Chapter Text
It’s just as unpleasant this time.
“AAAH!” I scream as soon as the tube down my throat is out.
“What is two plus two?” the computer asks.
“Armando!” I wheeze.
“Incorrect. What is two plus two?”
“Square root of sixteen.”
“Incorrect. What is–”
“Shut up! Chetyre!” It’s Ilyukhina. She leans over me, ponytail brushing over my forehead. “How you feeling?”
“Wonderful,” I say, and I mean it. Ilyukhina is alive and smiling and laughing at my big greasy beard. I know her name, I know my name, and I know why I’m here. “Never better.”
“Commander, he’s awake!”
♪☆♪☆♪
I debated how much I should tell them in advance. They would probably think I’m crazy and blame the coma for breaking my brain. But they also didn’t know the real reason for the last minute switch with DuBois. They were glad to hear about his and Shapiro’s plans for the future, but were more than a little dismayed.
In the end, whenever I let something slip over the next few days of system entry and they gave me a curious look, I just assured them that I would explain everything when we arrived at Tau Ceti.
We had some fun, messing around in the Don’t Go Crazy Room, a lot of card games, and dipping into Ilyukhina’s stash just a little. But I could sense the shadows over my crew mates. The knowledge that this was the beginning of the end. Or so they thought.
If they noticed me getting more and more excited the closer we got, they didn’t say anything. If they had, I don’t know if I could have held in the surprise at all.
“Engines are off,” Yao announced. He does a few more checks then nods at me. “Activate the Petrovascope.”
“Aye, aye, captain!”
“Please stop saying that.”
“Aye- will do my best,” I mumble. The Petrovascope glows to life on the screen, lighting the room up red before adjusting. The Tau Ceti system’s Petrova line cuts across the screen. And right there, where you could maybe mistake it for a smudge, is a point of darkness blocking the light. I grin.
“There you are,” I breathe.
“Is it there?” Ilyukhina asks, looking up at us from the hatch.
“Sure is.” I tilt the screen towards Yao. “Can you head toward this point?”
He squints at the screen, wiping at it with his finger. “What is that?”
“It’s what we’re looking for.”
“How can you tell that’s a solution? It could be anything.”
“Well then, why don’t we get a closer look and find out?” Yao gives me another this better not be some hallucination you thought up in your coma look and starts thrusting toward the Blip-A. Once we’re within a few hundred kilometers, the computer catches up and announces its presence.
Ilyukhina gasps and floats up to my screen. “Something is out there!” The Petrovascope picks up bursts from Rocky’s engines. He’s spotted us. I’m buzzing with excitement.
Yao looks at me, expression serious. “You and Stratt knew about this?”
“Yeah, we did. Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything now. But first–”
We all freeze at the radio static coming through. It’s fuzzy, not tuned to the right frequency, but I can hear familiar 5-tone whalesong. Ilyukhina squeals. “You’re kidding me!”
“First,” I continue, switching to the radio controls and adjusting to the frequency Rocky and I used to use. “Let’s get the rest of the team together. Rocky, can you read me?”
A pause. Then, “Grace, question!” The octave is so high the speakers can barely register it.
“Hey, you!”
“What is Grace doing here, question! Happy happy happy but why why why-”
“You think I’d leave you hanging? You’re stuck with me, buddy!”
He tries to sound serious, but his voice is still comically high. “We talk about this later. Status of Mary, question?”
“What is happening…” Ilyukhina marvels.
“We’re all good over here, me, Yao and Ilyukhina. How about you?”
Yao unbuckles himself and floats toward the airlock window. Our exterior lights are hitting the edges of the Blip-A, its bronze spires appearing suddenly out of the dark.
“Good good good! Have everything ready. Rocky start tunnel, question?”
“Yeah, go ahead! Do you need us to flood our side with oxygen?”
“Affirmative. Wait until Rocky is complete.”
“You got it. See you soon, bud.”
“See Grace soon. Save stars again.”
The radio cuts out. I touch my cheek and realize I’m crying. Ilyukhina is at the airlock now, too, and slaps Yao’s arm. “Look, something is coming out of it!”
Yao picks his jaw up off the floor long enough to ask me, “Stratt didn’t mention any face-huggers, did she?”
“I can guarantee there are no xenomorphs over there,” I assure him, starting to pull on an EVA suit. “Just a scaredy-cat who can’t even watch that movie.”
The tunnel reaches us, and instead of the hull robot attaching it with adhesive, it attaches a perfectly sized ring around the airlock. I wonder how long it was waiting to be used.
I wait another eternal minute before opening the first door. I go inside while Yao and Ilyukhina gape at me. I gesture for them to stand back so I can shut the door. Then I open the outer door. It’s dark in the tunnel. I turn on the flashlight I grabbed and the stream of light finds a transparent xenonite barrier a few meters away.
I stamp my foot twice, then cycle the air. Oxygen hisses into the tunnel. I turn and give my crew a thumbs-up.
“What the fuck?” I can see Ilyukhina mouth. Yao is starting to put a spacesuit on but I wave him to stop. I let the flashlight float and take my own helmet off. With the room now filled with oxygen, I can hear their shouts of panic.
“It’s cool!” I yell. “Come on, you can come in now. Bring some more lights!”
They’re still floundering in the cockpit, but I turn and head toward the wall. As I get closer, I can see there’s a large airlock door- one big enough for an Eridian to fit through. He’s been busy.
I hear him before I see him. Trills of pure joy and his hard feet thundering down the tunnel, pushing off parts of the wall before finally slamming into the clear xenonite.
“Graaaace!”
“Rocky!”
For me, it’s been a month. For Rocky, it’s been over a decade.
“Grace is okay, question? Sleep good, question?”
“Yeah, it went smoothly. No complications. How have you been, Rock? I’m sorry it took us so long.”
He shakes his carapace, like a quick shrugging off of any concern. It’s so good to see Rocky fully himself again. “Was not so bad. Knew friends were coming. And last jump cut off few years!”
“Wait, really?”
“Yes! Was much confusion. Past Rocky did not know why Rocky make chain and airlock ring and other things. Melted down materials to re-use and had to re-start when Rocky remember.”
“Interesting. Do you know how long it was?”
I hear the door behind me opening, and two more flashlights shine at my back. “Save four point six five years.” Not bad.
“I’m glad we could shave a little off. But don’t worry, you’ve got us to watch you sleep now.”
“Happy.”
“Who are you talking to?” Yao calls.
I turn and wave at them. “Get in here! Come say hi!” They’re still hovering at the doorway, shifting their flashlights around warily.
“To who?” Ilyukhina asks. “To what?”
“To-” I turn back around, and Rocky’s gone. “Where the heck did you go?”
“Request drumroll!”
“Wh, okay.” I roll my eyes and start drumming my hands on my thigh. “Is this gonna take long?”
“Sixty seconds!”
“Oh, we should get the translator out. Hey Olesya, can you grab my laptop really quick?” She blinks, then floats towards the copilot seat where my laptop’s in a pouch behind its extra-fortified base. She pushes it towards me, and follows it about halfway down the tunnel, a little closer than she was before. Yao is also inching his way up to the transparent wall.
I pull up the translator program, which got its last updates hours before they put us under for the journey here (a lot more humanely for me, but I was still irrationally terrified, only managing to not bolt from the room because I knew why I was doing this). My flashlight catches one of Rocky’s arms with something reflective over it. He did have all the time in the world, of course he spent some of it making a new and improved exosuit.
“Okay, you ready yet?”
“Yes!”
Richard Peralta’s voice translates from the laptop speakers. The program doesn’t catch the excited tone since it was trained off of a keyboard emulation, but we can fix that later. I get excited all over again thinking about showing Rocky the laptop, keyboard, and camera I packed in my own personal storage for him.
“Is that…?” Ilyukhina starts. Rocky climbs into his airlock and cycles the atmosphere. When the door to our side opens, he jumps out, waving jazz hands at the bewildered astronauts.
“Hello, friends!”
I throw myself at Rocky, wrapping my whole body around his carapace and breaking his grip on the wall so that we float off into the middle of the tunnel. I can hear him singing crystal-clear through the thin, flexible xenonite protecting him, thin enough that I can even feel warmth passing through.
“Hi, Grace.”
“Hi, Grapes,” translates the computer.
“Hey, Roc–” I pull my head away from the suit. “Did you put my name in the translator as grapes?”
Rocky titters.
“Dr. Grace, now would be a good time to explain,” Yao says. He and Ilyukhina are only a few feet away now, shining their flashlights at me and Rocky slowly spinning around the middle of the room.
“Right, sorry.” I clear my throat and throw my shoulder over Rocky’s carapace. “Lady and Gentleman, may I re-introduce you to my best friend Rocky.”
Rocky waves a claw eagerly. “Long time, no hear!”