it was a fairly recent injury.
Grace stepped forward. “Rock…when did you get him- I- where did you get him-?? And why’s he covered in-”
‘Adrian’s team found on a moon! Large force moved moon towards Eridani system. Eridian astrologists get curious, then astronauts go and see.’
“Ok, but…the man? The blood??”
‘Human found in ocean. Is not human variation?’
“What do you mean ‘human variation’??”
‘Grace say humans have variation. Grace is land human. New human is water human.’
“This isn’t avata…you know what? Never mind. Just…is that why you didn’t clean him off? You think he’s like a…whale out of water or something?”
Rocky looked confused, and Grace knew it was because he had no way to know what a whale was. It was fine. Grace would explain later. There were more important matters to attend t…
That was when the man's eyes started to flicker open.
Was he really another like-minded human? What if he was a different species that only looked the same because of panspermia? Maybe he still had the brain of a…a tadpole? Although if he was found in space, and on a moon, Grace had to assume the man or his associates were smart enough to figure out space travel to said moon.
Either way, the man had clearly been through plenty of…unfortunate events.
Grace didn't realise he was staring until the man in front of him grunted dazedly, trying to sit up slightly by leaning on his elbows, only to (somewhat awkwardly) slump as his stump failed to support him.
He looked baffled, despite the layer of blood, so clearly Grace’s theory of this all being recent was pretty much confirmed. The man’s eyes then opened a little wider in realisation, then squinted in confusion. He quickly looked up to Grace, scanning as if to check if he recognised him.
Grace wasn't exactly looking put-together at the time – no thanks to Rocky, who had oh-so-conveniently just decided to leave with the other Eridian after specifically waking HIM up for this.
Grace felt like he should say something, and the feeling only grew stronger when the mysterious man's expression shifted to one of fear.
“Don't be scared! Uhm- you’re- You're safe? Fear not? You're not bleeding a bunch – not anymore at least – and I'm not going to hurt you and-” Grace paused. Did he even speak English? Tu parle…whatever.
However Grace’s wonderings were interrupted by the man looking almost amazed, a sparkle in his eyes which starkly contrasted his bloodied and beaten demeanour. Now it was Grace’s turn for confusion.
It was a couple seconds before the man spoke, gruff voice filled with wonder and admiration. “Are you…an angel…?”
Grace didn't know what to say, but the man continued before he could reply anyway.
“I didn't…think I'd go here. You know, things I've done and all-” the man’s voice was hoarse from disuse, “...but you already know that, right? Yeah? Yeah...”
Grace paused, allowing the man to trail off before he spoke. “I-I'm not an angel…I just- my friend found you and brought you here?”
The man immediately looked wary, sitting up as much and as quickly as he could with a series of jerky motions while speaking angrily, “You're with the COI? You're gonna put me back? You should’ve gotten your data! After everything that I–”
“No! No I- I don't even know what that is- don't worry!” Grace quickly assured, trying his best to placate the man. It clearly worked somewhat, as the man paused his attempts at sitting up fully, settling for an uncomfortable looking position where his head held him up against the hut's wall.
“Just- uhm…do you want to…get all that blood off? It is blood, right…?” Grace spoke tentatively, worried he’d spook the man again.
But the man seemed fine, simply giving a small, hesitant nod.
“I don’t- we’d have to go to my house to get to a shower so I don’t…do you think you’d be ok to walk? A little?” If Rocky was going to leave Grace with this mysterious person, then Grace would deal with it all himself.
The man didn’t reply, but was quick to push himself up and head to the door.
“It- it's just over there, ok? Let’s go.” Grace hovered beside the man, who subtly directed away his attempts to help hold him up, and instead opted for limping and glancing over at Grace the whole way over (who was VERY POINTEDLY trying to ignore the trail of blood the man was leaving in the sand).
The man had that same amazed expression again, feeling the wet sand beneath his feet and seeing the water. Grace wondered what the climate in the man's home planet was like. Maybe too cold for proper, not frozen-over oceans? From the few touches he got, Grace could tell the man ran warm. Or was he just feverish? That's a lesser issue right now. Grace would properly check when there wasn't BLOOD DRIPPING ALL OFF OF HIM.
After a minute or so of silence where Grace was trying so hard not to freak out, Grace realised he should probably introduce himself.
“Uh- I'm Grace, by the way. Ryland. Ryland Grace. Doctor Ry…that's irrelevant. Call me Grace.”
There was a pause, before he got a simple ‘hrn’ in return, and then another, longer pause where Grace thought he wouldn’t get a reply at all, before he yet again heard the same hoarse voice that had called him ‘angel’.
“Simon.”