Chapter Text
Dark spots had been intermittently finding their way into the corner of his vision. It had been several hours of staring into the microscope, so maybe it was time to take a small break. He was starting to feel off in a vaguely familiar way he couldn’t describe.
Grace’s hands found their way under his glasses to press into his eyes, pushing the frames askew onto his forehead. His deep sigh was interrupted by a rapid, somewhat bewildered, turn towards Rocky. “Do you smell that?”
“Rocky no smell. Human weird weird weird.” His work on the xenonite chain he’d been crafting on his side of the barrier didn’t falter.
“Oh. Right. It smells like burnt pizza.” He looked towards the ceiling despite knowing he didn’t need to. “Mary? Systems check?”
“All systems fully functional and testing within set parameters.”
“Grace burn pizza, question.” His friend briefly paused chain-building.
A short laugh snuck out despite the off-kilter feeling slowly growing in his body. “Nah Rocky, if I had pizza I would’ve long eaten it by now.” The black spots seemed to encroach further on his sight. “Something’s… this has happened before.”
The memory was as concrete as the spots in his vision, dancing away the moment he tried to actively perceive them.
Rocky looked up from his task– or at least as much as an alien with no eyesight can ‘look’.
“Grace new memory, question.” They had seemed to be coming back more frequently now that their course was set for Erid. “Grace. Grace no answer why, question.”
It occurred to him that Rocky had been trying to talk to him for long enough for the alien to cross the room and press up against the xenonite barrier. He shook his head before opening his mouth, but the hazy feeling was growing stronger. He had two bodies– one, sitting at the lab bench. Two– slowly floating up and to the left.
Oh.
Oh.
“‘Member. I’m ep— mm havin’ se—”
Two bodies became none as eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness.
* * *
Grace had been acting odd all day… taking longer to respond, requiring more repetitions, staring off at seemingly nothing. Rocky had attributed it to his friend’s foreign squishy brain and poor sleep cycle the night prior. Now, as Grace mumbled over his nearly unintelligible words, he cursed himself for not pressing the matter.
“Grace. Grace feel okay, question.” The blond stared down at the lab table. “Grace have new memory, question.” Forty-three seconds passed of the alien calling his name. “Grace no answer why, question.”
Finally his friend seemed to break out of his trance, lethargically turning his head towards Rocky’s general direction.
“‘Member. I’m ep— mm havin’ se—”
The scientist’s head mercifully missed the edge of the table as he careened sideways off of the lab bench, but his left shoulder took the brunt of the impact as he hit the floor.
“Grace! Grace ok, question. Great concern!”
His friend laid motionless for three and a half seconds before his limbs tensed in a manner Rocky had never witnessed before. What started as a small tremor quickly grew into body-wide spasms, aggressively throwing the blond’s limbs into any nearby surface. By the time Rocky reached him in his xenonite ball he could already sense Grace’s wrist swelling from where it was being slammed into the bench leg before Rocky was able to push it out of reach.
“Grace okay, statement. Wake up wake up now, demand.”
Terror continued to grip him as sharp strained inhales rang out, not nearly as frequently as the smaller alien knew was necessary.
“Armando help Grace, demand.” The robot was too far away to help physically, but it had sensors throughout the ship.
A few moments pass, punctuated by the wet and shallow inhalations of his crew member. “Captain Dr. Ryland Grace appears to be experiencing a generalized tonic clonic seizure. Duration: two minutes and twelve seconds. Recommendation: turn patient onto side in recovery position. When available, patient would benefit from further testing in the medical suite.”
A lot of those words were unfamiliar, but he didn’t have time to ask questions as it seemed like the shaking was decreasing in intensity. Rocky carefully maneuvered his ball against Grace’s shoulder to push him onto his side. He overcompensated a bit, resulting in Grace partially laying on his chest, but he suspected this was preferred over laying flat as his friend’s breathing appeared to already be improved.
“Grace okay, statement. Rocky and Armando help. Grace wake up soon, command. Grace wake up soon, request. Words of great comfort.”
His crew member’s immediate emergency seemed to have come to an end but the man still lay on the ground limp and unresponsive, chest heaving in an attempt to make up for the air he had been deprived of. It took several minutes of words of great comfort before Grace finally stirred, brows furrowing and small whimpers leaving him.
“Grace! Grace okay. Rocky here. Grace not move yet, command. Grace safe.”
The man must comprehend at least some of what was said as he gave a small nod. Rocky tried not to panic as his body relaxed into an exhausted sleep.
“Grace rest, command,” he stated softly. “Rocky watch Grace sleep.”
The next few hours were spent carefully watching his friend while learning as much as possible about ‘seizures’ from Armando and any resource available on the Earth thinking machine. Rocky would do everything in his power to ensure his friend remains safe and cared for.