Chapter Text
Ryland Grace’s life was coming to an end.
He had long made peace with his old age. In his lifetime, he got to save two planets and received bragging rights to being the first human to befriend an alien lifeform. And he got to be the first middle school teacher to teach an alien species.
He was more than fulfilled, and ready to live out his last remaining days doing what he loved most in the entire universe: teaching the next generation about the wonders of science.
He was an old man now, probably in his eighties if he was back on earth. Due to time dilation, his body was closer to seventy five years old.
The extra gravity on Erid, however, made him feel well over one hundred. Adrian and the other molecular xenobiologists on Erid worked hard to make his stay comfortable, but arthritis seems to be unavoidable.
His morning routine was simple, and echoed his routine on earth, with a few small changes to accommodate for the fact that he was on a different planet.
After his alarm woke him up, he would get up, and spent an hour doing yoga to try and ease the throbbing ache in his joints. He never once did this on earth, but the lack of painkillers on Erid had him willing to try anything.
He would then hobble his way into the kitchen where Armando would have his coffee and breakfast shake ready. He saved the meburgers for the evening. He gazed out at the beach below as he enjoyed his nutritionally complete meal.
Usually, by this time, Rocky would be banging incessantly at his front door. He often came by to make sure Grace wasn’t losing track of time, which admittedly he often did.
Upon hearing the door, Grace would quickly get dressed, brush his teeth, and leave to go teach young Eridians, with a mild beratement from Rocky.
That morning was no different. Alarm. Yoga. Breakfast. Daydream. Rocky.
“Sorry buddy, the biolumination team made the sky look extra pretty today,” Grace apologized as he braced against his cane to finish putting on his shoes.
“Grace do this on earth, question?” Rocky scolded, as he always did.
“Yeah…actually I did,” Grace admitted with a grin.
Rocky seemed in a much better mood that morning, which Grace immediately picked up on as he carefully made his way down the steps to the beach.
“How are Adrian and the pebbles?” Grace asked.
“Not pebbles. Children.” Rocky chirped in annoyance.
“They’re little rocks. They’re pebbles,” Grace chided in return.
“Not pebbles!” Rocky exclaimed.
“I’m just messing with you, buddy,” Grace laughed softly.
It was a regular banter between them since Rocky and Adrian had their first litter shortly after their return to Erid.
“I have exciting news from Adrian.”
“Oh yeah? What’s up?” Grace stretched again. Man, he was stiff today.
“Adrian can extend Grace life,” Rocky chirped excitedly, “Grace live longer! More time on Erid with Rocky family!”
Grace’s eyebrows flew up in surprise.
“Oh! Wow!” He exclaimed, “how did you guys figure that one out?”
“We make injection that slows cell death! Worked great in clinical trials!” Rocky was bouncing in the sand as he spoke.
“I don’t know how keen I am to take a random injection, especially one that’s never been tested on humans,” Grace admitted with a chuckle, “besides, I doubt it’ll give me that much extra time.”
"We test on meburger!” Rocky added.
Right. Eridians had ample supply of human flesh to test on.
Grace’s flesh, that they’ve been cloning for years.
Grace exhaled heavily as he pondered his next words.
“Rock, I know you’re having trouble coping with the fact that I’m going to die,” he murmured softly, “but you gotta understand that I’m in a lot of pain here, and, to be honest, I don’t feel the need to extend my life.”
“But Grace-”
“I’ve lived a full, human life and I am the luckiest guy in the universe,” Grace murmured gently, “meeting you, your family, and the other Eridians. Not to mention saving Earth. I’m happy. I’m ready to die when my time comes.”
“Is not enough time…” Rocky moped.
“I know, buddy,” Grace sighed, “look, can I at least think about it? The last time I got an injection from a scientist I was pinned to the ground by some ex-KGB soldiers.”
“Of course. Take long time!” Rocky insisted.
“Thanks,” Grace smiled softly, “you should get home. I’m going to head to my classroom now.”
“Yes. Thank.”
It wasn’t the first time this conversation had come up. Since they arrived on Erid, Rocky was hellbent on engineering a way to keep him alive forever. Grace’s lifespan is roughly one ninth of Rocky’s, so it was inevitable that Rocky would outlive him.
Grace had accepted it. Rocky, on the other hand, could not.
Part of Grace wanted to indulge his friend’s new scientific discovery, after all the two of them have developed a close bond over the years. He trusted him with his life.
However, mysterious alien medical interventions could come with unpleasant side effects.
Just as the two parted ways, there was banging coming from the wall of the biosphere. Grace and Rocky instinctively turned to the sound to see a group of panicked Eridians banging on the wall, screeching and jumping around.
“Wait here, Grace,” Rocky instructed before he quickly scampered over to the wall to receive their message.
As the Eridians spoke to each other through the Xenonite barrier, Rocky’s demeanor became even more excited to the point where he was vibrating in his protective suit.
Grace squinted. In his old age, he was starting to lose his hearing as well, which meant he had no idea what they were talking about from that distance.
He didn’t have to wait long, before Rocky ran back over to him, jumping and rolling to get to him as fast as possible.
“Humans, Grace!” Rocky shrieked as he approached Grace.
Grace was convinced he had either misheard him, or mixed up words in the very tonal nature of the Eridian language.
“Woah, woah, settle down Rock, can you repeat that? You’re so excited I heard you say humans by mistake,” Grace laughed light heartedly.
“We just got a radio transmission! Ship from Earth! Humans are here!”
Oh shit.
Oh shit.
Grace didn’t mishear him.
“What?” He asked, voice dropping in disbelief.
“Is in English, they ask about Grace!” Rocky was practically falling over himself from excitement.
“Are you absolutely sure?” Grace asked firmly, “remember we are 16 light years from Sol, it could be another alien species from a closer star system.”
“ℓII.Vλ!” Rocky simply yelled out the radio frequency.
“Okay, if you’re sure, I’m going to go check it out,” Grace assured Rocky, “but I’m going to be late for class, so I’ll need you to apologize to the students and the principal for me.”
"Understood. Hurry hurry."
Grace practically cleaned out the Hail Mary when he moved into his new home on Erid. He kept the transmission radio in his home, using it primarily to communicate with the Eridians when he needed something.
He returned to his home, wincing as he walked back up the steps he had just climbed down. Rocky followed him, eager to hear about new humans.
Unlike Rocky, the thought of humans coming to Erid both excited Grace and filled him with deep dread.
They were a long, long way from home.
A heavy pit formed in his gut. Did the taumoeba he sent to earth fail to control the astrophage enough? Sol had returned to full brightness, but was it possible it was starting to dim again?
Oh God, were they trying to colonize?
Certain humans were really keen on that at various points in history.
When he got home, he walked back into his bedroom and tuned the radio to the frequency Rocky gave. He hesitated with the mic up to his lips before he could introduce himself to these people.
“What wrong Grace?” Rocky asked.
“Are you sure this is the right frequency?” Grace triple checked.
“Yes. All Eridian scientists hear.”
“And you’re positive they’re humans?”
“Yes! Hurry hurry, you’re stalling!”
“I’m sorry, it’s just…what the heck do I even say to these guys?” He sighed.
Before he could say anything, there was a crackling sound over the radio. He jumped slightly, tuning the frequency ever so slightly.
“This is the HM2,” a young male voice with a faintly Irish accent echoed over the radio.
Grace’s heart leapt into his throat, his breath hitching in complete shock.
Holy fuck. Holy fuck!!!
There really were humans coming to Erid.
“Oh my God, they really are humans.” Grace gasped in disbelief.
“I told Grace!”
“This is the HM2, we come in peace, over.” The same voice crackled a moment later.
Grace’s mouth spread into a gleeful smile as snorted out a laugh at the tacky cliche.
“What funny, question?” Rocky asked.
“I’ll explain later,” Grace dismissed with a soft chuckle.
“We are here to continue the work of Dr. Ryland Grace of Earth, over.” the voice repeated.
Grace’s eyes furrowed curiously. What work could he mean?
Oh…the taumoeba definitely didn’t take. His stomach started to hurt at the thought of humans having to go through that a second time.
“Grace have many emotions,” Rocky chirped, noticing the shift from light hearted to stressed.
“This is a lot to process,” he admitted.
“Grace respond, question?”
“I guess I should, shouldn’t I?” Grace murmured.
Grace took the mic again, taking a deep breath.
“This is Dr. Ryland Grace of the Hail Mary,” he greeted, “uhhh…what the heck are you guys doing out here…over?”
“Holy fuckballs b’ys, he’s alive,” the voice on the radio exclaimed, clearly not realizing his mic was still on.
There was a bit of chaos and static for a few seconds, while Grace blinked in surprise at the outburst.
“My sincerest apologies, Dr. Grace,” an older female voice spoke. Her accent was identical to Grace’s, American, “our communications liaison speaks six languages but tact isn’t one of them, over.”
“Why humans say over, question?” Rocky asked.
“It’s just what people over radio transmission do to signify their message is over,” Grace explained.
“Grace not do that.”
“Because I’m not communicating with humans on the radio most of the time,” Grace sighed softly before leaning back to the mic.
“No hard feelings, I’d be shocked too,” Grace replied to the female human, “do you intend to land on Erid, over?”
“If it is possible for us to survive on Erid’s atmosphere outside our ship, we would like to make contact. Our ship will stay in orbit, but we have a transport pod that will bring us to the surface, over.”
"You do know the atmospheric pressure of Erid is 28 atm, right? Over." Grace warned.
"We're not stupid, Dr. Grace. Over."
That was good enough for him. Grace looked over to Rocky, a knowing smirk on his face.
“Any chance we can make a new airlock for this pod?” He asked.
“Get me the measurements,” Rocky replied, “anything Grace want, Grace get.”
“Alright, give me the measurements for your pod and we can have you at the Hotel Grace in two days, over,” Grace relayed the message back to the ship.
After receiving the exact specs of the transport pod, Rocky quickly got to work along with a few other engineers Grace had gotten to know well.
Meanwhile, Grace cancelled his classes for the week, and cleaned up.
He was going to have company.