Chapter Text
Grace thinks he has been doing pretty well, being on a steady recovery from the trenches of starvation and all its accompanying horrors. He had deliriously compared himself one day to a pirate stuck at sea with a severe lack of oranges when his gums started bleeding and a tooth fell out due to developing scurvy. That was a fun little history lesson to teach some curious Eridians (after consoling them on the horrors of teeth falling out), accompanied by a movie marathon session of the Pirates of the Caribbean.
“Humans having two limbs for ambulation on open moving vessel, bad evolution, statement. Eridians have five limbs, could balance without issue on ship. Natural ‘sea legs’”
His tongue absentmindedly caresses the long-healed gum tissue with his tongue at the memory. Though he doesn’t have anyone around to impress with perfect pearly whites, he doubts the Eridians care at all as a toothless species, he still feels a little self-conscious about his missing molar. At least it didn’t show when he smiled.
Grace sits at the shoreline, shy of the edges of the lapping waves of his simulated ocean. He is soaking in the breeze wafting from somewhere in the dome, the smell of engineered sea salt filling his senses. It’s week 2 of being medically clear and being able to do whatever he wants, with the stipulation of “keeping it easy,” as it was thoroughly reminded by his Eridian doctor, who stomped an appendage with great emphasis when Rocky got a little too excited at the prospect of his best friend being able to leave the little medical area.
This is nice, a long-overdue vacation for the rest of his life as a reward for saving two entire societies.
Grace stretches his arms over his head, feeling the progressive pops in his spine with great relief—
He flinches and recoils back to a slouch at the sudden sharp pain.
Ow. What was that?
Grace grimaces at the sudden soreness in his chest, just below his heart, rubbing his palm over the offending area. It feels like a bruise, tender and angry at his stretching. It’s sort of close to the area that he imagines would be sore if someone did the Heimlich maneuver on him. He can’t recall any Eridians having to perform any life-saving maneuvers on him during his stay at Erid. Do they even have an Eridian version of the Heimlich? Can Eridians choke on their food?
When it doesn’t go away, Grace begins to really worry. He carefully gathers his limbs to stand as slowly as he can without disturbing the offended area in his chest. He half-succeeds, recoiling in pain with a sharp intake of breath when it flares at an awkward angle of his ascent. Grace half-walks, half-runs for his home in a sort of partially frozen stance. He knows he looks ridiculous running like a mannequin that suddenly grew a consciousness, but he is just short of terrified at the sudden onset of pain. He needed to get to Armando.
Grace is out of breath when he reaches the door of his home. He’s got actual sweat beading on his temples at his effort, but also probably from the panic of his sudden ailment. Did he tear something? Oh goodness gravy, is he having a heart attack? The Hail Mary might have aspirin, but would he be able to access it on time?
“Armando!” Grace exclaims with a tremor in his voice as he makes a run for his bedroom. He needs to alert the medical team. Today was the equivalent of an Eridian weekend, so most of his care team are probably at home resting, but surely the medical staff was present just as it is on Earth at all times of the week. They’ve been studying a good amount of human health and ailments in the last few months as he recovered; they could do something if it were an acute problem… Right??
Grace is short of hyperventilating when he reaches Armando, which he finds out aggravates the site more, like he’s squeezing a bruise in his chest every time he inhales.
“Armando, diagnose me!”, Grace struggles to take off his shirt, but eventually gets it off as he stands in front of the medical robot, “I-I’m having a pain? In my chest. Am I having a heart attack?”
The robot comes to life, an arm procuring an arm cuff, pulse oximeter, and electrodes from somewhere to read his vitals. Things are hooked up on him in a fashion that has become familiar in his frequent medical procedures during his recovery. It is a tense moment as he waits, Armando flitting about around Grace in controlled, precise movements where he’s needed. He makes the quick call to his Eridian care team, pressing a button that would alert them of an emergency.
A cheerful beep sounds out after a couple minutes of hearing nothing but the whirring gears of Armando. A signal that he was in the clear. He breathes out a heavy sign of relief, yet the ache still remained. So, he wasn't having a heart attack. Unless Armando has somehow malfunctioned and failed to detect it and the Eridian care team would arrive and find him unconscious and dying on his bedroom floor in a couple minutes from now.
Grace attempts to keep his breathing steady, bracing himself against Armando with his scarred arm as he takes slow careful breaths through his nose and exhaling it in the same manner through his mouth. What did the school councellor call it again? Diaphragmatic breathing?
Maybe he's having a panic attack. He remembers some of his kiddos describing it as a chest pain. Some odd onset one that he could not identify the trigger of despite the calming morning. PTSD is a great thing, honestly (see: sarcasm). He knows he probably has it considering his circumstances. It isn't long before he hears the pitter patter of rocks walking through his home and the familiar whalesong of Rocky calling out to him. They got here fast.
Rocky greets him, resting just short of crashing into Grace's legs, “Grace hit emergency button. Grace okay, question?” His trills are high pitched, full of worry.
“Uh, I'm not sure Rock. I got this pain in my chest like someone sucker punched me.”
Rocky holds up two of his arms and sort of taps at Grace's bare torso in a manner that really reminded grace of a male spider he saw in one of those documentaries on their way to Erid attempting to communicate with the female spider that he wasn't a meal. Grace nearly giggles at the thought, but suppresses it in fear of worsening the pain in his chest.
“Rocky that tickles,” he groans as he watches another Eridian, a familiar one crosses the threshold of his bedroom door, “hey doc…”
“Grace has… two hearts? Thought humans only have one?”
“What?”
Grace suddenly shoots up from his slouched position against Armando, his back twinging at the sudden movement. He finds his hand gingerly touching the sore spot, fighting through the pain to press down against his flesh and feels a foreign lump just underneath his sternum.
“No, not heart, it not beating,” Rocky drones on as Grace's Eridian doctor quietly places himself beside Rocky. A limb joins Rocky's, doing the same tapping motion against his skin.
“Rocky is right, it is not a heart,” the doctor explains, “maybe a mass?”
A tumor, Grace's brain supplies as his heart drops to his stomach. Grace swallows thickly and can't suppress the tremor that overtakes his hands. He made it all the way out here, made it through a harrowing journey in space, survived every ailment that starvation throws at a human, just to potentially die of cancer. The little hopeful voice in his head suggests that not all cases of masses are malignant. It's definitely concerning how close it was to his heart and lungs, and if it got any bigger it would probably obstruct his heart and his breathing.
Grace's Eridian doctors are only knowledgeable on the concept of saving their only starving human, not the concept of possible surgery or chemotherapy. Not that they don't have access to learn about tumors, he's just worried that he won't have that much time.
He is really going to die early one way or another. The universe's funny way of fulfilling his inevitable premature death in space far away from home.
“Wait,” doctor freezes and remains motionless for a number of seconds. If Grace squinted hard enough, he could've probably mistaken that the Eridian had fallen asleep in suspension. And Grace waits, his chest still heavy at the thought of his newly found ailment.
Suddenly the Eridian doctor pushes his way into Rocky's space, the latter chirping an offended trill at the doctor's invasion of space. Rocky says a few expletives as he recovers but the other Eridian pays no mind. The doctor's carapace tilts ever so slightly towards Grace's body, hands firmly against the sore area of his chest like an ultrasound device. Grace fights the instinct to flinch at the pressure causing more pain in his chest.
“Saviour Grace has developed ♫♫♬♪♬♪♪.”
Rocky perks up at that and sort of freezes the same way the doctor did a moment ago.
“I-I don't know that word, is it bad?” Grace asks but in his head, already places the translation as cancer.
“Impossible, Grace is not an Eridian. How does Grace develop ♫♫♬♪♬♪♪?” Rocky questions, his tone is a high panicked birdsong with how fast he spoke. Gosh, was Grace really about to break the news about what cancer was? And that apparently it affects both their species?
“Rocky, bud. I think humans develop it too.”
The doctor answers this time, “No. Human biology book states no new organs grow past gestation period, unless human has organs of the female variety and grows a human offspring. No word in Eridian. Organ that feeds offspring while it is developing in the human.”
“A… placenta? I have a placenta?”
“No,” the doctor stomps his appendage, “♫♫♬♪♬♪♪. Eridian organ.”
What???
Is Grace the equivalent of a pregnant Eridian right now? No, that doesn't make sense. Eridians lay eggs for crying out loud— Oh gosh, has he developed an egg laying organ in his chest? Is Grace about to recreate Alien on an alien planet? Have a little Eridian-human hybrid burst out of his chest?
“Saviour Grace heart beat increase, statement. You are anxious?”
“Yes! Yes I am! What does this organ do? Is it going to lay eggs in my chest?”
Rocky makes a noise the equivalent of a human choking on their own spit in surprise and laughing. He's afraid of this new alien organ and his best friend in the whole wide galaxy is laughing. Grace fixes him a glare as he settles himself on the floor, his legs suddenly shaky and unstable as adrenaline begins filtering out of his system.
“No, saviour Grace. ♫♫♬♪♬♪♪ is an organ that every Eridian life develops in one way or another when they come of age. Ready to find mate.”
“So… it’s not egg related, but it's mating related?”
The doctor mumbles to himself low notes that Grace doesn't quite catch and scuttles off to the side pulling out a tablet of sorts from… somewhere, seemingly enraptured by the discovery and is now documenting everything like when scientists first discovered bacteria. Seemingly forgetting that this was an emergency situation, much to Grace's chagrin. If the doctor seems calm about this, then maybe it isn't that bad?
Rocky pipes up this time to answer, “♫♫♬♪♬♪♪ in Eridians creates crystalline structure identical to Eridian's carapace. It is alive with worker cells. Given to potential mate. If potential mate accepts, structure is placed on the arm. It grows into carapace over time. Part of new mate forever with you. If crystal imbeds, means very compatible mates!”
Rocky does his usual greeting stance, placing two arms together to complete the image of his engravings and to show off the vibrant green mating symbol on one of his appendages— a part of Adrian's carapace.
“Does it spread?” Grace gestures to the rest of Rocky's carapace which is splattered with bits of green.
“No, this was…” Rocky sinks for a moment as if reliving a memory, “because Rocky would be gone for an indefinite amount of time, Rocky wanted to have more of Adrian to remember by. To feel like Adrian is with Rocky all the time.”
A soft smile forms on Grace's face. He expertly ignores the zing of jealousy accompanied by longing that weighs his chest down like a bag of rocks. Grace knows he is never going to see another human being again, much less form a relationship (platonic, familial, romantic, or something else) that his little human brain desires for his social wellbeing. He tries to convince himself that it'll click into his brain fully one day, that he'd accept it and live the rest of his lifespan with his Eridian companions.
“So… am I going to grow these crystalline structures?”
Rocky ponders for a moment, tilting his carapace sideways like a curious cat, “Requires active thought to make, but first few decades, usually Eridian cannot control very well.”
If he is just developing this organ, it's starting to sound like he might be in the “uncontrollable” phase of his impromptu Eridian (is he trans now? Trans-species?) life cycle that his very human body decide to create. Did Rocky say a few decades? Oh great, he might just spend the rest of his life creating these crystals and unknowingly flirting with his Eridian care team. Grace slumps a little in on himself. He is surprisingly not as terrified by this as he thought, as any human would react upon growing an alien organ. Maybe a little mortified that he's doing the equivalent of a prancing naked male human with a boner proposing to every person he sees because he can't control it.
Oh gosh, how are these growths going to manifest? On his skin like warts? Maybe they'll be pretty. Maybe it'll hurt. Oh, but he's so curious what they'll actually look like since he doesn't have a carapace. What minerals in his body would be used? Would it be like developing a kidney stone on his skin? Gross. His scientist brain has unfortunately taken over, completely pushing aside any logical or instinctual fear and thinking at this development.
“This is fascinating, saviour Grace,” the doctor finally seems to have written down whatever was necessary on his document, “This tells us that the organ develops due to outside factors rather than innate Eridian creature biology. Perhaps like human cell organelle mitochondria, evolved to work with another cell in symbiosis. Maybe it is an organism in the atmosphere? Might have accidentally contaminated Savior Grace's food or incorporated with human atmosphere. Surprisingly, it finds human dna and composition compatible to grow. Would need more research to find out.”
“So you're saying, love is in the air!” Grace pipes up with a finger gun and a wink.
Doctor and Rocky sort of ‘stare at him’ in a manner that seems to have transcended facial expressions from fellow human scientists when it came to Grace's innate ability to make a fool out of himself. Sounding about as professional as a door knob when it came to scientific discussions within his own community. His education status does absolutely nothing about his rather well timed… Gracefulness in these situations. Grace promptly gives up, throwing his hands in the air, he thought he could make light of the situation a little bit. What a bunch of party poopers.
“As cool as it is to suddenly grow a new organ, what… Can we test it? At least analyze how it's going to work on a male human being? On me?”
Doctor trots back up to Grace, placing two of their three-clawed hands onto Grace's chest. They hum, much like a contemplative human doctor when diagnosing their patient… which, he is.
“I see ♫♫♬♪♬♪♪ expands just between human muscle diaphragm and human lungs. Likely growth will be around chest area, outlining bottom of ribs, maybe into lungs if growth happens deep.”
Uh oh, that sounds bad.
“Perhaps we refrain from risking crystal growth. Eridian care team will develop a supplement that will inhibit accidental growths.”
Rocky twitches at the Doctor's hymn, “Eridians never suppress ♫♫♬♪♬♪♪ ever. We don't know what could happen to Grace.”
“Saviour Grace survived without ♫♫♬♪♬♪♪ before, will survive without ♫♫♬♪♬♪♪ after supressor.”
“You can't know that,” Grace flinches when Rocky emphasizes the statement with a stomp of his arm, “Never been done in Eridians or other Erid lifeforms, what if more harm than good, statement!”
“If do nothing, what if more harm than good, counterpoint. Additionally, saviour Grace is composed not like Erid lifeform. Growth of organ is possible yes, but what if invasive to health?”
Grace nervously glances between the two Eridians, two individuals who both make good points and have his best interest at heart. He knows their bickering won’t solve the issue.
“What if we just… take it out—”
“No!” “No!”
The sudden and very abrupt chorus of ‘no’s was so loud it almost made his ears ring. Doctor turns a face of his carapace to him, not that an Eridian has an actual concept of ‘front-facing’. Grace notes quietly that this is a behaviour some Eridians picked up from Rocky when they talk to him, something about embracing human customs and etiquette when speaking to a human being.
“If saviour Grace truly has ♫♫♬♪♬♪♪ , then it would contain emotion. Hypothesis I : ♫♫♬♪♬♪♪ works now as separate brain of parts of human endocrine system, leads specific hormones now. Removal would turn saviour Grace empty. Devoid. Hollow. Mess with entire human survival system socially.”
“Emotions are a complicated thing. It conjoins different parts of the brain and chemicals and all sorts of stuff,” Grace waves off.
“Hypothesis V : ♫♫♬♪♬♪♪ is extension of human brain rather than a separate brain. Meaning neurons, meaning harm or removal could be potential for death.”
“I don’t know if you’ve been doing your research, but there are plenty of humans who can survive with a little less brain without turning into a vegetable,” Grace politely ignores Rocky’s ‘Human cannot turn into Earth nutrient plant. Statement.’
“Hypothesis λ: Unless absolutely necessary, ♫♫♬♪♬♪♪ is not to be removed. Saviour Grace vitals look normal according to human robot Armando. Insinuate body adjusting to organ without issue. Body not attacking organ, organ not attacking Saviour Grace… yet. Good news.”
“That’s not even a hypothesis doc. It’s almost like you wanna experiment on me and see how this organ works in a human body.”
“Conclusion: Eridian scientists will be notified and will work on a suppressor to prevent growths as precaution. Otherwise, Saviour Grace will be monitored for new developments here on out,” Doctor emphasizes his last point with a nod of his carapace, one arm clutching their tablet to his side much like a human doctor with a clipboard of his diagnosis.
Grace sighs, suddenly becoming aware in his own body again that the pain had ebbed away to a barely there sensation. He gives the doctor a half-hearted salute with the wrong arm and a mumbled affirmative. He somehow feels like a scolded kid in this situation, despite the fact that he was the one wronged here by an invasive alien organ!
After a second thorough check-up on Grace, it is concluded by both Armando and Doctor that Grace has a clean bill of health. A cause for some jazz hand celebration between him and Rocky. A few minutes later, Doctor leaves without much fanfare, leaving the two saviours alone in Grace’s bedroom.
The duo walk over to the living room and lounge. Grace decides he is due a funny but low energy film of some sort to smooth out any remaining frayed nerves in his system from this wild ride of a day. Rocky settles beside him in a familiar manner as they had done thousands of times back on the Hail Mary. After a moment, Rocky calls Grace’s name.
“Yeah, bud?”
“You understand how carapace crystals work in Eridian society, question?”
“I think I got the gist of it. Sort of like an engagement ring or roses, like in the movies I showed you? A biological one, anyway. You give it to the Eridian you’re courting as a ‘hey baby, I’m interested in you’ kinda message.”
“... Poor analogy, but acceptable. Young adult Eridians accidentally form them when interested not consciously. Embarrassing in public, everyone know you ‘crushing hard’.” The eridian sort of sounds like a deflating bagpipe when he says the last bit of his sentence.
“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience Rock.”
“... Yes. Rocky not young adult, but acted like one when interested in Adrian. Stupid stupid Rocky, could not control growths. Made fun of by other Eridians courting Adrian. But it okay, Adrian found Rocky fumbling endearing, Adrian chose Rocky’s crystals, Rocky accepted Adrian’s crystals, Rocky win in the end.”
Grace braces his stomach and chest area to lessen the aching from laughing too hard at Rocky’s preening.
“Grace is considered an adult in further maturity by human standards, question?”
“Yes…What kind of question is that?”
“Will have to teach Grace how not to embarrass oneself like a young adult. Statement.”
“Hey! What does that mean?”