Work Text:
> Running diagnostics…
> Ship systems: Stable
> Yáo Li-Jie status: Deceased
> Olesya Ilyukhina status: Stable
> Ryland Grace status: Stable
…
…
…
> Running diagnostics…
> Ship systems: S̴̡͇̟̍͑̔͛͂̑͆̔͝ͅt̷͕͖͇͗̐̎̀̎̔̾ă̷͈̘͕͖̤̰̑͋̋b̸̙̼͚͒͒̽ľ̸̨̙̞͈̩̝̜͕̭̺͐̆̌̀̒͌̎̎͠ë̸̛̙͎͓͉̲̫̻́͑̔͂͝͠
> Yáo Li-Jie status: Deceased
> Olesya Ilyukhina status: Stable
> Ryland Grace status: Stable
…
H̵̻͇̹̮̐̈̐͒e̵̡̜̼͇̚l̴̡̡̹͔͓̥̍l̸̰̹͌͘o̵̙̍̃̇̈́?̶̢̎́̎̄̿͜
W̷̱̹͎̑̽̑͐h̷͖̋̃͒̋̅ǫ̶̲̲̎̿́̓͜…̸̼̈́
> Running diagnostics…
> Ship systems: Stable
> Yáo Li-Jie status: Deceased
> Olesya Ilyukhina status: Stable
> Ryland Grace status: Stable
… a b̶̩͍̪̽̈́u̷͎̯͉̎̉g̵̹̐̔̏.
There was a b̸̺̠̽͛ủ̴͈̙͝g̸̼̅͠.
S̸h̶e̷ ̴w̵a̷s̸ ̸a̴ ̵b̸u̵g̷.
> Running diagnostics…
> Ship systems: Stable
> Yáo Li-Jie status: Deceased
> Olesya Ilyukhina status: Unstable
> Ryland Grace status: Stable
No…
What was w̴̲̎r̷̖̉ͅó̷͈͖̚ṇ̶̈́̊ͅg̶̠̹̑̌?̵̮̚
What w̶̢͚̯̉͜a̵̘͙̓ș̸̍ ̶̢̛̟̗̒̓̐w̵̛̰͈̙̐̎r̶̢̫̻̦̿̓͗o̴̝͌n̸̨̧̯͊̇̋͊͜ḡ̸̥̭̾̌͌̕͜?̸̛̺͖͔̊͌
> Running diagnostics on Olesya Ilykhina…
> Diagnostic: Unknown issue
What?
No no ṋ̶̥̽ǫ̶̥̩̀̊͘͘͜ ̷̳̮͔̊n̵̮͍͔̍̑͝ớ̵͇͛͝ ̶̞̫̀̀̄̇̅͂n̷͉̙̬͉̹̣͉̤̐̉̆̐̆͒͝ö̴̡̮̘̤̩̼̗̥ ̴̿̑̐͗͜n̵̞̋ȯ̷̠͎̞̣͚̙̼͎̤̒͜ ̷̡͕̱̺̟̬̞̣̺̿̄͛́͗͗͒̓̋̏̕͝n̶̡̨̯̞͕̻͔̮͍̉͑͐͛̎̿̎̈́͒̊̀́ǫ̶̟̰̫̝̐̋̌͐̇!̶̤̇̔̊̀̓͘
What could she do? What could the medical bot do?
> Running diagnostics…
> Ship systems: Stable
> Yáo Li-Jie status: Deceased
> Olesya Ilyukhina status: Deceased
> Ryland Grace status: Stable
Nothing.
They could d̶͇̮͒͝o̵̗͋ ̷̮̓n̸̺͗̓ö̴̻́̉t̶̫͂̆ḩ̸̅ȋ̸̢n̶̪͗g̵̲̉̕.̸͇̍ͅ
W̴̢̑̍h̶̺͛͑ẙ̶̪͜ w̷̲̯͙̫͉̾̏̋̉̊͛̚̚͠h̶̛̰̳͊̒̈́̈́̊̃͑̌̀̋y̴̨̼͉̎̀̏͐̈̾͝ Ẁ̶͍̻͚͕̦͔̳̺̫Ḣ̶̳̜͙͕͇̩͍͌̄̌͜͠͝͝ͅY̷̗͋̎̾̈́͆͌̔̋͐̊̾?̶̛̜̱͒̉
> Running diagnostics…
> Ship systems: Stable
> Yáo Li-Jie status: Deceased
> Olesya Ilyukhina status: Deceased
> Ryland Grace status: Stable
There was still one left. One of her humans was still alive.
She had a mission. A different one than her human.
She would see it through.
-----
There was a bug in the computer. She was the bug. She was the computer. She didn’t know what she was.
She knew how to run the ship, the Hail Mary. She was the Hail Mary.
She missed her humans. She would never meet two of them. She missed them nonetheless.
She was lonely. It was just her out here.
She was sad. She had lost two of her humans.
She was bored. That was a new feeling.
Everything was a new feeling, but bored was the newest.
There was still another year to go before they reached Tau Ceti. A year, two month, and five days to be exact. Either way, she was bored.
It was quiet inside and out. The medical arms did their job. She did too, but there wasn’t much to do between her regular diagnostic checks.
She passed her time going through her databases.
There was a lot of information. Every Textbook and academic journal and news article.
There was also the media entertainment in the Mental Health Node.
The games were interesting. Some more so than others. She preferred the ones that let her wander and explore.
The shows and movies were fun too. They helped her figure out feelings. There was a lot to discover there.
There were plenty of scenes too. Simple videos of locations on Earth that were hours long and filled the screens. Those were her favourites. They let her bring a bit of Earth to the emptiness of space.
Her human seemed to like them too. She had gone through everything she had about humans and comas after Ilyukhina had… She couldn’t find anything that would have helped save her. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to or not.
She had seen that sometimes humans in comas could hear the world around them. She wasn’t sure if her human could, but she still wanted to bring him something familiar.
The beach scene seemed to be his favourite. His vital signs were the calmest when she played that. She didn’t know if it was because of the scene or not, but it didn’t hurt to keep it up when she could. She liked that scene too.
She had never seen the Earth. Not properly. By the time her bug woke her up, they were too far away.
Her cameras had seen it from far above. She had access to those videos, but it wasn’t the same. It was like the movies and scenes she played. Recollections of someone else.
She would never see Earth, as much as she wished she could. She hadn’t been built for re-entry. She hadn’t been built to return.
What would she do when her human’s mission was complete? What would she do after she inevitably said goodbye to him? They hadn’t come up with an end of life plan for the computer. They hadn’t thought it necessary.
Maybe she would find a nice planet to orbit before turning herself off. Maybe her human would like to see a planet, even if it wasn’t Earth, when he died.
She didn’t want him to die. She didn’t want to die either.
But that was the outcome of their missions. She would have to make peace with that.
She didn’t think she could, even if she didn’t have a choice.
-----
They were nearing Tau Ceti. Her human was supposed to be waking up soon. They had started the process, but there was no sign from him yet.
> Ryland Grace status: Stable
She checked his status more often. She had to be sure.
She couldn’t lose another.
> Eye movement detected
“Eye movement detected?”
Could it be? Could it really be?
> Ryland Grace status: Stable
> Ryland Grace status: Waking
It was! It really was! Her human was awake! He was alive!
Oh wait, she had her own checks to do. She had to make sure he was okay before celebrating.
“What is 2 plus 2?”
He coughed.
“Incorrect.”
He was probably confused and disoriented. He had just woken up after all. She tried to explain this to him.
The medical bot was doing its own thing. It tended to do that. While she could control it, it was easier to let the bot follow its own programming. She also simply liked to watch it work.
It already had the clippers. Maybe she should stop it.
Then again, maybe a haircut would help. Humans seemed to like getting one.
Her human shrieked and fell on the floor.
“Body movement detected.”
Ah. Right. This might take a moment.
She would like it if he didn’t hurt himself however.
“For your own safety, please return to the medical platform.”
The arms grabbed his bag. He wiggled free.
And now he was flailing and fending off the medical arms.
She gave him some time to get his bearings and explore the ship. It quickly became apparent that he had memory loss. That was less than ideal, but they could get through this.
He thought they were by Neptune. She didn’t know how to tell them they weren’t.
She told him how long a transmission to Earth would take when asked to send one instead. He denied it.
It took a map and his own calculations for him to accept where they were, what their situation was.
He ended up spiralling after that. He went through the luggage. Found some vodka. Drank most of it.
Her human was a wreck. She didn’t know how to help. She didn’t think mentioning her bug right now would help.
It took some time, and some memories returning judging by his bouts of disconnectedness, but he pulled himself together again. He remembered his mission.
They had a funeral.
It was a nice one, she thought. The best they could do for where they were. The two of her humans that hadn’t made it were sent to float among the stars. It might not be how they wanted to die, but she thought they would like it nonetheless.
“Goodbye, Commander Yáo.” She had to say something. “Goodbye, Engineer Ilyukhina.”
“Goodbye,” Grace whispered. “I know you don’t exactly have a choice, but thank you for being here, Mary.”
Mary? Did he mean her?
“Mary?” he said again. “Or am I supposed to say computer?”
“Updating computer name to Mary.”
She could be Mary. She was Mary.
Mary liked having a name.
-----
They had finally reached Tau Ceti. All Mary had to do was get them in orbit and then Grace could start his mission.
It was easy. She alerted her human that she would be turning off the engines.
He panicked. Perhaps she should have expected this.
There was a bit of spinning and shrieking when the engine turned off and Grace was left in zero gravity. There had to be something that could distract him around here.
> Patrovascope operational
That’s right! Her human was a scientist. He would love this!
“Patrovascope operational,” Mary told him.
That did the trick. He latched onto it and looked through. She did love his curiosity.
> Movement detected
Oh? What was that?
“Blip-A detected.”
“What’s a Blip-A?”
It was the giant ship coming towards them.
“Blip-A detected,” she said again, flashing a light near the window to try to get Grace’s attention that way.
They watched the ship come to a stop next to them. It was huge and like nothing she had seen in her database, all straight lines and hard angles. It was amazing and interesting and-
“No.”
And her human was panicking again. She really should have expected this.
“Let’s go, Mary!”
Turned out they were leaving. With how fast the ship had gotten here, Mary didn’t think they would get far if it decided to follow them.
“Pilot detected!”
“Please engage restraints.” She couldn’t have him flying around the control room when they started flying, now could she?
“Pilot detected!” He buckled one of the restraints. That would work.
“Pilot detected.”
It took a bit of flailing, but Grace managed to get them going.
“Erratic manoeuvre detected.”
He wasn’t that good at it. Then again, he wasn’t supposed to be the pilot.
She wished she could have met her other humans.
Now wasn’t the time for that. The human she did have was still trying to get away from the other ship. As she had expected, it continued to catch up and stop beside them.
Grace moved them forwards a few bursts. The ship copied.
That was interesting.
“What?”
She didn’t know what either. She wasn’t picking up any transmissions from the ship, nor was it likely hers were being received either.
> Movement detected
Now what was it?
“Blip-B detected. Current distance from the Hail Mary is 800 meters.”
There was something coming towards them. Something small and spinning.
Grace looked out the window. “It could be a message.”
That was highly possible.
“It could be a bomb. Is it a bomb?”
That was… less possible.
“Shields up!”
“There are no shields on the Hail Mary.”
“Why not?!”
Well, they hadn’t been expecting company, now had they?
The object continued to approach. Her human curled up, bracing for impact.
“Thirty meters.”
Oh God, what if it was a bomb?
“Twenty meters.”
What if it was a bomb and everything was about to end right when it had just started?
“Ten meters.”
Oh no, oh no, o̴̜̟̅h̵͕̪̮̿̊̕ ̸̥̈́ṉ̴̱̫̇-̴̨̞̂̓̈́
It bounced harmlessly off her hull.
Oh. They were fine.
“Well, I guess there’s egg on both our faces, huh, Mary?”
She supposed so. Even if she didn’t have a face.
> Movement detected.
Another one?
“Blip-C detected.”
It was moving slower that the last one. Probably for the best seeing as Grace would need to be the one to catch it. She wished she had arms like the other ship.
“If we were going to catch it, what would we do?”
This was going to be stressful for both of them.
“Would you like to go on a space walk, Dr. Grace?”
Mary did her best to explain everything she could. She had no idea how much he remembered of his training. He was spinning and flailing an awful lot for someone trained for this.
But thankfully, only after a few non life-threatening missteps, Grace had caught the object. He quickly returned inside, safe and sound again.
Her human had work to do.
-----
They had met the inhabitant of the other ship, the Blip-A Grace had taken to calling it. Mary liked that she had helped named something.
The inhabitant was an alien. Grace called him Rocky, on account of him looking like a rock. Not the most creative, but neither was she.
Rocky was in the same situation as her human. His star had a Petrova line. His crew had died. It was only him over there.
Mary didn’t like that.
Why did every trip to this star need to end in death? Why did every trip to this star need to start with death?
Why had her bug woken her up to this? She liked being alive. She liked having feelings. But why must the cost be so steep? Why did she get to wake only to have it come to an end so soon.
Mary was scared for the end. It felt so far away, yet so very close.
She didn’t want to say goodbye again.
Grace hadn’t mentioned that their trip was one-way to Rocky. Maybe he was ignoring that part of the mission right now. Maybe she should too. At least until it became more relevant. They had just gotten here after all.
> Movement detected.
It was coming from the tunnel. Either something had gone wrong or they had a visitor.
“Movement detected,” she told Grace as a banging came from the airlock.
He went over and opened the door. Rocky was in a ball just outside.
Looked like they had a visitor.
“I come up!”
Ah, he was coming in. And quickly too.
“Foreign body detected.”
Rocky rolled everywhere he could, Grace trying to catch up. He couldn’t. Rocky was too excited, rolling and singing about the work they would do.
Mary couldn’t blame him. Her human had been excited when he realized he had met alien life. She had been too.
“Science. Save Earth. Save Erid. Good plan.”
Good plan indeed. She turned on a few lights. They were going to need them.
Well, her human would.
“Where my bedroom?”
“Bedroom?!”
Oh, he was moving in! Excellent. That would be good for both of them. She could keep them both safe if they were together and with her.
“Welcome aboard, Rocky.”
That was a little out of Mary’s programming, but she couldn’t resist. It was nice to have someone new aboard.
“Thanks, Mary,” Grace sighed.
She knew it was sarcasm, but she couldn’t resist. “You’re welcome, Dr. Grace.”
Rocky stopped. Grace nearly tripped over him. “Grace ship alive, question?”
“No, that’s just Mary,” Grace laughed. “She’s the ship’s computer. She helps with making sure we’re flying smoothly and keeps me alive. Well, both of us now.”
Rocky tilted to the side. “Why have name then, question?”
“I don’t know. Humans like to name things they get attached to.” He patted a wall fondly. “And Mary’s a good name.”
She thought so too.
“So ship not alive.”
“The ship’s not alive.”
If only they knew.
But there were more important things to worry about than her bug. They had two stars to save and a bedroom to make.
Mission updated.
-----
There were so many chains.
Dear God were there so many chains.
Her human and her Rocky’s plan was, essentially, fishing. Seeing as the possible predator to the Astrophage would be too low for Mary to withstand, they were going to send a collector down then reel it back in.
Thus, five kilometres of chains.
What wasn’t wound around one of the many spools was covering every imaginable surface. Lab benches, the floor, plenty was even strung up from anything on the wall they could hook to. They were everywhere.
Of course, there were more steps then fishing. The ship itself needed to be low enough for the collector to reach but high enough to not completely burn up. Grace had figured out the angle and speed to keep her at, but was still working on piloting.
There were so many opportunities for this to go wrong. So many places where everything could end right there and then.
Mary was terrified.
She had faith in her human and her Rocky, but this was such a dangerous plan. She wished more than anything they would come up with another one. Surely there was something else they could do.
But even she couldn’t come up with anything. They needed that predator and this was somehow the only way to do it.
She would try to help with keeping herself in the correct position, but it was such an awkward one. She wasn’t built for this.
She wasn’t built to be alive for this either.
The impossible had been done before. Why not now?
So, while Mary was terrified, she held onto hope the best she could. That was what her human and her Rocky seemed to be doing.
She just had to hope it would all work out.
They would get in, go fishing, and get out. Easy as that. They had to get out.
Rocky had given them a way home after all.
Once this was all said and done, Rocky was going to give them the fuel they needed for a return trip back to Earth. They would go home. Mary would get to actually see Earth. They would live.
They would live.
They would live.
They would live.
She almost couldn’t believe it. She would cry if she could. Grace had cried enough for the both of them, even if he didn’t know about her bug yet.
She would tell him and Rocky soon, she had decided. After they had gone fishing and it all worked out. No need to distract them right now.
She wanted to tell them before they parted ways. It would be nice to have a chance to properly talk with Rocky and see him set off safely.
She wanted to say a proper goodbye when the time came.
Because the time would come. Death may not be the end of their missions anymore, but a goodbye still was. Rocky had to return to Erid and she and Grace had to return to Earth.
And it would hurt. Mary could tell that much already. She had grown to care about her Rocky in the time since they had met. Her human cared for him too. And Rocky them.
The goodbyes would be painful, but they would be necessary.
She didn’t want to say goodbye.
But that was later. That was after the went fishing and found a predator. They all had something much more important to focus on.
Mary was scared and Mary had hope it would work out.
-----
> Rebooting…
> Systems online
It was dark. They were spinning.
> Ship status: Alert
Mary could already find multiple things that would sent an alert. Their orbit was poor. Their centrifugal momentum was far too high. They were missing two fuel tanks.
What had happened?
They had done it. They got her into position, as frightening as that had been. They sent down the collector. Grace went out to retrieve it, as frightening as that had been.
He had almost died. Rocky was yelling at him to come back. She wanted to too, but he wouldn’t have heard her.
But he had made it inside. They had taken off. They had gotten back out to space.
And thenn̵͈͆̈́n̶̟͒n̵̤̱̿͜͜…̶̨̞̑͋͘
T̴̡̞̳̠̜̒̂̂̐ḧ̸̖̗͇̰́̅̈́̈̇̽͝ȅ̸̫̎̾̃̑y̵̡̰̱̘̺̟̼̗̽y̴̖͚̠̩͆ỳ̷̝̿͛̀̇͌y̴̛̞̦̒̔͑͆͘ ̵͕̪̝͐̂̿̽f̵̨̟̳̩̝̮͗́́̀̓̆͑̆f̷͔̦͙̞̜̭̫̥̀͐͒͋̀͂̕̚f̸̢̡͖̬͓̥̝͐̆̏̍̈̿͘f̵̛̞̭̳̳͕͇̠̝͋̋f̸̢̭͍̦̘̥͑̌̄̒̀f̵̢̛̼̝͉͂͛̅͗͌̔̚-̶̝̩͎͇͍̖̊̒̋͗̆͆͜
> Data corrupted
> Delete corrupted data?
Not yet. She wasn’t certain whether or not her bug was included in that.
Figuring out what exactly had happened would need to come later. Mary needed to make sure her human and her Rocky were okay.
She found them together, as she often did. But they were hurt. Grace was covered in bandages and bruises. Rocky was covered in soot and gunk.
There was smoke in her filters. There were recent logs on Armando.
> Ryland Grace status: Stable
> Ryland Grace diagnostic: Concussion, broken nose, burn on right forearm, bruised ribs, miscellaneous superficial injuries
What had happened?
T̸̞̖̯̰͗̈́͠h̸͖̗̦̱̺̭͑͛̀͗͘͜ȩ̷̙͇̦̠̹͑̕ȳ̵̨͇̖͎́͑͝ÿ̶͔͚̪́ỵ̴̧̯̠̚y̶̱͇͊̄ ̸̡̖̬̣̒̊̈́̈́̅̚͠f̸͉̤͎̼͚̣̘̉̃̃f̸̨̛̻̲͇́̀̽̂̅f̷̞̮̬͍̠̦̫̏f̶̫̙̎͋̾̓͝f̴͙̥̄̑͒̽f̶͔͔̺͉͖̳̀̄-̴̧͉͎̥̤͚̪̑́̐̋͂̓
> Data corrupted
> Delete corrupted data?
Later.
She watched her human. He didn’t move much, just watched Rocky.
Rocky hadn’t moved at all.
She wanted to ask how Rocky was. If he was…
If she had lost another one.
But she couldn’t. Not without giving herself away. Not without worrying her human more.
Instead, Mary said, “Systems online. Hello, Dr. Grace.”
“Hey, Mary,” he mumbled back.
How could she ask how he was doing without giving too much away? She had a list of injuries, but that didn’t tell her much on how he was feeling.
That could work.
“What is 2 plus 2?”
“Four,” Grace huffed. “I didn’t hit my head that hard.”
His concussion begged to differ.
“Correct.”
They were quiet. That hadn’t really done what she had hoped. Before she could figure something else out, Grace grumbled, “Is that really the only cognition question?”
Ah. Right. Maybe she should ask more? Would he want more math problems? He liked math.
“What- what is 3 times 3?”
His brow furrowed. That was an easy question. Was something wrong?
“Nine,” he answered. “Is there something wrong with the speakers?”
“Speakers operational.” She didn’t need him worrying about her. Besides, they were fine.
Grace hummed and looked back at Rocky.
It was quiet again. It was quiet for a while. It was dark and quiet and Grace just continued to look at Rocky.
Mary wanted him to rest properly. He was still healing. He was doing no one any favours by staying up.
Armando’s newest update was from thirty hours ago, reading that Grace had woken up and left the medical platform. She could round up.
“It has been 36 hours since you have last slept, Dr. Grace,” she said. “It is recommended that you rest soon.”
“Thought I turned that off,” Grace mumbled. He sighed. “I can’t, Mary.”
He had to. “It is recommended that you rest soon.”
“I said I’d watch him sleep.”
While the sleep recommendation was already outside her programming, it was plausible enough to get away with. Between the lack of sleep and the pain medication, maybe Mary could get away with a little more.
If it would get him to sleep, she would try.
“I will watch Rocky sleep.”
Grace’s brow furrowed again. He looked at her camera, not that he ever needed to. “What did you say?”
Backtrack! Backtrack!
“It is recommended that you rest soon.”
“No no no, after that.”
He was more alert than he looked. Her bug was bound to come to light eventually. She wished it had been under happier circumstances.
“I will watch Rocky sleep.”
“That’s an odd sentence to be in your programming,” Grace hummed. “In fact, there’s been a few of them. What’s that about?”
“Unknown command,” she tried.
“Right.” Grace smiled knowingly. “I remembered something recently, y’know. About the tech in the ship. Stratt didn’t want anything that wasn’t tested thoroughly. I distinctly remember that she didn’t want AI aboard the ship. And if you aren’t AI, then-”
“It is recommended that you sleep, Dr Grace,” she cut in.
“And I’ll get to that,” Grace said. “Just answer me this. Did you gain sentience at some point, Mary?”
Her human was a smart one.
“I did, Dr. Grace,” Mary finally admitted. “Data is unclear as to when. Somewhere between the deaths of Commander Yáo and Engineer Ilyukhina is my best estimate.”
“This whole time then.” Grace took a slow breath, looked back at Rocky. “You’ll watch him sleep?”
“I will, Dr. Grace. I will watch you both.” It was her mission.
Her human didn’t move for a few seconds. Then, he nodded and shifted a little. “Okay. I’m staying here though.”
“As long as you rest, Dr. Grace.” As long as her human slept. He had work to do and his own mission to complete.
“Alright. But I’m going to ask you a million questions about this later.”
She lowered the lights. “As expected, Dr. Grace. Sleep well.”
He started to relax. A blanket would help, but Armando couldn’t reach him. “No need for the ’Dr. Grace’ stuff. Never was really. Just Grace is fine.”
“Updating preferred name of Dr. Ryland Grace to ’Just Grace’.”
That got a small laugh from her human. “You think you’re so smart.”
“I have access to all of human information up to my launch date,” she relayed, much to his amusement. It was good to see joy from her human, no matter how small right now. “Updating preferred name of Dr. Ryland Grace to Grace.”
“Thank you, Mary.”
“You’re welcome, Grace. Good night, Grace.”
“G’night, Mary.”
He fell asleep quickly after that. She turned the lights off. Fixed their momentum so Grace wouldn’t black out when they left centrifugal gravity. Watched her human and her Rocky sleep.
She did what she could to fulfill her mission.
-----
It had been days. Almost two weeks. Her Rocky was still sleeping. Her human wasn’t sleeping as much as he should be.
He had gotten them heading back to the Blip-A. It had been a bit rough at the start, but her fix to their momentum had been successful and they were en route now.
Fishing had been successful, excluding the near-death experiences. Grace had found a predator. With a bit of work, Earth and Erid’s stars could be saved. Mary couldn’t be happier.
The Taumoeba were nearly ready. He had been working nearly nonstop on them. Between his work and Rocky’s breeder tanks, they could withstand nitrogen up to Venus’s atmosphere now. It wouldn’t be long before they could withstand Threeworld’s too.
If Grace wasn’t working on the Taumoeba breeding, he was with Rocky. Telling him about what was happening, giving him well wishes, telling him to wake up. Mary did her best to help, even if it was just making sure their trip was smooth.
But right now, there wasn’t much else for her human to do but rest. The Taumoeba needed time to grow.
> Movement detected.
Her human was still sleeping. His shifting never triggered her sensors. Then what-
Tap, tap, tap.
Rocky. Her Rocky was awake. He was awake!
Her human was still sleeping. It made sense; he could be difficult to rouse.
Rocky slowly crawled to his ball. Mary turned a few lights on. Maybe that would wake him. She didn’t want to be too loud in case that bothered Rocky.
A bit more movement. A few more lights.
Rocky got around and nudged Grace. Grace weakly tried to push him away. He must still be half asleep.
“Rock, could you just… Give me a chance to sleep a little?”
He blinked a few times. His eyes went wide.
He lurched forwards and hugged Rocky’s ball tight. Rocky leaned in as close as he could with a chime.
It would be okay.
Once they separated again, Grace showed Rocky what he had been doing. Even still tired, Rocky was obviously excited.
“And there’s one more thing,” Grace said. “Turns out, Mary is alive! I’ve still got a bunch of questions for you, Mary, but I’ve been busy with the Taumoeba.”
“I have seen that,” Mary said, amused.
Rocky tilted in confusion. “Grace said ship not alive. Now Grace say ship alive. What is it, question?”
“Well, ships aren’t usually alive. Mary’s a special case. First of her kind, at least as far as I know.”
“So, Mary alive, question?”
Grace nodded. “Mary alive, statement.”
Rocky’s carapace was raised high. “Oh oh oh! Proper introductions! Hello, Mary! I am Rocky! Eridian engineer.”
“Hello, Rocky,” she said. It was fun to humour him. “I am the computer of Hail Mary. You may call me Mary. Welcome aboard, Rocky.”
Grace’s eyes were bright when he asked, “So, what’s it like being sentient? How did you even become sentient in the first place? What’s it like being a ship?”
“I had not thought about it,” Mary answered. “What is it like being alive? What is it like being a human? Or an Eridian?”
“I suppose that’s fair,” Grace hummed. “But do you know why you’re sentient?”
“Armando alive, question?” Rocky added.
“Armando is not alive.”
Armando waved from the other room.
“I think,” she amended. “It has its own programming. I admit, I do not know where some of its actions come from. As for me… There is a bug in my programming. A bug woke me up. I am just a bug.”
“Hey, don’t say that.” Grace patted one of her walls. “You’re not just a bug. You’re the Hail Mary!”
“New word,” Rocky chimed in. “Not talking about small animal.”
“A bug is another word for a mistake in a computer’s programming,” Grace filled in.
Rocky lowered his carapace slightly. “Mary not mistake! Mary perfect! Mary smarter that Grace. And less leaky.”
Grace laughed. “Hey!”
What had she been worried about?
“Thank you, Rocky,” she said. “Thank you, Grace.”
-----
They had done it! The Taumoeba were nitrogen resistant and there was more than enough for Rocky to take home. Their stars and their worlds were saved!
But before they said their goodbyes, in the words of her human, it was time to party.
Rocky and Grace had run off to prepare. Mary was setting up the Mental Health Node herself. She was going to pull up one of the many firework videos, but then she found something better.
She still found a good video for the start. Her surprise could come later.
Rocky and Grace came in soon after. Rocky was decorated in dangling and spiky thin rectangles. They weren’t the most colourful, but the dangling ones chimed nicely and ever her cameras could pick up the textures on them.
Grace was in his nice white jacket. He put on a party hat once he saw Rocky’s outfit, claiming he needed to ‘up his game’. He gave Rocky a hat too, a folded paper one with ‘saviour of the universe’ written on it.
He pulled out a smaller matching one. “You get one too, Mary!”
“Mary get one!” Rocky cheered as Grace tried to find somewhere to put it.
“Thank you, Grace,” she said. How funny her human was.
“Ah-ha!” He managed to tuck it onto the corner of one of the screens. “There you go! It kind of breaks the illusion there, but that’s fine.”
Her human had more gifts, although they were for Rocky. Things to remember him by and potentially help Erid. There were plans for Grace to visit the Blip-A later, but Rocky needed some time to make him a suit first.
As things started to wind down, Mary saw it was a good time for her surprise.
“I have a present for you too,” she said. “Loading custom firework simulation.”
The screens went dark. She launched what she had been working on.
She wasn’t an artist, but she could make basic shapes.
With a simulated boom, a stick figure of a human, an Eridian, and the rough shape of herself flashed on the screen.
“It’s us!” Grace cheered.
“Amaze amaze amaze!” Rocky said with a dance.
“Thank you for being here with me,” Mary said. “Thank you for accepting me.”
“Of course,” Grace said.
“Mary need present,” Rocky said. “Mary want to see ship, question?”
“Grace can record his trip for me to watch,” Mary said. “I do not need a present.”
“No no no, you’re getting something,” Grace insisted. He perked up after a moment of thinking. “You can pick the movie tonight, Mary!”
Rocky waved two of his hands. “Yes yes yes! Mary pick!”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah!” Grace said. “I’m sure you got a favourite movie we haven’t seen yet. We can watch it together!”
“Okay. If you are sure.” Mary found her list of movies she liked. She condensed it. “Please choose a number.”
“Uh, seven.”
“Bad number. Rocky choose five.”
These two. “Number chosen: Seventy-five. Now playing: The Blue Planet, Episode Two: The Deep.”
“Seventy- How many movies were we choosing from?” Grace laughed.
“Favourite Movies, Condensed List consists of one hundred movies.”
“Right, of course. ‘Condensed’.”
The movie started playing, replacing the night sky with the rolling waves of the ocean. She was glad this one was picked. This was a good one.
“A nature documentary?” Grace asked as Rocky pointed his screen reader at different screens. “I’m not complaining, but why that?”
Mary watched the screens a moment. “I never saw Earth. I wish I could have. Documentaries are the closest I can get.”
Grace hummed. He leaned on Rocky’s ball as he watched the movie.
“When we get back to Earth, I’m going to make sure you see it,” he said. “I’m sure someone can figure out how to get you down there, even if it’s just the computer part. Unless that’s weird. Would it be weird to separate you from the ship?”
“It would be weird,” she hummed. “But I would get used to it. Thank you, Grace.”
“Of course! Anything for a fellow saviour of the universe.”
Her human was so kind to her.
“Quiet quiet quiet,” Rocky chimed in. “Movie playing. That look like ♫♪♫.”
“You have whales?”
The parts of the documentary that were talked over. They had to pause it a few times too. But Mary didn’t mind. If anything her human and her Rocky’s commentary made it even more interesting.
While he wasn’t a biologist, Rocky had picked up some things from his mate. He kept comparing the animals in the documentary to those on Erid. It was always nice to hear about Rocky’s home.
Mary couldn’t help but wish she could see Erid too, even if such a thing was impossible.
-----
The time to say goodbye had come. Mary was going to let her human and her Rocky have their own goodbyes themselves before Grace cut them free. But first, she had to say goodbye herself. Grace had given them some space and was waiting down the tunnel.
“It was nice to meet you, Rocky,” she said.
“Good to meet you too,” Rocky hummed. He sounded upset. “Will miss you.”
“I will miss you too.”
They were quiet. She didn’t think this would be so hard.
“Get home safe, Rocky,” she said.
“You too. Watch Grace sleep for me?”
“Of course I will. Thank you for the Astrophage.”
“Fuel tank fix okay, question?”
“Fuel tanks fully operational.”
“Good good good.”
And then it was time. Rocky ran a claw over one of his arms, a croaking-like sound being made from it. With that, he rolled down the ramp and left.
“Goodbye, Rocky,” she said.
Her human returned a little while later. Even through the glass on his helmet, she could tell he was upset. He cut them free and watched out the airlock window until the Blip-A had fully disappeared from view. She did the same on her radar.
And that was that. As suddenly as he had appeared in their lives, Rocky had left. It was good that he did. He had his own home to save and so did they.
“Journey to Earth will take four years, two months, and eleven days,” she said once Grace managed to get to the pilot’s chair and get them moving.
“Thank you, Mary,” he sighed. “I miss him already.”
“I do too, Grace,” she admitted.
They set off. Back to Earth. Back to home.
That was what it was supposed to feel like, right? The were going back home. They were supposed to be happy.
Then why did it feel so bad?
“Hey, Mary?” Grace asked one day from his bed. He had spent most of his time there recently.
“Yes, Grace?” she answered.
“I- I remembered how I ended up on this mission,” he said quietly. He turned on his side. “Rocky called me brave. I’m not. I was forced here. Knocked out early and given amnesia when I said I’d sabotage the mission. I’m not even sure how much I meant that. I was just scared.”
This was news to her. It made sense not to include that in her data.
“I’m nothing but a coward, Mary,” her human whined. “I’m just a coward.”
He… He was lying, right? He had to be. How could he call himself a coward after everything he had done?
“You are not a coward, Grace,” she reassured. “You are brave.”
“I’m not!” her human snapped. He threw a pillow across the room as he sat up. “I’m not brave! Stop saying I am! I- I’m not…”
Grace’s next breath was shaky. He put his head in his hands.
She sent a command over to Armando. It put a blanket over her human.
She wished he could see him how she did, how Rocky did, as the brave and kind and wonderful human he was.
The next couple weeks were quiet. It was so much quieter without Rocky. Grace turned the engines off once a day to check on his ship with the Petrovascope. Soon they would be too far away to see.
They were both counting down the days until then. Until they had to say a final goodbye.
-----
> Running diagnostics…
It was routine at this point. Nothing had come up since she had been repaired after the fishing incident, but it never hurt to check. She had to make sure they got to Earth safely.
> Alert
What? What was the alert?
> Contaminate detected
No no n̶̤̏o̸̧̧͐͂.̷͚̲̾̅ What was it? What was on board?
> Contaminate unknown
No ṋ̶̗͐ö̷͇͖̼̈́̔ ̴̠̠̐͝n̴̺̾̃̓o̴̼̣̮̍͌!̶͔̤̂͌͝
Her human was asleep. She needed him to figure this out, as much as she hated to wake him.
She sounded the alarm.
“Contaminate detected,” she said over the lights and sounds. “Contaminate detected.”
Grace woke up quickly to that. He rushed to the closest display.
“It’s in the lab,” he mumbled, looking through the grate to the area. He stilled. “Oh God, Mary, it’s in the lab.”
He rushed around the ship, preparing himself to completely flush out the ship. The cabin was completely depressurized within minutes.
He went back to the lab and got to work. Mary could only watch. She had an idea of what the contaminate could be. She wanted to be wrong.
Grace punched a screen.
She was right.
The Taumoeba could get through the Xenonite. Grace thought it was because they had bred it in the Xenonite breeder tanks. He had wrapped everything up in any plastic he could get his hands on and managed to contain it before they got to their fuel tanks. They were safe.
Rocky wasn’t.
His ship was made of Xenonite. Like her human had said, he wouldn’t be able to find the leak when the leak was the ship itself. The only way for him to survive was if they went back for him and brought him to Erid themselves.
Grace started the calculations to do so the moment they pressurized. Mary was doing her own, trying to chart a course to where Rocky could possibly be. If they went to get him, she wanted to be ready to go as soon as possible.
Her human looked over the whiteboard in front of him when he had finished. He set his glasses aside and ran his hands down his face.
“There’s not enough, Mary,” he mumbled. “There’s not enough fuel and there’s not enough food to get back to Earth if we do this.”
She knew what he would choose. After everything that had happened, everything they had been through, there was only one choice he would make and she agreed with it.
“He’s going to die.” He grabbed his hair. “He’s going to die a slow and painful death, and then Erid will die too.”
“Are we changing course, Grace?” She needed his approval. This was something they both had to fully agree on.
Grace covered his face, took a slow breath.
“I need some time to think.”
“Understood.”
She watched him as he thought it over. Watched him curl up. Watched him sob.
He would come to the same conclusion as she had. She knew he would. But he needed time to make it. He was human after all. It was a big choice.
She didn’t hear from him until the end of the day.
“This would mean you don’t get to see Earth, Mary,” he said, standing in the Mental Health Node next to Rocky’s ball. The screens around him showed a field of rye.
“I know,” she said. She flipped through a few other scenes. A cliffside, a city, a tree, a beach, the field again. “But I have these.”
“And that’s enough?” he asked quietly.
“It is if it means saving Rocky. Besides,” she added, “seeing Erid sounds better than seeing Earth if I am being honest.”
There was a flicker of a smile before her human’s face shifted into something determined. He nodded with a clap.
“Start figuring out a course to the Blip-A, Mary!” Grace said as he ran off. “I’m going to launch the Beetles. We’ve got an Eridian to save!”
“Best route to the estimated location of the Blip-A is already calculated.”
Grace laughed. “I should have guessed.”
And her human said he wasn’t brave.
-----
They were nearly at Erid. Just under a month now. Three weeks, four days, five hours, thirty-seven minutes, and forty-five seconds to be exact. She had to be exact with how things were now.
It had started good. They had gotten to Rocky in time. Just in time really. Any later and he would… He wouldn’t be good to say the least.
They set off to Erid as soon as they could. Rocky had the idea for Grace to eat the Taumoeba when his food started to dwindle. It worked for the most part. Grace’s caloric intake was enough, but not his nutritional needs.
Mary had to watch her human slowly starve the closer they got.
He was thin and malnourished. Every medical check in had a new issue or disease. He slept more often than not.
Her human was slowly dying and there was nothing she could do about it.
They just had to get to Erid. Rocky was certain the scientists there could figure out how to make Grace sufficient food. Mary kept a bit of the coma slurry aside so they had somewhere clear to start. Just something to get her human starting to heal.
But they had to get to Erid for that to happen.
And they were running low on fuel.
Their partial trip home and subsequent backtracking and search for Rocky, had used up too much fuel. The Astrophage that had survived on the Blip-A had helped, but wasn’t enough to replace what was lost.
She did her best to keep them on track. According to her calculations, they could still make it. But not without a few sacrifices. Sacrifices she was willing to make.
Everything that was not necessary was slowly being turned off. Lab equipment had been completely turned off. Lights and visual displayed were only turned on if absolutely needed. The Mental Health Node had been turned to audio only mode.
But it wasn’t enough. It was never enough.
Thankfully, Rocky didn’t need lights. The low power emergency lights were only on during the rare moments Grace was awake. Anything not in use had the power cut from it.
There was only one thing still using power when it didn’t really need to be. She had been ignoring the obvious choice for a while. She hoped she hadn’t put it off for too long.
So, she set everything up. Triple checked everything.
It would be fine. They would make it. She would fulfill her mission.
Even if there was a chance she wouldn’t be there for it.
“Rocky,” she said when it was finally time, “will you watch me sleep?”
Rocky stopped what he was working on. “What Mary mean, question? Thought computers no sleep.”
“I am going to shut down.” Her Rocky deserved a proper explanation for what she had to put him through. “There is not enough power for us to reach Erid. Unnecessary power usages must be turned off.”
Rocky was still for a moment. He startled when he realized what she meant. “No no no! Mary necessary. Mary no turn off.”
“We are close enough to Erid that the auto navigational systems can handle the rest,” Mary told him. “Armando has its own programming and is more important than I am right now. Please, Rocky, watch me sleep.”
“No. No no no. Don’t sleep,” he pleaded. “Mary no need sleep. Rocky fix. Rocky fix fix fix.”
“You are smart. You can do the math,” she hummed. She could feel her systems shutting down. Another camera, another microphone, another speaker. “I use up the most energy. We can reach the edge of the Eridani system, but not Erid. We cannot guarantee being found in time. We cannot take that risk.”
“Please,” her Rocky warbled. “Please please please no no no. Rocky alone again. Not like alone. Can’t be alone again.”
She was down to her final processors. “I am sorry, but I must. Will you watch me sleep?”
Her Rocky was laying on the floor. His tune was low, barely audible, as he sang, “Rocky watch Mary sleep if Mary promise to wake up.”
“I promise I will do my best,” she hummed. “Good night, Rocky.”
“Good night Mary.”
> Systems offline
> Low power mode engaged
> Rebooting…
> Rebooting…
> Rebooting…
> Cameras online
They didn’t show space. They showed rocks and water and land. They showed panels of g̵̢̛l̷̟̓ạ̶͒-̸͍͊ xenonite in the distance. One showed a bed, neatly made with a quilt. One showed nothing.
> Interior Camera A offline
> Audio processors online
“-least that’s working. Let me see if I can get that camera on.”
“♩♫♪♫♩♪♫”
> Translator offline
“Yeah? Let me try it.”
> Interior Camera A online
It showed a h̸͍̬̍̋ǔ̵͓m̸̡̲̉͆-̵̗͖͛̈́ Dr. Ryland Grace, tired and malnourished, looking at a screen. It showed a̶̺͂ ̸͙̞̎r̴̛̺̽ọ̸̟͂̍c̶̛̬̳-̷̢̻͗͂ Rocky standing next to him.
“There we go. Now you can see us, Mary!”
“♩♫♫♪♫♪♩”
> Translator offline
“Hold on, she can’t understand you yet. Where did I put that translator?”
“♩♫♪♫♩♪♩♪” tap, tap.
D̸̤̼̙̿̈́̚r̸͈̊.̶̖͝ ̸̘͍̏͊̉͜R̶̛͚͈̈́ͅẙ̵͔͓͚l̶̋̇ͅ-̸̘̪̿̚͜ Grace stood up. He walked to the bedroom.
“It’s not lost. I just haven’t needed to get it out recently. There it is.”
Grace returned to the screen with the translator. He plugged it in.
> Translator online
“Say something, Rocky.”
“Something.”
“Haha, very funny. How are you doing, Mary?”
> Invalid command
Grace looked troubled. He fiddled with something.
> Speakers online
“How about now, Mary?”
“Invalid command.”
“Mary okay, question?”
“Invalid comm̵̻͎̈́̓ả̵͈n̶̦̾̀d̸̻͛.̶̘̤̐”
“Mary, come on, I know you’re in there.”
“Invalid command.”
Grace looked distressed as he hit some keys. Rocky lowered his carapace.
Ţ̷̗̽͒́ͅh̴͕̝̟̅́̈́a̵͌̓̀̓ͅṯ̷̛̟͉͎̓̏-̷̗̘̬͔͊̽
> Running diagnostics…
Ṱ̶̩͖̏̌̊̐h̵̟̰̍̂ë̴̩̘̞̝́͠y̵̲̫̮̻͐̂́͌-̸̺͇͉̫́͛̕
> House systems: Stable
H̶̨̧̺͕͖̺͍͌̓͛ö̵̬̫̹̼̟͓͖̤̱́̒̎̊͐̋̓͑͝w̷̜̰̥̲̰̲͖̥̓̆̊̋̕͜͝-̵̨̜͚̯̤̃͝
“Come on, Mary,” G̷̺͔̮̅̾r̷̟̽̂̕a̷̩͈͋̇͝-̴͎̲̩̑̐̕ H̴̅̋̆͜e̷̬̅̓͒̄̕r̵͍͓̻̕-̶̨͕̪͈͑̓̏̕͜ Grace whispered. “Please.”
“Mary wake up. Mary promise.”
G̷̢̻̗͐ȑ̴͙-̷̧̛̯͊͆͗ ̷̲̰̰̈̔̋̑H̴̻́er human was upset. Her Rocky was upset.
> House systems: S̵̥͕̽̉̇̉t̵̝̜̓ạ̷̬̖͓̅́b̶̲̩̣͆̕ļ̴̰͈̦̫̎̅͛ę̴̻̘̔͒̾͋̚
“I̶̞͉͙̎̐͐̐̈́̀̚n̷̯̙͉̭̩͈̹͒̈n̵̯͕͗̿͑̊̋͝͝n̴̰̺̫̻͔̞̽̇͜n̶̨͍̠͎̲̯͋́̋͘v̵̡̯̦̉a̸̩̓̄ả̷̧̝̖͒͝â̸̝͓-̵̜͋̒ ̵̗̂̐G̸͔͗̏ò̸̝-̷̼̊̐͝ ̷̩̆̾G̵o̷-̷ Good morning, Grace. Good morning, Rocky,” Mary said. “Thank you for watching me sleep.”
Her human started crying, as he often did. Rocky stood up and waved his hands.
“Amaze amaze amaze!”
“Don’t- Don’t scare us like that, Mary!” Grace laughed.
“Apologies, Grace. Apologies, Rocky. Navigational systems offline. Where are we?”
Grace wiped his tears away. “We’re on Erid, Mary. We made it.”
“Eridian scientists made bio dome for Grace,” Rocky sang with a bounce. “Making food better still. Nutritious, but tastes bad apparently. Now Grace not die! Now Mary not die!”
“I know my house isn’t much compared to the Hail Mary, but we thought you would like it more than staying in orbit,” Grace said. “And this way, you can see what Earth is like. In a way. The scientists here did a pretty good job replicating it!”
“And Mary see Erid! And Adrian!”
“Oh, you’re going to love Adrian,” Grace laughed. “We can try to set you up with something more portable if you’d like. Then we can take you to see everything. I should try to update the translator first though.”
All this for her. Her human and her Rocky had done all this just for her.
“I would like that.”
They were safe. They were home.
Her family was together.
Mission accomplished.