Chapter Text
I lie down next to the water on a little beach chair I had asked the Eridians to make me. There’s still a buzz in my skin from when I was teaching the pebbles, a lingering excitement at their excitement to learn.
That’s how I usually spend my time, but today? I relax. I stay off my feet as often as I can to save my joints. No use putting strain on them when it isn’t needed.
Even though the Eridians made me a walking assist exoskeleton, I know the pressure on my spine, hips, knees and ankles is something I should be aware of. I guess I should call it a mobility aid (because that’s what it is) but I don’t like how old saying it makes me feel. Calling it an exoskeleton sounds cooler, anyways.
The exoskeleton mainly sits around my hips and thighs, with a motor and Astrophage battery on my back. Xenonite made bones (or is it more like muscles?) follow the outside of my legs. I think the proper term for them might be exoskeleton walkers? I haven’t had the chance to double check my laptop, but I know ‘exoskeleton’ is in there somewhere. I remember watching a video where people unable to walk use these big machines to help them move. Amazing stuff but the finer details are lost on me.
I like my life here on Erid. Well, ‘like’ seems too soft of a word… love. I love my life here on Erid. That feels better. I love Rocky, I love teaching, I love my biosphere, I love my meburgers– whenever I go down this train of thought I can’t help but writhe around a little in uncontained happiness. It’s just too much to handle, I might explode!
Some days I still can’t believe it. An ordinary, run-of-the-mill middle school teacher, now half way across the galaxy teaching little alien pebbles (even though I’m pretty sure they’re all far older than me). It’s a strange thought, but sometimes I’m glad Stratt drugged me and sent me up into space against my will where I’d die with no way back.
Okay well, not really, but you get the point.
Instead of killing everyone out of spite (not that I ever would or ever did) I’ll live in spite of her. Much more fitting and feels much more rewarding. Take that Eva Stratt! I live!
“Grace!” I perk up a little as I see Rocky run towards me in his little suit. Would it be more like a diving suit to him, I wonder? Ah, something to learn about in my free time, Eridian oceans. “Grace Grace Grace!”
“Rocky!” I yell back and give a wave… oh boy, he isn’t slowing down. “Rocky?”
He jumps up and holds onto the arm rests to hover above me. His movement tips the chair and the two of us have to flail our limbs around to right ourselves. Very considerate of him to hold himself up instead of squish me and probably break my ribs. Although… I can’t help but notice the floor is a brilliant place to speak without issues. Oh what a nice floor Rocky. The floooooor.
“What’s got you so excited?” I shift back in my seat so I’m sitting upright, my chest level with his carapace so I have to look down to hold his ‘eyes’.
“The Astronomy hive has found another spaceship!” He raises his hands up in the air, “Our theory is correct! This is brilliant news! There are others!”
I gasp, “What?! What– when? How? Wait- Do they know where it came from?”
“They’re not sure. To them, it sort of just blipped into existence. Very strange. It might be human-made for all we know, it’s made out of human alloys.”
“And they’re sure?”
“Human steel, different from ours. There’s some organic stuff on the outside of the ship too, haven't said what yet. They’re collecting it now.” Rocky shifts his weight on the chair to make it sway, almost like he needs some sort of outlet to his excitement. I grip the unoccupied parts of the arm rests in response but I trust Rocky not to send us toppling.
“Collecting?” I repeat, “What do you mean? They’re- what, going up there? Shouldn’t they observe it a little longer? Run more tests?”
Rocky clenches a claw, “No, they’ve been studying it for a while now and kept it secret. They just told me about it because they want you in on it.”
I raise my brows, “Me? I-I wh- me?” I point at myself and stare at Rocky, dumbfounded.
“Yes, that’s what I said. Are you getting so old we need to give you hearing aids?”
“Sarcasm,” I deadpanned at Rocky, “I’m old, not that old."
“So you can hear after all,” I roll my eyes as he pats my head (very delicately, I might add) “Good. The Astronomy hive wants to include you since you’re a human scientist. They gave you an option to decline if you want, but they told me to urge you. I won’t.”
I hum. I forgot that’s a title I own, “So where is it?”
“In orbit, higher than the Hail Mary but it’s decaying. They want to move it to the Space Elevator before it causes issues. I'm still very curious to know how they only noticed the ship when it entered our orbit and not sooner.”
I nod in agreement, “Okay but… Let’s say there is an alien in there, how do we know it’s not aggressive? What if it’s dead? It might use the same steel as humans but it isn’t a human. It could kill your people. Do we know about any of the Hive’s communication attempts?”
Rocky shrugs– again, very weird to see an Eridian shrug but it gets the message across. “I’m not sure. They didn’t tell me much about what they know, just what they’re doing. I trust them to make the right decision, so I’ll assume they already thought of and tested out any concerns. They said they’ll bring you up to speed when everything is organised.”
I hum and frown, then sigh. Feeding selective information never sits right with me, but with the promise of an explanation, I swallow it. “Yeah, it’s good to trust the professionals. I’m sure they’ll come up with a conclusion. I suppose we just have to sit back and wait for the news.”
“Very thrilling,” Rocky grumbles.
I smile and pat an arm, “Very.”