Ok so I’m not fully sure how to get italics on here since I typically use mobile. So for now anything in italics will look like /this/.
Chapter 2: Three Nerds in Space (what’re you gonna do?)
After he managed to compose himself, Grace gave Danny the biggest bear hug he could muster. /Gosh, I missed hugs from an actual human being. I mean Rocky is great and all but it’s gonna take a little bit to get used to his hugs./
“What are you doing here? /How/ are you here?!?” Grace exclaimed.
“Well… It’s kind of a long story. It would be a lot easier to just tell everyone at the same time?”
“Right, right, You’re right.” Grace replied.
It was then that Rocky came rolling in in his little xenonite ball.
“Grace, Grace, Grace, Rocky can hear another heart beat now! Who is maybe-human and how did they hide from Rocky?”
At his entrance, Danny’s mouth flies open and Grace could /swear/ he saw the stars in his eyes.
“Is that…” He started. Grace smiled and said,
“Yep. First contact Danny!” he pats Danny on the back, “You’re now officially the second human ever to meet sentient alien life! This is Rocky, the Eridian!” Danny stares.
“Oh. My. Ancients. Ok, this is /definitely/ the coolest thing ever! Ohhhh man, do you know how monumental this is? What this means for science in its entirety? I mean, of course /you/ do, Dr. Grace, but like. /Still/!.” He pauses his excitement as more of what Grace said registers in his brain.
“Wait… second human ever? What about…” He meets Grace’s downturned gaze and quietly goes,
“oh.”
“It wasn’t painful or anything! I don’t think so anyway. They uh… didn’t survive the induced comas. They went peacefully.” Grace started, hoping to alleviate any sadness of the news of their deaths. Danny breathes a sigh of relief at this,
“Oh good. That means they didn’t become ghosts. So, I… guess that means you’re the only surviving crew member of the Hail Mary?” A strange look passes over Grace’s face but he ultimately decides to let it be for now. He has other, more pressing questions for Danny to answer.
“Yeah. Listen- why don’t we all move somewhere more comfortable and uh. talk?” After getting agreements from Danny and Rocky, Grace leads them all to the dormitory so they can all sit. As soon as everyone is settled, it’s decided that Grace and Rocky have a slightly shorter story to tell. so, Grace begins.
He starts with how he woke up, alone and confused because of the amnesia, how he figured out what he was sent to do, how he and Rocky first met. Then he continued with their discovery of Taumeoba, and finally, ended with how they had pretty much just sent the Beetles out and were preparing to leave for Erid when Danny appeared. All the while, Rocky interjected with corrections, quips, and snarky remarks about Grace. Danny sat there, listening attentively the entire time, mournful and laughing at appropriate moments. Grace purposefully left out the amount of times they almost died, he didn’t need Danny knowing all that. When Grace finished, Danny fell quiet for a moment, letting it all sink in.
“Dude, that’s so cool. You’re quite literally living my dream, you know that, right?”
“Yeah, I gathered.” Grace replied with a wry smile.
“How and why Danny here, question?” Rocky queries.
“Yes! I have /many/ questions about your whole… situation. Honestly, it’s a miracle I’ve stayed quiet so far, ask Rocky, he knows I never shut up.” Danny smiles for a moment before his face becomes more serious.
“Okay. I… guess this means I should start with it all started in the first place. My parents,” He stops, winces, and then continues,
“My parents managed to get their hands on some Astrophage.” He begins. This time Grace winced. Based on his knowledge of the Fentons, he could start to see where this would take a turn.
“They were experimenting and discovered that, when exposed to ectoplasm, the Astrophage… bonded with it. Like, really well too. It /energized/ the ectoplasm in ways no other element or form of life has. It made it… come alive. In a sense at least.”
Grace really didn’t like where this was going. The Fenton’s were already crazy about ectoplasm and the existence of /ghosts of all things/. Listen, Grace wasn’t one to put down anyone’s ideas in science (Unless it was the thought that there was no life without water because goSH DANGIT THERE IS SUCH THING- ahem. Anyways.) But even then, Grace knew where to draw the line. The self-proclaimed ecto-biologists and ghost hunters were obsessed beyond obsession. Them getting their hands on Astrophage held promises Grace never wanted to hear.
“Well, they finished their portal to the ghost zone, -you remember they had started on that right?- using Astrophage to help. It… didn’t work at first. So, one day I went down with my friends Sam and Tucker. Just… to have a look at it ourselves! it was never meant to be more than that! But then, well, they, kinda… sorta…dared me to go inside. At least we figured out why the portal wasn’t working! So, it turned out, my parents had put the ‘on’ switch inside the portal.”
Ok, Grace was like. /Realllly/ not enjoying where this was going. Not only were the Fentons known for their bad driving and crazy obsessions, they also had infamously bad lab safety. A miracle they never got shut down by the government honestly. Despite the looming dread, both Grace and Rocky leaned in, morbidly curious as to what would happen next. Danny paused to collect his thoughts before resuming.
“I tripped and fell onto the switch, turning… it… on, while I was still inside. The pure energy from it all… well. To put it simply, it should’ve killed me. It /did/ kill me. My molecules got rearranged to accommodate the energy. When I woke up later, I had snow white hair and glowing green eyes. I had become the very thing my parents hated. A ghost.” Danny was obviously struggling to get this part out. Practically choking on his words, tears threatening to pour from his eyes.
Grace leaned over and placed his hand on Danny’s shoulder. Mostly to remind him he wasn’t with his parents anymore and he wasn’t alone, but also because he didn’t know what to do or say. Danny cleared his throat and began again.
“Over the course of the next year or so, I developed powers. Ghost powers. Intangibility, invisibility, flying, you name it. Because of the portal turning on however, a bunch of ghosts started coming out of it and attacking the town. I took it upon myself to use my powers and protect everyone. I learned quite a bit from all that. The ghosts have mostly chilled out since then. I was even able to befriend a couple of them too! A few of them do like to cause trouble every now and then, but for the most part they all stick to their own respective things.
Anyways, moving on, I eventually managed to graduate high school and college and then I left to come find you out here. Especially once I learned Project Hail Mary was a suicide mission.” Danny said this with a slight frown. “Let me tell you, if it weren’t for the fact I’m friends with Time itself and a bunch of dead Yeti’s, it would’ve taken me so much longer to get out here. It took me long enough already, but still.
Anyway! The /reason/ I’m here is because /I/ am your ticket back home!” he says this last part with a dramatic flourish at himself.
“I can get us back to Earth in a fraction of the time it took for you to get here!” Grace knows he’s staring. He knows /Rocky/ is staring. That was a lot to process. Everything Danny told them was taking a bit to sink in.
“Can I…think about it?” Grace asks. Danny looks back at him, seemingly surprised.
“Oh, uh. Yeah, of course! take all the time you need Dr. Grace.” he turns to Rocky,
“The offer to go home is extended to you as well, Rocky. It just might take a little longer because I’m less familiar with where you’re from.” Rocky perks up at this.
“Rocky able to see beautiful mate Adrian sooner?” Danny nods and Rocky seems like his mind is made up.
Grace just sits there. Ruminating. He’s… not actually sure he wants to go home anymore. He’s become such good friends with Rocky by this point. They’ve both risked their lives for each other. What’s more, so much time has already passed on Earth. It wouldn’t be the same Earth he once knew. Yes Danny said he could get them home insanely faster than if he just took the Hail Mary back anyway. But thirteen years or so had already passed. Everyone he knew, the scarce number that it was anyway, was older. Grace hadn’t really aged during his time in space due to the coma. He would need to basically start a new life. From scratch. He’s positive that after throwing him onto the ship, Stratt had gotten rid of all his Earthly possessions. He wondered if he could establish a life on Erid with Rocky and then just… visit Earth every now and then. That was the most ideal course of action for Grace. He brings up his question to Danny after about two hours of sitting there thinking. During those two hours, Danny and Rocky had been exchanging information about Erid and travel plans and such. When Grace came over, ready to voice his queries, Danny listened. He thought for a moment before saying,
“That… could work. I mean once I have a clear path to Erid, it’ll be even easier to travel between worlds. I won’t have to spend any extra time trying to navigate around. Yeah sure why not!”
After deciding on this course of action, they finished getting the ship ready, and set off to head for Erid.
On earth most animals aim to be symmetrical and so have an even amount of limbs. Reading that Rocky had five left me puzzled, obviously he's an alien, but was there precedent in nature for such a phenomenon? What was the point of five rather than 4 or 6? ...Then, I looked at my own hands and felt silly. Still, that connection made me happy.
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