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As I build the machine to get a sample from Grace’s vacuum chamber, I watch Grace sleep. Unlike an Eridian, they often move in their sleep, but this time they’ve been moving more than normal. Sometimes they groan. They say they can feel the pain from where my atmosphere burned them, even in their sleep hallucinations. That sounds terrible. I wish I could help them. I wish there was a way for them to dull their own pain without making themself stupid. They deserve to feel better. They’re a brave person.
The whole reason they ended up burned by my atmosphere was that they wanted to save me. I owe my life to them. The whole reason they had to save me was that I went into their atmosphere to save them, and the whole reason for that is that Grace was being crushed by their own chair in the high gravity, which is something I don’t want to think about.
Grace’s body is so weak compared to an Eridian. It’s scary. I worry about them. I know humans must be strong enough to handle the environment that they evolved to live in, but Grace’s weakness still makes me nervous. I have an irrational fear that after we split up, something bad will happen to them out in space that they’ll be too weak to fix.
I want to build them an exoskeleton that they can wear around the ship, but realistically, I bet that would be cumbersome for them. They need to live as closely to the way they’ve evolved to live as possible.
So, all I can do is hope that everything turns out okay for them.
“Grace,” I say after they wake up, “How strong are animals on your planet, question? Strong as humans, question?”
Grace trains their eyes upward, a sign that they’re thinking. “Well,” they say, “It depends on the animal. Many are weaker than us, but some are stronger.”
“Humans not strongest species on planet, question?” I say, horrified.
“Not even close,” Grace says. “Humans are successful because we’re smart, not because we’re strong.”
“Strong animals attack humans, question?” I ask.
“Sometimes.”
“Danger.”
“Yes. But we usually stay away from areas where the most dangerous animals live, and most animals, even dangerous animals, know we’re not the easiest prey. We have weapons that are very good at killing animals from a distance. Most non domesticated large animals have evolved to associate humans with danger or difficulty. So, we’re a lot safer than we could be.”
“Grace promise no go near large, danger animals when go back to Earth, question?” I ask. I have to make sure they’ll be okay.
“Of course,” they say. “That’s not the kind of risk I’m willing to take. The only time I was ever brave was when all of humanity was in danger. I would never put myself in danger unless I had to.”
That’s right. Grace was willing to die for Earth. Grace is a very brave person. But it’s good to hear that, at least on Earth, they’re going to be cautious.
I wonder though, how safe is Grace from being hurt by other humans? “Grace, you strong compare to other humans, question?”
“Well, kind of. Humans are mostly divided into two types with roughly equal population, and I’m in the stronger type.”
“Oh,” I say. “Good good good.”
Grace laughs. “Don’t let anyone in the other group hear you say that. People have been trying for a long time to make it so that my group isn’t seen as being better, because that’s not good for the other group.”
“Oh,” I say. “Sorry.”
“Besides,” Grace says, “I’m here in outer space now. It doesn’t matter how strong I am compared to other humans.”
“Could human from other group bring me back to Eridian atmosphere, question?” I ask.
“Well, some could, but most probably couldn’t.”
“Then is good you are strong, for human.”
“Yes. Rocky, thanks for saving me. I’m sorry I needed that. I put you in danger because I couldn’t handle the gravity.”
“Is not problem now. We safe now.”
“Yes,” Grace says, “We’re safe. We’re going to save our planets.”
Worrying about Grace’s relative weakness is something I’ll have to get over on my own. Grace is as safe as they can be, and that will have to be good enough. We’re both going to be okay, I tell myself. It’s okay.