Chapter Text
In the epilogue of his story, Grace sat on the manufactured rocky beach of Erid. The air was cool, damp on the face, but not enough to make his clothes uncomfortably soggy. Absorbed by his subconscious, a continuous train of thought that started nowhere and was leading nowhere ran through Grace’s mind as his eyes traced the fog dancing against the waves.
Most of his afternoons were like this now, serene and blue. Originally, Grace worried he might go mad looking at the same wine-dark ocean and sienna cliffside day in and day out. But he came to the realization that after 11 years comatose in space, followed by a death-defying heart-stopping adventure, this monotony was alright in his books.
He shivered as a breeze swept across the back of his neck. This was usually the indicator that he could spend around five more minutes on the beach before returning to his alien post-modern geometric condo.
Grace stood from his cross-legged seat on the shore, shaking his arms and legs in a futile attempt to evade the cold. He was about to start the trek up to his home when Grace heard the familiar rumbling of stones that told him Rocky was bounding towards him, quite a bit faster than usual. Swiveling to face his alien companion, Grace’s unexpressed face faltered toward confusion as he could hear the chimes and tunes of his buddy, not quite translatable but full of concern.
Finally, in hearing distance, as Rocky continued to race forward,
“Grace! Grace! Grace! Grace, found something!”
“What?? Found what?” Grace struggled to get a word in as Rocky’s distressed chiming bombarded him. Rocky was right in front of him now, stationary but flailing two of his legs about. Grace had realized long ago that it was a mimicry of his own exasperated hand gestures.
“Eridians find ship in space! Ship in space has ********* like Grace!”
Grace tilted his head, trying to place the unfamiliar trill with other similar sounds.
“Has what? Like me? What like me??” He kneeled down to Rocky’s level; it wouldn’t help him hear any better, but he did it out of habit from teaching the young Eridians.
Rocky pointed at Grace’s chest. It clicked.
“A heartbeat? The spaceship had a heartbeat?”
“Yes! Inside ship have heartbeat like Grace! Horrible, slow. Like when Grace sleep!”
Grace’s eyes went wide, his mind flooding with questions. A spaceship from Earth couldn't have traveled out this far. He may not be keeping track of the days like he used to, but it certainly hasn’t been years. Maybe it was another alien with a similar vascular system to humans? Rocky interrupted his train of thought with an even more worrying statement.
“We bring ship back to Erid, heartbeat still inside. Rocky want Grace come look!”
“You brought the ship here??”
“Yess. Grace come look.” Rocky skittered off, and Grace scrambled to his feet to follow suit. They walked up off the beach to the spot where he taught the young Eridians, which had the main entry/exit point for the bio-dome. This time, leaving the dome was different. Rocky trilled in annoyance as Grace went to put on the protective suit he had to wear due to Erid’s intense gravity. Confused and suitless, Grace followed Rocky out.
Thankfully, he was not met with a horrific, painful death as the change in gravity never came. Instead, there was a xenonite tunnel that traveled across the natural terrain of Erid, winding aimlessly until it reached a dome with a massive, rusted..
Submarine?