Chapter Text
The lights of his biodome had long reached their maximum intensity when Grace trudged out of his bed. He gazed into the transparent xenonite barrier separating him from his guest-room, noted the absence of Rocky and Adrian, and began his morning (yes, Rocky, he knows it’s already noon) ritual.
He stretched backward, groaning with satisfaction as his bones cracked like bubble wrap.
“Coffee please, ‘rmando” He called out as he combed his greying hair with a brush made of thin copper strands.
A robotic arm presented him a steaming cup of coffee, the cup itself was adorned with a series of small raised ridges that read, in written Eridian, “Erid’s Best Teacher”.
The sentiment would be more endearing if the term “teacher” hadn’t been added to the Eridian language solely for Grace, not that Erid didn’t have other teachers, they had “teachers” who were masters of their crafts and referred to as “elder.” The term “teacher” was added as a sign of respect to Grace, who saved their planet and still had enough generosity remaining to educate their unruly young.
Grace took a long sip of his coffee. It contained half the caffeine of regular coffee, as Rocky had forbidden his care-team from including any more in the mixture due to the sheer amount of it Grace consumed.
Grace fastened his hand around his cane, shuffled his shoulders in an attempt to loosen the everpresent stiffness in his joints, and opened his door to the world.
It was a bright, sunny day, as it often was in Grace’s biodome, with the frequency of rain and fog being reduced to minimise the risk of slips and falls. The ocean gently kissed the shoreline, and a light breeze– that, for the sake of his immersion, he was never informed where and how it originated– brushed softly through his hair.
Grace tapped his cane twice against the newly installed pathway that led from his home to his classroom. It had been added by Adrian in an attempt to minimise the strain on his joints that trudging through sand in 2G’s of gravity had caused, Grace was deeply appreciative of this, but sometimes would still walk through the sand in an act of rebellion toward his weakening body.
Speaking of the devil, waiting next to the entrance to his classroom, was Adrian.
“Thank’s for the path Adrian, I’ve been loving it!”
“I know, Grace has been using it for 93.2% of trips toward the classroom. Has it been reducing leg pain?”
“You know it has, most of the time at least, what are you doing hanging around the class? There isn’t any parent observation today, is there?”
“Not at all, I’m here to pass on an invitation from Amethyst” Amethyst was the representative of the educational-thrum, meaning that this invitation would be linked to some sort of major event that Grace desperately hoped didn’t involve a human-teaching demonstration, as the last four had.
Adrian made a clicking noise, preparing to read off a cylindrical textured plate that functioned like a human phone,
“The first class taught by Saviour-Grace is due to graduate this year, on behalf of the Eridian educational thrum, I warmly invite Saviour-Grace to present the Elder’s speech.”
Grace let out a deep breath. His first class. The brave pebbles who filtered nervously into an alien’s classroom, hearts and minds open. It had been twenty years since Grace had taught them,
“Tell her that it would be my honour to present to them.”
“Already done, I knew you would say yes” Adrian turned toward the exit
“By the way, Grace” They called
“If I catch you walking on the sand again when I just put in a beautiful path, I’ll cut the caffeine in your coffee down to a quarter”
And with that ominous threat, Adrian left the biodome.
Grace stood upon an elevated podium, wearing a slim-fit xenonite exosuit, before him sat his first pebbles, the ones who reminded him who he was, who he had always been, a teacher.
They wore necklaces made of thin metals: copper, gold, and aluminium, a mix reserved for educational achievements.
He cleared his throat, clenched his sweaty hands into fists, and began:
“20 Earth years ago, I had the honour of teaching the bright minds that sit before me today. I remember being so very nervous before I entered the classroom.
I feared what these bright, curious pebbles would see in me. A friend? A mentor? A scary, otherworldly monster? But these pebbles treated me like any other adult they encountered.
That is to say that they terrorised me”
Chuckles of laughter floated through the audience.
“I could not catch a break from the questions, the energy that these little creatures possessed. I loved it, and I still see that spark in every young Eridian who sits before me today.
On a more personal note, I would like to thank you. You were my first class, and when I first encountered you all, I was certainly physically healed, but it wasn’t until I taught you that I was reminded I was alive.
You are the class who were, and still are, fearless toward the unknown, so I remind you, that wherever the stars take you, know that I will always be by your side.”
Grace paused, and with teary eyes looked directly at each of the 32 Eridians that composed his first class, so very long ago. He rubbed one hand up his arm, and staggered off stage.
Following the graduation festivities, Rocky and Adrian helped escort Grace back to their home.
After Grace’s brush with death, Rocky found it difficult to sleep. Even with Adrian watching, he couldn’t shake the nagging voice in his head and the pervasive, cold feeling that sank to the bottom of his carapace, what if it happened again? What if Grace fell sick?
What if his friend shuttered a last breath without witness, alone?
Adrian suggested the notion of a guest bedroom in Grace’s home.
Initially, the plan had been to set up camp further back in the house, allowing Grace his own space, whilst simultaneously easing Rocky’s fears.
Grace, however, had also grown fond of watching Rocky sleep, thus the “guest room” in Grace’s house was marked by a transparent, xenonite panel, not unlike what had filled the dormitory aboard the Hail Mary.
That was how Grace scored himself two alien roommates, who also happened to be the greatest friends he ever had.
They spent the night, like they did all nights, inside the living room of Grace’s home, laughing, mostly, at the expense of Rocky.
Adrian was currently recreating Rocky’s attempt at an Eridian serenade to their abashed partner, it was an accurate homage to the story of how Rocky and Adrian began dating.
Rocky had been in the same advanced mentorship as Adrian, studying engineering. Rocky, from the moment he met Adrian, had been utterly devoted to them. After offering them various precious stones, Rocky decided it was time to make his move, and present a traditional Eridian serenade.
He had practiced the performance for weeks, nightly he sang a declaration of love to his unimpressed hive-mates, who became increasingly eager wingmen in hopes of getting Rocky to stop preparing.
And when the moment finally came, Rocky began to sing. It had gone perfectly, that was until Rocky focused on the gentle sway of Adrian’s carapace, and his voice suddenly cracked. A high pitched squeak interrupting a flawless song.
Rocky had been utterly mortified, and worsened the situation by immediately splaying his limbs flat, an Eridian custom of deep apologies, and squealed “forgive me, beloved-Adrian!”
Adrian had seen this mess of an Eridian, and fell completely in love with him.
Grace had taken this story with the sacred reverence of someone who knew they had found an outstanding source of blackmail.
“Forgive me!” Grace yelled toward Rocky, placing down a plus 4 card.
Rocky did an angry, stomping dance as Adrian hollered.
Rocky, knowing exactly how to make Grace envious, turned to Adrian.
‘This is a lovely night for ♬♪, my beloved, shall I fetch us some?”
Adrian, who loved irritating Grace nearly as much as they loved irritating Rocky, agreed. “Certainly, beloved.”
Rocky smugly strutted past Grace, retrieving a pale, balm-like material.
“You fudging cactuses” Grace sneered with jealousy.
You see, Rocky refused to allow the human-specialist team to synthesise alcohol, and ♬♪ had a depressant effect on the Eridian nervous system, making it a sort of Eridian wine.
“Hypocrites” declared Grace, who was sour about Rocky’s proficiency with preventing his attempts at brewing moonshine.
Grace angrily sipped a strawberry vitamin shake.
Life on Erid, as it had for the past 20 years, slipped into a gentle routine. Grace woke up, Grace drank half-strength coffee, Grace stretched his tired joints until they relented into granting him a modicum of flexibility, three days a week Grace taught science to eager pebbles who had long forgotten how true cold felt.
And in the afternoons, Grace, Rocky, and Adrian would sit together and cherish the precious life they had salvaged for themselves, watching movies, playing board games, and basking in the beauty of mediocrity.
Until one morning, Grace had begun his walk to his class, his joints fighting particularly fiercely against movement, leading to him placing more weight on his cane.
It had taken one moment. He overbalanced on his cane.
Grace collapsed to the floor in a clumsy heap, holding his leg in agony.
His cries swiftly alerted Rocky and Adrian to the scene, they hurried him to medical, but the damage had been dealt.
Grace was getting to the age now where injuries became difficult to heal, especially those suffered in 2G’s of gravity.
He was transferred to a ship that had been stationary in the atmosphere of Erid, floating near the Eridian Space Station for the past 15 years, the “Star Sailor”, a humble ship closely resembling the Hail Mary.
With the reduced gravity, Grace’s leg began to heal slowly.
Quietly, Grace knew that for as long as he remained in the gravity of Erid, he would find movement an arduous task.
And as Grace floated through a vessel distinctly similar to the ship that carried him across the galaxy, he felt a deep wave of homesickness.
Perhaps it was time.
He hesitantly broached the idea to Adrian and Rocky, he would not leave without them, he was not foolish enough to abandon his home for his origin.
His friends were receptive to the idea, after all, anything that helped Grace was a positive, and neither wanted to be separated from Grace, or each other, for such a long period anyway.
Thus, two months after Grace collapsed to the ground in his biodome, he announced his return to Earth to the Eridian public.
He was careful to clarify that this was intended as a return trip, given that his body did not give out on him before he could, he would be returning to Erid after a short vacation across the universe.
“What do I pack on vacation, question? Humans in movies bring sunglasses, and strange plant themed clothing, is this a requirement for Earth travel, question?”
Rocky was racing Grace’s newly-minted wheelchair through his home, attempting to pack for their trip.
“No need for that, Rock, just put all the important stuff in this bag” he gestured to a large duffle, “and all the clothes in that container” he motioned to a large xenonite crate.
So-called “important stuff” turned out to include Grace’s minimal hygiene products, and maximal collection of personal effects, because if something, averse, were to happen on his Earth vacation, he was not going to go out without the mug his first Eridian class gifted him.
Aboard the “Star Sailor” Grace, Rocky, and Adrian soon found themselves orbiting each other in a familiar routine.
They would wake up, separate to indulge in food, return together, play a tournament of chess wherein Grace always lost, and Adrian always won.
Then, Grace would complete a series of stretches under the watchful gaze of Rocky.
“No, Grace needs to hold core tighter”
“I’m tryin’, Rock, I can’t bear that much weight on my leg right now”
“Too bad, is Grace trying to resemble a downward-facing canine or not, question? Put leg straighter”
Grace groaned as he suffered from the torment of the galaxy’s most demanding personal trainer.
Then, they checked the trajectory of their trip, calculating distance and moving a model of their ship ever-so-slightly closer to Earth.
They finished the night with a movie, before separating to eat privately again, and reuniting to watch each other sleep.
It echoed the same beautiful mediocrity that Grace has so adored on Erid.
And as his leg slowly became looser, and the model of their ship approached Earth, Grace gazed out the front window of the Star Sailor and saw a speck of azure against the speckled, infinite night sky.
They were 4 months out from Earth when they passed Neptune, officially marking their entry to Grace’s home solar-system.
Grace, witnessed only by the stars and the hulking, blue giant outside the porthole window, cried as he returned to his galaxy. Soft, quiet tears that rolled down his cheeks with tender lightness. He was going to see the Earth, the sky, humanity, once more, right alongside the home he had carved himself among the stars.
As they passed the rings of Saturn, an extraordinary view that had been acknowledged by Rocky and Adrian as the “most beautiful planet they had ‘seen’ so far.” Grace hit play on a low frequency radio message that began to emit from the ship into the silence of space.
This is Dr Captain Ryland Grace, Science Officer of the Project Hail Mary Expedition, Earth, do you copy?
I’m coming home. And I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve brought some friends over for dinner.
Estimated arrival time, 87 days. Earth, do you copy?