Chapter Text
When I wake up, I’m alone in the dormitory. That’s odd. Normally, Rocky is in his bunk watching me or at least working on something in this room. Which he can do ever since he made that xenonite suit. But now he’s gone and the hatch above me is closed.
Maybe it’s because we’re getting close to erid now. I’ve been tempted to stop and take a look at the planet, but I’m not sure if I’d be able to see it well. And I don’t wanna risk delaying our journey for something that could just look like how Venus looks from earth (it’s a little bigger than the stars and moves more but no one could blame the untrained eye for mistaking it for a star). So we’re waiting with me going sightseeing until we’re in orbit like we did on Adrian and Threeworld.
Our visit to Threeworld was just to drop off a container of taumoeba. Rocky made sure it would come apart at the height of the astrophage breeding clouds, but we still had plenty of Taumoeba left in case that didn’t work. Then erid would have to send a probe.
Maybe Rocky was doing some last minute tinkering on the suit he was making for me. He had been reassembling and altering the suit he made for me to get into his ship. Like adding better lights so I don’t feel like a horror game protagonist on Erid. But it has to stay in the lab, it’s too big to move around comfortably in the dorms.
I get out of bed and start climbing upwards. But when I open the hatch to the lab, he’s not in the lab either. I can hear his voice coming from the cockpit though. He’s chattering rapidly, but I can barely understand him. he sounds off as well. Like something is wrong with him, but I can’t tell what. It’s just wrong.
I climb up even more and knock on the cockpit hatch. Rocky doesn’t stop talking. I can’t even understand what he’s saying. He’s talking so fast. But I hear him scurrying around.
Then, the hatch opens and Rocky lets me into the cockpit. He’s jumping up and down excitedly. Before I can ask anything, he holds up one finger, ordering me to wait. He then put that same finger to his carapace in a shushing gesture.
I give him a questioning look, but then I notice his vent covers aren’t moving at all. that the voice is coming from the speakers in the cockpit
Rocky made radio contact with Erid! That’s another eridian, talking to us!
When I listen more intently, I can barely make out a few words. Sadly they’re all common words and nothing that could help me figure out what they’re saying.
But based on the pronouns this eridian uses to adres Rocky, this isn’t one of his close friends. Pronouns (both second and first person) are based on how well you know someone. This eridian uses the one for strangers and colleagues, the same one Rocky used on me until I came back for him.
Now, he uses the one for family members. I thought that was a bit much, but Rocky assured me it was appropriate since we live together now. Really close friends can be considered family too, fast and furious style
Guess we skipped the friend pronoun stage, but that’s okay. I’m taken out of my thoughts by the eridian on the radio going quiet. We probably weren’t close enough for mostly latency free communication, so it was more sending voice messages back and forth than calling on the phone.
Still, Rocky is very excited. He can barely sit still.
“I talked to erid!” He says, at a more understandable tempo. It’s still a little fast, but that’s understandable given the current situation. I can’t imagine how hyped up I would be if I ever got to talk to another human.
“Finally,” I say, kneeling down for a celebratory hug. He practically throws himself in my arms, careful not to crush me. His xenonite suit is warm to the touch and incredibly rigid, but I’ve gotten used to hugging it so much that it feels like home.
“We made it” I whisper into his carapace.
“Rocky told Eridians about Grace. Erid will take care of you”
“I thought it was impolite to tell someone else’s story?” I ask, remember in his lessons on eridian etiquette.
“I only told them relevant things like how to not accidentally kill you, that’s not really your story” he chirps.
We had found out this cultural difference after I noticed Rocky was getting uncomfortable when I kept telling him about Steve Hatch. Rocky had shown a lot of interest in the beetles, and I still had the documentation. That led to me talking about Steve, and his belief that the astrophage were a test from God. This led to an in-depth discussion about religion that ended up getting a little personal
Rocky had told me that he had prayed a lot for some kind of help a lot while he was alone in space, even though he doesn’t really believe in a higher power. Eridian religions seem to focus more on an abstract “will of the universe”, “fate” or “karma” (not the actual religious concept, but the popular culture one) than on an actual God or gods. Though some beloved in spirits. Some even believed in something similar to the Force. Guess George Lucas had one thing right about space, which is surprising considering how little sense space travel in Star Wars makes.
Rocky had occasionally wondered if I was the answer to his prayers, but I’m not sure. I guess we can never be fully sure. There were a lot of coincidences involved in even getting the Hail Mary launched, including the fact that Irina Petrova managed to find that line before we started celebrating “fixing” global warming.
But after we got through the religion talk, Rocky asked me why I volunteered so much information on Steve.
That’s how I found out that on Erid, it’s considered rude to share more information about someone who isn’t there than what is necessary. It’s to avoid reputations from ruining a first impression. Rocky now had an opinion about Steve Hatch, and he wasn’t likely to forget that. So if Steve ever came to Erid (no matter how unlikely that is), Steve wouldn’t be able to make his own first impression on Rocky. If Rocky had been human he probably would’ve forgotten all about that conversation, so it wouldn’t really have mattered.
It’s also why Rocky didn’t really mention Adrian until I started asking questions. Now that I might actually meet her soon, I can’t help but see where the eridians are coming from. Rocky made her seem like the most amazing person to ever exist, and it’ll be hard to live up to that. Maybe Rocky is only talking about her like that because of how much he loves her. So I try to temper my expectations of her. But still. I think we’d be friends.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Erid is still far away. It’s gonna be about three or four days until we reach Erid.
“You should probably get back to the radio,” I say “they’re waiting for you. Is Adrian there as well?”
“Not yet,” Rocky said “They tried to contact her, but her clutchmate answered. She’s asleep now, and probably will be for a few more hours.” His voice went up an octave at the mention that she’d be there, which is honestly adorable.
“Good. Would you like some privacy to catch up with Adrian?” I ask as I let go of the hug.
“Yes yes yes,” Rocky said “Adrian and Rocky have much to discuss, and Grace’s Eridian is still bad bad bad”
I smile at him, and pull out my mouth harmonica. Rocky made it for me. It was capable of all the common notes in Eridian, but it was still pretty complicated. “I practice” I play
“You’ve been practicing” Rocky corrects me
“Mean” I play, and he chuckles at that. “Go talk on radio” I add
“Yes. I will” Rocky says. “Go prepare stuff. Pack human things in case we can leave ship. Unsure how much Erid can prepare”
“Will do,” I say, before putting the mouth Harmonica away again. While I can speak eridian with it, it’s very limited. It can play most common words. I won’t be explaining relativity with this beyond “when speed very fast, time slows down”, but I can order at a restaurant. Not that I expect to find many restaurants on Erid. Though maybe there is, in the same way we have swingers clubs on earth. I should ask Rocky about it, but for now, I leave him to his radio.
I start packing up a few essentials like bags of water, a few of the freeze dried taumoeba from Rocky’s ship to snack on, various lamps and an empty bottle just in case I ended up not being able to make it back the the toilet on the Mary (which is currently the only bathroom in this whole star system). I’m trying to think what else to pack for the few hours I have oxygen for, when I’m taken out of my thoughts by Mary’s voice.
“Blip A detected”
I hurry back to the cockpit where Rocky is in his airlock, struggling o get into his xenonite suit and attach his camera. I get to the radar screen.
A small object is approaching. Fast.
It’s not a ship, it’s way too small for that and there’s no light on the petrovascope. It’s probably an asteroid coming towards us atna decent pace. Reminds me of Blip-B actually. But this time, we should not be catching it.
“Go secure our stuff, I’ll take evasive action!” I order, and for once Rocky doesn’t argue. He hurries down back to the lab in his xenonite suit, his camera still half attached to one of his arms and dragging over the ground
I get into the chair and clip on my restraints. Mary can barely finish saying “pilot detected” when I grab the control stick with both hands and start accelerating.
I’d like to think I’m a better pilot now than I was back at Tau Ceti, but barely. Practicing while traveling would show us down, and having to recalculate our course. So I haven’t practiced at all since we started de accelerating two years ago.
On top of that, I was also underweight and was developing what I feared might be scurvy and/or dry beriberi. I still had coma slurry, but vitamins aren’t the most shelf stable of nutrients. It had been a miracle they lasted as long as they did frankly. I suspect Stratt made extra sure to pack extra vitamins in there just so they lasted longer, but even that had her limits.
Part of me still thinks that maybe she could’ve used that big brain of hers to realize that Dubois and Shapiro should’ve been kept seperate at all times, like those guys who know the Coca Cola recipe. Or at least have made me train more back up candidates. But I’m starting to feel less and less angry about it. I’m happy to have met Rocky at least.
But yeah, my pilot skills are rusty and something is approaching the Mary way too fast. I try to swerve. By now, the radar has figured out the relative speed. 3.41 meters per second. That doesn’t make as much sense to me as it should. The proximity alarm is screaming at me. The speed is like… Me on a bike, exhausted after having meeting with parents all day. 7, maybe 8 miles per hour? Stupid American brain, I can’t believe I still use the -
Klang!
Alarms are blaring everywhere, but the one sound that makes my blood run cold isn’t an alarm.
It’s Rocky shrieking.
I quickly check the radar, no new blips. No hull breach according to any of the screens. It looks loke we just got knocked off course. I flip on the automatic pilot again to prevent us from spinning out of control, and I suddenly remember when I heard Rocky scream like that before.
“Rocky!” I cry out, as I somehow make my way to the lab. I’m not even sure how, or if I have gravity. I think gravity came back while I was scrambling across the hallway, because when I arrive I see Rocky’s suit almost entirely filled with thick black smoke.
“Airlock!” Rocky shrieks at me, and he starts running over to his airlock. I sprint over and open his airlock on my side.
Rocky rushes inside, and I cycle the airlock back to his atmosphere. He starts quickly taking off his suit, filling up the space with smoke. As soon as the airlock fills with thick ammonia, I can see the smoke clear. Rocky is laying on the ground. He starts dragging himself into his side.
He doesn’t look as bad as last time, but I’m still worried sick. He’s covered in way more soot, but I can’t see any mercury on him. He’s trembling, but he’s not collapsing. Yet.
“What happened?” I ask, squishing myself against the xenonite.
“Hit edge of lab table…” he warbles “suit opened…”
“Hang in there buddy, we still need to save Erid” I say, tears already forming in my eyes. Damnit Rocky, don’t die now. I wanted to bring you back home. We had plans on how to handle this together and emergency plans for Rocky to dock, but there were no plans for when it was just me. Some essential equipment was in Rocky’s part of the ship.
“Erid has been saved,” he assures me “they know about taumoeba and radiation. Even if we don’t make it now, they can go to tau Ceti to get more”
“But relativity-“
“I still got to Tau Ceti regardless,” he assures me “and I don’t think I’m dying.”
“But my air-“
“I survived it for longer last time. But you’ve gotta dock to the space elevator without me. I’m sorry”
“My Eridian is terrible” I argue, even though I know there’s nothing to argue about. Rocky probably has less than a minute of consciousness left.
“You’re gonna do fine” he assures me “get to Erid, dock to the elevator, get me a doctor, tell Adrian I love her. I love you, Grace”
And with that, Rocky conks out.
And I’m left alone, to dock to an alien planet with a mouth harmonica as my sole means of communication.
Fuck.