Chapter Text
Holy fudge!!
I'm home!
I watch as Earth comes into view on my radar. I managed to navigate somehow back to Earth in just under a year. Crazy what astrophage can do, if only it wasn't trying to destroy our sun. But that's not what I should be worried about.
Over the course of seven months, I've survived off meburgers and the weirdly addictive meshakes that Adrian and the rest of the biosphere team managed to create while navigating my way back to Earth with Mary's help of course.
"Houston?" I talk into the xenonite microphone Rocky managed to engineer(he can really do anything). "This is Doctor Captain Ryland Grace speaking."
"Welcome back, Dr Captain Grace," I'm greeted by that disgustingly familiar Germanish-Dutch accent. Of course it's freaking Stratt greeting me.
"Fudge you, I don't want to talk," I say, childishly enough. I cross my arms even though she can't see me.
She laughs, her usual atmosphere of professionalism has somehow faded in the years I've been gone. She sounds considerably older now which shouldn't come as a surprise.
"I'm just glad you survived," she chuckles. I don't focus on her voice but instead the NavCam that I had engineered. That's right, your boy learned how to engineer. Who says I'm just a middle schools science teacher? I'm a scientist, middle school science teacher, AND engineer now.
"We can talk to the Eridians now," I begrudgingly speak into the mic. "Rocky managed to make something."
"What?"
A beat.
Followed by another.
Seconds tick by as I listen to the static on the other end.
"Did I mess up or..."
"No," Stratt mutters. "That's great, Grace."
"Earth should give me an award," I gloat. "Two species of interplanetary organisms AND savior of the world."
It's pretty nice to be smug. In your FACE, Stratt.
"Sure," she sounds distant. Is something happening?
"What's wrong?" I ask, concerned.
I can see her shaking her head on the other end(hairs grayed and everything), "No, nothing."
"I know you're lying."
"It's just," she begins before stopping herself abruptly. "Never mind."
"What? Tell me." I spin nervously in my chair. Well, not spin, more like float around in zero Gs. They're still deciding where I should land or crash into the ocean or whatever. Deciding my course.
"I thought you'd be more mad at me," she admits. I stop spinning.
"I was mad," I confess, "and I'm still chewing you out when I get back to Earth. But if I hadn't been sent out there, I wouldn't have gotten to meet Rocky and Adie and do all this awesome stuff."
There's a moment of silence on her end(seriously what's with all the silence?) before it crackles up again. "Really?"
"Yeah."
"You know how relieved I was to get those probes back? Those ridiculously named Beatle probes. I was over the moon even in jail. I knew you could do it."
"I know, I know," I try to lighten the mood. "I'm smart, I figured it out."
"And then when I got to the final message," her tone is solemn as a grave, "my heart dropped."
"What? Cuz I was going after Rocky? He's my best friend of course I had to go."
"Not because of that. Because of how selfless you've become. I knew you could do it from the moment I stepped foot into your office."
"I guess so," I muse. "It's getting late, I should probably get some sleep, savior of the universe is coming home tomorrow."
"Right, rest up," she says before turning off the communication signal.
While it is comforting that everyone at NASA is working to get me back safe and sound, it's still a tad unsettling. Like deep in my gut I know there's a possibility everything could go wrong and I could die out in space after surviving for so long. I stare the the communication device Rocky made.
It's bulky and made of xenonite, sure. But by theory it should work like a Facetime. Speaking of Facetime, I wonder how Marissa is doing. Whether she's still alive or the "plague" Stratt was talking about killed her. Jeez I sure hope it didn't. But that's just me being wishful as always.
I fidget with my Earth ball in my pocket. It's become a source of comfort out in the depths of space, remembering my simpler days in the classroom. Maybe I should go back to teaching. I still have so many years on my clock, I might as well.
I climb up to my bunk and strap myself in. The zero gravityness of space usually makes it harder to sleep but I'm already so tired yet my mind. It doesn't want to rest. I wonder how Carl's doing. You know who you are. You're going to do great.
I decide to try to get some sleep despite everything.
...
"What do you mean you just want me to drop into the ocean?!" I yell into the mic. "I can't swim!"
I hear a snort behind Stratt before she says, "We have rafts to get you and you'll be in your airlock."
"I'm going to drown before they get there, plus it's fudging cold out there," I complain. It's a stupid problem but one nonetheless.
"You'd expect the savior of the world to be able to swim," she remarks. I float in circles like I usually do while thinking. My glasses hang off my face awkwardly, just barely hanging on.
"What about the ship?" I ask as a last resort. I can hear Rocky in my head: Stop being a fucking pussy, statement. Ever since he learned how to curse...things haven't been the same.
She sighs into her end of the mic, sounding exasperated. Probably hasn't had her two cups of coffee yet. Maybe she drinks three now. "Doctor Grace, that is for NASA to handle, not you. They are going to send up unmanned ships to deconstruct the Hail Mary."
"Fine. Why can't you just send an unmanned ship up to get me?" I sulk. I know, I know, it's childish.
I can practically see her pinching the bridge of her nose. "Just...unlatch the airlock, Ryland"--ooh she never uses my name--"and we will handle the rest. Make sure to get into gravity's pull and then plot your NavCam to fly back upward just into orbit."
"Do we have all the math done for it?" I ask nervously.
"Yes, just follow the instructions we sent."
"Gosh darn it, fine. It wouldn't've hurt me to live another 10 years in the Hail Mary, y'know?"
"That is an abomination of a contraction and you would've run out of food," she says matter of factly. "Now get to work."
"Haven't lost that commanding side huh?" I say as she logs off the "call". Aaaand she's gone. Well crap.
I bring the Hail Mary down just a little to test. I know I need to be at least 400km away from Earth to be in orbit. I have to be sure to not crash into the second International Space Station(apparently they got rid of the old one and revamped it while I was gone, pretty neat) and wait there for coordinates. I can do that.
I open up my GPS, it says I'm still 1000km away from Earth. That's not a terrible start.
Using my spin drives, I could probably get there in about 4 minutes and 43 seconds. I scribble some math out on my walls, not bothering to find a whiteboard if the ship is going to be deconstructed anyways.
"Stratt?"
"Yes?"
"I-Is the team ready for interception?" My palms are beginning to sweat. I don't put the not in astronaut anymore but I do put the die in diver. Okay I'll admit, that wasn't a very good one but I tried.
"Yes, begin detachment now."
First, I pack all my clothes and the device Rocky made into the original bag I'd brought along for the mission. It's still in great condition surprisingly.
"Would you like to do an EVA, Doctor Ryland Grace?" Mary's autonomous voice fills the cockpit.
I suck in a breath. "Yes please Mary, thank you."
"No problem Doctor Grace," she says.
I get into my EVA suit for the millionth time. It has so many xenonite patches from failed missions and tiny holes in the hull that needed to be fixed. Safe to say it's not in the best shape. But I said I'd let Rocky do open heart surgery on me so surely I trust him enough to fix an EVA suit.
I make my way to the airlock, leaving my bag of stuff behind for now. I just need to unbolt half of the airlock. Not enough to do noticeable damage to my oxygen intake but just enough so I don't have to struggle when I'm back in orbit.
Before I turn on the spin drives and centrifuge, I check the Petrovascope one last time. For remembering's sake. The red line still glows faintly. The taumoeba population killed off most of the astrophage, whatever's left will soon be gone. It's kind of poetic, no? Like that one Robert Frost poem that kid in my last third period class was obsessed with.
Taking a deep breath, I turn on the Hail Mary's systems, strapping myself into the pilot's seat one last time. "Pilot detected."
"Pilot detected indeed, Mary," I murmur, setting my course for 600 km towards Earth.
"ETA 4 minutes and 43 seconds," the numbers flash bright red on my screen. I set the NavCam to face Earth and begin acceleration, buckling myself in.
The centrifuge starts up, then the spin drives. Soon, I'm accelerating toward Earth. I'll be out of this nothingness soon enough.
...
I'm surrounded by reporters as I get out of the little raft. I want to throw up into a traffic cone but there aren't any around.
The flashing lights of their cameras make my nausea even worse as I'm escorted into a government looking building. This should be fun.
"Uhm...sorry can I just have a moment to," I slur my words out, ducking into the bathroom.
So that's why Stratt advised me not to eat.
I groan, washing the spit off my face. Meburgers suddenly don't seem all that appealing anymore.
I step out of the bathroom, thankful to not be surrounded by the reporters crowding the entrance of the building. I give them a little wave, embarrassed to be on international news in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt looking like I just woke up.
The agents who escorted me into the building lead me down winding hallways. We pass by a few scientists and official looking people who do double-takes at me.
I wonder if my kids are amongst the government officials. Probably not. Half of them are likely dead by now from the third World War. I'm just as shocked as you are.
"Doctor Grace," I'm greeted by Stratt's graying hair as we trapeze into her office. Her skin is wrinkled and there are bags under her eyes. "Welcome home."