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Grace danced at his Eridian friend as they said goodbye. He turned away, securing his helmet and pulling out the cutting tool Rocky’d made for him. He cut the Xeonite that connected the two ships as Rocky watched from his side of the divider. Grace watched as the two ships split apart slightly as he cut the last of the Xeonite free. Grace felt his chest tighten at the sight of the ships drifting apart.
Grace got back into the airlock, he began the cycling process to reenter the main part of the ship. As he waved one last time and put his thumb down to Rocky for a final time, the alarms started blaring around him. The Emergency lights were blinding
He rushed through the ship to the cockpit. Abandoning the EVA suit helmet somewhere along the way as he went. He scrolled frantically on the computer to figure out what was wrong. His heart sank at the sight.
Astrophage Fuel Bays: All Empty
“What? No- that’s not possible? Rocky just helped refill them.” Grace stared at the screen in confusion. Had the Taumoba escaped? If it had then Rocky would be in trouble as well. After everything they had been through, he couldn’t just let his best friend die like this, not when they were so close to solving the problem and saving both their planets.
Grace made his way down as fast as he could from the cockpit. He raced back to the air lock, but he was too late.
“Rocky! Rocky, wait!” He knew it was probably useless shouting into the void of space, but he had to try. “Rocky! Please, I have no fuel! It could be the Taumoba! It might have- I don’t know, escaped somehow!”
Grace watched in horror as the Blip-A floated away from the Hail Mary.
“ROCKY!” Grace kept screaming. He couldn’t hear himself scream so how the heck was Rocky ever going to hear him? It was as if all the sound got zapped out of the Hail Mary.
Grace watched as the Blip-A disappeared into the blanket of black space.
“Rocky, please! Please don’t leave me.” Grace punched and thrashed against the airlock as if it would bring Rocky back. Naturally, it didn’t do anything except make Grace’s head ring.
Grace was shaking now. He knew what it was like for Rocky for nearly five decades. Except, he would not get five decades to live. He would be lucky to see more than two years with his food supply, four years if he stretched it but why the fuck would he want to do that?
There was no one coming for him. Rocky hadn’t noticed anything wrong, so why would he turn around and come back for him? Especially as they now have their cure in hand. What was Grace to him? Just a leaky space blob that helped him save his planet, but it was easy to walk away from someone once you had what you needed from their help.
Grace was alone. He was going to die alone. It had all come full circle, him waking up, thinking he is going to die alone to him fully accepting that he will die alone after getting his hopes up-
Grace shot up in bed. His chest and back was coated with sweat. His chest pounded with anxiety. But most importantly, Rocky called his name at him from his ball.
“Grace awake, question?” Grace looked down as his friend. He was clearly worried about him and it made Grace cry.
“Rocky? Oh, thank God.” He dropped from his stall and hugged his Xeonite ball, much to the surprise of Rocky.
“We hug, question? Okay.” Rocky clunked against the side of the ball where Grace’s chest was. Grace didn’t bother to hide or stop the tears that flowed from his eyes as Rocky made a small sound of disgust at him. “Grace leaking again. Why, question?”
Grace took a moment to calm himself. He realised he was in the lab at his desk. He must have fallen asleep whilst working.
“I, uh, had a bad dream.” Rocky tapped nervously.
“Nightmare, question?” Grace nodded as he wiped his tears on his sleeve. Yes, he knew it was kind of gross, but he didn’t have a tissue to hand right now, he wondered for a moment if there were any on board at all. I guess Stratt didn’t plan for the astronauts having a break-down every other day Like Grace seemed to.“Grace know it not real. Grace want to talk about, question?” Grace sighed, he knew he should talk about it really. It would probably make him feel better. He sat upright again before he started.
“I had a dream — a nightmare that we said goodbye to one another and that all my fuel had run out and that you had left me-” Before Grace could say anything else about the matter, Rocky chimed in with many exclaimed chirps.
“No no no. Bad bad bad. Rocky not leave Grace. Grace is friend of Rocky and Erid. Rocky never leave Grace. Grace save Rocky-”
“I know. I know bud, but the human brain conjures dreams and nightmares up so we know what to do when a scenario comes around. Even if it is very unlikely to actually happen.” Rocky stomped his feet and stood tall.
“Human brain inefficient. Stupid, statement.” Rocky stomped his claws as he spoke like he did when he was annoyed. Grace chuckled and nodded.
“Yeah, it is.” Grace stood from where he sat and took notice of the lab. “Did I fall asleep at my desk?” Grace rubbed his face, he could feel the imprint of where he fell asleep on his pen.
“Yes, Rocky watch Grace sleep. Did not wake as Grace very very very tired. Then Grace make noises in sleep. Lots of noises. Rocky could not wake Grace fast. Apology.” Grace smiled down at his Eridian friend.
“That’s alright, Rock. It’s not your fault, bud.”