*extends my hands revealing the crumpled up The Characters of my new hyperfixation*
"Grace,"Ā Rocky prods, not for the first time since they started working today. Or was it last night? It feels like days, but it's hard to count up here, especially when Rocky scolds him every time his attention wanders for more than a second.Ā "Grace, astrophage is down here."
"Thank you, Rocky," he replies tightly, sarcastically, "I know."
"Then why Grace keep looking away?"
"Because my eyes hurt. Humans are supposed to close them every once in a while."Ā
"Grace close his eyes every few seconds,"Ā he argues.Ā
"That's blinking. I was talking about sleep."Ā
"I know."
Grace sighs. He's had rough bosses before, sure, but he didn't exactly apply for this job, and he's certainly not being paid. Rocky is bossier than any supervisor he's ever worked for, more demanding than any PI he'd ever had in grad school, and more overbearing than even the most difficult of his students' parents. Even if he does everything he's supposed to do exactly as he's supposed to do it, Rocky still isn't satisfied.
The long hours are starting to get to him. It's not Rocky's fault, not all of it. He doesn't understand human needs, and Grace has been a little lax at enforcing them, sometimes. He's less "insisting on meeting the demands of the human body" and more "complaining about Rocky's overbearing orders." He gets how Rocky could misconstrue one for the other, especially when Grace ultimately ends up caving every time he applies more pressure.Ā
On top of all that, he's right. The stars are dying, and the pressure to save them is in their hands. Well, his hands. Rocky's... whatever. He sips at old coffee that hasn't been hot for hours and hasn't been good since the beans were picked from the plant. It's doing very little to make him feel less tired, but it's making his heart hammer and his hands clammy, so clearly it's having some effect, right? Maybe it will keep him awake for a few more hours, just so they can get through this paragraph of the sampler instruction manual. They've been fighting it for hours, but it's been fighting back. Grace takes off his glasses and cleans them on his shirt, hoping that it helps the blurriness and frowning when it doesn't. He rubs his dry, tired eyes. He probably needs to drink more water. When was the last time he drank water? His head is killing him.Ā
"Where Grace going?"
"To get a drink, Rock. Can I do that, or do you need to come with me?"
"Grace crabby,"Ā Rocky says, and he can't tell if it's a tease or a jab. Either way, he shouldn't let it get to him, but it irritates him, makes him feel like all his needs have been reduced to just whining. The annoyance sends a spike of pain through his temples that stops for a chat on its way past his eyes before cutting straight through the other side.Ā
"GraceĀ exhausted,"Ā he replies. "I need five."Ā
"Five what, question?"
Grace doesn't reply, just grabs his mug and brings it to the area what he's been generously been calling a kitchen, but is really more of a food storage area that also gives him water. Armando whirs to life from rest mode--even the robots are sleeping more often than he is--ready to be helpful.Ā
"Doctor Grace, it's late. You should be sleeping."
"Hear that, Rock?Ā Mary agrees with me."Ā he calls. Armando is pouring a cup of water before he even asks, so she's probably been waiting for him to remember he needs one. He holds out his mug of coffee, which Armando begins cleaning after handing him the water.Ā
"No, no," he says, "another cup, please, pal."
"I do not advise you intake more caffeine than you have already, Doctor Grace," Mary says, and her word is law. He's not about to try to talk his way into one more. If he falls asleep face first into the bench top they're working at, it will at least prove a point to Rocky.Ā
He's got to put his foot down somewhere Rocky won't roll over it in his ball. He's got to march in there and tell him he's not reading another line of the sampler instructions until he's slept.Ā
Another 45 minutes later, Grace's vision is swimming again, blurring the words of the sampler instructions so badly that he can't even read them. This time, it doesn't go away when he rubs his eyes. He lets his glasses hang from one ear and leans back in his chair, scrubbing his hands over his face, fingers making a second lap up to massage his temples.Ā Ā
"I need a break," he says. "My brain is leaking out my ears." He regrets it as soon as Rocky jumps in alarm.
"Grace brain leaking?" Rocky exclaims in alarm. "Grace die, question? Grace die? Grace--"Ā
"No," he curtails, "no, I shouldn't have said it like that. I just mean I'm exhausted. My eyes hurt. My head is pounding. I need to eat and sleep."Ā
Rocky hesitates, now properly spooked enough to take the complaint seriously, though he appears to have calmed down a little at the explanation.
"How often Grace need sleep?"Ā
"More than I have been. Eating, too. That's, like, every five hours or so, when I'm awake. Sleep, every 16 ish, and water throughout the day."Ā
"Grace has done none of those things in many hours."Ā Grace chuckles.
"That's what I'm saying. I know this is important. I'm trying. Just give me a few hours."Ā
Rocky does an approximation of a nod, and Grace gives a sloppy, unenthusiastic thumbs down.
"Grace need food?"
"Later. After I sleep."Ā He should probably eat something before he goes to bed, but his stomach feels choppy, and he doesn't want to put anything in it that might come up later. Sleep will take care of the headache, which should help the nausea.
He stands, and as soon as he does, he realizes he should have done so a little more slowly, given how long he's been sitting in the same position, when the ship spins around him. He reaches out blindly and steadies himself on the nearest surface. Based on how warm it is, it must be Rocky's ball.Ā
"Grace?"Rocky calls.Ā "Grace, what is happening?"Ā
He doesn't even have time to respond before everything goes dark.Ā
-----
His senses cut in one by one. First, he becomes aware that his headache has gotten considerably worse, and now his body feels bruised, too. His cheek is pressed against something cool.Ā
Hearing comes second, which informs him that Rocky is beside him, panicking so hard that the computer is only occasionally spitting out words from the lexicon, meaning that he's using language they don't have and probably don't want common words for. The rest is just frantic squeaking and tapping on the inside of the ball, intermittently punctuated by his name. He tries to offer a thumbs down, but he can only make his fingers twitch. Rocky notices, anyway.Ā
"Grace? Grace can hear me question? GraceGraceGrace."
Finally, he's able to pry his eyes open, slow and fluttery, which elicits excited squeaking from Rocky. The cool thing against his cheek, he learns, is the floor.
"Grace can hear me question?"Ā
Grace nods.Ā
"Yeah, I can hear you." He groans as the pain comes to him in waves. "That really hurt," he mutters under his breath to himself, even though Rocky can hear it.Ā
"What just happened question? Grace fall and would not wake up."
He sits up, one hand flitting to his temple as he feels lightheaded again, but not enough to lose consciousness again.Ā
"I think I fainted," he replies. He doesn't remember it, but that's the only explanation for what just happened, and it makes sense why he feels so bruised. Because heĀ isĀ bruised. Because he hit the ground.
"Don't understand."Ā
"Yeah, sorry, new word. Not the best way to introduce it. It's... kind of like sleeping. But it's a surprise."Ā
"Surprise," Rocky repeats. "Grace never fainted before. Grace always sleeps in bed."
"Well, I've never been this exhausted before. It's a biological thing. Anatomy and all that. I'm too tired to explain it all right now, but it's a fun little way for your body to tell you to rest."
"Not fun at all. Grace hurt. Rocky scared."
"I know. It was a joke. I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to do that."
"Then why sorry?"Ā
"Because I scared you."Ā
Rocky moves around in a contrary gesture that Grace knows means he's about to argue. He braces himself to be scolded, but it's not what happens.Ā
"Rocky should apologize. Grace said he need rest and food and water, but I ignore."Ā
It's a little surprising to hear him say it. He'd been expecting anger, but what he's getting is guilt. It's not much better, and makes him feel guilty in return.Ā
"I could have stressed it a little more. This is just so important, and... it's interesting." He doesn't mention that he also doesn't want to disappoint Rocky. "I can get wrapped up, sometimes."Ā
"Never do that again. Grace eat. Grace sleep. Now now now."
"Alright, alright. I'm going."Ā
"Slow."Ā
Rocky comes closer so he can use his ball to help him stand, where he wavers again. With Rocky there, however, he has a stable surface to steady himself on, and he makes his way to the makeshift bed, covering himself up as Rocky moves back to his side of the ship.Ā
"Gonna watch me sleep?"Ā Rocky trills an affirmative.Ā "Yeah, I guess that's fair."
"Grace will be okay?"Ā
"I'll be fine when I wake up. Just need to take it easy for a little while."Ā
"Grace rest." That's big. It had taken a long time to explain rest, the concept of not moving but not sleeping, either. In fact, this might be the first time Rocky hasn't called it "lazy."Ā
"Okay. Goodnight, Rock."Ā
"Sleep."Ā
It takes him no time at all to comply.Ā
