Chapter Text
Ryland Grace woke up to the frantic tumble of Rocky as the alien did his best to circle the blonde’s bed in his excitement. His computer-provided voice informed the groggy man,
“Wake up, Grace. Wake up. There’s a signal. A signal, Grace.” while he rolled around.
“A signal?…From who?” Grace muttered while he rubbed his eyes and sat up to grab his glasses from where he’d left them at the edge of his bed.
“Don’t know. Just know that there is a signal.” Rocky replied, quick to lead the way back to the cockpit when Grace’s feet hit the floor.
The blonde stretched as he followed his best friend through the halls of the ship. Once he was in the pilot’s seat, he looked around and hit play on screen that displayed the mystery signal. However, the sound that was played made him clap his hands over his ears. The shrill shrieks and crackles of technology filled the cockpit until he slammed his finger into the screen to turn it off.
“Did you catch any of that, Rock?” The blonde asked once sweet silence had returned to the Hail Mary.
“No. Didn’t sound Eridian.” The spider-like rock said, and Grace pursed his lips to think. That didn’t sound human. Is that the space ship SOS signal? He asked himself, taking a moment to weigh the options before he moved over to look out into the ocean of darkness.
He could see a small planet of violent red not too far below, but no ships. As far as the teacher could tell, the Hail Mary was the only one around. That’s not good...Mary can’t withstand entering an atmosphere, and I don’t know if we could risk another drive by like we did at Adrien. He thought while he stared down at the planet. If it’s another intelligent lifeform in need of help, though, I can’t just abandon them. So, how do I go about this?
He chewed on the question for a long moment before Rocky trilled.
“Will go make chain longer. Then lower rocky down to investigate. Statement.” But, Grace ran to get ahead of the alien’s hamster ball.
“Absolutely not. If we lower anyone down, it should be me. I’d have an easier time using my hands than you would in your ball.”
“You need oxygen, and space suit not built for strange atmospheres. Safer if Rocky goes. Statement.” The spider-like creature argued, but when he went to go around Grace, the blonde scooted to block again.
“You’re also stronger than me, and I’m lighter than you. You’d have a far easier time pulling me back in then I would you.”
“Grace is strong, but too squishy, and Grace is needed for navigation back to Erid. Rocky go.” The stone spider insisted with a stomp of his blunt foot. But, Grace put his foot down.
“No. You have a mate, you are not expenda-”
“Neither is Grace. Statement.” Rocky cut him off with a forceful stomp of his foot to communicate his anger through the text-to-speech. But, the blonde shook his head stubbornly. The two at a stand still for what felt like an hour until Rocky finally conceded with a stiff,
“Fine.” and stomped off to work on the chain. Sure to add with a claw jabbed at Grace, “But only because you have better thumbs. Statement.” before he turned a corner.
The two didn’t talk while the alien worked and the teacher pulled on his space suit, with the sole exception of when they came together to do the math for the chain length, then the additional length to accommodate whether or not they’d miss the source of the signal. When they deemed the chain long enough, Grace secured it around his chest and took a deep, slow breath to try to slow the way his heart thundered against his ribs. Then, he let Rocky lower him onto the planet as if he were a spy in a movie.
Miraculously, maybe due to the slow pace, or maybe because of something about the atmosphere, Grace didn’t combust as he was lowered down from the safest-yet-closest distance he could get the ship to. As a consequence, he was given plenty of time to drink in the new planet while he was lowered.
“It looks like it’s some sort of red dirt. The sky also seems to be red, though that might be a misconception on my part.” He reported back to Rocky. His blue eyes scanned over the surface while he approached. “I don’t feel any insane warmth, either, so that’s good.”
“Make sure your suit does not tear.” Rocky reminded him, and Grace snorted. His heart still pounded painfully in his chest, but so long as he fed what he saw back to Rocky, he could keep the anxiety at bay.
At least, until he was close enough to realize that what he looked down at wasn’t red dirt like they’d found on Mars, but instead a ruby-colored ocean that swished and swayed.
“O-oh, looks like it’s some sort of water planet. Cool.” He said with a small, somewhat tense laugh that Rocky picked up on in an instant.
“Do you need to come back. Question.” but Grace shook his head.
“No. No, I’ll be fine. I don’t see any gasses coming off of it, and no bubbles, so it’s not acidic.” Hopefully.
At that point, he was close enough to take a better look around at the surface of the water, and while he didn’t find any islands, or land at all, he did spot a particularly dark spot about twenty feet away. Something bobbed at the surface of the water, ninety-five percent submerged, but the rough way the light bounced off of it gave it away.
“Rocky! I think I found the source of the signal! I just need to swim to it!” He reported to Rocky through his helmet and sank into the ocean.
Thankfully, the liquid didn’t cook him alive or melt him into a puddle like he’d feared, but it did feel disgustingly viscous. Grace could feel the way the thick fluid lapped at the material of his space suit while he bobbed, and he quickly felt how much more effort it took to swim through it. It’s not blood, don’t think of it as blood. He tried to tell himself as he made his way towards the metal thing. Yet, it was impossible to ignore reality when the sickly sweet stench of sugar syrup and pennies wiggled its way into his helmet to make his mouth taste sour and his heart rate spike. Okay, new plan. Don’t throw up on yourself.
As soon as he reached the metal thing, Grace scrambled onto it as if it were the only piece of driftwood after a capsize. Once he was safely straddling the middle of the tin can, he took a moment to stare up at the sky and let his queasy stomach settle a bit before he looked the vessel over.
If Grace had the balance, and walked across the top of the small ship, he could’ve walked from one end to the other in about five steps. He couldn’t estimate the diameter from his spot, but it was still easy to tell that the thing wasn’t very big in that are either. All around, the battered ‘ship’ was more of a tin can that had been slapped together before it had been slapped around and chewed on by what Grace chose to believe was a gigantic, over-eager puppy and not some nightmare creature that lived in an ocean of blood.
“Did Grace make it to signal source. Question.” Rocky asked after a moment, and Grace nodded.
“Yeah, I did. It’s full of...water.” He reported. Then, he carefully got up to crawl forward and peer into one of the holes. Able to watch his own reflection dance in the surface while Rocky waited a moment, then asked,
“Have you found signal sender. Question.” Though, before Grace could decide how to answer, a different face bobbed up to disrupt his reflection.
Grace had to clamp his jaw and eyes shut to hold back the scream that nearly escaped him. Don’t scare Rocky. Don’t scare Rocky, he’ll rip my ribcage out of my back if he panics right now. He told himself a couple of times, then, slowly let out the breath he’d held in. Only once he was sure his voice wouldn’t shake, Grace replied.
“Yeah, I-I think so. I think it’s another alien.” and got an odd noise from the Eridian. Then, he opened his eyes again to look back at the humanoid face that was still there. The man’s eyes half open, rolled back in his head. Grace could make out that he had hair glued to his forehead, and the teacher could see how large fangs grew out of his left cheek to extend his otherwise-normal mouth. Was this a human at some point? Or, a mimic? He looks like me, either way… Grace thought as he reached down and hoisted the humanoid up with his hands under his arms- Arm. When the blonde pulled him out of the thick liquid, Grace could see that the man only had one arm and soggy clothes. Okay, so, yes. He was some sort of human. So, is this a parasite’s host, or a mutated man? How’d he mutate?
Grace shook the questions from his head. No. Questions later, get him out first.
“I’ve got him, Rocky! Start pulling me up! He declared, and the Eridian was happy to do so. The teacher, meanwhile, gathered the stranger up in his arms and kept a tight grip on him while he moved back and got back into the water. He kept him tight to his chest while he paddled back the way he’d come until the chain went taut and he was fished out of the ocean at last.
Thank god I worked so hard to be able to lift my kids no matter what. And god, please don’t let this decision turn this into a horror movie…