Chapter Text
Grace collapsed down a flight of stairs, hitting against a wall. Stomach to the floor, he laid there motionless before groaning out the pain he felt on his back. At the corner of his eyes, a cane made out of Xenonite stares at him at the bottom of the stairs.
His arm reached out to it but it was too far. Just at the tip of his finger. A robotic sound hovers over him, revealing a machine with three arms each having claws attached.
“Armando,” Grace turned to face the ceiling. “How are ya?”
Armando shook its body in response.
“Mind…giving me a hand?” He reached out to one of the nearest arms and carefully pulled himself up to sit upright. Armando used its second arm to pick up the cane and placed it gently on Grace's leg.
Steadily, Grace leaned himself against the wall and got up slowly. Eventually he managed to stand up straight with the help of the cane. He brushed off any dirt from his pants and rubbed his back. Sliding down the railings is no longer a good way to travel down.
“Let me guess," He turned to the machine, “you alerted Rocky?”
Armando shook its body but Grace swatted his hand in the air, dismissing it.
“Quit lying… I know you alerted him. I knew I shouldn't have put an ‘alert Rocky' function,” Grace mumbled the last sentence as he slowly limped towards the kitchen while Armando followed behind.
Bright light shines through a singular xenon panel above a sink in the kitchen, lighting the whole place into visibility as it lands on a reflective white island in the middle of the kitchen.
Grace squinted his eyes as he reached out for a bar stool tucked underneath the island. “We should really find a way to dim the windows. Any more light and I'd be in heaven,” he laughed to himself and sat down. After hanging the cane on the edge of the table he reached forward and pulled a black laptop towards him. “And now…for the fun part…”
Upon opening the device, a background picture of Grace and a couple of Eridians in front of his ship greeted him. Scattered all over the image are folders with different classes – physics, biology, english, and more – labeled onto each one. “...Grading time.”
Just as he opened the first folder up, his eyes gazed at a clock on the wall opposite of him. It was resting next to a white refrigerator, slowly moving its hands towards the number 12. Just as the two hands meet, a door bell rings loudly.
“Here we go…”
Then the ringing repeats. And repeats and repeats and—
“Grace fall, question!?” A loud tune of music bursts through the front door, revealing a rock-like creature crawling into the kitchen and banging its head against the island.
Rocky was wearing his usual green sweater with pockets full of miniature tools. He is covered in a thin suit of Xenonite, protecting himself from the atmosphere.
“I was just testing if Armando could catch me sliding down the railing,” Grace playfully frowned at Armando. “He failed.”
The robot shrugged and wandered into the living room. Rocky proceeded to scold him – calling him names like reckless, stupid and other things Grace would rather not translate in his mind. It's better to not try to guess what cuss word is being used in Erid. Ignorance is bliss sometimes.
"I'm fine Rocky. See? I'm not dead."
"What if your back breaks? No one will help you, statement."
"Armando's here."
"Armando is a machine. Not that strong, statement."
Grace sighs and looks through the files. He pulled out a digital notepad and placed the two tabs side by side. Seeing he was being ignored, Rocky climbed up to the island and settled down next to the laptop.
"Grace home work pain, statement."
"Hurts me as much as it hurts them."
"Eridians have good memories. Not forgetful like Grace."
"Memorizing and actually understanding are two different things," Grace notes down what questions students are getting wrong in his notepad. They seem to not understand the quadratic formula and how it should be used. "They need to understand."
"Rocky remembers, Rocky understands."
"Kids have different ways to understand. And it's my job to make it easier for them to understand."
Rocky let out a sad tune and remained still in his place. The typing from the keypad echoed. His breathing was slowed and the room felt warmer. The light shines brightly against Rocky's back, creating a shadow over Grace's hands as they begin to numb from the typing and scrolling.
As more assignments got marked, a small light high-pitch tune rang in the back of Grace's mind. Not as loud as Armando's movement around the house, but just audible enough to be heard when no one speaks. Like a pin dropping.
The tune got annoying real fast after a minute.
Grace shuts the laptop. “Okay okay. What is it, Rocky?”
“Rocky didn't say anything."
“You’re doing that thing when I'm not giving you attention,” he dragged his glasses under his chin and rubbed the bridge of his nose, “so just tell me what it is. Do you need something?"
“Grace says to not disturb when Grace is at work.”
“Yeah and that includes making sounds but you don't listen. So what is it?”
“Grace sure Grace wants to know?”
Grace inhales sharply. "You're annoying me because I accidentally messed up your little demo set up thingy last week. I'm sorry. Now please, what is it?”
Rocky let out a little tune, simulating a giggle. “Eridians have a gift for Grace.” He jumps down from the island and towards the hallway connected to the front door.
Grace turned his body to him. “Gift? What is it? Please don't tell me it's some kind of taumoeba sauce again.”
“Grace ask too many questions, just follow.”
“My back hurts from the fall, can't they just deliver it here?” Grace slouched over the counter, planting his face on top of the warm laptop.
Rocky gently stomped his feet and turned to him. “Okay. Rocky spoils the gift so Grace follows – Eridian Scientists found human.”
•
•
•
Grace faced sideways to him. The edge of his lip curled, an expression of doubt and amusement. "Repeat what you say?"
"Eridians found humans like Grace, statement.”
•
•
•
His smile faded.
“WHY YOU DIDN’T TELL ME EARLIER!?” Grace lunged out of his chair and collapsed to the floor, the cane next to him fell on his back.
Rocky rushed to his side and tucked himself underneath Grace's arm for support. “Grace say no distractions when working!”
“YEAH BUT WHEN IT'S NOT IMPORTANT!” Grace heaves himself up and uses the cane as support. “Where are they?”
“Follow!”
They flew out of the house as fast as they could. Running down a flight of stairs in seconds to reach the beach outside of the house. Waves come and go as adrenaline builds up in Grace's legs, slowly making him carry the cane without using it as support.
They run past tall cliffs and rocks before finally finding the exit to the rest of the world. A metallic door with a suit made of xenon hung next to it like a coat.
Grace slipped into it and heaved the small door and activated a flashlight attached inside the handle of his cane.
The world outside is nothing but black. A wave of ammonia heat rests near his skin but not close enough to burn him. Similar to Rocky in his house, Grace wore a protective cover to prevent overheating himself in the atmosphere.
Despite living here for years, Grace silently slapped himself for leaving the night vision goggles at his house. It was just next to the front door… Welp. Too late to go back. They marched forward and closed the door behind.
Erid is a creation of multiple tunnels and stones buried in sand-like ground beneath. Similar to an ant colony. It is what humans used to think Mars would look like — but with more large tunnels and stones. And instead of red sand, it's all black.
Grace continued to ask questions as they heaved through the cave. Rocky could only answer a few.
“Where did they come from?”
“Don’t know.”
“Why? Are they alive?”
“Don’t know.”
“How did they get here?”
“Don’t know.”
“What do YOU know?”
“Rocky is not a scientist. Eridian needs Grace's help in saving the human, statement.”
Once they reached out of the tunnel, Grace could see another familiar species waiting outside a globe-like structure, similar to Grace's living space.
“Adrian helped with science,” Rocky rushed to the other Eridian, leaving Grace behind.
Eventually he catches up and nods to Adrian. Unlike Rocky, Adrian is the same height as Grace. Their exterior is in a different shade, similar to a greenish-yellow gradient as compared to the plain brown exterior Rocky has.
Also unlike Rocky, Adrian has a simple belt wrapped around them, holding a couple of items such as a screen detector and a mini tablet Grace manages to find in his ship. Beneath it is a cute black shirt that can be seen as a dress by how long and flowy it is.
A softer, lighter tune sung out of them. “Grace doing well, question?”
Grace nods. “Never been better. How…how did you find the humans?”
They explained how the scientists were sent on different ships after Rocky to find other causes of the sun dying. However their journey was shorter and they were able to keep in contact with Erid, unlike Rocky’s ship.
After Rocky’s return, they were told to go back and one of them discovered a new planet while another found an abandoned ship on the way back.
“So two different spaceships,” Grace repeated the information. “How many humans are there?”
“New planet have one,” Adrian nudged to the entrance. “The spaceship has five.”
Rocky gently pushed Grace to the entrance. “Hurry hurry! Grace make new friends.”
“Geez calm down! Don’t abuse the elderly,” Grace opened the door and waited until Rocky put on his suit and entered. After closing the first door, Grace removed his suit and opened the second door, leading into an area where he could breathe freely.
The area is significantly bigger than where he lives as it covered three things – his ship, a place to grow plants, and a mini laboratory where he and Rocky conduct experiments. Half of the area is taken up by the ship, while the other half is split into a building and a garden in front of it.
Grace took a bite of a singular grape from a growing plant in the garden as he walked into the laboratory with Rocky and Adrian following behind. The exterior is made of xenonite, similar to his house.
Upon entering, the room smells like a dentist office. White painted on every side of the room, making it look like an insane asylum if it weren't for the millions of cabinets and science equipment scattered all over the place.
There are three distinct rooms placed in a L-format at the back of the building. The first is a xenonite room section for Eridians to rest and do their work without having to wear suits. On the other side, tucked in a corner, is a chamber room for experiments that involves not having oxygen being exposed to it.
Connected between the two is a simple shower curtain covering the resting area for Grace. He spent most of his early life in Eridian in it, sleeping or resting while experimenting with different elements found on the planet.
As he approached the curtain, a putrid smell attacked into his lungs, sending Grace into a non-stop coughing attack. A mix of what he could only describe as sour cheese and a meat gone wrong, his stomach turned as he began to imagine what was waiting for him being the scene.
“Why does Grace vomit, question?" Rocky stood behind him.
Grace leans heavily against the xenonite wall, fighting back his coughing. “Im..not vomiting- just- Aurgh— sorry i— not used to the smell…” he stabilised himself again and forced himself forward.
The smell became stronger but he knew better than to let it win over his stomach. His hand drew the curtain aside, revealing five new beds lined up next to his original. Sour milk filled the air and reached into his stomach. It turned acidic, forcing itself to get into his chest but Grace held back.
If he vomits now, Rocky will never make him forget how ‘disgusting’ it looks.
As his nose adjusted to the smell, he approached closer to the bed and saw what Rocky had said – six humans. All nicely tucked under a thin blanket of xenonite.
“Grace knows them, question?” Rocky appeared beside him. For the first time ever, Grace felt jealous with Rocky's lack of smell.
Grace pretended to frown. “You assume all humans know each other? That’s a hurtful stereotype, Rocky.”
“Rocky knows all Eridians. Grace is just stupid.”
“Yeah yeah,” Grace made his way around and took a look at the first human.
The first was a black-haired woman with dried blood running down from her mouth. Her red eyes were rolled back. She wore a simple blue uniform with a HealthCare symbol attached to the right of her chest. Underneath was a worn out colorful striped turtleneck.
“Do they have any name tags?” Grace looked around and saw an ID card hung on the other side of the bed near her head. “Nevermind. Found it.”
Anya. An employee of Pony Express. That's what the logo on the left side of the uniform stands for. Judging from the healthcare logo on the other side of the uniform, she is most likely a nurse - or someone related in the industry.
“Never heard of that brand,” Grace mumbled.
“Humans were found in space. Big spaceship.” Adrian spoke by the entrance, wearing her own suit.
“Sounds like a delivery company but…I don't think anyone in Erid ordered something from Earth, right?”
Rocky shook his head. “No.”
Grace moved on to the next. A young man named Daisuke. Unlike Anya’s, his employee card is crumbled and full of burns, barely making his name visible if it weren’t for his signature.
His face tells a different story from hers. A deep cut across his face, deep enough to see the inside of his head. Peaking just outside of the blanket is his neck covered in burns and ashes. He reeks of burnt meat, eyes widened as if he saw a ghost. Unlike Anya, his uniform is a simple yellow shirt with a jacket full of flowers over it.
“They have a change of clothing. Meaning they are in space for some time,” He looks over to the next person.
Swansea. A clear hole right next to his name. Similarly, there’s a hole in his forehead and dried blood running down all over his face and neck. Wrinkles are all over his face, his expression reflects anger.
“They are most likely dead.”
“Maybe just sleeping, question?”
Right. Eridians don't decompose after death.
“Unless they are born looking like vampires, I don’t think I can perform miracles.” Grace swallowed a lump in his throat. Swansea was wearing the same yellow uniform as Daisuke, nothing else.
Next one was another man. Burnt ID, but it read ‘Jimmy’. He was the cleanest amongst them – only a bullet wound at the side of his head. Disheveled hair was brown with eyes closed, a calmer expression than Daisuke’s. The possibility of him dying by suicide is high.
Could it be a murder suicide?
“When did they get here?” Grace pointed to a roller stool resting against a wall.
Rocky took the hint and nudged the stool closer to him. “Eridians found humans yesterday.”
“And you tell me now?” He sat down and dragged himself between the last two people. A disgusting, unforgettable smell plunged into his nose, sending Grace gagging and hurriedly rolling away from the body. “What was that!?”
“What was what, question?”
He gagged at the smell. It was like the smell a couple minutes ago, but much worse. How can something smell worse than a dead body!?
“That smell…it smells like a dead rotting body…but with more…” he forced his mouth shut, pushing back the urge to let the acid in his stomach rise.
“Humans have a smell after died, question?”
“Yeah…after a few days, they rot and…yeah.” Grace pinched his nose and dragged himself back to the body next to Jimmy. He peeks from the corner of his eyes and drops his hand immediately, scrunchies his nose at the awful stench emanating from it.
The ID next to the body read ‘Curly’, and his skin is gone. Just layers of muscles underneath and eyes that's staring at nothing. The smell may be coming from the muscles themselves. Can muscles even be smelly?
Adrian walked up behind him. “Human found in hard water.”
“Ice?” Grace squeezed his eyes and noticed the small puddles of water underneath the body and dripping off to the sides. Light red water dripped off the human. Curly was covered with a simple patient outfit and bandages, keeping a lot of the organs intact. Curly also seems to be missing all four of his limbs. Even if he were to survive, it won't be easy to get him to live a normal life after.
Whoever did this is a magician.
Grace swiveled around to look at Rocky. “If he can live, he may suffer from a cold burn. Basically when you put ice on top of a peeled off skin. Very dangerous. Very painful, statement.”
“Humans will live, question?”
“Very small chance,” he admits. “All of them…I don’t think I can save any.”
“What about human from the other planet, question?” Adrian walks to the final bed that was his original. Rocky tags beside them. Grace turned the stool to face the human.
Covered in blood and other junk. If he didn't know any better, Grace would've thought the Eridians made a red jelly model of a human for him. The smell of iron and flesh covered his nose. Grace swallowed whatever acidic material was building in his stomach. He really wished he had a nose like Rocky.
Grace reached his hand out to touch but startled as Rocky burst into a series of tunes. “RIGHT! GLOVES! IM SORRY-”
He pushed his stool to a nearby table and picked up a xenonite glove. Not as good as what he was used to but it’ll work. Coming back, he gently lifts the human’s arm onto his hands. They were awfully soft yet heavy. Pinching gently, there are bones in.
His thumb wipes the first layer of blood. There is skin underneath. Grace looks at the rest of the body. The human is missing his left arm and his face is covered in extra thickness of blood.
“Rocky, pass me some water and towel, please.”
He heaved himself onto the edge of the human’s bed and placed the arm gently on his lap. The blood sticks to his clothing and gloves without hesitation.
“There goes my awesome white t-shirt,” Grace mumbled. As the blood soaks deep into his pants and shirt, he could feel it touching his skin. It's awfully warm, but maybe that's just normal blood stuff. Blood is meant to be warm.
Rocky pushed a bucket of water with a cloth hanging on its edge. Grace carefully placed the bucket onto his chair and began cleaning off the blood.
Within a few swipes, the cloth was already sticking to itself and smelled like a body. Small pieces of flesh cling onto it as if it was a living organism. Grace ordered for more cloth to be used and thrown away afterwards.
It took ten full buckets of water to clean the blood off of the human’s arm. Even then, there are still stains of blood that refuse to come off. Washing off the rest of the body would take a couple more days at this rate.
“Let’s do the face first," Grace mumbles and sits closer. He scraped off the first layer of blood, dunking the cloth into the bucket and repeating the cycle. Eventually, he caught glimpses of an actual face.
Except it wasn’t a full face. The left side of the human’s face was beyond destroyed — covered in white fungus and holes. Their mouth was split between a normal human with lips and a mouth that an angler fish would have. Long sharp teeth with no lips to close it.
Grace looks down at their right arm. What he had assumed was that the remaining pieces of iron stuck inside the arm were actually branches. Brown tree-like branches covered in red, sharp and painfully sticking out.
Looking from afar, Grace noticed the entire left side of the human was covered in white fungus and other mutated things such as teeth and infections. While on the right, their arm and leg were mainly wrapped loosely with branches drenched in blood.
What kind of creatures had the Eridians bought in?
Grace gently began to wipe the blood off the human’s hair. Every strand had a layer of thick blood, stuck together like glue. If he squinted hard enough, he could see the hair being black. Or maybe that's just more blood that has been dried up.
Rocky crawled into his line of sight. “Grace can save humans, question?”
“I don't think I can fix this, Rocky,” Grace put the arm aside and collapsed back onto his seat. He tried to reach for his glasses but forgot they were inside the suit with him. “I mean…I appreciate you guys trying to find ways for me to have friends but…I can't make miracles.”
They sat in silence for a minute, trying to find a different thing to talk about.
Adrian walked up to them. Their voice low and comforting. “Grace helped save Erid and Earth. Maybe try to save humans, question?”
Something about the tune of their voice. It's convincing.
Grace wanted to fight back but…
“I don't know man.”
“Eridians have resources for Grace,” Rocky looks at him. “Grace try, we help fix. If we cannot fix it, we have no regrets.”
“Regrets?” Grace forced a chuckle. “Who taught you that word?”
“Grace.”
“Right…”
Even if he tried, the decomposing process has begun. It is not like he can put in new cells or anything.
Unless…
He turned around to Curly’s body. Despite the smell, there’s still a clear layer of ice on his skin. If he can find a way to attach his own skin to him, would it be possible for Curly's body to unfreeze and eventually work like normal? Kind of like when people do plastic surgery after being burnt.
Similar to Unnamed Human, if Grace could find a way to replace the infected skin with new ones…
One problem: he is a lab scientist, not a surgeon.
Worst case scenario? They remain dead.
Best case? They survived.
“This is messed up, but I have to try it.”
He let out a heavy sigh and stood up, grabbing onto his cane. “We need Armando in here to monitor them and need a few oxygen masks for each person. Adrian, can you bring in two bathtubs? One warm water and the other just regular.
“We will put him,” He points to Curly, “into the warm water. I’ll wash the rest of the body with the other tub.
“Meanwhile,” he turned to Rocky. “Is there a possibility for us to replicate my skin? Like…MeBurgers but not edible?”
“Create more Grace tissue,” Rocky spoke to himself. “Rocky will try with other Eridians.”
Grace looked at the last human. “I will need some help putting their bodies into the ship so Mary can scan them. Also, I would need to see each of their ships — we still don’t know this guy's name and what happened to the crew. For now, we just need Armando here and my duplicate skin. Got it?”
Adrian and Rocky nodded in agreement.
Grace raised his hand up, “3…2…1.”
They clapped at the same time and got to work.
Before the day could reach the night cycle, Armando was already in the building and looking at the bodies, gently poking each one for movement. After tinkering with the technology in the lab, Grace found out an easy way to get Mary to monitor by hooking up the ship's system into the laboratory's technology system instead of painfully putting each body into the small ship.
After syncing Armando's and Mary's system to one another, Mary got straight into analyzing each body and what their potential causes of death are. Daisuke, Swansea and Jimmy are suffering from an external injury whereas Anya was something related to overdosing. Curly and the other human are unknown aside from lack of oxygen.
Grace gently put Curly inside a tub of warm water. While it would've been better to replace the bandages before, it's better to not touch something that doesn't need to be repaired, yet. It seems like the bandages and patient outfit has become skin for the muscles to attach itself to. Removing them can risk organs spewing out.
Carefully, he placed an oxygen mask onto each person. Grace considered using the coma machine that the Hail Mary ship had but the set up is too complicated. Not only that, there might be some things in their body that can cause some allergic reaction or damage to the machines. It's better to play safe for now.
Grace recorded down the findings from Mary in a notepad. He will wash the other bodies after seeing their spaceships. Who knows what kind of radiation sickness they may have.
A couple of Eridian scientists took him and Rocky to the ships while Adrian stayed behind to look after the bodies.
Both ships are placed in a wide clear area with no nearby houses. The first was a submarine split into two. With no coverage unlike his house and the lab, Grace could only rely on his limited-oxygen suit and a single light coming out of the handle of his cane to guide him.
The darkness isn't as scary anymore when you lived in it for who knows how long. Still, creeping closer to a blood-covered submarine with only a part of it visible from the lights is…something Grace would've seen in those horror films Rocky forced him to open up on the trip back home.
Needless to say, sleep became optional after binging through every horror movie.
One of the scientists mentioned that it belonged to the Unnamed Human. The Eridians found it floating in the ocean with other things that they couldn't identify. From the outside, Grace could already see the blood covered in all sides of the vehicle. There are small patches of white fungus growing and teeth sunk on its sides – similar to what the Unnamed Human looked like.
Chances are there was a leak while the submarine was submerged, causing the interior to be drenched in blood as well. That is of course, assuming that the ocean IS blood. Fortunately, the suit prevents him from smelling the blood - but he could still taste it at the back of his throat.
“As we once said - blood is thicker than water.”
“Human blood is more solid than water, question?”
“More like thick. Like…uh…cream? I don't know how to explain. It's a stupid saying anyways,” Grace steps onto the side of the submarine with visible controls. After fiddling with them for a bit, Grace looked around and took note of the cracked window above it. This might be where the Unnamed Human looked through while in the ocean.
The ship was covered in pipes. Not very sturdy as compared to his and Rocky’s ships. There can be a million reasons why the ship was broken. Grace walks over to the other side of the ship where a single button is laid. As he brushed the blood aside from a clearer view, he felt something like tree branches all over the wall.
He clicked on it. No reaction. Peaking inside the metal walls, it's connected to a screen nearby. He walked out and explored the exterior of it. The front of the ship has some kind of drill and a camera attached below the cracked window.
When submerged in blood, the person inside can’t see what’s in front due to how thick it is. They’ll have to rely on other senses. Sound, movement, sensors. The button may be useful for that case but that’s all Grace could think of for now.
“Next ship,” he announced and walked to it. Rocky followed behind, saying how boring the submarine was.
Comparing the two, Pony Express’ ship was made to last for eternity. The exterior looks just as sturdy as Grace could see. The only way inside is through a door that was broken by the Eridians.
“Huge container under ship, statement.” One of the Eridian spoke. He seems to be one of the members to discover this ship.
“Where’s the container?”
“Behind, statement.”
Grace peek over and see a huge shipping container, entrance overflowing with empty bottles. Were they always empty or did the crewmates drink it all up?
“Human ships use the same fuel as us, question?"
Grace shrugged. “Maybe. But I can't imagine where they'd store the astrophages – if that's even the fuel they used.”
Entering the ship, the place had seen better days. Unknown foam covered the majority of the paths, leaving only some room accessible. Shining his flashlight down a narrow hallway full of rusty pipes, he could only see darkness beyond it. Each corridor is tight with sharp turns. Rocky's movement against the metallic ground echoes as they wander to the first metallic door that automatically opens with a screeching sound - like fork on plate.
Four strange human-sized devices that Grace had never seen before greeted them. All of them are covered in foam except for one, door wide open and drenched in water.
Four “cryochambers”, as what the word on the sides of the machine read. Grace remembered hearing about this as a potential proposal in keeping the astronauts alive for the journey — freezing their body for years before unfreezing them when it’s time.
“That’s where Curly came from.” He heard Rocky's voice from down a hallway and made a beeline straight to him. The next door opens up to a medical room – beds and a broken screen filled up a wall. One particular bed is stained with heavy blood.
Rocky was walking around the room before stopping next to an open vent that has wires sticking out of it and dried blood. Grace looked at the bed and back at Rocky. “I think Curly would have been in that state for a while if they kept him here.”
“He crawled into space with wires, question?”
Grace shrugged. “I think someone else did this.” He turned around to the door, seeing its handle covered in blood. “Could be that he was locked in and someone tried to get him out. No other way to enter, they crawled into a space with wires and burned their skin which can leak blood from their hands.”
He looked at the cabinets. Countless expired medications and empty bottles of painkillers. A desk near the door was full of documents, detailed analysis of each member’s mental state during the adventure. Looking at the dates, they may have been in space for a while.
“I feel like a detective in a movie. Seeing things and imagining what went wrong.”
“Grace solves murder mystery for human, statement.”
“Ryland and Rock, the detective duo. Nice ring to it, huh?”
“Grace can make a show after this.” Rocky joked and ran around the place, toppling over a trash can that was tucked neatly underneath it, spilling out loads of medical notes, drawings, and other stuff.
Scolding Rocky under his breath, Grace bent down to pick them up and stopped in his tracks. His hand reached forward to pick up an object he didn't expect underneath a pile of empty pill bottles.
A positive pregnancy test.
His stomach turned. Grace shoved all the trash back and got out back into the soulless hallways. His feet became heavier, but he continued to make his way around and see what was left. Rocky's voice called out to him but the echoes made him inaudible. Not that he has the room to listen anyways.
The place was big but it all boils down to observations that stood out — someone was tied up in a chair and shot, someone shot themselves, someone was inside a vent full of broken electric wires, and someone was bleeding on the hospital bed. Grace could only figure out the last part.
Then there was that pregnancy test. Three men and a woman. Too many cases he heard during his years of teaching. Grace tries to ignore it but it lingers on as he finally escapes the claustrophobic space. He can only hope it was planned.
Despite being a delivery vehicle in space, there are no clear windows to the outside world. Only screens that's beyond broken. If they could energize the ship again, would the screen show earth?
Grace briefly looked at the container the company was making the members carry. The bottles are all the same — mouthwash. It came from a brand he is not familiar with but with this many loaded in the cargo, it may be something popular in their country.
Where did they come from? He never heard of a country doing spaceship deliveries.
Grace turned to Rocky, who was already making his way to the entrance. “What do you think, Rock? Murder-suicide or something else?”
“Rocky doesn't understand word.”
“Suicide?” Grace mentally slapped himself for letting it slip. Explaining it now in a ship that has both darkness and death in it is just…
He walked past Rocky and out of the ship. “I will explain later. Let's just go make sure the bodies aren't awake.”
“Grace knows they are asleep, question?”
“It's a joke. Im referring to them as zombie— okay forget it. Let's just go.”
Rocky lets out a small giggle and followed behind.