Work Text:
The first time Grace saw them was after Rocky came back with his clock. The alien was talking away in its musical language—clearly excited that they were making progress towards breaking that language barrier—when Grace saw movement out of the corner of his eye.
He looked to the side, and Rocky whirled around at the same time. His musical notes taking a distinct, scolding tone towards the three smaller aliens that had just snuck their way into the light.
They skittered off as quickly as they came. Rocky did something that was almost a sigh before lifting up a claw for Grace to wait.
It seemed like the rest of Rocky's crew was excited about meeting the alien. So much so that they apparently ignored Rocky's orders to wait in the safety of the ship.
While Grace didn't feel particularly dangerous, he supposed it made sense to be wary of the alien.
****
No matter where they were in their progress communicating, Rocky always left at regular intervals. Grace supposed he should be thankful for this: it helped him keep a regular rest schedule. A part of him wanted to figure this out immediately though.
Grace could be patient though. Really.
And, he wasn't going to fault Rocky for taking his own rest.
The full reason for this only became truly apparent though when they talked about their crews. Rocky told Grace that there were 23 Eridians, and 22 died.
"But, what about the ones I saw a few days ago?"
Rocky fiddled with his claws before saying, "Need word. Smaller of crew. Came from crew."
It took Grace a moment, but then he all but yelled, "KIDS?!? WHY ARE THERE KIDS UP HERE?!?"
That was when Rocky slowly—due to the need to define words and the clear emotional toll it took on the alien—explained that Eridians sometimes laid their eggs when close to death. It was an unpredictable biological response. As it became clear that Rocky was the only Eridian who wasn't sick, the eggs had been moved to his rooms for him to watch over.
There had been fifty eggs, which usually led to twenty five babies.
Three hatched about twenty years ago.
This was also when Grace learned the difference between human and Eridian lifespans. The twenty-year old Eridians were considered toddlers. Rocky had been closely caring for three babies for the last twenty years.
Rocky confessed that he was actually preparing to return to Erid when Grace showed up. The Eridian had left on the mission prepared to remain in this system for as long as it took to solve the astrophage problem; nonetheless, Rocky wouldn't force the children to grow up in space while he couldn't even make any progress.
Then, Grace had come. Rocky was willing to stay a little longer and take a chance on Grace.
The human was immensely thankful for that. He was so thankful that he didn't have to do this alone.
"I promise we'll solve this, buddy."
****
Grace officially met the kids soon after picking a voice for Rocky.
They were small. So small that they could fit in the palm of Grace's hand if he could only touch them.
Oh, Grace was so, so sad that he couldn't hold them! They were so cute!
The trio was an excitable bunch. Or, maybe, it was the novelty of meeting a new person for the first time in twenty years. Not to mention, that person was an entirely different species. The three pebbles sang and climbed over each other to try to speak with Grace. They spoke so fast that the translator couldn't pick it up.
Drawing on a flash of memory, Grace said, "Hey, hey, hand is up."
The pebbles imitated Grace raising his hand.
The teacher put his other hand over his mouth. "Hand is up, mouths are quiet."
Rocky's posture was flabbergasted, watching the children quickly quiet down.
"How Grace do that, question? Teach Rocky, demand!"
****
I took no time at all for Grace to love these kids. What could he say? The kids were why he loved being a schoolteacher and could put up with all of the paperwork.
The pebbles were quickly dubbed Skip, Grape, and Kirk.
Skip was a little bundle of energy. Always on the go. Rolling, climbing, and—yes—skipping. They were a cool grey color with some streaks of red. Thin, long legs attached to their body.
Grape had a roundish body with chunky little legs and a purplish color to them. The color may or may not have been the source of their name. Grace would never claim to be too creative.
Little Grape was a sweet thing with a voice like plucked harp strings. Rocky made sure to emphasize how Grace should not be fooled: Grape could be as much of a menace as Skip. Grape was just subtler.
Then, there was Kirk. The Eridian was a light brown with golden flecks in their carapace. Kirk was the defacto leader of the pebbles. Not just because they were kind of bossy but also because they looked out for the other pebbles and mediated between them.
Grace really wanted to show the pebble their namesake, but he worried a bit that the other pebbles would be sad that they didn't get Star Trek names.
Or, they would think the show was lame. Not everyone could enjoy classic Star Trek. Kids didn't always have the patience to sit through the monologues too.
Anyway, the kids started showing up more as Grace and Rocky tried to figure out more communication and begin to work on the astrophage problem. How much they were allowed to hang around the grown ups depended on how much they interrupted. Sometimes, the kiddos seemed fine to entertain themselves for a couple hours. Sometimes, they asked questions every five minutes.
Although Grace loved answering the kids' questions, they did have two stars to save. Questions could—and often did—get them off the rails.
Such a question was asked by Grape one day.
"Grace," they said sweetly.
"Yes, Grape?"
"Grace only human on ship, question?"
Smiling sadly, the teacher said, "Yeah, it's just me."
The little pebble trilled sadly before asking, "Who watch Grace sleep, question?"
"Um," Grace glanced at Rocky for help. Kids could have the oddest hang ups or rituals.
"Stars watch Grace sleep," Rocky said gently.
"Stars far far far away," Skip pointed out.
"No one watch Grace sleep, question?"
"Rocky watch Grace sleep," Kirk said, as if this was the natural solution. The other pebbles hummed their agreement, and Grace looked to Rocky again for help.
The grown Eridian shifted uncomfortably before saying, "Grace ship far from pebbles' nest. Rocky cannot watch both."
"Move nest to tunnel, statement," Kirk said before scrambling down the tunnel.
The other pebbles followed after them, and Rocky made a musical sigh.
"What's that about?" Grace asked after a moment.
Rocky tapped his claws together. "Apology. Should watch before, but not know if pebbles feel safe."
"Why should you watch?"
That was when Rocky explained Eridian sleep culture. How it was important for others to watch over you to keep you safe. It was a tradition that began as a way to keep each other safe from predators but was now a larger source of comfort.
His alien friend apologized again for not guarding over Grace's sleep before; however, the human understood. Rocky was putting the kids' comfort and safety first. Grace would do the same in his shoes. He was honestly not hurt at all. Moreso warm and fuzzy because these sweet kids cared enough to make sure that he was watched over.
It was admittedly a bit weird to have four rock-spider aliens stare into his soul as he tried to sleep on the mattress he dragged into the tunnel.
Still, the thought was what counted.
****
Because the kids had moved their nest to the tunnel, there was more time for science while they slept. There was still plenty of time while they were awake that they would get in the way though. Rocky had to occasionally send them on little tasks/chores, and Grace started preparing assignments for them.
During one of the kids' sleep times—the pebbles slept in an adorable little heap on or near their guardian—Rocky brought up how the rest of the crew died. He wondered if Grace could figure out what went wrong.
"Scared scared scared," Rocky confessed. "Not know why crew died. Not know if happen to pebbles. Scared scared scared."
Of course, Grace agreed to help immediately. He couldn't imagine the fear that loomed over Rocky at the prospect that what killed his crew might kill his kids. If Grace could help, he would.
And—based off of the symptoms Rocky told him about—Grace at least had a suspicion about what went wrong.
The human told Rocky about radiation. How humans had discovered it, how it was an invisible force most of the time. Since the Eridian scientists had yet to discover radiation, they wouldn't have known how to prevent it.
Smart as Grace believed Rocky to be, there was no way his alien friend could have solved this. It wasn't his fault.
Eridians didn't cry the way that humans did, but Rocky sang mournfully over his lost crewmates.
"Grace, question?" Rocky eventually said.
"Yeah?"
"Your ship safe from radiation, question?"
Grace nodded. "Like I said, humans discovered it in space a long time ago, so we worked hard to keep it out of our spaceships."
The Eridian did his little claw fidget that he did when he hesitated, forming his words or thinking. "Rocky scared scared scared for pebbles. Can come on Grace ship, question? Please, question?"
Although Grace had theorized that the astrophage had kept Rocky and the pebbles safe, he understood that that was cold comfort when faced with the deaths of 22 people.
"...just let me clean up a bit first."
****
The pebbles squealed as they rolled their ball into the Hail Mary. Rocky and Grace had decided that it would be easier to corral one larger ball than three small ones.
And, the pebbles' bickering did slow them down plenty.
"Amaze amaze amaze!"
"Kirk step on Grape claw!
"Same direction! Go same direction!"
Grace thought he did an amazing job of not collapsing to the floor in laughter as the pebbles tried to go in three separate directions, causing their ball to stay stock still. Then, the pebbles started to push each other around and pounce on each other like some kind of rock-crab-kittens.
"No fight!" Rocky scolded. "Follow Grace."
The pebbles continued their little slap fight.
Rocky tilted his carapace towards Grace, raising a questioning claw.
Grace had taught him that "hand is up" shouldn't be overused, or it lost its power. You had to save it for the right situations.
This was a good situation to use it, so Grace nodded.
"Rocky hand is up!"
Stopping what they were doing, the pebbles each raised a little claw into the air.
****
Living with Rocky and the pebbles was an adventure and a half.
The Eridians took over what felt like a third of the ship. Xenonite tunnels sprawled through many of the rooms, including the dorms, so that it would be easier to watch each other sleep.
Privacy was non-existent now though. Rocky and the pebbles could echolocate through the whole ship. The pebbles had less range, but Grace still had to answer some uncomfortable—for him—questions about his bodily functions.
It turned out that Eridians also squealed out their equivalent of "Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww!"
Even Rocky joined in on saying how disgusting Grace's body was. Especially how he ate.
Skip seemed a bit morbidly fascinated with Grace's eating, which Rocky clearly found concerning.
Outside of the undeserved criticism on his natural bodily functions—and learning how to tell Rocky that he needed to stop being a bossy jerk without undermining his parental authority—they were having a pretty good time.
Time in the ball was limited for the pebbles because neither Rocky nor Grace wanted to that chaos going on while they tried to work. There was a supervised tour of the ship though. Including the "Don't Go Crazy" Room, which was exciting to everyone once Rocky figured out how to make a texture screen to translate the images.
The pebbles loved Earth! Skip especially liked birds. Grape could stare at the ocean forever, which Grace gave a fist bump of solidarity to. Kirk seemed most interested in cities and different kinds of people.
Every now and then, they'd all watch a movie. It was a good break from work (and four musical/computerized voices clamoring for him to explain through puppet shows). Grace was hoping to get through his own favorites before the pebbles had seen enough to fight over movie selections.
****
When they decided to go to the third planet, Rocky and Grace were talking over the plans.
Then, Kirk asked, "We bring parents, question?"
"I mean, Rocky's right here." Grace said confusedly.
"No no, still parents. Ones that not wake up."
The realization of what Kirk meant struck Grace speechless.
Thankfully, Rocky recovered quickly and said, "Yes yes, will bring Blip-A. Make sure have everything we need."
That seemed to satisfy Kirk, and they scuttled off to find their siblings.
Once Grace could find his voice, he asked, "You kept them? The crew?"
The Eridian was quiet for a while before saying, "Kept far far from Rocky and pebbles room. Kept for families on Erid. Rocky tell pebbles to stay in Rocky rooms, but pebbles no always listen."
"God," Grace breathed, rubbing a hand over his face. What could he even say about such a complicated situation?
"Explain as best Rocky can."
"I'm sure you did."
****
Traveling to the third world was slower with the Blip-A. They had the ships fly through the day, Rocky on the Blip-A while Grace and the pebbles were on Mary. Then, they'd stop connect the ships with the tunnel in order to bring Rocky over for the night.
A much slower journey than if they took one ship and let it fly day and night.
That mean they'd have to leave behind the "still parents" though, and Grace understood why Rocky didn't want to have that conversation with the pebbles.
****
Getting the sample was the easy part. The science was where the real work happened. Grace was determined to solve this: not just for Earth but for Rocky, Grape, Skip, Kirk, and the rest of Erid.
Rocky did his best to distract the pebbles from Grace while the human diligently compared astrophage samples.
Grace himself was a bit distracted by how Rocky chased the pebbles down and pinned them under claws. The pebbles squealed in delight before being dragged off or thrown in the air.
Loud as it was, Grace didn't complain. It was dang cute!
Distractions aside, Grace did compare the samples and discussed the baffling results with Rocky.
The revelation that there was life on Adrian—that there was a predator to control the astrophage populations—was incredible progress. It was an answer that created a plan for them to go forward.
One problem: the plan could potentially kill them.
No matter how they ran over the fishing plan, it needed both Grace and Rocky.
No matter how they thought it over, there was a chance that they would die.
They discussed this over and over as the pebbles slept.
This was the best plan though. Rocky could potentially go home and retrieve a new crew. Build upon the knowledge the first mission had and retrieve the predator safely.
That would definitely end with Grace and a good chunk of humanity dying though.
Erid had time thanks to their thick atmosphere.
Grace and Earth did not.
Rocky found found that unacceptable. He seemed to find Grace dying the most unacceptable thing, and Grace didn't have the heart to tell him that that was always the plan.
What they eventually decided on was that they would go fishing, but Rocky would leave the pebbles on the Blip-A with Kirk in charge. With firm instructions to stay in Rocky's rooms to avoid radiation. The Eridian would also leave detailed instructions in cannisters just in case they failed. Mostly for the scientists on Erid, but there were also instructions to lead the pebbles back home.
Grace was going to do everything in his power to make sure that that cannister never had to be opened. Rocky was going to live, and he was going to go home to live a long life with his pebbles and Adrian.
He dedicated himself to learning to pilot Mary. He practically lived and breathed the instruction manual.
Meanwhile, Rocky built the collector and the chain. The pebbles "helped" by making their own chain. It was very, very cute to see them make a little assembly line, handling large chunks of xenonite that looked HUGE in their tiny claws.
****
Leaving the pebbles on the Blip-A was one of the most difficult things Grace had ever done.
Emotionally, that is.
His doctoral thesis was still pretty high up there too.
Anyway, Grace was deflecting from the fact that he definitely teared up as Grape and Skip sung pitifully as before slinking sadly into the ship. Kirk put on a brave front, but Grace knew that the little Eridian must be just as scared to say goodbye to Rocky.
Fudge, this must be the first time they've ever been truly separated.
This was where Grace learned how Eridians said goodbye. Rocky scraped one arm over the other, creating a musical farewell. The pebbles copied him in a little chorus.
Grace and Rocky bravely didn't point out how devastated they were when back on the Hail Mary.
****
Rocky did his best to appear cheerful for Grace. The human played along because he didn't know how much of this was for him and how much was for Rocky himself.
The Eridian explained the plan with Grace to the video diary.
Which was how Grace finally slipped up to let Rocky know that this was kind of—most definitely—a suicide mission for him.
Needless to say, Rocky didn't take the news well. Grace thought that part of it was Rocky being already emotionally wired from parting with the pebbles.
The words were untranslatable from how Rocky screeched them.
Grace tried to speak calmly. "It's okay."
"IS NOT!! IS NOT OKAY!!!"
"I've accepted it, Rocky. I've made peace with it."
"NO!"
Pleadingly, Grace said, "Come on, Rocky, it's—it has to be like this. We couldn't make enough astrophage for a trip back."
The Eridian stilled. "How much astrophage you need, question?"
"About two million kilograms."
Rocky's claws moved as he calculated. Then, "I can give. I go six years slower."
"That's too much," Grace tried to protest. But, he felt hope welling up in his chest.
"Not too much. Pebbles hate Rocky forever if Grace die."
Grace laughed as the tears in his eyes started to fall. "Really feeling the love."
"Yes yes. Rocky and pebbles love Grace very much."
Unable to help himself, Grace hugged the xenonite ball.
****
Fishing was a disaster, but they did get the collector. Grace was determined to have a predator ready by the time Rocky woke up.
Because, Rocky would wake up.
Rocky was not dead.
Rocky was not going to leave Grace, Grape, Skip, and Kirk to mourn him.
Rocky was not going to make Grace hand off his dead body to three children before sending them off to make the journey through space alone.
Fudgsicles, if Rocky didn't make it, Grace would just have to bite the bullet and leave for Erid with the pebbles. He didn't think he could send three kids on such a long journey by themselves.
As Grace worked on breeding the tauomeba, Mary announced, "Blip-F detected."
...when did they get to F?
Grace ran to the control room to see that the Blip-A had thrown a cannister. One of several if the letters system could be trusted.
Fiddlesticks.
Once he caught the cannister and opened it, he found a crudely made xenonite statue. It looked like a human and an Eridian standing next to each other, three smaller Eridians stood on top of the larger one.
Yeah, Grace full-on sobbed.
They were asking if they could come back.
And, Grace didn't know if he could face them right now.
The human curled up next to where Rocky laid motionless, cradling the statue to his chest.
"Grace okay, question?"
He swore, he nearly broke his neck with how quickly he looked up. But, Grace was soon scrambling over to hug the xenonite wall.
"I thought you were dead," Grace whimpered.
"Rocky not die. Rocky have pebbles and Grace to care for."
****
The reunion had much singing, and the pebbles climbed all over Rocky while singing joyously. Grace was so gosh darn jealous.
Seeing the Eridians so happy nearly made up for it though. Rocky praised them for the statue they sent, which Grace was keeping forever and ever by the way.
Then, they informed the pebbles that the mission was a success. Much bouncing and happy squealing all around. Even more after Grace informed them that they were having a party!
Rocky dressed the pebbles and himself in jangly, decorative pieces of xenonite. Grace wore a paper party hat. He also placed one on Rocky's ball and another on the pebbles'.
The pebbles were distraught when they realized that Grace didn't get pretty, jangly jewelry to wear. Each pebble insisted on gifting Grace a piece of their celebration outfits.
Grace also had gifts for the Eridians: a laptop, a little bean bag, and his fox plush. He made the pebbles promise to share the gifts, which they agreed to—if somewhat reluctantly.
The visit to Blip-A was also much enjoyed by all. The ship was beautiful! A feat of engineering that made Grace wish that he had the training to understand. Gosh, he wasn't an engineer, but this was incredible!
The pebbles seemed more enthused with the fact that they could climb all over the xenonite-covered Grace. They treated him like their own personal jungle gym, and Grace was so endeared by them.
If only that moment wasn't interrupted with the memory of being tackled to the dirt.
****
Okay, saying goodbye before the fishing trip was way easier than saying goodbye for forever. At least for the fishing trip, Grace could smile and say that he'd be back.
This was the end though.
The pebbles were distraught.
Inconsolable.
They literally wailed themselves to exhaustion without actually saying goodbye to Grace.
"I'm sorry, Rock," Grace said once the kids fell asleep. "They're going to be nightmares for a while."
"Understand," Rocky said quietly. "Rocky also want grieve. Will grieve, but must be strong. For pebbles and Erid. And for Grace."
The human teared up again. "Yeah. Fudge, Rocky, you're so strong. Thanks for being strong for us."
"Welcome." There was a pause before he added, "Will miss Grace."
"I'm going to miss you too." Grace didn't think he'd ever stop missing Rocky and the pebbles.
****
When the tauomeba leak made itself known, it wasn't even a choice. There was no way in heaven or hell that Grace was leaving the four most important people to him in space to die.
There was also Erid, but—if Grace was being honest with himself—the thing that drove him to go back was the thought of three pebbles knowing something is wrong. Of them not fully understanding why the ship has stopped. Of Rocky trying desperately to do something, anything to find a solution. Of rocky having to stay strong—he was always so strong for them—as death slowly came for him and the pebbles.
Yeah, no way in fucking hell was Grace going to let that happen.
He placed his little statue of all of them together and set a course for the Blip-A.
****
Grace won't lie: he cried his eyes out once he spotted the Blip-A.
He also cried when they made contact and Rocky confirmed that he and the pebbles were safe.
He also cried once he held a xenonite ball in his arms.
He was feeling a lot of things, okay? Mostly relief and joy! The thoughts of his own eventual starvation in the back of his mind. Who cared if he only had a few more years? Those years would be spent with the people he cared about the most!
The pebbles were so ecstatic that Grace had trouble understanding them. Once they calmed down a bit, they kept talking about how they were going to live with Grace on Erid.
After the pebbles fell asleep—crowded against the wall closest to Grace—the human said, "I don't want to think about it, but we will have to tell them that I can't live on Erid."
"Stupid stupid stupid," Rocky scolded. "Grace can live on Erid. Make home for Grace. Live many years with Rocky, Skip, Grape, and Kirk. Adrian will love love Grace too."
That sounded too good to be true, but Grace let himself picture it. Let himself smile at the thought.
****
Years later, Grace sat on an artificial beach. Rocky sat by his side, and Grape was curled up between them. Adrian was on Rocky's other side.
They watched as Skip and Kirk furiously splashed one another in the faux ocean.
"Rock?"
"Yes, Grace, question?"
"Tell the team that I'm grateful, But I'm happy right here." Earth had long since stopped being his home. Grace didn't need to go back. He didn't want to.
He was happy right where he was.