Chapter Text
The warm orange light slightly muted by the misting of fog slowly seeps into Grace's window of the biodome. The distant sound of waves slowly lapping against the rocks lulling him back to sleep. Just as his eyes flutter closed once more, tink tink tink, a distant click of xenonite against the door of Grace's house grows ever aggressive and loud. TINK TINK TINK... SLAM Rocky scrambles across the living room, about as quiet as an elephant in a gymnasium filled with bells, and bursts into Grace's bedroom, ripping him from any hopes of falling back asleep.
Before Grace has the chance to protest, Rocky begins a symphony of overlapping thoughts, "♪♪♫♪♪♪♫♪♪♫♫!!!!!" "♫♪♪♫♪♫♪♫♫!!", "Whoa Whoa calm down there Rock- take a second and slow down bud, what's up?" Grace rubs the bridge of his nose, reaching for his glasses. Rocky stops for a beat, almost collecting himself, "Eridian scouts find ship near atmosphere! Bring back down, there was human inside!"
Another human? Grace's heart drops to his stomach, a flurry of emotions surfacing all at once. OhmygodanotherhumanIhaven'tseenanotherpersonwithskinandorgansinsixyearshowdidtheygetintospaceohgoddidStrattgetimpatientandsendsomeoneelsebeforegettingresultsfrommearetheyokaretheyalivearetheycute- Ryland snaps from his spiral as Rocky continues their findings. "Human was very injured and irradiated but still alive. Eridian scientists trained in human care got other human in stable condition, but in induced coma to speed up healing statement."
Grace sighs in relief, ok- there's a few concerns out of the way, "You're sure they were a human Rock?" He had his doubts about the prospect of another human being even 10 lightyears away from him, so the thought of one just showing up outside of Erid was that of wishful thinking at best. "Rocky is certain statement. As Eridian "Human Expert" Rocky was asked to confirm species of human. Skeletal structure, DNA composition, and bodily functions all match Grace."
So, walks like a human, talks like a human, bleeds like a human, must be a human, Grace thinks to himself. "Other human was missing limb, but Rocky still certain is human." Rocky sang with a tinge of pride tapping himself on the chest-plate of his xenonite suit. "Wait missing limb?" Grace queries growing concern for his (hopefully) new friend. "Yes upper left limb amputated, was very messy at point of removal, looked gross, gross, gross." Grace winces "When will they be able to stay with me for monitoring? Also they'd probably prefer human company when they wake up compared to a bunch of big spider-rocks singing loudly at them." Rocky hums a deep tone "New human safe radiation level to live with Grace tonight, gave many vitamins and supplements to combat radiation, came to ask Grace if lodging new human here was ok."
Grace smiles at the musical rock, "Perfect, Armando and I will have everything set up for another human by evening." He was practically shaking in excitement at the thought of someone to breathe the same atmosphere as him, as simple as that may be. He whips around the house at speeds his arthritic body probably shouldn't be able to go to, pulling together the perfect environment for a recovering space ranger.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just as the artificial sunset started peeking into the biodome, a parade of Eridians clad in xenonite marched down the beach from the quarantine zone just next to the airlock of the dome down to Dr. Grace's house, surrounding a gurney and various IV's hanging beside it.
Grace had practically blacked out from excitement as they placed the, as Ryland had just discovered, male human in Grace's bedroom, perfectly in line with the Nannybot to monitor his coma. Adrian accompanied the other Eridians, telling Grace about the journey with the new human in detail. His spacecraft apparently wasn't even fit for space travel, resembling more of a submersible of the James Cameron variety, just very low budget. But that wasn't even the weirdest part... the craft was drenched in blood, inside, outside, every little nook and cranny was soaked in HUMAN blood (yes they tested).
What the heck did you go through to get here? Grace thought to himself, finally taking a moment to examine his new patient of sorts. Just as Rocky had told him earlier he was missing his left arm, strangely enough there was a skin graft on the left side of his face as well, though the scarring would lead one to believe it was done a long time ago, Grace was informed it was done by the Eridian scientists with a newly grown slab of skin they cloned from the unconscious man. Fine handiwork for a bunch of rocks with no eyes.
His dark thick hair clumped around his face, not fully washed of blood. Unruly facial hair crept up the sides and bottom of his face, attempting to hide his square chin and sharp jaw. Grace moves a chunk of hair coving his left eye, examining the graft further, the eye has a deep scar cutting across it vertically, lifting the lid reveals he's most definitely blind in that eye now if he wasn't before.
The amputated stump of his left arm is wrapped in bandages, dotted with specks of crimson blood peeking from the wounds that have yet healed. His bicep- or rather what's left of it, is toned, strong from exercise or hard labor. The right arm in it's entirety matches, as well as the rest of his body... Grace darts his eyes away from his new comatose companion, feeling guilty that he's assaulting him with his eyes in such a state of vulnerability.
Alright! First order of business is getting this guy dressed! Grace knew certainly well it's not fun waking up from a coma as naked as the day you were born covered and filled with tubes. After wrestling with the dead weight of pure muscle, Ryland managed to get his sleepy friend into a pair of basketball shorts and a "I had potential" shirt.
As the Eridian care team shuffles out the door, Adrian chirps with Grace about a few more details. "New human should be on track to wake up in next 8-12 human hours, but based on injuries could be additional 4-18 hours. Sorry such unreliable time frame, mostly guess work." Adrian shrugs two of their arms, Grace half regrets teaching Rocky to shrug, but he will always admit it is pretty funny seeing them using human expressions.
Time for the waiting game, Grace hums to himself burying himself in research on his bed, just focused enough to glace up at the stranger every 15 minutes or so. Might as well keep busy so he doesn't drive himself crazy with anticipation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Grace didn't remember falling asleep, but as the warm orange light brushed the back of his neck, he peeled himself off the keyboard of his laptop glasses clattering into his lap as they fell off his face. He glances over to the center of the room, and spies the mystery man still out like a light, all while the constant beep of the heart monitor tells him it's unnecessary to check his pulse.
He waddles out to the kitchen, stirring up his "tea composite (caffeinated)" silently wishing the Eridian chemists would figure out how to make a coffee adjacent substance for him to drink. He pops a breakfast me-rrito into the microwave and fills a glass with water. After dropping the water off next to the gurney occupying his bedroom, he parks himself in the living room to continue his research.
What feels like not even an hour later Grace hears the Nannybot chime in it's robotic voice "EYE MOVEMENT DETECTED." In the time it takes Grace to bound up from the couch, he hears the sound of a shattering glass. Sugar. Grace exclaims to himself, practically sprinting into the bedroom. He swings the door open, immediately regretting the sudden appearance.
The strange new human was backed into a corner, with eyes of a wild trapped animal. He grasped the broken glass in his right hand, brandishing it as a weapon. His hair was strewn about his head, sticking to his face and poking out in all directions. If it wasn't life or death to him Grace would have probably thought him akin to a feral cat, not unlike the ones he'd care for off his doorstep in San Francisco.
"Hey now" Grace almost whispered, like soothing a spooked horse. "You're safe here okay? You're only here so I can monitor those nasty injuries you've got there okay?" Ryland slowly puts his hand out in an attempt to soothe the cornered man. The man huffs out a breath of air scanning his surroundings with darting eyes, aware of everything in this strange environment. He grips the glass tighter, knuckles turning snow white against his caramel skin.
Just as Grace opens his mouth to soothe the scared new human, BANG, Rocky busts into the house clattering whatever was near the door to the floor in a loud symphony. "Rocky come check on Grace and new human! Rocky want ask new human questions! Excite excite excite!" Immediately following the cacophony of tones, the man darts across the room putting himself between Grace and his rocky friend. He had positioned himself in a way that allowed his full attention on the Eridian, while simultaneously keeping the less threatening human in his peripheral of his good eye.
As Rocky clambers closer to the bedroom Grace hears a pause in his claw-steps. Obviously he's grasped the situation enough to take a slightly more careful approach. "Grace in danger statement! Rocky protect!" He chirps before beginning to click a little slower towards the bedroom. "No, no, it's alright bud I have it under control, just wait out there Rocky." Grace squeaks out, attempting to not further agitate his new guest. "NOT UNDER CONTROL STATEMENT. GRACE IN BIG DANGER. GRACE LIAR STATEMNT." Rocky trills entering the room, earning a shake of an improvised shiv from the stranger.
"What the fuck is that!" He yells, voice deep and demanding, "Get that thing out of here! It's gonna kill me!" The stranger readies himself to lunge at Rocky, causing a dripping of blood coming from his hand as a result of the uneven broken edges of the glass. "It's okay he won't hurt you," Grace urges in the most soothing voice he can muster in the moment, "He's a friend I promise, a little overbearing, but he means no harm." Before the stranger can respond Rocky retorts, "Rocky will hurt new human if new human hurt Grace. Grace bad liar statement." Grace is half tempted to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration, but knows how inappropriate that action would be in this situation. "Rock please I'm trying to deescalate here, just calm down."
"You can understand that thing?" The man looks at Grace, still with that wild look in his eyes, "Just get it out of here now!" He yells with such force even Rocky flinches. "Just drop the glass and he'll leave..." Grace shoots a look at Rocky he hopes was received correctly, "He's just worried you're gonna hurt me, but I'm not gonna hurt you, so I know that's not going to happen." Grace gambles this man's intentions in hopes of calming him even a little bit, just to keep him from hurting himself further. No good having a new friend if they die from an infection from cutting their hand now is it.
The shaken man tosses the glass aside after a few moments of deliberation, deciding his odds of survival were greater with his cooperation at the moment. Grace shoos Rocky out of the room with a breath of relief, "You can still see us through the walls, only come in if something goes wrong Rock. Okay?" Grace reassures Rocky and lays a subtle warning to the stranger. Rocky begrudgingly hums in agreement and scampers out of the room, cursing quietly as he does so.
"There, just us okay? Not as scary now?" Grace bargains with the still terrified man, slightly terrified himself, but what else does years of middle-school conflict resolution get you? He slowly reaches a hand out to the other man, "My name is Dr. Ryland Grace, but everyone here on Erid calls me Grace." He waits a beat for the mans response, but it never comes, so he continues, "You were found approaching 40-Eridiani, or as I call it, Erid, about a week ago. We took you into my biodome to treat your injuries and monitor you further until you've healed. That alien you saw is an Eridian, one of the habitants of this planet." Ryland slowly explains how the man got there and repeatedly states that nobody within a lightyear of here was going to hurt him.
"Do you have a name?" Grace cocks his head at the, slightly less agitated, man. After a few moments the man spits the name "Simon." from his mouth as if it were venom. Grace grins, a human who speaks English in his own home! He reaches out his hand for a handshake, barely expecting a return. Simon inches closer to him and gives his hand one good solid shake before retreating back against the wall. This causes Ryland to beam even more, human touch, something he hasn't had in over a decade.
"Can I please wrap your hand? You cut it on the glass..." Grace timidly states glancing at the blood now on his right hand. "Jus gimme the bandage. I'll do it m's-" The man's response was cut short by him glancing down at where his left arm used to be, a wave of emotions briefly crossing his eye. He sits in silence for a few minutes, "Okay." He grunts out, reluctantly accepting the help from the blonde who suddenly had his life in his hands.
Grace breathes a sigh of relief as he gingerly wraps Simon's hand, taking care to limit touching him as much as he could, as much as that killed him. That brief handshake was the first time he's touched another human in so long, and he's already yearning for more, dreaming of companionship from another of his own species.