Chapter Text
They were four years into the five year trip to Erid and Ryland was starting to feel the weakness set into his bones. His food had been largely replaced with taumeba. There was some rations saved, but those were 1. for food duplication on Erid and 2. for the days he got too weak. He was thin and cold. Walking anything more than a few paces made him dizzy and weak. Rocky fretted constantly these days. He would roll his ball as close as possible to Ryland, just in case he fell. And he was tired. So much. Most days he was awake for maybe two, three hours before he’d sleep another eight. Thankfully he had time to warn Rocky that as he got weaker things would change. Rocky insisted on Ryland wearing essentially a Fitbit connected to Mary so he can better observe Rylands vitals. And while Ryland wants to be annoyed, he finds himself caught up in the overwhelming feeling of someone caring.
It's another day for the two of them. They've elected to spend the time Ryland is awake in the Don't Go Crazy room, watching a classic Earth movie. Ryland wishes he could recall the name but his recall is in the bin. But he's having fun watching it with Rocky.
The peace is disrupted by blaring alarms and Mary’s voice over the speakers. “Approaching Anomaly. Approaching Anomaly.”
“What is word, question?” Rocky asks while Ryland struggles to stand.
“Means somethings wrong but Mary has never seen it before.” Ryland gets his feet under him and he's moving as fast as he can.
There's a limp in his gait from a broken knee two years ago that has struggled to heal. He makes it to the cockpit and into the pilots seat before catching sight of what's outside. The ship shudders and Ryland fumbles his seat belt on before he gets thrown from his seat.
“Oh God. Rock I- I think this might be it for us buddy.” Mary is flashing with warnings and Ryland tries to fix the problem but he can feel the ship start to fall for a lack of better word.
“What? Why this it, question? Grace why it, question?” Rocky asks banging on the xenonite wall of his ball.
“Because there's a black hole buddy. And we've been sucked into its gravity. The Hail Mary can't fight her way out. It's too late.” Ryland explains as tears well up.
Anger comes too. After everything, this is it. Death by spaghetti-ification. And he was as helpless as he's always been. Can't save himself and he can't save Rocky.
“I'm sorry Rocky. I couldn't get you back to Adrian.” Ryland apologizes as the pull from the black hole starts to press on his lungs. Breathing and thinking is getting harder. Blood rushed in his ears and Ryland is ready to throw up.
“Not Grace fault. Bad blackhole.” Rocky’s voice rings through the air and Ryland laments that he was just starting to get fluent in Eridian.
The ship shudders and shakes more and Ryland asks Mary to mute the alarms. There's no point in letting them blast. They're gonna die. The falling sensation doesn't leave him and he's too weak to stop the tears.
“Rock.” Ryland croaks out, turning his head to where Rocky is.
“Yes Grace?”
“Will- will you hold my hand? I’m scared.” Ryland chokes out the request.
“Rocky happy to hold Grace hand. Rocky scared too.” Rocky's response is enough to assuage the guilt Ryland felt.
Rocky adjusted his ball so the mesh like panel faced him. Rocky had adjusted the panel so it was made of even smaller panels so it would contour to his claw perfectly. And Ryland appreciated it because it meant Rocky was able to touch him without hurting either of them. Because even after everything, Ryland wasn't brave enough to die in pain.
A screen flashed silently that they had seconds until they were consumed. Ryland looked at Rocky, absorbing his best friend for just a moment more before his body begins shutting down. He tries to keep his eyes open as he distantly hears his health monitor start screaming and Rocky calls for him. The sound of Rocky's tune for his name is what guides him to sleep, eyes closing and body slumping in his seat.
— — — —
“Captain, there's an anomaly ahead.” Chekov's voice calls Jim out of his thoughts.
“What kind of anomaly?” They're only a year into the five year mission, so Jim is apprehensive of anything going wrong and interrupting the journey.
“It's a- another wormhole. Captain. Like a lightning storm.” Shit.
“Sheilds up, all crew to battle stations. Prime weapons.” Jim stands as alarms raise throughout the ship.
Spock steps closer to him and Jim half turns to face him. “Captain, we don't know-”
“I know Spock. I want to be on the defense in case it's another Nero.” Jim's arms cross as he tries to think clearly.
Spock tilts his head, his most enthusiastic agreement, before turning to ensure preparations are completed.
Jim approaches the con and leans towards Sulu. “I need you to be ready to warp out of here at a moment's notice. As much as I hate running away from conflict, if this is another Nero I don't wanna put my crew on the line.”
Sulu nods and starts inputting coordinates for a nearby star system. Jim inhales deeply before settling into the captain's chair. Looking out, he sees the anomaly. It's smaller than the one Nero came through and something loosens in Jim's chest. It's not long before something comes through. A ship. But it's tiny. The computers magnify it immediately but that doesn't stop the obvious fact that the ship can't have a large crew. Max capacity is eight at best.
“Uhura try to hail them.” Jim feels a hazy sense of recognition. Not for the ship itself, he's sure, but the way it was designed.
“Sir, I'm getting no response. I don't think our transmissions are being received by the ship.” Uhura’s voice seeps with confusion as she tries to adjust the settings to a frequency the other ship will pick up.
“Captain, if I may. That ship looks ancient. We haven't designed ships like that for centuries.” Chekov offers while turning his chair to face Jim.
Jim processes the information before a plan forms. “Spock, Bones, with me. Sulu you have the con.”
He rises out of the chair and moves into the lift with the other two following. Once the doors close I can feel their gazes lock onto me.
“Gather a small security group, three at max, and load into a shuttle. I'm going to go over and manually dock onto the ship. I want to go over there and figure out what's in there. You guys can come or stay here.”
Bones and Spock share an incredulous look before looking back at him. “We're coming with you Jim.”
“The doctor is correct. We'll come with you and survey the ship. I will insist on the Enterprise staying locked onto our signals in case we need to be beamed out quickly.” Jim had gotten better at deciphering the Vulcan’s expressions so he knew the one he was getting was Spock's equivalent of a fighting face.
Jim sighed with a smile and nodded. “Sounds logical. I'll go get the shuttle prepped while you two gather what we need. Bones, I want you ready to provide medical assistance. Just in case.”
The lift door opens and the three of them split off in different directions. Jim makes it to the shuttle and preps it for the short trip to the potentially ancient ship. He briefly toyed with the idea of just beaming the inhabitants to the Enterprise. But dismissed the idea. He doesn't want to scare the inhabitants into violence. Build trust and whatnot.
The others aren't long and then they're off. As Jim pilots the shuttle, excitement wars with concern. New life could mean new species and new discoveries. It could also mean new enemies. Potentially immortal enemies. And Jim wasn't aching to replicate Kahn. He still wakes up most nights in a cold sweat thinking he was back in the warp core.
Jim shakes the thoughts away as they pull aside the ship. With the assistance of sensors and Jim’s stellar parallel parking skills, he gets the ships aligned for entry. Spock does stuff on a pad that Jim is sure makes sense but doesn't care to understand in the moment. But sooner than later they're breaking and entering the mystery ship.
They walk into a small airlock and Chekov looks to be right. It's an ancient Earth ship. Before interstellar travel had been achieved. Jim has fond memories of walking through museums when he was young with his mom. Before… everything with him. But Jim shakes the memory off when thudding gets louder and closer to them.
“Humans, question? Who is there, question? Have you come to help Grace friend, question?” A voice echoes all around. It sounds computerized.
The question is answered before it's asked by a creature rounding the corner. It looks like a large rock with five limbs. It moves with all five limbs in a clear angular ball. Once it stops in front of them, it angles its body up like it's looking up at them. There's no face where Jim can see.
“You humans, question?” There's a melody that seems to come from the creature but the robot voices overruns it.
“Uh yes, we’re humans. And what are you?” Jim asks while leaning towards it.
“Amaze amaze amaze, means you can help fix Grace friend. Humans call Rocky Rocky. Rocky is from Erid.” Rocky answers in a rush before turning to go back the way it came. “Humans follow.”
Jim looks back at Bones and Spock before shrugging. He steps further into the ship to follow Rocky. Jim notes that while the ship looks loved in, everything is pushed to be as close to the walls as it can. At first he thinks it's to make room for Rocky’s ball but looking at Rocky running through the ship, there's more than enough space without everything shoved out of the way. There's books and objects and machinery and clothes and the mess gets denser the more inward they move. Still carefully pushed as far from the walkway as possible.
Spock steps next to him. “Captain, I recognize our friend. Erid is a neighboring planet to Vulcan. They're an interesting species that navigate through echolocation and communicate through what you'd recognize as whale song.”
Jim nods along. “Can you understand him without the translator?”
“Unfortunately I can not Captain. Eridians are a relatively isolated group. They are a part of the Federation but non-participants. So I haven’t had the chance to learn their language. Lieutenant Uhura might know.” Spock offers.
Jim nods his understanding as they pass through a lab area. It’s primitive and unused. There's a path that cuts through but nothing that branches off.
Entering a cockpit, Jim understands the rush Rocky had. In the pilot seat there's a human male slumped over and unconscious. Jim pushed forward to press his fingers to his pulse and relaxed minutely when he felt a thump under his fingertips.
“Bones, get up here.” Jim calls behind him before shuffling to the other side of the man.
“Fix fix fix Grace Friend.” Rocky chants. He's transferred out of the ball and into what looks to be a large enclosure.
“Your friend's name is Grace?” Bones asks as he climbs up and starts tending to the man.
“Yes. Grace sleep before anomaly and not wake up. Rocky worried. Rocky can't fix because ball. Humans come. Humans fix Grace friend.” Rocky's claws click continuously and if Spock's right then Jim suspects he's trying to get a good look at Grace.
Bones nods and does several checks. “Well I can't fix him here, he’ll need to come onto our ship for me to do anything.”
“Mmmh sure, question?” Rocky questions and Jim feels for the alien.
“Yeah Rocky. I don't have what I need to help Grace here. But I can fix him on our ship.” Bones reassures.
“Hey Rocky why don't you go gather your stuff you want to bring. The other three humans will go with and you can direct them into getting Grace’s things.” Jim suggests.
Rocky thinks for a moment before agreeing and setting off to the rest of the ship.
Jim turns to Bones. “What're we looking at Bones? Can he recover?”
“Hes severely malnourished Jim. From what I can tell, it's been a year minimum since he's met all nutritional requirements. It's probably why he passed out going through the wormhole. And my preliminary scan shows his knee is messed up. I’m not sure we can fix it without surgery. And he’s too weak for that. He’s in for a long recovery but he should live.” Bones explained as he put his equipment away.
“Is he safe to move, doctor?” Spock asked.
“Yeah he’s fine Spock. Go ahead and grab him. Just don’t go tossing him around.” Bones waves off before leaving the cockpit.
Jim watches as Spock carefully undo the bright orange restraints and lift Grace out of the chair. Jim follows behind Spock as they carefully pick their way down to where the others wait. The three security officers arms are full of things. Ranging from papers and Jim swears theres a disco ball in one of the containers.
Rocky taps in their direction and this time his voice comes from a few taped together laptops in a officers arms. “Grace ok, question?”
“He will be, buddy. He’s just gonna need a lot of help. But we can help him.” Jim reassures with a smile.
Rocky considers for a moment before angling his body up a bit. “Thumbs up, statement.”
Jim nods with a laugh and throws up a thumbs up of his own. “Thumbs up.”