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“Tall. Tall. Should be more tall.” Robby taps their carapace for emphasis.
“Nuh-uh,” Angel chirrups. “Teacher Grace is only tall because humans are tall. Is not overly tall for human.”
“Is not short either,” Robby snaps back. “And you don't know human heights. Maybe Teacher Grace is human giant!”
Michaela, who is the best artist in the class and so the one who has been entrusted with this most important of projects, growls. “I will throw putty away. I will stomp on putty. I will not do work unless you two shut up, statement.”
Their clutchmate, Teddy, hums a soothing note. “Ignore,” they say. Then, after a pause, “but also make more tall. Not tall tall tall,” they add, lifting an arm that is closest to Angel, “but tall tall? Medium tall?”
Michaela clicks in annoyance, but dutifully adds more putty to the top of Teacher Grace's carapace. “Happy, question?”
Robby and Teddy do jazz hands. Angel waves one hand in acknowledgement of the compromise.
Angel had apparently been the one who first brought up the question of what Teacher Grace might look like as an Eridian. Robby, who sat next to them in class, had been drawn in by their theories, and had brought in Teddy during the break. Teddy had then been the one to suggest approaching Michaela.
Michaela is beginning to think that next time their classmates approach them and ask them to sculpt something, maybe they'll pretend to have left their putty at home.
“What about light sensor coverings, question?” they ask now, eager to move on from the issue of height.
“Fillers,” a quiet voice pipes up from nearby. Michaela recognises it as Violet. They must have seen the four of them thrumming alone in the corner and wandered over to see what was up. Michaela hopes that none of the adults get the same idea— not that they're doing anything wrong, of course, but still. For some reason Michaela feels like they really don't want to explain this.
“Fillers, question?” Robby says, moving aside to let Violet into the circle.
“Fillers are for hearing, like light sensor covers are for light sensing,” Violet explains, tapping one of the slightly different textured areas on their own carapace.
Violet wasn't born needing fillers like some people, but they had a bad moult a couple of years ago and their carapace got warped. Not badly, but enough that it makes sounds rebound weirdly and messes with their echolocation, so they have to wear implants for at least a few years to smooth them out. Michaela thinks they get why Violet wants Teacher Grace's Eridsona to have fillers— they remember how self-conscious Violet was the first time they came into school wearing theirs.
Honestly, fillers are dorky-sounding, even the new ones that are supposedly designed to match the texture of the wearer's carapace. But then, Teacher Grace is a total dork, even for a teacher, so probably they would wear fillers if they were an Eridian. Especially given how much they bump into things. Michaela scratches the putty in two places near the top of Teacher Grace's carapace, where the human light sensors would be, to mimic the texture of filler patches. “Good good good idea,” they say, before any of the other three can argue. Violet trills happily.
“Ooh, add split arm!” Angel whistles. “Like Saviour Rocky! To simulate cane, statement.”
“Cane is for gravity,” Michaela says doubtfully. A split arm will make it harder for the model to stand up on its own. “Eridian Teacher Grace would not need. And lower arms are fine.”
“Saviour Rocky's arm split in space,” Robby points out. “Teacher Grace was in space. If Eridian, they would have split arm.”
“If Eridian they would die die die because of fast hydrogen cell death disease,” Michaela mutters, but they add a split leg and reposition the other legs so that the altered one will not carry too much weight.
They scratch some scars into the carapace and legs as well, because if they're going to imply that Teacher Grace was horribly injured from their travels in space then they want to do the thing properly. They don't have much practice modelling scars, but they remember a puppet show they saw recently where the hero was a fighter who was scratched up a lot to show you many fights they had won. They try to copy those patterns onto teacher Grace.
Huh.
For some reason that looks really good.
Probably because it makes the model sound more like the one made by professionals for the puppet show, Michaela decides. They can feel that their classmates are thinking the same thing.
None of the class are old enough to thrum properly yet. It takes more concentration and vocal control than most Eridians can manage before they're at least in their nineties. But even if they can't create a proper hive mind, these smaller practice thrums do cause a slight leaking of emotions between friends. Like a smaller, more involuntary conversation that is going on behind their proper conversation, where they all speak at the exact same time and can read each others' feelings.
Now Michaela feels themself and the others asking, as one: “are we doing something weird, question?”
Their carapace vibrates with the hum of the others' emotions. Awkwardness, surprise, annoyance, denial and… something else that they maybe don't want to think about too much. The voices coalesce as the group reaches a consensus. “Yes, super weird, statement. But let's not acknowledge it because then we'll have to stop.”
Fortunately it's normal to not address those undercurrent conversations that happen in thrums. Otherwise you'd never get anything done.
The teacher on duty chooses this moment to call across the playground to announce that break is over, so they all have to head to class. Michaela stuffs Eridian Teacher Grace into their bag, cushioning them with some packets of extra putty so that they won't get squished. (And so that it will be harder for anyone to hear them in there.)
Michaela and Robby are in the same history class, and they can tell that they're not the only one struggling to concentrate that day. During afternoon break, all five of them gather at the corner of the playground again without having to discuss it first. Michaela decides that this is because they're all having fun making art together. It's not like it's unusual for people to make art during the breaks.
“Add more scars,” Teddy says. “Looks good good good. And carvings.”
“Not good at carvings,” Michaela admits, still doing their best to ignore the weirdness that has been bubbling up inside them all through class.
“My parent is a carver,” Violet says unexpectedly. “I watch. I can have Teacher Grace, question?”
Michaela hands the model over, along with the scratching tool, and listens as Violet carves in the career signs for a scientist, an educator and a pilot, followed by the symbols for Teacher Grace's name and the cluster signs that show their relationship with Saviour Rocky and Designer Adrian.
Teacher Grace has had a lot of important jobs, Michaela thinks. It can be easy to not think about it when they don't have any career markings to remind you. The markings on the model make them seem clever and important. Just like how the scars and split leg make them seem brave and like they have been in and won a lot of fights.
Not that Teacher Grace would ever be in a fight. They're far too kind and nice for that. Michaela can't imagine Teacher Grace fighting anyone.
Wait… no, actually, they can.
They can totally imagine Eridian Teacher Grace fighting with somebody, maybe one of those scary rock-eating flying monsters all covered in thin spines (“birds”, they remember Teacher Grace calling them) from the Earth video files. If it attacked the class maybe. Eridian Teacher Grace could use their large size to shelter the class from danger while they fought off the monster with their limbs.
Maybe Michaela was sitting by the door to the classroom (they don't usually, but maybe this time they did) and so the monster got to them first and Eridian teacher Grace had to run over and rescue them. Michaela would probably be shocked and maybe a bit hurt after the attack, so Teacher Grace would have to spend time gently humming soothing tones to them to help them calm down, the way they try to do whenever anybody is upset in class. But better, because human vocal chords aren't really built for that kind of thing.
Okay, this is getting maybe slightly weird now.
“Teacher Grace should have jewellery!” they might have spoken a bit loud, but they needed to say something to make sure that they didn't accidentally let their weird ass daydreams leak out into the thrum. Robby, Angel and Teddy all startle, having been apparently engrossed in watching Violet moving the scratching tool along Teacher Grace's limbs. “Teacher Grace should have jewellery, statement,” they repeat in a more normal voice. “Teacher Grace wears jewellery all the time. I have beads!” They pull out the bag of small stones, all different textures, patterns and materials, designed to mimic celebration jewellery for models. The others help them sort through them.
Teacher Grace's neck hanging and upper-arm rings are relatively easy, because they're just normal pieces of Eridian celebration jewellery adapted for human anatomy. The stones are smaller and smoother than an Eridian would normally wear, because they have to be light enough for Teacher Grace to carry them and have no sharp edges to scratch its delicate skin. The group decides that Eridian Teacher Grace wouldn't need these adaptations and so the stones they choose are normal sized in proportion to the model.
Michaela does make the bands holding them on slightly loose, however, after Teddy points out the way that Teacher Grace likes to twirl and fiddle with them during class. Teacher Grace even sometimes refers to their jewellery with the human word “fidgets”, which they translated as: “a thing that's designed to be fiddled with, for people who need a little help with focusing or working off excess energy.”
Teacher Grace's Earth ball falls into this category as well. Probably so do their light sensor coverings, when they're not being used to cover their face, though Teacher Grace seemed reluctant when asked about that.
Teacher Grace had explained to the class before that humans can't focus very easily on more than one complicated activity at a time, which was why they needed simple things to fiddle with. They had to explain this pretty early on, actually, because students kept trying to talk to them all at once and the overlapping voices gave them head pain.
Unlike an Eridian teacher, they couldn't even distinguish the individual conversational threads, let alone keep track of them. In Teacher Grace's class, people need to speak one at a time and raise their arms if they want to ask a question. It's very weird.
Michaela stayed behind after class once, after an incident when some students (not Michaela, or at least Michaela hadn't been as loud as some of the others) had got carried away and Teacher Grace had needed to call for silence and re-explain the rules. The class had been pretty subdued afterwards, because Teacher Grace had used very formal tones to explain the rules again, and to make it clear that they knew that the class remembered the rules and knew that the students were capable of being more sensible and considerate than this.
Teacher Grace used formal register with them more often than other adults did, and normally Michaela liked it because it made them feel grownup and like they were doing real science. That day, however, it just made them feel sad and small, because they'd disappointed Teacher Grace.
Michaela hadn't been the only one in the class who stayed behind to apologise. Nervously, they'd asked Teacher Grace if they wanted to go back Earth, since then they could teach Earth Students and wouldn't have to worry about people talking over each other or forgetting to raise their hands.
For some reason, Teacher Grace had laughed a lot about that. Then, when they realised that Michaela was upset, they hummed their best approximation of a calming tone and explained that, even though they missed their Earth students sometimes, they still loved their Eridian class “even when you guys give me a headache!”
Michaela had gone away a lot happier and resolved to do better next lesson. Teacher Grace was just so kind and understanding and… wow, okay, that memory is hitting different for some reason.
Anyway, the group decides that if Teacher Grace was an Eridian then they would probably just do projects while teaching or hold extra conversations, like a normal person. But maybe, since they had so much energy, they would like to have the fidgets as well.
The upper arm clock is harder to achieve, but they find a flat bead that must have been warped a bit during manufacturing, because its texture is all bubbly. Not remotely the same as Teacher Grace's upper arm clock, but a similarly weird texture.
Michaela wishes there was a way to simulate the noise the clock makes. Teacher Grace had been very excited when one of the class explained that, because of the frequency of the noise and how close it was to their skin, every time the clock ticks it gives the whole class a much clearer than usual view of Teacher Grace's arm bones.
Humans can't see their own bones with their light sense, unless they use an 'unknown radiation camera machine'. There was one on the human ship, but Teacher Grace isn't allowed to use it because it's too dangerous and all their doctors can see their bones anyway. For some reason, they sounded slightly annoyed about this.
Maybe Michaela's next model could be a copy of Teacher Grace's skeleton. They would probably like that, Michaela thinks.
When the model is completed, Michaela sets it on the ground so that they can all hear it more clearly. It's a very good model, possibly one of Michaela's best. That's why they really want to keep echolocating at it. No other reason.
“Hey, what are you guys hiding, question?” Ugh, it's Jeff. One of the more annoying students in the class in Michaela's opinion. Always sticking their carapace in other people's business. They're clicking at them now, obnoxiously loud, trying to detect what they're listening to. “Cool, a small Eridian!”
“Is teacher Grace,” Robby blurts, and Teddy kicks them.
“Teacher Grace isn't an Eridian.”
Michaela really wants to head to the biodome right now so that they can plunge themself into oxygen and burn to death, but they still feel the need to defend their art. “Is Teacher Grace if Teacher Grace was an Eridian,” they say, in the most formal tones they can muster. “Is artistic interpretation.”
“Oh.” Jeff doesn't sound nearly as quashed as Michaela had hoped. “Why are they so hot, question?”
***
Rocky can hear Grace's class before he approaches.
The students have got better at not talking over each other, but only in pitches that their human teacher can hear. Outside that range, it's fair game. Grace says he doesn't mind, so long as the class can still focus on their work.
Grace's own voice, or rather that of his speech piano, rises above the rabble, explaining the details of some experiment he's carrying out for the class.
“The water inside the container is now boiling. You should be able to hear it moving more— that's because some of the water molecules have decided that they want to break free-“
There's a snatch of human voice now, some Earth song that Grace evidently thinks is appropriate for the explanation. Rocky can hear several ultrasonic cheers.
“- and become a gas. So they form these round air pockets called bubbles, which float to the top of the water and make it move. But what's really cool is what happens when I pick the can up with these tongs, and dip it into this really cold water…“
Rocky enters the biodome to the sound of crackling aluminium, excited chirps and Grace explaining about atmospheric pressure.
Rocky waits until the class has finished before coming up to Grace's desk. Most of the kids are used to him hanging around by now, but there's no reason to risk distracting them.
Grace is clearing away the remains of his experiment, in between shouting goodbyes to individual students.
“Good lesson, question?”
“Huh?” It's never not funny how easy it is to sneak up on Grace when he's not looking in Rocky's direction. “Oh hi Rock. Yeah, the collapsing can experiment is always a hit.“
“Is loud and involves destroying things,” Rocky observes. “Grace's favourite kind of science. Almost as good as explosions.”
“Hey, that was one time! And— oh.” Grace picks up his speech piano as one of the students approaches the barrier. “Hey Michaela. What do you have there?”
The student is holding something in two claws, but it's slightly too small and too detailed for Rocky to echolocate.
The kid is fidgeting. Nervous of Rocky, maybe? They wordlessly hold up their gift. Grace bends down to their level and squints.
“Oh, wow. Is that a human skeleton?”
Jazz hands. Yes. The kid waves the gift in front of the barrier, like that might help Grace see it more clearly. It sounds very detailed. “Did you make that? It's amazing!”
“Yes. Is gift! Can I put in the airlock?” They pull open the drawer in the xenonoite without waiting for a response, and place the little figure carefully inside. “Look look look!” They tap the ground in excitement.
Grace grimaces. “Gee, I'd love to, but I think it's gonna be a bit hot for me at the moment.” He sees the kid's carapace lower. “But listen, it'll be cool enough for me to touch soon enough, and I'll be able to look at it then. And next lesson, I'll tell you all about it, okay?”
The kid gives one, very slow, very unenthusiastic jazz hand.
Rocky definitely isn't a kid person, certainly not like Grace is, but he's not a fucking monster either. “I can hold,” he says. “I can hold so Teacher Grace can see clearer.”
He opens the drawer (Grace wrinkles his nose as he senses the ammonia in the air) and gently picks up the little skeleton, holding it steady so Grace can admire it.
“Oh wow. You've got all the little hand and foot bones and even… hey. Rock, hold the skull up a bit?” Grace squints at the tiny human skull, leaning closer than is probably comfortable given how hot it is from his perspective. He bares his teeth in a wide grin. “It's got my missing teeth! Is this my skeleton?”
Michaela trills happily. “Yes yes yes! Because you can't see your bones without dangerous radiation machine. So I make bones for you! This is what you look like inside!”
Rocky thinks that Grace might be trying to smother a laugh, but he holds himself together well. “Thanks so much Michaela. That's really special. I'm gonna treasure this.”
He reaches toward the skeleton as if to pick it up and Rocky bats his hand away before he can burn himself. “Grace likes gift so much that he forgets that heat exists,” he tells the kid, who chitters a laugh.
Grace rolls his eyes at Rocky, then grins at the kid. The kid freezes, squeaks and, without another word, scurries off out the door.
Grace raises his eyebrows. “What do you think that was about?”
Rocky pauses. “The skeleton or the running, question?”
“Uh, both.”
Rocky looks down at the gift. As a replica of Grace's skeleton, it's very accurate. It must have taken a long time to create, and a lot of focusing on Grace's internal workings during class. He thinks about how the kid seemed so nervous coming up to the glass, was so keen to make sure their gift was appreciated and then ran off right after. Almost as if…
Oh.
Oh no. Oh yes. This is fucking fantastic. This is amaze amaze amaze. This isn't quite the best day of Rocky's life— because Rocky's had some really good days— but might qualify for the best day of his year.
Grace tilts his head suspiciously. “What is it? Do you know something?”
“Rocky knows. Rocky knows all.”
“And?”
“No! No! Adrian is coming for movie night soon. Wait till they arrive, then I explain.”
Rocky trills in undisguised glee. Grace rubs a hand over his eyes. “Oh god, what is it? There's no way this is anything good.”
“Wait wait wait. Wait for Adrian!”
Grace shuts his eyes and opens them slowly, in an expression of pure human despair. “Why do I need to wait for Adrian?”
“Because Grace's reaction is going to be hilarious, statement.”