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It has been... a rough few days aboard the Hail Mary.
Did they get the Adrian sample that they came for? Yes.
Did they also almost die at least two times each because space is a jerk, planets are jerks, gravity is a jerk, and everything is kind of a jerk right now? Also yes.
Ryland's arm hurts like an absolute mother. The Taumeoba are stupid and can't handle nitrogen, the little jerks. Piloting the Hail Mary with three of the beetles while the engines are, well, in the state that they're in is nerve-wracking. And now, he has to just sit around and wait, and he's never been very good at that. He can't even get started on working on the Taumeoba until he can have some gravity, and he can't get that either - not with the beetles keeping the ship in motion.
The more Ryland's experiments on the Taumeoba fail, the more desperate he gets.
Rocky had been hanging around while Ryland tried to work on the Taumeoba with no success.
"Grace have luck with Taumeoba, question?"
Ryland grumbles under his breath. "No, Rocky, I'm having zero luck with these stupid things. I've been making fake atmospheres for ages and the stupid jerks just won't stay alive."
"Why not, question? What is problems with planets atmospheres?"
He slumped down into a makeshift stool that was at his lab table and groaned. "They want nothing to do with nitrogen. I make a fake atmosphere of Venus. 96.5% oxygen? Fine. Add that little 3.5% of nitrogen?" Ryland raked his thumb over his throat. "Dead. Tried with a different atmosphere, Threeworld. Carbon Dioxide? Fine. Sulfur Dioxide? Fine. As soon as I added that nitrogen, no more." He groaned and held his head in his hands. This was exhausting. Saving the world was exhausting.
Rocky chirped absentmindedly for a moment."How long since last sleep, question?"
"Rocky, come on, don't ask me that."
"Grace, how long since last sleep, question?" His question was a little more stern this time. Ryland was starting to regret teaching Rocky about nuances in tone.
"Look, it's been a long time, I don't always keep track."
"Grace. How long since last sleep."
Ryland finally put his hands up in a mock surrender. He did some quick math in his head. "Alright, alright, mom. Probably close to... 129,000 seconds."
Rocky made that rumbly sound he made when he was frustrated with Ryland. Especially when he was frustrated about Ryland's sleeping habits. Which was often, which was why Ryland could recognize the sound so well.
"Grace sleep now. I observe."
"Rocky, come on, I have to figure this out. The fate of both of our planets is resting on me being able to figure out what Astrophage's predator is, and-"
"Grace stupid when not sleep. Stupid not help with science. Grace go down to sleep so not be stupid. Grace sleep, I observe."
Ryland couldn't help but groan a bit. Leave it to a sentient spider boulder to become his nanny. It's not like he's about to blow up the ship or anything, he's not anywhere near the buttons that could theoretically do that. He's just in the lab, with all the dangerous equipment to do what he actually came on this bad field trip to do.
Rocky lets out a little Eridian huff and disappears somewhere else. Finally, now Ryland can get back to work on-
There's a series of obnoxious tapping from the dormitory below the lab, coming from Rocky tapping at least two of his claws on the xenonite wall. Like a cat begging to be let into a room where it can't go.
"Rocky, don't start-"
"Grace stupid when no sleep. Grace sleep, I observe, so Grace not stupid when do science. Grace sleep now."
"Rocky, come on, I'm-" The tapping just got more insistent. Ryland tried to wait it out, but eventually the taps got so annoying that they felt like they were trying to penetrate his skull.
"Rocky know Grace can hear this. Grace sleep now. I observe." came from the dormitory. Finally, Ryland relented. He would lay down in his bunk for a few hours, because there was no way he was getting to sleep like this, to appease Rocky. He climbed down the ladder where Rocky was waiting impatiently for Ryland.
"Why Grace so slow, question?"
Ryland just grumbled and curled up in his bunk, putting his back to Rocky. Rocky was tinkering away on something, so Ryland thought he really had him fooled, until:
"Heart rate elevated. Why, question?"
Ryland groaned. So much for pretending to be asleep. "It's not."
"Is. Sleep heart rate is usually lower. Grace heart rate higher than sleep heart rate."
Ryland just ignored him. In his head, he tried to go over more things he could do with the Taumeoba. Rocky didn't press any further, just kept tinkering away. Good, Ryland had him fooled, he just had to lie here for a few hours and then he could work out the stupid kinks in the Taumeoba, start up the experiment he was already thinking through-
***
Out there,
There's a world outside of Yonkers,
Way out there beyond this hick town, Barnaby.
It was one of the last days of school before summer break. The kids had done all the revision their little brains could handle, and they deserved a break. So, Ryland had queued up a good ol' g-rated science fiction movie: WALL-E. A kids movie, for eighth graders? Yeah, you'd be surprised at what they'll latch onto like moths to a flame. Thirteen and fourteen year olds love kids movies like WALL-E, even if they're trying to act like they're such adults.
Out there,
Full of shine and full of sparkle,
Close your eyes and see it glisten, Barnaby.
He would've just shown them Hello, Dolly! or something similar if he could've gotten away with it, but he unfortunately needed something that had at least an inkling of science to it. So, WALL-E it was.
Listen, Barnaby!
A few kids were actually studying. Maybe one or two. He'd told the kids they could have a free period while the movie was playing, permitted their activities were at least non-disruptive to the all-important WALL-E. Some were sitting on the floor in small groups talking quietly, some were sat at desks or lab tables idly talking with majority of their focus on the movie, a few were asleep at their desks (good movie to sleep to, if Ryland did say so himself). The windows were even cracked a bit to let some breeze in, so the room smelled like fresh summer air. This was heaven, or at least something very close to it.
Ryland was doing some last-minute grading, late papers turned in well past due dates and tests retaken just before time was up. He let out a comfortable sigh, only really half doing the grading. Even to him, this movie was a classic. He might've been a childless, stressed-out grad student, but WALL-E had been a comfort movie since it first came out. He does not want to think about how long it's been since the movie came out, because then he'll feel much too old.
Ryland crossed out an incorrect answer with a sharp red line, his prized red correction marker that haunted his student's papers marking one point off at a time (their words and dramatics, not his).
A red line. The red line. The Petrova Line.
Oh, be quiet, brain.
The movie suddenly turned off. Perks of working in a ridiculously old building with even more ridiculously old technology. Ryland sighed.
"Sorry 'bout that, old technology gets finicky sometimes. I'll have the movie back up in a jiffy."
One of his students snickered. "Jiffy? What are you, seventy? You sound like a grandma, Mr. Grace."
Ryland rolled his eyes with a small smile. "Alright, you caught me there. Just let me get this movie back up."
Nothing was working. That was strange. His computer had shut off. It was like the power had cut entirely. He scooped up the remote to turn the projector back on, and... nothing. Not even a blue No Signal screen. Alright, so his tech was gonna be difficult now. What the heck, Grover Cleveland Middle? Update your tech. And maybe your textbooks while you're at it. Some of them are from before he was born, and there was just no way all that information was accurate anymore.
His stubborn old projector still wouldn't turn on. He climbed up on a desk in the middle of the room, pressed some buttons, and... still nothing. Geez, maybe the power had gone out. But then the emergency lights would've turned on, or the backup generators would still be going... this was all so weird.
"Alright, hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it looks like something's gotten up with this old projector, so the rest of your free period will have to be had without WALL-E."
A series of groans and protests from the students.
"Hey, I'm troubleshooting it as we speak. In the meantime, how do we feel about a trivia game? Or are your brains too turned to mush from all the studying you have to do for exams?"
That brought some joy back into the room. The kids loved trivia, especially when Mr. Grace did it. How could they not? The Beanbag Is Lava is a classic.
Easy, fun trivia was passed around. Temperature of the surface of the sun (5,500 degrees Celcius), closest star to the earth besides the sun (Proxima Centauri), average distance between the earth and the moon (238,855 miles), that sort of stuff. Easy, fun stuff.
A beanbag got thrown back to him. Some kid fired at him, "What is the Petrova Line?"
Ryland laughed. "Alright, very funny, I'll pass on that. Who can tell me-"
"There is no passing in the beanbag game! Your hands are getting hotter!" Another kid shouted at him.
Well, that put him in a pickle. Ryland sighed. "Alright, look, did I not explain this to you earlier this year? The Petrova Line-"
"What are you going to do about it?"
Ryland cleared his throat. "I- excuse me?"
"Why haven't you saved us yet?"
Ryland gulped. The walls of his classroom started to tremble and rattle. The ceiling tiles that he'd hung his model of the planets from jumped, and down fell Venus, right onto his head. Okay, ouch. Not cool.
"What are you going to do?"
"How are you going to save us?"
"Will you be able to save us?"
Eva Stratt walked into his classroom. Even amongst this freak earthquake, she was so frustratingly calm. "Doctor Grace, you were supposed to be the savior of the universe. Why have you failed? You have left earth to die. You have left your beloved children to die. Are they not the whole reason you went on this mission?"
Ryland couldn't get out any words whatsoever. Everything turned to mush in his mouth, his tongue just a useless wet sack of poor muscles in an orifice that had given up on him. Everything was shaking, the lights were going haywire, and the floor seemed to open up and swallow him whole, leaving him in complete darkness, naked, cold, and afraid. But, most of all, alone. The tears came like they always did when he was scared, when he was unsure, when he was weak. He tried to move and thrash about, but it was difficult to move, like the darkness was solid and sticky and closing in on him.
Astrophage.
He was drowning in it. It was covering his eyes, his mouth, his nose. It was everywhere. Everything was dark and he couldn't breathe. Was this where the lead scientist on Astrophage, supposed savior of the universe, and unwilling astronaut was going to meet his doom? Surrounded by a blanket of suffocating Astrophage, with it penetrating his lungs and stomach?
As if to add insult to the demise of him, his students, and eventually his entire species, he could hear the opening song from WALL-E faintly playing.
We'll join the Astors
At Tony Pastor's,
And this I'm positive of:
That we won't come home,
That we won't come home,
No, we won't come home...
He wanted to scream, but lungs full of Astrophage made it impossible. He just settled for letting his eyes close, silently mourning his death as the only human for twelve light years.
What a lonely death for a species so hinged on connection.
***
Ryland sprung awake, choking and sweating like he'd run a marathon. Rocky, who had been working on a little project quietly while Ryland slept, dropped his tool with a clatter.
Oh, God. Oh, God, he couldn't breathe. There wasn't any oxygen on this ship. Right? That's surely what had gone so incredibly wrong. Ryland was going to die alone and scared out in the middle of actual nowhere in freaking space, crying like a baby. What a savior of the universe he'd made.
"Why Grace erratic, question? Something wrong with ship?"
"Th-There's not- the oxy- the oxygen-" Grace wheezed, breaths punching in and out of his chest like bullets.
Wait.
"How Grace breathing if no oxygen, question? Grace okay, question?"
That was a phenomenal question. So, there was oxygen. Why was it not getting to him?
"Grace heart erratic. Very fast."
Ryland choked on nothing, rolling out of his stupid hammock bed. Everything felt so incredibly wrong. He couldn't get a good breath in, and to top it all off, his face was wet. Tears. Crying. Jesus, a grown man, supposed savior of the universe, crying like a coward over... what, exactly? A god damn nightmare?
"Grace leaking. Grace in distress, question?"
Yes, actually. Very much distress. The words wouldn't come, only punchy, erratic breaths that were making his lips dry and tingly.
Ryland curled up in a ball, sniffling like a little kid. And, yeah, okay, crying like a kid. It was embarrassing.
If there had been a hiss of an airlock, he hadn't noticed. But, there was a bump of a clear xenonite ball against his back and he jumped. He must've looked like a mess - a leaky space blob, as Rocky had once described him - right now, with puffy eyes and wet cheeks and even some snot. Geez, what was he, a baby?
"Apology. Grace in distress. How Rocky fix, question?"
God, how do you explain having a fit to a sentient boulder spider?
The xenonite ball bumped up against him again, more gently this time. "Grace, how Rocky fix, question?"
"J-just... stay close. I don't- I'm sorry-"
"Grace no apologize. Rocky stay close, statement. Okay, question?"
Ryland was quiet for a moment, before nodding slowly. He rolled over, wiping his face on the blanket that was somehow still wrapped around him. If he really pretended, he could imagine that the warmth of the xenonite ball was like the warmth of a big ol' dog or something back home. God, he missed home. Could he miss home if he didn't even have a dog?
"Grace have solution to Astrophage. But also have time yet. Both Erid and Earth will have time. Grace Rocky save stars without rush."
Ryland took a deep, shuddering breath. He missed earth like crazy. He missed people and his students and maybe even Stratt. He would give anything to just have one other person aboard this ship.
Well, an Eridian in a xenonite ball was going to have to do for now.
He wrapped himself up to the surface of the ball as close as he could, feeling the gentle warmth from Rocky's little atmosphere that was contained in the ball. He was still so tired, but there was so much work to be done. But he was so tired, and so comfortable...
"Grace sleep again. I observe. Grace safe with Rocky, statement. We save our planets."
Ryland finally took a deep breath. Still a little shuddery, yes, but finally more relaxed. More in control. "'s gonna be hard to fall asleep after that, Rock, but alright, if you insist..."
"Rocky insist."
Ryland let himself start to doze once more, but what really did him in was Rocky chittering and chirping, singing gently in that musical language of his. There wasn't a certain tune to it, and as far as he could tell, Rocky was just talking to himself, but it was music enough to Ryland to let him finally fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. A much-needed catch-up on lost sleep over the last several days.
Rocky continued tinkering away at a little thing he'd brought into his ball, humming and talking to himself. Watching Grace sleep.