Chapter Text
The trip to Erid had been long and grueling. Years of rationing food, hundreds of hours poured into keeping marry functional enough to make it, and all of his personal space and time being spent with his dearest companion, Rocky the Eridian. It was safe to say that Grace had developed a sense of normalcy about being alone.
Of course he wasn't totally alone, Rocky never stopped talking, but he was farther than any other human had ever been. Humans were an incredibly emotional and connected species, spending, at this point ten years, without any human touch would take a toll on anyone. And it had taken a particularly harsh toll on Ryland.
He had never been big on touch before, he was too awkward and preferred to keep his personal space personal. But he realized now just how much he had taken for granted. Every time he groomed himself: shaved his face, washed his skin, cut his hair, an unpleasant reminder of his loneliness roared through his veins. At this point he tried to avoid touching himself at all- which was of course incredibly difficult to do, keeping your own limbs from interacting.
“Pilot detected” graced his ears as he and Rocky prepared for landing. It was almost funny to remember the first time he'd heard that, what once brought panic now was just another noise in the background.
“Marry will take much damage in landing, statement.” He had started picking up a lot of Eridian tones and notes, but it was safer in more serious situations like this to keep on the translator.
“Yeah,” he let himself appreciate the nearly in perfect state cock pit one last time. Save for the shattered screen in front of him or the many other worse for where mechanics, “she's had a good run. Your ship will be ok?”
Rocky pushed himself up like a proud cat, “Eridians build very stable ship, has autopilot landing mechanics, statement.”
He huffed a soft laugh. At least his people would be expecting him. Well…expecting twenty two others as well. They certainly were not expecting Grace.
He shook his shoulders, feeling the pit of familiar nervousness settle in his stomach. Even after years of pilot practice he still fumbled sometimes. Hopefully this would not be one of those times.
“Ok bud. Let's bring her in, yeah?”
“No understand.”
He sighed as he started up the mechanics, “its- it's just a saying rock. It means let's do this.”
Just as he'd predicted for the past…two ish years, marry could not handle entering the atmosphere.
As soon as they left orbit, alarms began blaring in every direction, filling the small space with panic inducing beeping. Rocky's constant pointers and urging words did not help the stress of the audible environment.
It took everything in him to not instantly veer up. Everything was eerily similar to the encounter they had on Adrian, and the idea of watching Rocky wither away again spurred him on.
“Too fast, too fast, exclamation,” Rocky began scrambling around inside his ball, “too fast-”
“Ok yeah, I heard you the first time!” There was virtually no way to slow down now, besides veering up, which would land them in the wrong position.
“Low altitude, pressure warning, low altitude,” the warnings from both Rocky, marry and his own mind crashed together and the surface was getting closer and closer and-
—------------------
“Eye movement detected.”
The first thing Ryland noticed when he came to was the pain in his back. Maybe aging from thirty to forty In space hadn't exactly prepared him for crash landing. He blinked once more, forcing his eyes to focus.
Somehow Armando had been brought from the ship and mounted in…a house? He groaned as he sat up, his body protesting the sudden movement. He could almost fool himself into believing he was back on earth. The walls were a soft white, with open, clear windows that let warm sunlight fall over him.
His quilt and fox cardigan were folded neatly on a chair a few feet away from him, and he discovered he was not on the medical table from marry, but an actual human bed. There were plants- house plants from Earth on shelves and hanging from the ceiling in small planters. It was incredibly cozy.
“Grace, grace, grace, exclamation!!!” The thundering of stone feet on what appeared to be hard wood flooring came from outside the room, getting louder before a familiar little Eridian burst in. “Friend Grace awake, exclamation!”
He smiled, dragging a hand over his face as Rocky climbed up to sit on the bed next to him.
“Hey Rock. How long have I been asleep…?”
Rocky pressed up against him, urging him into their awkward form of hugging, only a suit similar to his ball separating them, “four earth days, Eridians bring Grace here to rest.”
He sighed, finding his glasses waiting for him on a small side table. “...yeah uh…where is…’here’...?”
Rocky pushed him up to his feet, Grace’s now aching back appreciating the assistance.
“Adrian do much while Rocky away, exclamation. Adrian make dome for humans. Rocky add house just for Grace.”
He shook his head as if to clear it, letting Rocky but at his legs to lead him through the small dwelling and towards the front door.
He frowned a bit, “I thought you said your species had never seen humans before.”
“Rocky gone seventy years! Much happen while Rocky gone, statement.”
As he opened the front door, light flooded the foyer, cool air hitting his face with the overwhelming smell of the ocean following. He stared out at what awaited him. It was like a real beach, the air was crisp, the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks was all around him. How could this even be possible?
As his eyes landed on the actual beach, lying at the bottom of a rather harrowing staircase considering his current state, he was greeted with a large jagged piece of cyan rock. It was a rather strange arrangement to have in the middle of a beach, but maybe the Eridians didn't fully understand how beach cliffs worked? Then again it was a bit too small to be a…
The mini mountain began to move, its spindly, spider-like legs emerging from under it as it moved closer to the last step. There were carvings, similar to Rocky's, decorating its arms and small circle of tan, standing out like a sore thumb against the great blue of it.
He swallowed as he glanced down at Rocky, “uh…is that…?”
Rocky pushed out his chest in a cat-like fashion once again, “Is Rocky mate, exclamation.”
His first Eridian aside from Rocky. He didn't know what he had expected. Probably something a little….closer in size to his pal.
He waved awkwardly, “uh…hello Adrian. Nice to meet you…?”
Adrian just stared back at him for several long moments before Rocky launched into an Eridian version of his greeting. Right. No one would understand him.
“Grace save Adrian mate. Grace brave hero.” Adrian’s voice was much deeper in tone than Rocky's, but that made sense for such a larger creature. Adrian seemed to be about equivalent to four or five Rocky's stacked on top of each other- grace wouldn't even be surprised if Rocky sat on Adrian's head whilst the larger Alien lumbered around.
He smiled a bit and awkwardly scrubbed the back of his neck, “I mean he saved me too so…”
As Rocky translated Grace swore he caught a ‘rocky is amazing super strong savior’, but decided to let it slide. He had gone so long without talking to anyone but Rocky he forgot how much of a train wreck it was whenever he spoke to someone new. Especially someone he wanted to like him.
“Adrian gives savior grace much thanks, statement. Rocky say you like beach. I make beach from description for you.”
So not only had the Eridians had a dome for humans, they also had all of the chemical components to create an entire beach already under their belt.
“Uh- thank you- so much really this is amazing it's just like home.”
“Adrian very very smart, exclamation. Adrian do much much much while Rocky and Grace save stars,” Rocky stated proudly.
“Yeah uh-” he glanced between the two, “how did you two do this so fast? I mean surely you had to study and produce all these materials- I mean- that should take years!”
Adrian was silent for a minute, before sounding a bit annoyed in Rocky's direction, “Rocky did not tell him, question.”
Grace glanced down at the alien at his feet, who stared back at his mate before he shifted his body in almost an imitation of a sigh.
“Adrian make biodome for human who arrive on Erid…ten earth years ago. Adrian able to make beach for Grace very fast…because second human live up there, statement,” Rocky pointed one Rocky arm towards the higher cliffs of the setting, an area shrouded in tall pines and trees.
Another human. Within less than a mile? His heart started beating faster.
“...oh.”