Chapter Text
“Hello, Earth! This is Captain Grace of the Blip-D. Can you hear me?”
A pause. A long pause. I questioned whether or not my signal was getting through. Maybe my translator wasn’t working? Perhaps the human language had evolved over the span of 230 years?
A buzz. A crack. A signal trying to make its way through – not from my side, but from Earth’s.
“Captain…Captain Grace? Ryland Grace?!”
A human voice. First contact!
“Hah! No, no, not that Grace. I am an Eridian – the offspring of Doctor Ryland Grace’s good friend, Rocky. I’m sure you’ve heard of him.”
Another pause. Another long pause. Too long for my liking; I decided to break the silence myself.
“I will be entering a specialized capsule soon that will take about 20 minutes to reach the surface of the Earth. I have the coordinates I calculated for my approximate splash down location that I will send over shortly. I believe I’ll be landing close to shore along the Southern California coastline.”
A different voice than the one from before stammered through. “Yes. Yes. We – we will be there. We are currently sending out troops for your retrieval. How many of you will be…visiting?”
“Only me, I’m afraid. My clutchmate, Mary, will be operating the ship. They are thrilled to speak with you as well, and if anything arises, they will be on standby. It’s only us two up here, for now.”
The first voice came through once more, this time with a wobble I could immediately identify as being a strong emotional reaction.
“I think I can speak on behalf of all humanity when I say that we are thrilled to finally meet the children of our saviors.”
The splash down was as successful as I could’ve hoped. My capsule landed in the exact location I had calculated with no complications. I was left waiting for quite some time while the humans made their way to retrieve me. Luckily, I already had my incredibly form fitting (and nearly invisible) xenonite exosuit on and my respirator attached to my back leg. That suit was a royal pain to get into.
With me, I had brought a bag containing several necessary items for the visit. This included replacement canisters for my respirator, my translator, food, small xenonite strips, a screen reader, a clock, and one item that was particularly special to me: Uncle Grace’s glasses.
Aside from my suit and respirator, I was wearing my typical attire; Uncle Grace’s old belt with the xenonite buckle Rocky had made for him situated around my carapace, a scrap of Uncle Grace’s red flight suit tied around one of my legs, and a traditional Eridian leg wrap around another. I was never the type to wear anything lavish. I wasn’t like Dimitri, who fancied themselves an assortment of dazzling xenonite jewelry they had made themselves. I wasn’t like Mary either, who bore an intricate knitted sash Uncle Grace had made for them so they could carry their various scientific instruments with both ease and style. Nothing about my getup was fancy or all that practical. I was much more like Rocky in that regard – he hardly wore anything other than leg wraps and the occasional tool belt (that Dimitri eventually inherited and wore around their carapace like a sash). I was a lot more like Rocky than I ever truly acknowledged.
It took roughly 1.5 hours for the humans to finally retrieve me. I could hear them as they cautiously opened the hatch to my xenonite capsule, and my excitement could hardly be contained. I revelled in the shock and awe on their faces the moment they saw me; I had expected this reaction, but what I didn’t expect was my own reaction to seeing them. I could immediately hear every drop of blood circulating, every beat of their weak little hearts, every breath taken in, and every shot of electricity coursing through their brains. These were sounds I hadn’t heard in almost 200 years – sounds I had only ever heard coming from Uncle Grace’s old, fragile body.
Ignoring the sudden wave of emotion that had hit me, I greeted the group of 8 humans standing before me with a small wave. “Hello friends!” I chirped.
“You – you can speak English?” the human at the front of the group said, taking a small step backwards.
“Oh! No, no, no. I’m using a translator, see?” I took the small, handheld translation device from where it had been attached to my respirator and held it in front of the human. They let out a hum of understanding before stepping forward again.
“Well, uh, it’s a pleasure to meet you. We have a raft here to take you and any of your belongings back to shore. The boat will tow your capsule back as well.” They gestured towards the moderately sized boat behind them before reaching out a hand, ducking underneath the opening to the capsule. I cautiously reached my own claw out before gently placing it in theirs.
“Welcome to Earth, Captain Grace!”