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“Captain’s log, stardate 3375.3. We are currently on our way to the planet Erid to make what would technically be considered First Contact with the planet. Despite Dr. Ryland Grace being the first of humans to ever reach this planet, it will be the first time the Federation is making contact with them. We have established a diplomatic conversation with them and they were quite eager to join us. While the planet is not hospitable for humanoid survival, they told us they were prepared to receive us on the planet's surface. Still precautions will be taken as Mr. Spock and Doctor McCoy have developed suits that will allow us to walk on their surface. It will be interesting to see the planet Dr. Ryland Grace sacrificed himself for.”
Captain Kirk watched as they approached the mentioned planet, it had always been a life long dream of his to meet the other beings that allowed for Earth to be saved all of those years ago when the Petrova Lines appeared on the sun's surface. Doctor Ryland Grace had been the topic of many of his high school projects when he was still young and the idea of meeting the planet where he and the Hail Mary probably rested excited him beyond possibilities.
“Captain, entering planet’s orbit.” Sulu told him, looking back at him.
“Great, Lieutenant Uhura please hail the planet and tell Doctor McCoy to wait for us in the transporter room to prepare for beam down” he commanded, nerves running down his body as he waited for the Eridian committee that was to receive them to appear on the screen, their language having been integrated into their universal translators as per Dr. Grace's hard work into getting their language to be understandable to them, the Eridians having sent the file containing their full English - Eridian dictionary when they were offered to join the Federation.
As they appeared on the screen, Kirk was quite surprised to see an Eridian that looked only familiar to the one Dr. Grace named “Rocky” within the team.
“Greetings! We welcome the Starship Enterprise to our planet, hoping you enjoy your stay” one of the Eridians, a middle sized yellowish green one, said while the Rocky-looking one waved enthusiastically on the back.
Kirk smiled, “Thanks a lot! We'll be beaming down shortly. I hope you don't mind that my scientific and medical team have developed suits for us to be able to withstand your atmosphere” he told them so they wouldn't be surprised by the suits.
The Eridian modded but said: “Unnecessary, we will send coordinates for your arrival so the atmosphere doesn't harm you. You can wear usual clothes. We expect you!” With that the transmission was cut off.
“Captain, we have received the coordinates” Spock told him, standing straight next to his station.
Kirk nodded. “Alright, we have to trust them, Uhura please tell Doctor McCoy he doesn't have to wear the suit but to pack them up in case we need them” he said as he approached the turbolift, Spock following close by.
Kirk's nervous energy must have been showing as Spock pressed a hand to his shoulder, emitting a calming wave of energy down his spine. “Captain, it appears you are anxious. You are usually really calm during Diplomatic Missions, anything wrong?”
Kirk smiled at him “Nothing out of the ordinary Mr Spock, I am quite eager to meet the other species that helped save most stars from the Petrova Lines.”
“Quite an extraordinary feat, Captain. Eridians sent the information and the taumeba across the galaxy, they also saved Vulcan with it.” Spock told him, in his own way of sayin that he was just as excited as he was.
“I'm surprised you Vulcans didn't beat us to it!” Kirk teased.
Spock smiled with his eyes as he usually did and responded with a “Vulcan scientists thought it better to solve the problem from home. They didn't think humans would beat them to it with their lack of resources.”
Kirk laughed loudly and let the conversation die as they arrived at the Transporter Room, Doctor McCoy already waiting for them there, a frown in his face, “Dammit Jim what do you mean we don't have to wear the suits? Do you know how long it took me to put it on? I'm not as young as I was, you know” he grumbled, despite having already changed into his formal wear.
“Hello to you too, Bones” he teased “the Eridian committee says we won't need so we've decided to trust them.” he said
“Spock and I worked for weeks on these suits and we’re not even wearing them?” The Doctor nagged.
Kirk smiled, taking the doctor's wrist into his hand and pulling him towards the transporter pad along with Spock, this time it was only them three beaming down, Scotty choosing to stay on ship in charge as they were gone.
“Aight Capt’n, all ready to beam down, the coordinates have been set.” Scotty told them.
“Great! Beam us down Scotty” he said, soon feeling the beam disintegrate them only to appear in what seemed to be a beach.
The sky was clear and the water waved lazily on the shore, the ground was sand-like but it didn't quite seem to be so. Despite its similarity to a human beach it wasn't quite so, for starters they could see the giant glass dome around them, and one short scan on Spock's tricorder told them the sand wasn't really sand.
There was a glass house in the distance, from where they could see the two Eridians that had greeted them on the communication channel approaching them. They could tell, even from afar, that the two Eridians were covered in glass cases, articulated enough to allow them movement and, apparently, to survive the earth-look-alike environment.
“Greetings! We were awaiting you. Please follow” the taller Eridian said as he walked back to the house.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
Meanwhile, inside the glass house, paced a very anxious Dr. Ryland Grace. Despite the time that had passed (approximately 235 years according to his calculations, he still hadn't aged past 56 years old. Something about being placed in cryostasis as he slept, according to Rocky, and the environment not being as contaminated as Earth's as well.
Now he was about to meet humans again, travel back home not only would be possible but also faster, and to top it off they would get Federation Technology as well.
He was quite excited for the possibilities. While he was quite aware of how changed Earth must be and that everyone he ever cared about —just Carl and Eva really— were long since buried, he had already made peace with it —for real he swears.
Adrian watched as he nervously paced around his house, getting to the table to fix the assortment of synthesized food they had made for the visitors and then going to the mirror to fix his clothes only to go back to the sink to wash his sweaty hands and repeating the cycle.
“Grace, stop,” Adrian told him, giving him what he interpreted as a worried look, “you're not supposed to do too much or leg will hurt, statement.”
His Eridian had gotten good enough to be able to understand without the need of translators or any tools, still he found some Eridians talked the way machine Rocky had. He interpreted it as accents or differences between dialects of the same language, but who was he to say, he was not a linguist after all.
Anyway, what excited him the most was who was coming on the Diplomatic Mission, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock? From Star Trek??? Incredible, statement.
He just thought it so curious how things had turned out that humans were now living in the Star Trek universe? Which also posed the question, did the Captain and his Vulcan companion knew they were at some point characters in a TV show? Did Gene Roddenberry have prophetic visions or was he a time traveler?
He had kept up with humans as time passed by of course, he was aware of the wars they fought as he investigated the Petrova Lines on the Hail Mary, he heard of the reconstruction, he heard when the Vulcans made first contact and he was so amazed at the turn humanity had made.
He heard a knock on the door and saw as Adrian approached, opening to welcome in the humans.
Oh God.
Humans.
Again.
After all these years.
Oh God oh God oh God.
And there they were.
Humans.
And a Vulcan.
Dear G od, was that Leonard Nimoy?
“Rocky brought the humans! Come Grace” his friend said, and he couldn't quite get his feet to move, they were there. He hadn't seen a human in like… many years. Brain was not computing either.
“Apologies, friend Grace is very excited, has not seen a human in a long time” Rocky told them as he brought them deeper inside the house.
He felt his breaths growing shorter and his head growing dizzier and then… everything went black.
He was dreaming, he was dreaming and Spock was there and they were at a bus stop. And he was dreaming.
“Christ sake Jim, he must be like 200 years old!” He heard a voice say, grumpy with a light southern accent, “And yet his parameters look all normal and stable, the outer look of a man in his 50s” he said.
He groggily opened his eyes as he heard Rocky say, “Grace is estimated to be around 280 human years, we count in human numbers because humans bad at math”
Ryland let out a soft laugh as he looked into his best pal to tell him, “we're not that bad at math” he reached for his friend's hand to try and sit up “don't embarrass this old man in front of the guests”
He finally dared to look at them from up close, and yep. Indeed. That was Captain James T. Kirk, Spock and Doctor McCoy. They didn't look exactly like the actors he had seen on tv but the resemblance was close enough for them to be recognizable. He couldn't help but wonder how Uhura and Scotty looked like.
“Hello Doctor Grace, my name is James T. Kirk from the Starship Enterprise, here on the Diplomatic Mission so Erid can join the Federation of Planets, I gotta say, we are quite pleased to find you well and alive.” Captain Kirk said, a dashing smile on his face.
Oh shoot.
Was Grace going to be the conquest of the episode?
Was this technically an episode? If it was, he hoped to be in Lower Decks like that one time they sent the guy back in time, get Ryan Gosling to voice him or something. No wait, they'd probably make him super nerdy. Did he want that? It would be technically true though.
Scrap that, no episode should have him. He’s too boring for that, school teacher and all.
Grace stood up finally able to greet his visitors, physically unable to look away from Spock. Nothing could've prepared him for how handsome he'd be? Honestly what.
“Ha- welcome Captain Kirk and company, I hope my survival in Erid didn't surprise you much.” He said, scratching the back of his neck to ease his anxiety, “I'm glad Erid can finally join the Federation, took it long enough didn't it Rocky?” He asked, looking back at his friend.
“Yes yes yes, too long” Rocky provided, trying his best to emulate a human nod, Ryland smiled at his friend, patting his head on the way. The eridian’s had taken longer than expected to develop a warp core, being a bit too fearful of space travel after losing so many during the Petrova Mission.
“Come over! We have some food, or an attempt at it at least!” He said, directing the guests to the table. He only then realized he might be acting a bit too friendly with them? He's supposed to have no idea who they are.
“Thank you Dr. Grace, by the way allow me to introduce Chief Medical Officer Doctor Leonard McCoy and Chief Scientific Officer Mr. Spock” the Captain said, raising a hand to signal each of his friends.
Ryland stretched his hand to give the Doctor a handshake, his strong hand making his ache a bit. Then he hesitated, should he shake hands with Spock? He's a touch telepath after all, but if he did the Vulcan salute, would he give himself away?
In his hesitation, Spock took it upon himself to shake Ryland’s semi stretched hand, his eyes rising to meet his as he lifted a questioning eyebrow.
Ryland couldn't help the blush that rushed to his face as he pulled his hand back and cleared his throat, he was definitely too old for this.
But then again, he hadn't seen or touched another humanoid in over two hundred years, a man can only dream, right?
Adrian redirected their attention back to the table and the Diplomatic talks, inviting them to sample the food.
“Most interesting,” Spock began, running his tricorder over the synthesized food.
Over the years they had managed to make new and different foods other than just his me-burgers and the vitamin shakes so he doesn't get scurvy again —bad times, he still missed the canine that had fallen down— still the food wasn't the tastiest or the best, it was better than nothing.
“Doctor Grace, is the meat made out of your muscular tissue?” Spock asked, and wow it was like being put under a spotlight. Wasn't that fudged? Like yeah it was but he didn't have to put it like that!
“We cloned Grace! Make me-burgers for him to eat” Rocky helpfully provided, Ryland was sure that if he could smile, he probably would be, the concept of cannibalizing yourself was quite hard to explain to people you've just met. Most of all people who are asking you to join their federation!
“Quite a clever solution” Spock responded, looking into Ryland's eyes like he was a puzzle to solve. He felt the blood rush to his face and could only look away for lack of response.
“You know,” Captain Kirk started, “Being part of the Federation implies sharing our knowledge, I'm pretty sure the Enterprise can spare a few replicators so you can have actual food. It's almost as good as the real thing!” He gave Ryland a dashing smile.
“Oh!” He responded, “I wouldn't mind that, not that I don't appreciate all the work you guys do for me” he looked at Rocky and Adrian giving them both a smile, “but I would like a real hamburger”
“Maybe we continue the talk on your ship?” The Eridian leader —Ryland had named him The Mayor of Townsville but he couldn't tell the visitors that— suggested, stretching his claw in an attempt to shake Captain Kirk's hand.
The Captain took it and pulled out his communicator —the original flip ones!!!— to ask for them to beam up.
Ryland felt a bit bad about the food they would probably waste but Adrian assured him it'd be fine if he would be getting new and better food from the visitors.
There were things left unsaid, Ryland was sure of it. But he also knew it wasn't the right time to be talking about it.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
“Captain's log, supplemental. We have beamed up the Eridian party to ship. When we traveled to their planet we found out they had built a bio-dome for human survival, this, however, was not made for us but for a very alive Doctor Ryland Grace, who is now 280 years old. His survival on the planet remains a mystery to us, although it has definitely awakened the curiosity from my science officer. Due to their bioengineered food being made from himself and the taumoeba we have offered some of our replicators for him to enjoy human food again. Whether he wishes to return to Earth remains to be seen.”
Kirk pushed down the button of the computer to turn off the log and turned to look at the door of the meeting room they had arranged for the final negotiations with the Eridians, along with food that had been replicated for Dr. Grace
For the time being, Dr. Grace had been taken on a tour along the Enterprise, first stop: the Medical Bay so Doctor McCoy could run some scans on him and then along the Bridge since Dr. Grace seemed very excited about being aboard the ship.
The doors opened as the Doctor spoke, “So you're telling me they place you in stasis almost every night? How can that even work?” He said, surprise notorious on his voice.
Dr. Grace let out a sheepish grin, scratching the back of his neck, “Honestly, that's all Adrian, I had no idea they were doing it, one day I woke up and realized I should be around 70 years old but still had the physiology of a man in his 40s, that's when Adrian explained what they'd been doing” he said with a little shrug.
The Eridian Dr. Grace called Adrian let out what Kirk could only assume was a laugh?
“And the new organs?” McCoy asked
“Synthesized the same way we do the meburgers, Only replace if necessary” Adrian explained.
“I did help with that! I am a biologist after all, my liver started to malfunction about 50 years into living on Erid, I figured I had lived long enough but Adrian and Rocky wouldn't let me go so we just got to working” Dr. Grace looked askance, uncomfortable with the question.
They took a seat along the table, Dr. Grace looking into the food with so much hunger. “Please Doctor Grace go ahead” he said, pushing the plate holding hamburgers to the scientist who gratefully took it.
He watched as the Doctor took a bite and his eyes rolled into the back of his head, sounds of pleasure leaving him. “Oh God, thank you so much!” he said, taking more food.
He watched as Spock's eyes wouldn't leave the scientist’s face, and he didn't quite know why but it did bother him.
Still he didn't let it get in the way of the negotiations with the Eridian Leader, the deal was already done and accounted for, Erid enters the Federation of Planets, taking a seat into their council as well, with their xenosuits allowing them into humanoid spaces but quarters equipped for Eridians as well, they would easily join the science and engineering teams in different vessels as well as send out their own vessels for space exploration.
And of course they would share their knowledge with each other, like the usage of replicators for food, and bioengineering organs from pretty much nothing, that one came mostly from McCoy insisting he should know.
As soon as the treaty was signed, Kirk felt the necessity to bring out the champagne, even though the Eridians wouldn't be able to enjoy it. Still it seemed Dr. Grace had thought of human customs since Rocky and Adrian took the champagne glasses in their claws and simulated the sound of clinking their cups. Kirk found it oddly endearing.
And with that the talks about Erid joining the Federation ended, and so their mission was done.
But there was still so much to know about Dr. Grace.
“Say Doctor Grace, thought of returning back to Earth?” Kirk dared to ask.
The man looked like a deer caught on the headlights of a car. “Uhhh, I'll think about it” he said
Captain Kirk saw as Rocky good the Doctor's hand in his claw before saying “Grace think about it for a long time!”
Dr. Grace turned to look at him with a smile and nodded “yeah, I'll continue thinking about it, though I'm sure with the technology you guys have now we would probably make it there and back in like three or four days? Depends on the warp speed”
“Doctor Grace seems to know a lot about warp drives.” Spock said, his eyes meeting the doctor's.
“I was also within the project that helped Erid develop warp drive Mr Spock, we wouldn't have joined the Federation otherwise, right?” He answered back.
And he was right, they wouldn't have made first contact with Erid and asked them to join the Federation if they hadn't developed Warp Drive after all. It was one of the Vulcan laws that remained from when they had first formed the United Federation of Planets.
“I never meant to imply Dr. Grace wasn't knowledgeable in them, just impressed that despite having the technology you've never attempted the trip back” Spock said.
Dr. Grace's lips quirked up in a light smile, his hand tightening around the Eridian’s claw. “I'm in no hurry to get back Mr. Spock, my whole life's on Erid. Everyone I knew is already dead anyway so no point going back, probably wouldn't be good on my bones either way!” He laughed
Rocky gave a little shake and said “Grace old! But Grace can continue thinking about it for a long time!”
And with that it was done.
Kirk understood it all at once and didn't insist anymore.
They helped the Eridian's set up a replicator on the doctor's house, along with other equipment they might need, mostly medical since they were programed for humans —despite the scientist kept telling them that the robot named Armando was good enough, Spock and McCoy gave the old robot enhancements— in exchange Dr. Grace gave them his papers of research into human cloning and tissue growth which would surely advance medicine.
It was fun, hearing the scientist bicker with his doctor as well.
“How do you even pass the time here?”
“We have an old laptop! Of course a lot of the information on the internet got lost with your wars but I managed to download some stuff for Rocky, Adrian and I to watch”
“Grace very fond of the Friends!”
“That's an old TV show”
“That's lost media!”
“I'll give you a copy, don't worry. I also teach sometimes, most Eridian's understand English but sometimes I use an organ. Though I'm getting better at whistling too”
“Not true, Grace. Last week you insulted Rocky”
“Shush Rocky”
It had been quite an interesting day for all of them.
“Captain's log, supplemental. The Diplomatic Mission on Erid was a success. They have officially joined the Federation, Dr. Ryland Grace decided to stay on the planet despite our offer to take him back to Earth, it seems he has formed a life of his own in Erid and finds it more his home than Earth ever was. I still can't quite shake the feeling that he was hiding things from us, but who's to get information from an old man like him either way. Spock's fascination with him also seems to have receded, much to my relief. I was beginning to think my first officer would also like to stay on the planet. But he's safe and sound back aboard the Enterprise and we're on our way to our next mission.”
“Come in” he said as he heard the door of this quarters open. In came his favorite Vulcan.
“You wanted to see me, Captain?” He asked, his stance relaxing from his usual straight posture as he saw his own captain slouching over his sofa.
“Yes Mr. Spock. I just wanted to ask your impressions on Dr. Grace, I saw you were pretty interested in him” he said with a light tease in his voice.
Spock lifted an inquisitive eyebrow, “I was simply curious Captain, for a man who has spent over 200 years unable to feel the contact of another human he seemed really uninterested in returning to Earth. One would assume he would be… touch starved as you humans tend to put it.”
“Yeah well, he shook your hand didn't he? How was that? Got into any of his thoughts?”
“I could only grasp his outer emotions, he seemed a bit panicked, why do you ask?” he said, tilting his head lightly to the side, a light smile showing on his eyes, impossible for anyone other than Kirk himself or Doctor McCoy to notice.
“Well you're a touch telepath, I thought you'd be rather opposed to shaking hands with people” Kirk told him, trying his best to hide his own smile.
“If I recall correctly, Captain, we shook hands the first time we met.” Spock responded.
Blush crept to his face and he was grateful his room was lightly dimmed so Spock wouldn't be able to tell —although knowing his enhanced eyesight, he could probably see him anyway— “You're right Mr. Spock. I have apologized for my lack of knowledge back then”
“No, I don't believe you have, Captain, but apologies are not necessary either. Had I been bothered I wouldn't have taken your hand back then. If that'll be all” he said with a nod.
Kirk nodded back and dismissed his First Officer.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
“Grace not want to go back with Spoooock” Rocky told him, his voice giving away his jealousy.
“Why you say so, buddy? Didn’t you want me to continue thinking about it?” He responded, smile on his face.
“Grace knew the people who visited.” Adrian told him, interrupting their banter.
Ryland laughed, pulling up his laptop. “Have I ever mentioned this really old show called Star Trek? t’was one of my favorites growing up, I'm sure I downloaded when the internet started going down, get ready for a marathon guys!”