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“Time go fishing!” Adrian calls from the hilltop at the back of Grace’s habitat. “Sluice gate opening now.”
A live ‘salmon’—in actuality, a scaled-up amoeba engineered by Eridian scientists from a lifeform that had been collected in the sampler along with the Taumoeba—wriggles and thrashes as gravity carries it downstream in the miniature river that flows through the artificial redwood forest, down to the simulated seashore.
Before it can complete the journey, Grace swipes out with a paw and bats it onto the smooth stones beside the riverbank. Ever since revealing his long-held secret—the ability to shift into the form of a big brown bear—to the Eridian scientists, they have been thrilled to have a two-for-one special of Earth creatures to study. Nature documentaries contained in the ‘thinking machine’ inspired them to offer bear Grace this new form of enrichment. Grace has eaten many fish over the course of testing the river. It now appears perfected, along with his fishing skills. At first, some fish had gotten stuck, or ejected from the rapids, or escaped past him into the sea. But now he is a confident hunter.
The Salmoeba stills as Grace takes his first bite. “Mmmmph,” Grace says with his mouth full. “Not bad!”
Rocky, standing beside Grace, congratulates him on his catch. “Excitement! Grace fishing in bear form good good good. Better than human form fishing.”
“Grace catch fish, question?” Adrian inquires.
“Grace catch fish, statement!” Rocky calls back.
Adrian waves celebratory jazz hands at them before bounding down the hill—or as near to bounding as an Eridian can approximate while wearing a xenonite suit. “Fish not flop out of river anymore! Angles of banks now optimized!”
Grace slurps up the last of the Salmoeba. “My compliments to the chef!”
“Eridian bioengineers ‘cook’. Adrian not cook, only serve. Just design delivery system.” Adrian straightens up proudly. “And lead bear-friendly redesign of rest of habitat.”
“My compliments to the server, then! The atmosphere here is impeccable! I can’t say enough good things about the olfactory dispensers. You’ve really nailed the foggy forest scent. I give this place five stars.”
“Grace make joke. Stars are Earth rating system for restaurants,” Rocky explains. “Five stars is full good.”
“Thank!” Adrian preens. “How is fish taste, question?”
“It could use some bones, maybe? I know it can move fine, but the texture is kinda gelatinous. An internal skeletal structure would give it some crunch. Not that I’m knocking it! I don’t want to hurt any feelings…”
“Grace not hurt Adrian feelings. Bioengineers will continue refinements on fish. Adrian sluice gate and river perfect design. Adrian has five star rating. Now Adrian will go report findings in science Eridian thrum.”
Adrian exchanges affectionate chirps with Rocky before exiting the habitat. Rocky follows Grace down to the beach. Grace stretches out and rolls on his back, using the gritty sand to scratch an itch between his shoulder blades. Then he flops onto his side to watch the waves.
Even enclosed in his xenonite suit, Rocky still finds delight in flexing his claws in the damp sand. “Grace is happy with food experience, question? Rocky remember when Grace say food for humans should be fun to eat in order to be considered good. This good experience for bears, question?”
“Yeah, Rock, I feel great. Between the Me-Burgers and Salmoeba, I’m feeling well-fed for the first time in a long time.”
He’s put on weight, which has its pros and cons given the high gravity of Erid. He is bulkier as a bear, but at least his weight is distributed over four legs rather than two. Everything is so different now from the early days in the Eridian lab, before Grace’s habitat had been set up, back when he had only Taumoeba slurry to eat and his survival was touch and go. Back when he was in such rough shape that he was unable to control his shifting, and Rocky and the others found out about his bear form. After the initial surprise, the Eridians had taken it in stride a little too easily, and Grace had been amused to have to explain that most humans would be shocked to see what he could do.
“Rocky likes to watch Grace hunt. Rocky likes Grace’s fur too.” Rocky flexes his claw in Grace’s fur as he had with the sand. Rocky can’t see color, but he likes the texture. Grace likes the fact that the color of his fur very closely matches that of Rocky’s carapace.
“Hey Rock…there’s something else I should tell you about bears. Now that I’ve put on weight, I’m feeling healthy enough to hibernate.”
“What is hibernation, question?”
“It’s when bears sleep, but for a long time.”
“Like death, question?!”
“No, not like death, don’t worry! More like when you were hurt on the Hail Mary, and you went into a deeper sleep than usual.”
“Rocky was near death at that time!”
“Okay, maybe that was a bad example. Since I’m in my human form most of the time, I can go years without hibernating. But it’s kind of a good reset for my body. Bears usually hibernate in the winter, when it’s cold and food is scarce. They build up stores of fat beforehand. Hibernation lasts about five Earth months. So…” Grace scratches some quick math into the sand with one claw. “That’s 12,960,000 seconds! You remember how I told you the Earth scientists tested me for a gene that indicates resilience to long-term comas?”
“Yes, Rocky remember.”
“I think that wasn’t enough. I think my ability to hibernate allowed me to survive the journey to Tau Ceti when the other crew members didn’t. Almost no one on Earth knew I was a shifter besides my parents. I was too afraid to tell the Earth scientists, even when they were strong-arming me into the Hail Mary mission. They might have reconsidered if they knew they were sending a bear into space! But even then, I was so used to keeping the secret that it didn’t occur to me to leverage it.”
“Glad you not keep secret on Erid. Rocky like furry Grace. Grace same size as Adrian when bear,” Rocky says admiringly.
“I’m also glad the cat’s out of the bag.”
“Grace can become cat too, question?”
“No, it’s uh…an Earth saying. Nevermind. Anyway, it didn’t surprise me that I had the gene, since I’ve hibernated before, when I was younger.” The last time Grace had hibernated naturally for any great length of time was between leaving academia and going into classroom teaching. “Sleep is healing. And I like both my forms, but it feels good to stretch out in this form for a while. To be able to take up space.”
“Grace take up as much space as Grace wants, now that not in space!” Rocky chirps.
“Exactly, you get it!” Grace laughs.
“When hibernation begin, question?”
“Well, I don’t want to bother the habitat maintenance crew, but I was thinking about digging a den in the hillside over there. And I’ve prepared some lesson plans so a substitute can take over my class. So, maybe in a couple days? Even though I don’t need it to stay warm, I’d like to have my quilt from my human habitat in the den, too. And I know it’s a lot to ask, for five months, but…do you think that maybe you could—”
“Rocky will watch Grace sleep. Not question. Statement.”
“Thank you. I’d like that, pal. I’ll dig the den big enough for both of us. And for Adrian to come and go. I mean, you’re welcome to come and go too! It’s a long time to be stuck in one place—”
“Grace being stupid. Grace know Rocky will stay.”
“You’re right, you’re right!”
“Rocky share quilt with Grace during hibernation sleep, question?”
“My prized and most comforting possession from Earth? Now who’s being stupid?” Grace drapes a paw over Rocky’s carapace. “Of course you can.”