Chapter Text
3 months, 5 days, 4 hours, 46 minutes, and 23 seconds.
22 seconds.
21 seconds.
Ryland Grace sighed as he leaned his head back against the seat, watching the timer that showed how much longer he’ll be in space slowly, slowly count to zero. He should be thankful, really, as three months was practically nothing compared to the three years he’d already been on this ship, just waiting to finally land on his best friend’s planet.
See, his best friend was an alien, who was from an alien planet, which was practically a dream come true from his younger, science-obsessed self that his older, still science-obsessed self got to live out. Sure, it was difficult to turn his back on Earth, but he was mostly content, knowing the information they so desperately needed was headed towards his home planet at this very moment! The taumoeba would be delivered safely via the beatles, the sun would be saved, and Grace could be happy knowing his mission was complete, even if he never saw it with his own eyes.
He didn’t have much going for him back on Earth, anyways.
He checked the timer again.
3 months, 5 days, 4 hours, 22 minutes, and 4 seconds.
Ugh.
He had a lot to be thankful for, despite his melodramatic complaining. He wasn’t even sure he’d make it this far. It had truly been touch and go for a while, and he shuddered the remember the starvation that set in with about a year left into their journey. Stomach aching, skin brittle, and body so exhausted he could barely move.
He tried to eat the amoeba slurry, he really did, but his body just…refused it. He recalled with fondness how hard of a time Rocky had understanding that.
“Human body so stupid!” Rocky spat. “Body knows it needs food, but refuse when food given! So inefficient!”
The words may seem harsh, but Grace detected the undertones of worry in his friend’s musical voice. He had to watch as his best friend, and only companion in the vastness of space, fall apart.
He had done the calculations early on in their trip, scrounging together every bit of food they could find. Of real, solid food, he had about 1 year and 5 months worth out of the 3 year, 7 month journey, if he rationed to the minimum calories needed per day. If he mixed in the leftover coma slurry borrowed from his crew mates, he could stretch it to 2 years and 7 months. At first, he was reluctant to try the slurry, both out of guilt for using his crew’s resources, even if they were dead, and because it looked…unappetizing. But, needs must, and he found it had a surprisingly nice, subtlety sweet and salty flavor, making it a tolerable breakfast smoothie! This just left 11 months with…well, nothing to eat. That was bad for humans.
It was something he agonized over for a long time. He wanted so badly to live to see Rocky’s planet, Erid. Luckily, his friend was a genius, and suggested the taumoeba as a food source. Was it ideal? No, but it would keep his body from shutting down, and they had plenty of it.
At least, that’s what he thought would happen. Reality was much worse.
— — —
Grace retched into a bag, his stomach roiling in protest at the strange substance he was trying to feed it. So far, he hasn’t convinced his body that this new food wasn’t, in fact, poison.
The first week or so went…okay. The taumoeba was mushy and tasteless, but if he plugged his nose he was able to choke down enough to get some calories in his system.
Problems started to arise after two weeks of forcing the stuff down.
It started small. A stomach ache after eating his “breakfast” that wouldn’t settle no matter what he did. Nausea constantly, but would spike whenever he ate or even looked at the makeshift meals. Eventually, his brain and body just…couldn’t do it anymore. Each meal was met would nausea so strong he would just throw right it back up. A month in, he couldn’t even get himself to try to put it in his mouth.
Pathetic, he thought to himself miserably. All this work, just to die out in the vacuum of space. Tears leaked out of his strewn shut eyes as he slumped the ground, weak from both the lack of nutrients and his bleak thoughts.
Rocky trilled unhappily beside him, trying his best to be comforting.
“Grace sick, question? Rocky fix, question?”
“I…don’t know how you can fix this, buddy.” Grace’s voice wobbled. “Taste and texture are important to humans, as well as vitamins, and the taumoeba just…my body won’t accept it anymore.” The confession only made him cry harder, Rocky thrilling a sad tune.
See, the taumoeba were empty, tasteless calories. Their lipids provided some protein and fat, but nothing else the body needed to properly function. They lack the vitamins needed for the body to be healthy. Already, his nails and hair were brittle, and he bruised way easier than he ever did before.
Soon, it’ll be rickets, scurvy, and a whole host of other nasty sounding illnesses until his body succumbed.
“I don’t know how much longer I can do this, Rock.” He said weakly.
Rocky stomped one of his legs. “No! Rocky must fix. What human need, question? Rocky get.”
“Don’t know where you’ll find real food anywhere around here, bud.” He smiled wryly. “I’ve checked.”
“Rocky check again! Grace stay. Rest.” The alien scuttled away, muttering musical notes under his breath. Probably curses. Grace never asked.
Lying on the cold floor of the ship was nice. It cooled his sweating forehead, and was a grounding reminder he was still here, still alive. His eyes, still red from tears, drifted shut as unconsciousness took him.
An unknown amount of time passed before Grace was awoken by a soft tapping near his ear.
“Grace wake question? Rocky find something!” Rocky tapped more against the ground in his fitted xenonite suit, a case of what looked like pills in his gloved claw. “Rocky ask ship! Mary Grace say humans need vitamins, Rocky ask for vitamins. Mary say with Armando. Armando give Rocky many many many vitamins! Now take!”
Rocky practically threw the huge pill bottle at him, and he fumbled a few times before taking a look at the label which, as stated, had the daily recommended does of all the vitamins and minerals a person might need.
“Wah-where was this? I swear I thought I checked everything!” He exclaimed. “I guess these were meant for Yáo and Ilyukhina but never got fully used…”
“Yes yes yes! Now Grace can have! Can stop being sick!” Rocky wriggled in excitement.
“Thanks Rock, I mean really, this is great, but…you’re not supposed to take these without a meal, and they should be taken at different times of the day…I’m not sure I could stomach these big pills right now.” Grace hated to disappoint his friend, and if could figure out how to get his body to stop rejecting everything he put it in, he’d be in a much better spot to take the vitamins. He just wasn’t sure how.
“Ugh!” Rocky stomped his foot again. “Human body so needy! Badly designed! Eridian food goes straight to stomach, no issues!”
“Yeah, well, if I could just open up my stomach and place it in like you, I would!” Grace paused for a moment. “Straight to the stomach…if I could bypass the taste and texture rejection…Rocky!” He clapped once. “A feeding tube! You’re a genius!”
“Yes. Rocky always say this. Should listen more.”
— — —
So that’s how Grace ended up with a G-tube in his belly, courtesy of Armando. After just a few weeks of Tauamoeba slurry mixed with the vitamin pills being pumped straight to his stomach, Grace was feeling like a new man. And boy, was Rocky a strict supervisor. He watched him choke down each pill, ensured his feeding tube was working properly, handed him water every three hours. To say nothing of the exercise regimen Rocky had him following on youtube! Pilates was hard.
Now, he just had to wait till he got to Erid, where he and the Eridian scientists can get working on some real food. Luckily, he had the forethought to save a few of his meals, as well as some vitamins, hoping they could figure out how to synthesize and clone the nutrients.
Gosh, what he wouldn’t give for a hamburger right now…
His pleasant musings were interrupted by a loud alarm, ringing insistently in his ears.
For a dazed moment, he was back as a teacher in the middle school, a surprise fire drill interrupting his lesson. “Where’s the fire?”
“WARNING!” Mary’s cool voice blared. “Anomaly detected. Large amounts of radiation and gravity ahead. WARNING…”
Grace scrambled to the pilot room, silencing the deafening voice with practiced movements before pulling up his screens. In the distance, he could see a huge flash of light slowly fill the cameras, taking up the entire screen as it grew and grew, along with it a heaviness in the air, a ringing in his ears.
“What happen!” Rocky warbled, scuttling into the room with him. “Big big big sound! Black hole, question?” He should never had shown Rocky those sci-fi movies, he was terrified of the idea of black holes for a week.
“Gosh, I hope not…” He muttered, the pressure in the air forcing him and Rocky into their chairs. “Just hang on, Rock.”
He looked at the readings, which showed numbers that just seemed impossible to Grace. The astronomical levels of energy being radiated at them could only be from a collapsing star, or something equally emourmous.
It was hard to think as the blinding light kept building, the pulsing in his ears near unbearable before finally, it peaked. A BANG of light and sound hit them abruptly, forcing him to shove his hands over his ears, screwing his eyes shut.
A stillness.
A beat.
Grace and Rocky finally reoriented themselves, groaning, and looked at the screen.
“Grace okay, question?” Rocky warbled, shaking his limbs out.
“Yeah, I’m fine, just confused. Did anything break?”
After scanning the ship with his echolocation, Rocky confirmed the ship was still in one piece.
“Something outside, statement.”
“Outside?” Grace turned his attention to the screen, and froze.
A bright red moon had appeared right front of them, where the nothingness of space once resided.
“Blip-C detected.” Mary announced.