Chapter Text
I am screwed. Completely, utterly, totally screwed.
Curse our mediocre luck and terrible timing.
Rocky is passed out due to a injury (a minor one, I checked. Multiple times.) and my keyboard is broken, from the same incident with an asteroid field. This would be fine if the radio Rocky jerry-rigged to the cockpit wasn't crackling to life for the first time since he installed it.
Erid.
Erid has finally picked up our signal and established contact.
The only problem is there's only so much Eridian I can speak, with my one set of fleshy vocal chords. I know a bit, Rocky and I wanted me to have some ability to communicate if my keyboard broke, but I definitely don't know enough for first contact with an alien planet.
Crud.
Ok. Ok.
What's the most important information?
Rocky is here, we have a solution to the dimming sun/star eaters, Rocky is incapacitated (not dying, but hurt), I am an alien, I am here to help, my atmosphere is caustic to Eridians.
I think that's the most important info. It establishes us as not a threat, it lets them know Rocky is here but needs help, it lets them know we have the solution and that they need to be careful connecting to the ship.
Proper introductions can be later. Once I'm not limited to some handful of words.
God, is this how Rocky felt those first few days?
I start pulling together sentences.
Rocky is here. Rocky is hurt, not able to speak. I am Grace. We have a fix for star dimming. We are here to help, to fix. Don't be afraid.
Grace and Rocky come to Erid. We help you.
I can't say any of the words for the space elevator. This is going to be hard.
"-Hello. Can you hear me, question? Identify yourself please. Using call signal of crew, have you returned, question?"
Here we go.
"Rocky is here. Rocky is hurt, not speak. I am Grace. Rocky Grace have fix for star. Grace Rocky fix, help. Not danger. Not scary."
"Grace Rocky come to Erid. Home. Give fix."
The Eridian on the other end of the line is silent.
To be fair, I'd be pretty shocked if the one who answered the radio call was an alien. Can't blame them for that.
"You are not Rocky? You are Grace, question?"
"Name is Grace. Grace help."
I wince.
"Grace not good Eridian speak, apologies. Grace try. Grace understand good, speak not good."
More silence.
God, this is mortifying.
"You have Rocky with you, question? You have a solution to the dimming star, question? You bring to Erid, question?"
"Yes! Yes! Give, bring, fix, help!"
They understand! At least a little. Thank god.
"Understood. We dock space elevator to ship, question? We retrieve you and Rocky with the solution, question?"
"Yes!"
Uh, wait, atmosphere. Remember the atmosphere before you get a bunch of Eridians and maybe yourself killed, Ryland.
"Wait. Grace air danger. Eridian air hurt Grace, Grace air hurt Eridian. Rocky in small box of Eridian air,-"
I can't make the word for ship. Dang it.
"-Big box of Grace air. Small box in big box. Need connect to Rocky box. Can hear air, question? Can hear where connect?"
Curse my singular vocal chords and voice box.
"We will figure out. Thank you Grace. Your air is dangerous to us, and ours to you, question? You said Rocky was hurt and unable to speak, question?"
"Yes. Rocky hurt. Not bad bad bad, not good. Rocky sleep. Grace watch."
"Rocky was mildly injured and is sleeping to recover, question? Rocky is not severely harmed or dying, question?"
I make the small chirp for yes.
"Alright. We will figure out how to connect with ship properly. Wait. Will respond once connected."
Ok. Ok. That could have gone worse. They'll connect to Rocky's part of the ship, get Rocky down to Erid, then figure out what to do with me.
God, I'm so tired.
-
The Eridians do… something and manage to connect to the ship.
A group of them hurry into Rocky's side of the room, where he's curled up, trying to recover. There's a lot of them, all varying sizes and colors. Their limbs move with urgency. They check him over then start lifting him.
"Where, question? Where bring Rocky, question?" I ask, panic leaking into my voice.
One splits off from the group and moves to stand in front of me, to where I'm pressed against the barrier. I have to crane my head to see Rocky past them.
"Hello, Grace. I am-"
A very pretty, soothing chord, that I have no idea what it means. I'm just going to call them Sedi. Sedi for Sediment. Not creative but hey.
Sedi continues, "I am here to watch over Grace. Medical team will take care of Rocky, I will take care of Grace, until we can make a place on Erid for Grace. Understood, question?"
I nod, following it with the chirp for yes.
So at least someone will be up here with me until Rocky wakes up.
That's a relief.
Sedi says, "Does Grace mind answering questions now, question? Can wait if needed."
I watch as the medical team carries Rocky out my my sight and presumably down to the space elevator and Erid. Something in my chest aches. I give another small yes, eyes still locked on where Rocky just was.
"Thank you. Does Grace know eridian numbers, question? That impacts some of the potential questions."
Yes, again.
"Grace's name is Grace. Grace is not Eridian, do you have a word for your species, question?"
"Humans." In English, we haven't settled on a Eridian word yet.
They let out a low hum.
"Thank you, how old is Grace, question?"
I'm about..
Wait.
How old am I?
Between the coma and the time dilation, I'm actually not sure.
40 something, I think?
42?
I tell them that, converting into Eridian units.
They freeze for a single second, then double check: "In Eridian time, question?"
I say yes again. Being clear about this stuff is important after all. Rocky always converted everything to Earth units for my squishy human brain, but I can do it the opposite way, it just takes a minute.
(I am horribly jealous of Eridian's abilities to do math so quickly. Which Rocky will never find out about, because he'll never let me live it down. Ever.)
"Alright. Thank you. Is Grace hurt in any way, question? Sick, question?"
Their voice has taken an odd tone to it, slightly different than before. Caring, almost? It's nice.
I process the question and flinch a bit.
I'm not actively injured, but I am very slowly starving / dying of malnutrition.
Slowly.
But it's definitely a problem and will be worse soon.
…
They notice my hesitation.
"Erid will make sure Grace is cared for. Please speak."
This would be so much easier if my keyboard didn't break and Rocky was awake. So much easier.
"Grace not hurt."
"Grace.. sick. Little food. Little good food. Grace hungry."
"Eridian food not good, hurt Grace."
I have no idea how I'll explain the concept of vitamins to a bunch of aliens with my extremely limited vocabulary. God, I hope Rocky wakes up soon. Rocky has a bunch of logs about my nutritional needs written up somewhere.
I have the word for write, actually. I might be able to get them to find it.
"Rocky write. Rocky write fix Grace food. In Rocky box. Bring, question?"
"Rocky has written a plan for fixing your food problem, question? Plan is located in Rocky's side of the ship, question?"
"Yes, good, yes!"
Sedi gestures for one of the team to go look for it.
"Why does Grace not have enough food, question? This ship is Grace's, not Erid's, and was built for your kind. Did something happen to your food supply, question?"
There's no good way of answering that question.
I had managed to get Rocky to agree not to tell anyone about the "drugged and forced onto the ship" part of the mission, which he agreed to after he saw how much it upset me. I'm probably not going to be able to hide that this was meant to be a one-way trip. Doing that had already bit me in the butt before, so might as well rip the band-aid off.
"Grace not go home. Grace box not go home. Little food bring."
They are disconcertingly silent for a few moments.
"You..don't have enough food because not enough was packed when you left. You were not intended to return home, question? What were you intended to do, question? "
I flinch again. That's the million dollar question, isn't it.
There's no way for me to soften this with my limited vocabulary.
I shrug.
"Hungry….Die."
They rapidly expel the air out of their vents, sounding like a cross between a tea kettle and someone pushing a piano down the stairs.
"Y-You were meant to starve in space, question?!"
"Rocky help! Rocky fix! Is good."
I really hope I didn't fuck up first contact for humanity forever.
We stare at each other for a few seconds.
"Apologies. Thank you for answering Grace."
"Is good."
They launch into another round of questions, mostly about my health. Height, weight, how I feel right now, what do I need, so on. I ask questions back as best as I can with my (feeling increasingly small) vocabulary.
God I wish Rocky was here.
I start to slump as they wrap up their questions.
"Grace sleep, question?"
"Sleep.", I hesitate, "Watch, question?"
I can't sleep without someone watching me anymore. I barely remember how freaked out I was when Rocky first asked. It seems like the most natural thing in the world now.
"Of course, rest Grace. I will watch."
I drift off to sleep, Sedi singing a song I haven't heard before, a slow, sweet hum.
Like a lullaby.