Chapter Text
It had already been a few weeks since Grace had left Rocky to his own ship, and he was sitting on the floor of the mental health room, watching pensively as the artificial waves rose up under his shoes.
Now that he had already defeated Astrophage, the silence was deafening. He had grown to miss the companionship that Rocky provided, and while it helped to know that he was safe and heading back home, it was still painful.
What if he wasn’t safe?
He quickly dismissed the thought, chalking it up to being a bit stir-crazy, but it stuck with him as he ate his meager dinner of rehydrated mashed potatoes and peas.
Later, he was winding down for bed, and he had just changed into his pajamas. They were essentially a softer version of his daily wear. He slipped off his worn white Converse.
There were still slight scuff marks on them from the floor of the school where he used to teach, and colorful chemical spills were visible on the bottoms. His ex-girlfriend had said that his shoes were childish and ugly, but he was glad to have them now. They tethered him to other living beings.
He glanced at the xenonite version of the Hail Mary that Rocky had used to communicate with him on their first days together, before they had language. Even after three weeks, it still felt strange to him to go to sleep without Rocky beside him.
“Mary, turn off the lights, please.”
“Good night, Grace. Tomorrow is day number 160 of your return trip.”
~~~
He woke up just 3 hours later, having experienced a terrible nightmare.
It was like a vision, so clear it was almost tangible. Usually his dreams were a bit fuzzy at the edges, but this one was as crisp as the new projector he was given for his 10-year teaching anniversary.
He missed that projector, and when his students would use it to give their little presentations. He wondered how they were doing now.
According to time dilation, it had been over 12 years since he had left for Tau Ceti, and they would be in their mid-20’s. Grace could only wonder how many of them are starving or dead. He grimaced as he idly fidgeted with his glasses.
His dream was about Rocky. He had seen his ship disintegrating, falling apart before his eyes as streams and streams of Taumoeba and Astrophage flooded back into Tau Ceti’s solar system. Rocky was in a frenzy as he tried to repair the cracks in his hull, but for every one he patched, three more opened up.
Rocky’s ammonia gas began drifting out of his hull, and he began to freeze as his joints seized up. If he had complained about how cold Grace’s atmosphere was, this was a whole new level.
Slowly, he began putting together the pieces.
Rocky’s ship was made almost entirely of xenonite. Taumoeba was capable of eating through xenonite, and Rocky didn’t have any plastic to contain them with.
“Mary, get me a whiteboard,” Grace says apprehensively.
“Yes, Grace,” Mary says in a monotonous voice.
“Thank you, Mary.” He was still sleepy, but he could wait. He needed to know if Rocky was OK. He got up and started to get ready. He pulled on his “I had potential” T-Shirt, and mentally prepared himself for the worst. He needed to be able to think with his head on straight, so he then asked Mary for a cup of coffee.
“Preparing coffee,” Mary says. “Milk or sugar?”
“None. I’m going to chug it, but thanks for the sentiment,” Ryland responded.
“Would you like it cold, if that would make it easier?” Mary asked.
“No, that’s gross!” Grace responded incredulously.
Two minutes later, scalding coffee in hand, he was furiously typing away at his scientific calculator with the video log recording him. The whiteboard was covered in scribbly numbers that only he could read.
He hadn't seen Rocky’s ship for three weeks, so he was trying to figure out where Rocky would have to be for redshift to move the IR light out of the Petrova Frequency. He moved his glasses over his eyes and took a gulp of coffee.
He needed to make this clearer to himself, so he pretended he was teaching a class. He turned the whiteboard toward the video recorder and began.
“When redshift occurs, light that’s coming from super duper far away sometimes changes frequency, like it being more “red”, like the name. Scientists actually use this to measure how far away stars are from Earth.”
Grace found out that Rocky wasn’t anywhere near far enough for redshift to start changing the frequency. This must mean that Rocky’s engines weren’t working.
“OK, calm down Ryland, maybe Rocky isn’t using his engines right now,” Grace tried to comfort himself, but there’s no reason why Rocky would suddenly turn off his engines like that.
Rocky had the Astrophage he needed to get himself back to Erid, and he would want to do so as soon as possible. Hell, he was worried that his mate was trying to find someone new. If he knew Rocky at all, he was heading back to Erid as fast as he could.
So why were his engines off?