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"Alright everyone," Grace spoke up, clapping his hands together and facing his class. "That is everything for today about the theory of relativity. Everyone understand, question?" He asked, letting the program he and Rocky built during their time on the Hail Mary speak for him to his class.
He had to phrase things differently than he had on Earth and there had been a bit of a learning curve, but after the last 3 years of using Eridian dialect, he'd gotten pretty good, as seen by his class nodding and chirping in agreement. Gosh, he loved being a teacher. Whether it was humans or Eridians, he loved teaching his students and fueling their curiosity.
"Good! That will be all for today, but don't forget the homework that will be due next week statement. I will see you all in a few days!" He concluded, waving them bye as the little Eridians skittered out of the classroom, bumping into each other and his dome wall as they left - luckily they'd thought ahead and made it super sturdy or else Grace was sure it'd be cracked by now with how energetic they were.
Despite not being very old for his species, Rocky was much calmer than the young ones, which surprised Grace considering how fidgety his friend was or his need to constantly be moving. He'd first assumed it had been ADHD, having dealt with may students with it over the years, he recognized some of the symptoms, but nope. Eridians were just like that. On the bright side, Grace and his inability to sit still fit in very well with Eridian culture.
"Grace!" Rocky shouted, racing down the beach towards his friend. "Miss you."
"Hey, Rocky!" Grace called back, kneeling down to pull Rocky into a tight hug before giving him a thumbs up, or down as Rocky did it. "How are you doing?"
"Rocky well," the older Eridian chirped, pushing against his friend's legs as they talked, letting Grace clean up his classroom a bit. "How was class, question?"
"It was really good," Grace admitted with a nod. "There's just so many people that want to take it, the class is always full."
"Is good."
"Yeah, it's good. I just wish that everyone could learn or come to the class. There's just not enough room for everyone," Grace lamented slightly.
He was a teacher at heart and not being able to teach every student that wanted to learn was killing him inside. Education shouldn't be a lottery, especially with how limited his time was. It didn't matter if he could teach all of the material in 6 months, changing out the classes and getting new students in. There just wasn't enough time or space or ability for him to teach everyone everything.
"Maybe we can teach all," Rocky stated, pacing around in little circles as he wracked his brain. Grace wanted to teach everyone, Rocky would let him teach everyone. He just had to think. "Grace have idea, question? Need to teach everyone, need idea how to."
"Well," Grace began before pausing for a moment, thinking over his words before he continued to speak. "I'm not sure how it work for you guys, but back on Earth there was this thing called television. Remember the moving pictures we watched on the Hail Mary?"
"Yes! Rocky love the moving pictures!"
"I know you did, buddy," Grace agreed with a smile.
The years they'd spent on the Mary had been long and boring at times, especially when Grace began to get too weak to move or do anything - lack of nutrients led to scurvy and beriberi along with a host of other maladies. Movies had been their escape, their time to spend together and stave off the boredom without Grace needing to do much. Conserving energy had been a priority as the coma slurry and taumoeba supplies ran low.
"Wait. Rocky know where Grace go with idea," Rocky said suddenly, pulling Grace out of his reminiscing. "Rocky Grace make moving picture for Eridian to watch. Grace teach all without classroom."
"Yes!" Grace agreed. "Do you know how we could do that? Not every Eridian has a device like you did to be able to see it. The physical aspect of teaching is very important," Grace explained, cupping his chin as he thought.
"Will not be problem. Convert Grace moving picture into Eridian moving picture. Eridian see Grace, Grace teach. Grace happy," he rambled on, tapping his fingers and legs as he thought of all the things he would have to make for this to work. "Will be lot of work, but Grace want to teach. Rocky make sure Grace teach."
~~~
Weeks went by and in between teaching his classes, Grace and Rocky would meet up to work on making a video camera, following blueprints from the computer of human knowledge that Stratt had illegally procured, on top of working on plans to make an Eridian style TV that would work like Rocky's device, allowing them to see the video based on differences in texture and elevation. It was a good idea overall, if not difficult.
"Shit," Rocky swore under his breath, getting a glare from Grace, always needing to be child friendly. "Sorry," he apologized before going back to his work, stitching wires and different pieces together to make the TV.
Progress had been slow to say the least. Making a larger version of Rocky's device had been difficult, especially since Rocky was making it simpler than he originally had. It would be produced and placed into thousands of Eridian homes if plans went right - it needed to be simple and sturdy, much unlike the original, which was making it a pain for the engineer.
Grace, on the other hand, had been struggling on his own. He was a scientist, not an engineer, so making a camera from scratch was slow and annoying to say the least, needing to ask Rocky and other Eridian engineers lots of questions since the directions were in English, unable to be translated yet, leaving Grace as the only person who could complete it.
Despite the difficulties, Rocky and Grace were determined to make his classes accessible to every Eridian who could want to learn. Knowledge shouldn't be barred, it should be embraced and they were going to make it happen.
"I think that's it," Grace breathed out, setting the camera down. Despite being rudimentary, it looked like an Earthen video camera, like one that might be used to record home videos. Not the best of quality, but it was a start.
"Good good good," Rocky agreed. "Finish with video device," he confirmed. "Let try to play."
"Okay, Rock. Let's do it."
Setting up the camera in front of his classroom, Grace and Rocky connected the two with a long wire and began recording.
"Okay buddy, can you see and hear me on the screen?"
"Yes yes yes!" Rocky cheered, jumping up and down. "Device work! Device work!"
"Yes!" Grace shouted, throwing his hands up into the air. This could actually work.
"We just need place device in Eridian home and make device able to catch radio waves. No cord needed."
"Will that be difficult?" Grace asked.
"No," Rocky shook his carapace. "Already planned for signal need. Wires too messy."
"You're always one step ahead of me, Rock."
"Yes. It why Grace make camera. Simple. Screen device no simple. Rocky make."
"Hey," Grace chastised slightly in a joking manner. "No need to make fun of my tiny human brain. We know you're the better of the two."
"No. Neither better. Just better at different thing," Rocky argued. Grace was incredibly intelligent, he just wasn't an engineer.
"So, are we ready to start teaching everyone?" Grace asked, excited and hopeful. He could be like Bill Nye to the Eridians - talk about a dream come true for a nerd.
"Yes. Just need to place screen devices in homes," Rocky explained. "Then Grace can teach as much as Grace wants."
~~~
"We all set, Rocky?" Grace asked, adjusting his fox sweater for the umpteenth time.
What could he say, he was a bit nervous. He'd never taught to a camera and not an active class, it was certain to be a different experience and his Eridian was childlike to say the least - slow and broken, but not entirely unable to be understood.
"Is set. Grace will be fine," Rocky comforted, noting his friend's anxious tendency peaking out. "Fist my bump," he added, putting out a little fist.
"Yeah," Grace agreed, tapping his fist against Rocky's with a lopsided grin. "We got this."
"Start in 3, 2," Rocky counted down. "1."
"Hello," Grace began slowly, doing his best to pronounce the Eridian words as best as he could. "Name is Grace. I am a teacher on Erid. I from Earth," he trilled. "Am doing this to help teach science. No enough room in my class, Rocky help make this so everyone learn."
Behind the camera, Rocky gave Grace a thumbs down, a signal in support of his friend to tell him to keep talking. His Eridian was rough, but Rocky knew the kids that were likely going to watch this wouldn't care and neither would their parents. Hell, even Adrian and their kid, Onyx, promised to watch Grace for him so that no matter what, someone would be watching it.
"First class: buoyancy," Grace continued, walking over to his lab desk as Rocky's camera followed him. "Buoyancy up force act on object in fluid. Watch," he concluded, letting the demonstration begin. Placing a ball into a small plastic bin full of water from his enclosure, Grace pressed down on it sightly, letting it pop back up over and over for good measure. "Buoyant force cause ball to rise, not sink. This due to density. Density is amount of stuff in amount of space. All have density, even you," he added, pointing at the camera. "More dense than fluid, sink. Less dense than fluid, rise - like ball here," Grace concluded, picking up the ball and tossing it in his hand.
"Try on own too for fun," Grace added with a nod and smile. "Easy lesson with parent too. Thank for watch!" He finished with a wave at the camera as Rocky shut it off.
'Grace do good! Grace do good!" Rocky chirped. "Children love for sure! Easy to follow," he complimented.
"I sure hope so buddy," Grace agreed. "We'll have to find out soon enough."
~~~
"Watch Mr. Grace! Watch Mr. Grace!" Onyx chirped, racing around Rocky's legs.
"We have Grace next door. We can just go visit," Rocky explained, attempting to calm his small pebble of energy.
"Not same," Onyx argued. "Mr. Grace better than uncle Grace."
"Same person."
"Not same," they repeated, parking themselves down in front of the TV. "Watch Mr. Grace."
"Okay," Rocky relented, turning on one of his recordings that Grace had done in the past few months. "We'll go visit Grace after."
Unexpectedly, Grace's recorded class had been extremely popular with nearly every Eridian parent turning in with their kid to learn. It had been an immediate hit with young Eridians, finding him fun and easy to understand, especially with his limited vocabulary and simplistic way of explaining different scientific theories. It was to the point that they didn't know Grace as the savior of Erid, but as Mr. Grace from the TV show that taught science.
Grace himself didn't mind though, he actually preferred it that way. He was happy to be known as a teacher, as someone who made kids interested in learning, not as an astronaut or savior. He was a teacher, he was never an astronaut.
The Grace recording spoke smoothly, his Eridian getting slightly better over time, but still rough at times. Human voices just couldn't convey the range of all Eridian words. Onyx didn't mind though, they were just happy to be watching Mr. Grace, even if they'd already committed this video to memory, it was still fun and interesting to watch.
"Okay, Onyx," Adrian began as the show concluded. "We have to leave to go visit."
"Aw," Onyx sighed, but relented, following their parents out of their home and next door, putting on their small suit before they all entered the nearby dome to visit uncle Grace.
Walking down the beach, Rocky and Onyx dove into the water, splashing in the cool liquid while Adrian walked on the shore, shaking their carapace at their partner and child.
"Hey guys!" Grace called from a distance, walking over to meet the family. "You're early today."
"No, you're just late," Rocky argued as Onyx threw themselves at their favorite uncle.
"Uncle Grace!" They yelled, tackling Grace onto the sand as he fell back from the force of it. "Miss you!"
"I missed you too, kiddo," Grace smiled as he gave their small carapace light pats - their favorite form of affection.
"Onyx, want to tell Grace about what you watched before we came here, question?" Adrian offered, wanting to hear what grace thought of it.
"Watch Mr. Grace video," they explained, pushing against Grace's leg as he stood back up. "Very fun!"
"Is that so?"
Gosh, hearing that the kids actually enjoyed his video lessons would never get any better to him. Especially since this was his nibling, a niece or nephew, that was addicted to them.
"It is," Rocky concurred. "Now, is Mr. Grace the same as uncle Grace, question?"
"No," Onyx argued. "No same. Mr. Grace cooler."
"Hate to say this to you kid, but that's me," Grace explained.
Onyx stared up at him like their whole world had been flipped upside down. The idea that Mr. Grace was uncle Grace never made sense to them, but uncle Grace wouldn't lie to them. He was bad liar anyway as their parents put it.
"Wanna go do an experiment, question?" Grace offered, a sly smirk on his face. "We can make something blow up."
"Kaboom! Kaboom! Kaboom!" Onyx cheered, twirling in circles. "Science now!"
"I'll race you there, kid," Grace bet, taking off down the beach with Onyx on his heels.
Far in the distance, Rocky and Adrian watched the two, taking a moment for themselves - enjoying the life that they had together, all because of Grace.
"We never tell him that there's a school day to celebrate his videos," Rocky spoke softly, intertwining one of his legs with Adrian's, proud of his friend - his brother in all but blood.
"Agreed."