Chapter Text
“Be advised, The Hail Mary is full of oxygen.”
“...What?”
“Will repeat. Be advised, The Hail Mary is full. Of. Oxygen.”
“Bud, I think they heard you the first time,” I say pointedly.
“Why is the ship full of oxygen, question?” An Eridian asks through the speaker, sounding slightly hysterical.
“We will need an airlock to cycle out the oxygen atmosphere and cycle in the ammonia one, or you will all catch on fire,” Rocky warns.
“Please answer question. Why is the ship full of oxygen?”
“Oxygen atmosphere is more comfortable for Grace. Grace can survive Erid atmosphere, but prefers oxygen. Understand?” Rocky hums into the speaker.
“No? Why is the alien more comfortable in oxygen, question? How are you not also on fire? Do you have life support on The Hail Mary, question?”
“Not needed. Am built different these days,” Rocky chirps. I pinch the bridge of my nose. “It would be best to save questions until Grace and I are fully on Erid. There is far too much to explain to say it all through radio.”
“...Are you being vague on purpose, question?” The Eridian calls out.
“They clocked you,” I snort.
“I may be being vague on purpose, statement,” Rocky answers through the speaker. “Somewhat apology.”
We were about three hours from reaching Erid’s space elevator, and while three hours sounds like a lot, after almost five years in this tin can of a ship, three hours may as well be three minutes.
“Airlock will be ready for atmosphere cycling when you and the alien arrive at the space elevator,” a different Eridian speaks.
“What happened to other Eridian, question?” Rocky asks.
“They had to step away for a moment,” the other Eridian replies. Rocky tilts his carapace.
“I recognise your voice... who am I speaking with, question?”
“It’s 🎶,” 🎶 answers. I translate the name to ‘Garret’ in my head. Rocky jumps in excitement.
“It’s Garret!” Rocky exclaims excitedly, turning to face me.
“Who is Garret?” I ask, frowning.
“I never told you? Four years and I never told you? Wow. Bad. Garret was the head of The Cooling Line Task Force. They are the one who recruited me and the other twenty-two Eridians for mission to Tau Ceti,” Rocky explains.
“Oh, wow, so like your equivalent to Eva Stratt,” I say. Rocky makes an offended gasp.
“Never compare dear friend Garret to The Condemner!” Rocky admonishes.
“Come on, you knew what I meant,” I huff, rolling my eyes. “I was saying they’re like the equivalent of Eva Stratt in terms of being in charge of recruiting Eridians.”
“I knew what you meant. But Garret and The Condemner should not be spoken in the same sentence,” Rocky chitters. “Garret is truly good. Cares very much about Erid and the Eridians who live on it.”
“You should probably answer them, then,” I remind.
“Oh! Yes. Thank you, Grace,” Rocky chirps, turning back to the radio. “Garret, I am happy, happy, happy to hear your voice again!”
“Not as happy as I am, Rocky,” Garret responds warmly. “I am so so so glad you are okay. I thought... well, we all thought that you...”
“I am here,” Rocky responds softly. “I am here, and I am coming home. Mission was success.”
“Sucess... You are sole survivor of Blip-A, question?” Garret finally asks.
“Yes.”
“Oh, Rocky. I am sorry, sorry, sorry. The crew- all of them? How did they-?” Garret stumbles, voice welling over with grief. I feel an insurmountable amount of grief hit Rocky, and I quickly unbuckle myself from my seat so I can go hug him.
“I... the crew died not long after we left Erid. They all got sick except me. I didn’t know why. I arrived at Tau Ceti and spent 216 Eridian years trying to find a way to save our star, but no hope. Am only mechanic. Not scientist. Then, Grace’s ship entered solar system, and I began communication with him. Grace is a scientist, and his species has much more knowledge about space than we do. Grace was able to tell me that crew died from something called radiation sickness. We have no Eridian translation for this, so I had to make up word. Radiation is everywhere in space and is extremely deadly. It made all the crew sick and die. I didn’t die because my workshop was next to Astrophage fuel tanks, and Astrophage protected me from radiation.”
The line was deathly silent for a few minutes, during which neither Rocky nor I tried to fill with conversation. We just waited for Garret to process Rocky’s words. But as the silence persisted much longer than we thought it would, Rocky spoke up again.
“It wasn’t your fault, Garret,” Rocky calls out. “It was no one’s fault.”
“I am so so so sorry. Maybe if I had–” Garret chokes. “Rocky, it is simply a miracle that you are alive!”
“You have no idea,” Rocky replies. “It’s thanks to Grace that I am even here right now.”
“Grace... Grace the alien... Holy crap, Rock, you met an actual alien!” Garret exclaims. “It’s amaze amaze amaze! You made first contact with another sentient lifeform!”
It feels weird to know I’m on another Eridian’s radar and being spoken of like I was some different creature from a different planet, which, well, I was.
I was going to be the only human on Erid. Sure, they were aliens to me, but I would be the alien society-wise. I was the odd one out. And that was weird to think about.
“It is amaze amaze amaze,” Rocky agrees with Garret. “Though the novelty of meeting an alien wears off surprisingly quickly, especially when they do as many dumb things as Grace does.”
“Hey!” I exclaim, elbowing Rocky’s carapace. “Uncalled for!”
“I heard strange noises. Was- was that the alien, question?!” Garret gasps. “Is alien near you, question?!”
I had been trying my best to stay quiet and not add another layer of chaos to the already chaotic cake that Rocky had been cooking up. Returning to Erid with a cure and an alien was already a lot to process. Hearing from said alien might tip them over the edge.
Well, the cat’s outta the bag now.
“Yes,” Rocky grumbles, tapping my arm. “He is practically on top of me.”
“Oh- my! Has the alien been listening to us, question?!”
“Yes. He has been here the whole time,” Rocky confirms. “Say hello, Grace.”
“Uh, hey,” I say awkwardly. Rocky elbows me in the side. “Ow! What was that for?!”
“Garret no understand you when you speak human! Use your Eridian words!”
“I don’t want to!” I exclaim, my face turning red.
“Grace, you will greet my friend in Eridian, or I will throttle you,” Rocky threatens.
“Rocky!! Are you threatening the alien?! That is bad!”
“Grace is friend first, alien second,” Rocky states. “And because he is friend first, I get to threaten.”
“Impeccable logic,” I retort.
“Greet my friend in Eridian,” Rocky requests. “Please, Grace?”
“Not cool bringing out the ‘p’ word,” I frown, crossing my arms.
“It is so incredible to hear you communicating and understanding an alien speaking in their native language!” Garret squeals excitedly. “Have you taught the alien how to speak Eridian language, question? I hear you asking them to greet me in Eridian. Can they really do that, question?”
“Yes, but he is being stubborn, stubborn, stubborn. Come on, Grace! I say please! That means you have to do it now!”
Rocky had been teaching me how to speak Eridian for the past four years, but since I was only capable of producing some Eridian noises, my speech was reduced to ‘pebble talk’.
Pebble talk was the simplest form of communication and was usually used only by pebbles with a single functional air bladder. It was a very noticable vocal pattern, which means I’m pretty sure I know exactly how other Eridians will react when they hear me speak in Eridian, and it wasn’t something I was looking forward to.
But I can feel Rocky’s hope leak into my body at the prospect of me greeting his friend in Eridian, and I finally relent.
“...Fine. Hello.”
The noise that was emitted from my throat was a considerably high-pitched squeak that I’m sure would be considered cute if it came from an actual pebble. Not a man in his early forties.
I hear Garret gasp in surprise, and I think a little bit of horror.
“Was that a pebble, question?!”
Yep. There it was.
Rocky was already laughing loudly.
“No, that was Grace!”
“Is Grace an alien pebble, question?!” Garret asks, voice pitched in alarm.
“You tell him the truth,” I say, pointing my finger at Rocky. I see a certain amount of smugness emanate from Rocky as he presses the transpond button to speak to Garret.
“Grace is only 1,633 Eridian years old,” Rocky informs gleefully. I immediately see the error of my instructions, and before I can do any sort of damage control, Garret’s voice comes screeching through the speaker.
“1,633? 1,633?! Grace is a pebble?! He is actual pebble?! That is too young of age to be doing space travel!! It is so dangerous!! What was Grace planet thinking when allowing Grace to go to space?! He is just a pebble!”
“Oh, you, I have so many words I want to say to you right now, and none of them are PG,” I glower, looking at Rocky. “You tell Garret right the freak now that I am a fully grown adult human species-wise and I am not a baby.”
“You tell him yourself,” Rocky goads, turning the microphone toward me.
“I hate you.”
“No, you don’t. You need to practice Eridian. Go on now,” Rocky flutters smugly. I can tell from the way he’s standing that he has no intention of clearing the air on my behalf, and if he’s not going to, then I have no choice but to speak.
“You’re actually the worst,” I say before pressing the button to transpond. “Not. Pebble. Am full grow for me kind. Not pebble!”
“Oh, my! Grace speak! I understand you! You sound like pebble!”
“Not pebble!” I repeat, face completely red. “Me voice only make pebble words. Not. Pebble. Repeat. Am full grow for me kind!”
“You are fully grown for your species, question?! But you are so young, statement!”
“Yes. Full grow. Me kind live not long. Grow fast. Live short.”
“That is terrible! You deserve much longer life!”
Rocky and I turn to look at each other. We hadn’t talked about... that since we were first bonded by the box. We both thought about it constantly, but it was an unspoken agreement to wait until we got to Erid before exploring it as a possibility. One way or another, finding out the answer to whether I would live as long as Rocky or not would end in some form of tears. Good or bad was undecided.
“We will need a team of Eridian scientists when we get to Erid for Grace and me,” Rocky speaks up. “We have much to figure out.”
“We will add it to the list,” Garret says. Rocky tilts his carapace.
“List? What list?”
“There is much to prepare for your arrival. Right now, only a select few Eridians know about you returning. We will need to debrief with the task force and the council. Once debrief is over, then our next mission is to... gather the crew's family. They deserve to know what happened before the rest of Erid does.”
“Does Adrian know?” Rocky finally asks. “Does Adrian know I am coming home, question?”
“Adrian has not been informed, no,” Garret responds. “Would you want us to tell them, question?”
“That is a stupid, stupid question!” Rocky shouts. “Of course I want Adrian to know I am coming home! I am angry you haven’t told them yet! I want Adrian to be there when The Hail Mary docks! You tell them and get them now!”
“Are you sure that’s a–”
“I have not heard my mate in 1,878 years! I will not tolerate a single second more without them! I save Erid! You do what I say now and get Adrian!”
“Yes. Of course, Rocky,” Garret concedes, understanding in his voice. “I will go see to the retrieval of Adrian myself. Will check back in 1521 seconds.”
“Thank you,” Rocky manages to get out. The line goes silent.
“That was a lot,” I say.
“Do you think Adrian will be happy to see me, question?” Rocky asks me, his fingers gently tapping his mating stone.
“Why wouldn’t they be?” I frown.
“I have been gone for 1,878 years. What if they hate me?”
“Hey, knock those intrusive thoughts outta your head, bud,” I order, knocking the side of Rocky’s carapace with my knuckles. “You know Adrian is going to be over the moon when they see you.”
“I know. But I worry anyway,” Rocky puffs. “I can’t wait to take Adrian in with my new vision.”
“That might be easier said than done. I’m pretty sure your entire planet is gonna be pitch black.”
“Right. Because if there was light on Erid, we would not have evolved to echolocate. Hmm. This problem.”
“We’ve got flashlights, though,” I offer.
“Yes, yes, good idea!” Rocky bobs his carapace. “We can use flashlights to see Adrian. I will go to lab and fashion a holster for me to wear with flashlights in it so all my limbs remain free. I want to hug Adrian with all my arms.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I nod.
“You will stay in control room, question? Make sure Mary is okay as we get closer to Erid?” Rocky inquires.
“Yeah, don’t worry, pal, I’ll hold down the fort,” I give him a thumbs down, which is the Rocky equivalent of a thumbs up. “It’s not like I’m not gonna be able to hear you from down there.”
“Yes. Glad you have Eridian hearing now. Human hearing is so pathetic,” Rocky remarks.
“Can’t argue with you there,” I hum. Rocky disappears down the hatch, and I climb back into my pilot’s chair. “Oh, Mary,” I sigh. “What are you going to do without us?”
“I will continue to exist peacefully knowing that you and Rocky have successfully completed your mission and have not perished.”
“We have you to thank for that,” I hum.
“I am merely a vessel, Dr Grace. I am only as useful as the one who pilots me.”
“Can’t you just take a compliment, Mary?”
“I am not programed to accept compliments.”
“Aw, come on, don’t be a liar, liar pants on fire, Mary,” I pout. “I know you can.”
“Very well, Dr Grace. Thank you for not crashing me.”
“Wha- hey!?”
___
“I’m really glad it’s not entirely my job to dock this thing,” I say, my eyes glued to the screen to make sure I didn’t overcorrect my steering. The ship was never meant to dock, so Rocky and I had to switch to manual mode to get Mary connected to the elevator.
The elevator was in sight, and The Hail Mary was floating just a little ways away from where we were supposed to dock. Now it was time for hundreds of tiny adjustments so we could inch closer and closer to the dock without crashing.
I remained buckled in my chair while Rocky made use of the zero gravity we got when the ship finally stopped moving to easily move around the room.
“You keep talking and distract me, it will be your fault when the ship goes kaboom,” Rocky chitters, floating around the control room, pressing various buttons and adjusting various levers he had added to the control panels designed to help with this critical moment.
“Hey, you’re doing great, Grace. You’ve come so far in piloting, Grace. Wow, we make such a great team, Grace,” I say in a high-pitched voice. Rocky turns to look down at me.
“I do not sound like that.”
“You kinda do.”
“I can and will crash the ship.”
“Crashing is not advisable,” Mary calls out.
“Thank you, Mary,” I sigh.
“You’re welcome, Dr Grace.”
“Alright, no more joking,” Rocky announces. “We get this wrong, and there’s going to be a lot of egg on our faces.”
Okay.
It was time.
For the next, probably slowest and most stressful ten minutes of my life, we fall into a concentrated silence, only calling out what we were doing as we each do our part to manoeuvre the ship closer and closer to the elevator.
Thunk!
I yank my hands away from the controls, as did Rocky, and we remain completely frozen until we hear a–
Click!
Hisssssssss.
Neither of us breathes. Neither of us wanted to ask, ‘Did we do it?’ because the last time we asked that question was when we went fishing at Adrian and nearly died. That event had made us both a little superstitious.
So we waited.
The radio roars to life, and an Eridian calls out.
“Docking of The Hail Mary was successful. Please stand by as we set up the air lock.”
I slump over in relief.
“Oh my god, we actually did it,” I breathe out. Rocky propels off the side of the wall and crashes into my chest, wrapping all five limbs around me. I shuffle a bit to unbuckle and then move to return his embrace. I sniffle.
“Oh, come on, Grace. Don’t start leaking now,” Rocky groans.
“Oh, shoot, am I crying?” I blink in surprise, lifting a hand up to my face. Sure enough, my face was covered in tears. “When did I start crying?”
“I think just now,” Rocky hums.
“I think you’re gonna have to give me pass for this one since we finally made it to Erid and didn’t die,” I say, tapping Rocky’s carapace. “If there was ever a moment to cry tears of relief, now would be the time.”
“Glad bond didn’t make it so I leak like you do. I would probably be leaking just as much as you are right now,” Rocky confesses. I lift the collar of my shirt to wipe my tears away.
“Is Grace Rocky okay, question?” Garret’s voice calls out to us. I jumped because the noise didn’t come from the radio.
“Grace Rocky okay, statement. Very relieved we did not go kaboom.”
“Understand. Am relieved too. It is so good to finally fully hear you, Rocky. You are looking well, all things considered. And the alien Grace! I cannot find the words! Amaze!”
“Wait,” I pause. “How is Garret looking at us? How are we hearing them?”
“Grace,” Rocky calls out quietly. “Close your eyes.”
“What?” I blink.
“Just do it.”
I do as told and close my eyes. Now that I could no longer see the light spectrum behind my closed eyelids, my Eridian echolocation sight kicked in and oh–
Sound was able to travel between the structure and the ship now that we were connected to the elevator, meaning I could actually see the large room just beyond the doors of The Hail Mary. I realised that if Rocky and I could see into the control room, then the same would apply vice versa, which was how Garret was ‘looking’ at us and also how we could hear one another. Eridian hearing and all that.
Amaze amaze amaze.
There were large control panels and texture pads set up along the wall, and I could see at least twelve Eridians floating about the room, working on various tasks. Yes, I said floating. Neither the control room nor the space elevator was a centrifuge, meaning that the gravity remained at zero.
Five of the Eridians were busy setting up the airlock as fast as they could, three busy at the controls, one of which I’m assuming is Garret, another three floating by the wall with large toolboxes in their arms, and... and there was a lone Eridian floating far off to the side. Just waiting.
But watching.
Watching us.
And when I say watching us, I mean this Eridian floating off to the side was watching us. Their whole body was so laser pointed in on us that I’m sure they could probably see my internal organs.
Depth perception with my echolocation was still a little weird, but I’m pretty sure this Eridian is much bigger than Rocky. Double the size at least. Their centre carapace was shaped like a lopsided mountain, reminiscent of Mount Everest's peak.
I realise I recognise this Eridian from my shared dreams with Rocky.
“Oh my gosh, Rock,” I say.
“It’s Adrian,” Rocky squeaks quietly, floating above me and tapping my shoulder excitedly. “Grace, it’s Adrian. That’s Adrian. My Adrian.”
“Holy crud,” I breathe out.
“They look so amaze amaze amaze,” Rocky trills. “They still so beautiful! Of course they would be!”
“Wow,” is all I can manage to get out.
“How long until airlock finished, question?! Want to see Adrian now, statement!” Rocky yells out impatiently. I see Adrian perk up at the sound of their mate’s voice.
“304 seconds, Rocky,” Garret answers. I do the math from Eridian seconds to Earth seconds, and it comes out to roughly 12 minutes. Rocky does not like that answer.
“304 seconds?! Go faster!!” Rocky shouts.
“We do this wrong, then we all catch on fire and die,” Garret reminds. “You and your oxygen ship... How are you even surviving in there, question? I do not hear anything to protect you from the oxygen.”
“Like I said before, I am built different now,” Rocky answers.
“Rock, you can’t just say that!” I complain.
“But it is true! I am built different!” Rocky states, turning his attention to me.
“You are diabolical!” I exclaim, reaching out and poking his carapace.
“Hey! No poke when gravity is at zero! You make me spin and spin and can’t stop!” Rocky complains, flailing about. I laugh loudly. “Help me, you ass!”
“I think this is fair revenge for you forcing me to use pebble talk to speak to Garret!” I declare, crossing my arms.
“You are such a pebble!” Rocky sputters, limbs flailing this way and that as he tries to find purchase on something. “A big overgrown leaky space pebble!”
“Consider this karma!”
Rocky manages to reach out and grab me by the hair, which he yanks to try to pull himself toward me.
“Ow! Let go of my hair, you big dumb rock!” I yelp, trying to get him to let go of me.
“No!” Rocky shouts.
“Sounds like you are having an argument,” Mary calls out, sounding disappointed in us.
“Stay out of this, Mary!” Rocky orders. “This between me and Grace!”
We bat at each other for a few moments before we’re cut off by a deep, melodic laughter sounding out around us. We both turn and see Adrian shaking with laughter, but they do their best to compose themselves when they see us staring at them.
Rocky wacks me upside the head.
“You make me look stupid in front of Adrian! Haven’t seen them in 1,878 years, and first thing they see of me is doing the stupid with you!”
I can feel Rocky’s mortification through our connection, and all I can do is laugh at him. He dug his own grave. I reach out to take one of Rocky’s arms so I can pull him down towards me.
“It’s gonna be fine,” I soothe, patting his carapace. Rocky grumbles.
We all wait in anticipation as the Eridians do the last touches on the airlock before pushing away from it.
“Okay,” Garret begins, floating towards the airlock. “Is a bit of a caveman airlock. But will work. You open first ship door and float into ship airlock. Cycle airlock for pressure. Open final ship door and float into our airlock. Our airlock will catch the oxygen and won’t let any leak onto our side. You close ship door, and we will cycle out oxygen and cycle in ammonia. Then airlock opens and you free. Understand?”
“Yes, yes, understand,” Rocky hums, fastening his flashlight holster to his carapace. “Flashlights on, Grace, question?”
Rocky turns to me and shines all six of the flashlights attached to his carapace into my eyes.
“Argh!” I grunt, pulling back and rubbing my eyes. “Yes! Yes! They’re all on! Watch where you point those things!”
“Apology,” Rocky trills. “I forget human eyes are sensitive.”
I point my singular flashlight at him, and he squeaks in surprise.
“You make everything go white!” Rocky exclaims, rubbing at his carapace.
“Yeah, so imagine that but six times worse,” I say.
“Genuine apology this time,” Rocky chirps. “Will not point flashlights towards eyes.”
“Thank you,” I nod. I stare at the airlock. “You ready?”
“Ready, ready, ready. You ready, question?” Rocky asks me. I take a deep breath, savouring the last moments of living inside my oxygen atmosphere. The ammonia atmosphere will smell absolutely horrendous, but humans have a pretty good track record of adapting to their environment. I just have to hope my nose blindness kicks in quickly.
“I’m ready,” I confirm, reaching and twisting the first door open. Rocky latches himself onto my back so he doesn’t float off to a place where he can’t reach anything. It sorta feels like I’m wearing a backpack. A backpack that won’t stop squirming. “Rock, keep still!”
“Can’t keep still! Nervous!”
“I’m nervous too, but I can’t do anything when you keep wriggling!”
Rocky finally stills, and I turn to close the first door, but I don’t close it before peeking my head out and shouting–
“Be good, Mary!”
“Yes, Dr Grace.”
Computer or not, I swear I can hear warmth in her tone. I smile and close the door, beginning to cycle the airlock. Thirty seconds later, and I can open the second door leading out of the ship.
I grimace because I can already smell the ammonia, and I know it’s only going to get worse from here. But it doesn’t really matter, all things considered. I’ve put up with worse.
We enter the second airlock, and I close the final door to The Hail Mary. We are both fully outside the ship. A shiver runs down my spine. Rocky holds me tighter.
The airlock is pitch black, which doesn’t surprise me- I’m glad I brought my flashlight just so I could see it with my eyes. After a couple of seconds examining my surroundings, I closed my eyes so I could see beyond it.
Adrian had moved to float just outside the airlock door, vibrating with excitement. Rocky was one door away from reuniting with his mate.
“You’re the reason I got this far, Grace,” Rocky hums quietly. “Thank you.”
“We got this far together,” I respond.
“Beginning airlock cycle,” an Eridian calls out. There’s a loud hiss as the oxygen is pulled out of the airlock and the ammonia floods in. I have to force myself not to gag at the smell. The airlock heats up considerably as well- far too hot for any human to withstand, which thankfully, wasn’t a problem for me because I wasn’t fully human anymore.
“Cycle complete. Prepare for the door to open,” the Eridian announces. Rocky and I both hold our breath as the airlock door slowly creaks open. When the door is a quarter of the way open, Adrian pushes in and launches themselves toward us.
“Rocky!” Adrian calls out.
Rocky climbs up my shoulders and propels himself off of me toward Adrian. The two Eridians collide and meet in a tangle of limbs.
“Adrian,” Rocky cries out. “Adrian, my beloved. My Adrian! Oh, Adrian! You are so beautiful! You are beautiful colours of green and jade! You are beautiful blue-green! Beautiful hues! So incredible!”
“I... I did not understand those last sentences,” Adrian stutters, voice still high-pitched with happiness.
“Oh, never mind that now! I will explain it all later! Right now, all that matters is that you are here in front of me!”
“Yes! I don’t believe it! You are really here!” Adrian shouts gleefully, running their dominant limbs over Rocky’s arms.
“I am really here,” Rocky confirms, touching Adrian’s carapace. “I have come home. You are home. I am home!”
“Oh, Rocky, I thought I would never hear you again!” Adrian wails. “I am sorry, my love. I lost hope. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for losing hope.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for, Adrian,” Rocky soothes. “I lost hope, too. I thought I would never see you again. But I am here.”
“I- I don’t understand. Garret and other Eridians have not explained much to me. They only say you come home on alien ship with an alien. How are you here? Where is your crew?”
“Crew died. Crew got sick from something in space that ship could not protect them from. Only I did not die because I operated next to Astrophage tanks, which protected me from sickness.”
“Oh, my Rocky,” Adrian wimpers. Rocky trills sadly.
“Spent so so so long alone. I lost hope... but hope found me.”
Rocky turns his attention to me, and Adrian follows suit. I wave awkwardly, not sure what else to do.
“The alien,” Adrian breathes out in awe. “A real alien. Amaze amaze ama–uh? Um? Rocky? The alien is leaking. Is it meant to do that, question?”
“Oh, shoot, not again,” I curse, wiping the tears from my face. “Sorry, this whole reunion is incredibly emotional.”
“It is normal,” Rocky soothes with an exasperated sigh. “Leaking from their two symmetrical face holes is how their species regulates their emotions. This one leak very often.”
“You make it sound so gross,” I grimace.
“You are gross,” Rocky retaliates. Adrian chirps inquisitively.
“You understand its language... it understands you. So that means alien understand me, question? Understand us?”
“Yes, he can understand you,” Rocky confirms.
“He? Is He its name, question? Eridians have been calling alien many different things, was not sure of aliens’ chosen name.”
“Oh, I, uh- no,” Rocky stumbles awkwardly, clacking his fingers together. “Not name. Is something called a pronoun. Is very complicated. Will have to explain later. But for quick explanation, instead of my friend using they/them/theirs, he uses he/him/his instead.”
“Oh. Interesting.”
Ah, crap. I realise I just introduced the complexity and confusion that is pronouns to Erid.
Oh, please, let this not be my legacy.
“We worry about that later, though,” Rocky waves off. “I want to properly introduce you to my friend. Adrian, my beloved, this is Grace from the star Sol.”
“Hello, Grace,” Adrian greets softly.
“It’s an honour to meet you,” I say to Adrian. “Rocky has told me so–”
“Grace, Adrian does not understand you, remember? Use your Eridian words.”
“Oh, come on, Rock, can’t you just translate for–”
“I will not have this argument again,” Rocky clicks. “This is my mate we’re talking about here!”
“What is happening, question? Are you arguing?” Adrian inquires anxiously, their grip tightening on Rocky’s arm. I suddenly feel really bad knowing I made Adrian uncomfortable. This is not how I wanted my first impression to go.
“Sorry,” I chirp out in Eridian. “Not mean make upset.”
I didn’t think Eridians had the dexterity to do a double take, but Adrian proves me wrong.
But then, something unexpected happens.
Adrian launches themselves at me.
I scream.