Chapter Text
"Need new word" Rocky says, making me jump from the sudden noise. We've both been working in silence, or at least I guess Rocky's been working, most of the "new words" over the last couple of days have been him going down Wikipedia rabbit holes and then wanting to discuss some "weird human stuff" with me, so it might depend on what you classify as "work".
"Isn't there a dictionary on there?"
"Computer is made for stupid human fingers, I only scroll and click," Oh, so it's laziness that means I have to fill the role of Miriam-Webster.
Rocky taps on the glass, "Plus Grace is more interesting than dictionary".
That's actually kind of sweet so I'll give him a pass.
"Alright, what word is it?"
He speaks the Eridian word, "Meaning place where creature is kept and lives"
I check my translation software, "We've already done habitat, is this different or just a synonym?"
"Different word, less connotation of wild. Creature is cared for in area that mimics habitat"
"I guess that's be an enclosure, or a terrarium. Enclosures are usually just a wall around a place where an animal is kept, but terrariums are fully enclosed" I wince slightly at using enclosure and enclosed for two things that I'm describing the differences for, but luckily Rocky is less easily confused than middle-schoolers can be.
"Second option is the word"
"Got it", I say as I log the new word and add it to Rocky's soundbite, "what do you need it for? If you're reading about creature care then isn't something like that just on the page?"
"I'm not reading about creature care" Rocky says, and goes back to paying attention to the depths of Wikipedia.
Unfortunately, that piques my interest.
"What are you reading about then?"
"North America"
I blink. That was unexpected.
"Why are you reading about North America?"
"Need to check Grace's natural habitat"
"Why would you-" oh my god
I turn towards Rocky with a mild horror, "Are you surreptitiously building me an enclosure?"
"No, it's a terrarium"
Smart-ass.
"You're going to put me in a zoo!"
Rocky visibly perks up at that, "I know zoo! No, this is not a zoo, it is a terrarium, no watching of Grace will happen... Unless Grace wants that, question?"
"No! No! Definitely not! No watching!"
"So I was correct the first time" He sounds unbearably smug, "What is Grace's opposition to a terrarium? Were you planning on just living in orbit, question?"
I try not to be offended by what sound like Rocky's genuine disbelief, "Of course I don't want to just live in orbit"
"Then you will need a terrarium, otherwise you will die."
That's all factually correct, and now I just feel really stupid for immediately jumping to human zoo.
Rocky taps on the xenoite right by my head, "Are you realising that again I am being very intelligent?"
I sigh with exasperation, "Yes, don't be smug about it, it was an emotional reaction"
"All of your reactions are emotional reactions, because you are leaky human blob"
I pull an exaggerated frown and he taps by my skull again, "Would it make you feel better if you helped with making your terrarium, question?", he asks, mild apology in his voice.
"Yeah, I want input on my new house"
---
I've been banned from asking about engineering.
We've been planning for around a month and by the two week mark Rocky had already come up with some super complex mechanical thing that did something about maintaining 1g of gravity, and I proceeded to pester him with more and more questions that pretty much boiled down to, "and how does that bit work", which was apparently not helpful for managing the stress of having to invent a revolutionary new piece of technology solo, with a deadline of around 4 years and limited access to tools and materials given that we are in space.
Rocky also threatened that if I kept asking questions then he wouldn't be able to invent anything, and then I'd have to live the rest of my life in a box and develop arthritis from double the gravity than I'm designed for.
The current work-day distribution is therefore both of us sitting in moderate quiet as we both try and plan for me to not die. Currently that means I've been finding everything I can about essential nutrients and how to synthesise them, and saving all that research under a folder labelled gross eating things, a name which is entirely Rocky's doing. I once again thank Stratt for acquiring the sum of all human knowledge onto these computers, because it turns out that there's actually a lot of unpublished work on successful food synthesis, giving me much more hope in my future of not eating solely taumoeba and coma slurry.
That's what most of our work ends up boiling down to, I (being the ship's leading expert in both biology and Human enjoyment of life), come up with a list of things that it would really suck to live without, if they're engineering based then I send it to rocky, and if they're health and/or quality-of-life based then I try and deal with them. Sometimes we come to an issue that by ourselves we don't really know how to approach, so that gets to go in the exciting folder of send it to Erid and let a thrum deal with it. I both love and hate putting things in that folder, in that it makes me feel daunted by the shear amount of work needed to keep me alive, but also means I can maintain a bit of the peace of mind that comes from just ignoring your problems for several super-smart aliens to deal with.
Overall we agree to only aim to roughly plot out how to deal with the (really quite massive) task of keeping me alive, that way the Eridians can hopefully start right away and speed up the whole process, but we also don't burn ourselves out during the trip. Anything that prevents Rocky from deciding that I'm too complicated and should just be thrown out of the airlock is considered a positive in my book.
---
The computers have pinterest. I screamed when I saw and Rocky came hurtling along in his ball thinking I was hurt. Safe to say he was not amused.
"I thought you had again injured yourself! I don't even know why I respond to shouts of pain anymore since you're barely capable of taking a step without falling over"
"Rocky you don't understand, this is fantastic. I can interior design!"
I try to show him the computer screen and he politely holds up his image translator gadget.
"It is just images" he says, oozing judgement.
"Well, yeah. It's images. But they're good, I can plan how to make my house look nice, I can get furniture!"
Rocky just stands there, looking (metaphorically) at me.
I sigh, "It's a culture thing, your house looking nice is a big thing for humans, because eyesight and all"
"I ...understand. Same reason as Grace requested beach, question?"
"Yeah, I guess. Beaches look nice, but they're fun as well. Splashy. Lots of people want beachfront houses," I quickly pull up some photos for him, "see?"
He holds his gadget up to the screen and considers the texture on it.
"Photos really help people with planning houses, and I'm excited because I'm going to actually have a house again and be able to decorate it" I say.
"Grace will make another folder of nice images for the enclosure, Grace deserves a nice house"
That bit almost makes me well up, but he ruins it by gesturing around the room and asking "Will Grace's house also be so messy?"
I kick his ball lightly as he rolls away, "You always ruin the moment!"
"I will make the Eridians give me a room in your house, at least one area will not be so dirty!"
"You wish!" I shout after him.
"That or I will tell them to make a zoo. With loads of obstacles so Eridians can laugh at you falling over!"
That one makes me laugh as I make a new folder and add some of the interior photos I've found to it, as well as a subdivision labelled "Rocky's room of horrors".