-Starter with @dr-rylandgrace!-
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âEye movement detected.â
Well, her eyes were definitely moving, but they werenât opening. It felt like someone had sewed them shut, or like those eye crusts that people got had built up enough and solidified. Gross. But a possibility maybe?
No. That couldnât be it. Because it wasnât just her eyes that felt heavy; it was every part of her body that felt like an insanely heavy force was holding it down.
She tried wiggling her fingers.
âBodily movement detected.â
Whatever that voice was, it sure was agitating.
Wait, pause. âBodily movement detectedâ meant that her fingers had moved, she just didnât feel them!
Maybe talking worked too�
âHeâŠhmâŠâ Ew, she sounded grossâ
âVocality detected.â
Christ, it sounded like a fucking Alexa.
âShâŠutâŠâ
âAlerting additional crew.â
Crew?
âWhoâŠ? CrewâŠâ Her voice was coming back quickly, but she could hear how groggy it was.
âCrew consists of.â A pause. âDr. Ryland Grace.â
Her eyes short tighter and she could feel her brow furrow; âRyland Grace.â The name sounded familiar.
Huh. Maybe she got a TBI or something and he was her doctor? But thenâŠwhy would Alexa refer to him as âcrew?â
Thinking on it, a TBI was not that unlikely; beyond her face, she couldnât feel herself moving even though she was, she had no idea what happened or where she was, and her head hurt like a bitch. Definitely hurt enough for some frontal or temporal lobes to be damaged.
But⊠yes, she was confused, but her confused thoughts were coming in clearlyâ she was speaking to herself in her own head. Someone with a severe TBI wouldnât be able to do that.
A few moments after all that TBI contemplation, something sounded like it was shifting or moving, or maybe creaking? And after that, faint noises of heavy-ish footsteps started becoming clear and clearer.
ââŠHelloâŠ?â
///lmk if you want anything changed!
It has been four days since Grace woke up. He has gotten past his âwaking up with no memoriesâ panic, sent off the empty corpses of Yao and Ilyukhina into space, remembered a few things about astrophage, and figured out where the ship was heading. Productive in some ways, and probably delaying in others.
Sat by one of the display panels, eating âday 4, meal 2â, and trying to figure out what he should do before the engine shutoff in five days at the approach to Tau Ceti, he heard the automated voice of the Hail Mary from below him. The section holding Armando, and the beds.
That⊠didnât make sense. Why would there be movement down there?
Extracting himself from his hunched position, Grace headed over to the hatch and climbed down the rungs of the ladder into the sleep and medical area. Counting the beds as he went downâ one and two labeled âdeceasedâ and empty of bodies, three emptyâ Graceâsâ and⊠a fourth one. Why didnât he see that one before?
Hurrying down towards the forth bed, Armando hovering over it, detaching sensors and tubes, Grace held his breath. There was a person. Another living person on the ship. He took a step forward, looking closer at their face andâ thatâs a child. A teenager.
âFudge, thatâs a kid,â Grace said under his breath before he could stop himself. Shaking himself internally, he carefully walked over to the side of the bed, opposite of Armando, who was working on wiping off the personâs face with a small cloth.
âHey, Iâm Grace, youâve been in a coma for⊠a little while,â he started, not sure how much he should say right now. It wouldnât be good to scare her by saying too much too fast. âDo you remember anything?â
Her body started to feel less numb-y and more sting-y when the multitude of tubes and needles started to get tugged out. An IV in her left arm, an NG tube being tugged from her nose through her stomach that caused a whine of pain followed by ragged coughing.
Eyes finally feeling a bit lighter, she fought them open, just catching theâŠmechanical arm? As it carried the ragânow soaked with her sweatâ away and threw it into a waste bucket.
"âŠGraceâŠ?"
Everything was still a bit blurry, but blinking away some of the eye fog, she saw some blonde hair and blue eyes looming over her.
"Coma? D-Do I have a TBI�" She asked, flexing her fingers under the covers. Moving her eyes downwards however, she realized that it wasn't really covers she was under. It was more so a suit, or a pod? The only other thing on her was a thin, hospital gown looking thing.
Panic was starting to set in, and she tried sitting up, only to be met with immense struggle.
"What, what's going on? Dr. Grace? Are you my doctor? Where am I?"
At the question about remembering anything, it suddenly hit her that she remembered nothing. Obviously she wasn't aware of where she was or what events landed her here. But⊠she literally did not know anything.
"What did you do?!" She exclaimed, pushing herself up onto her forearms and away from Grace.
If she was in a coma, this could just be temporary amnesia. But this guyâ Graceâ seemed to talk like he knew she would be forgetting everythingaboutherveryexistenseâ
"Get away from meâ"
Looking closely at the man, he sure didn't look like a doctor; his hair was slightly messy, he didn't have any doctor coat on, just some lousy shirt and bright orange pants.
"Is this your like, secret lair or something? Did youâ did you kidnap me and wipe my memory? Huh?"
Immediately at her panic, Grace backed up from the side of her bed, putting his hands up placatingly.
Clearly, he can see that she does not remember anything, just like he didnât when he woke up. Must be a coma side effect, then, he supposed. It was jarring for him, so it would be for her.
Staying calm was probably the best choice here, despite his buzzing nerves, confusion, and relief that there was another human being here. He took a breath.
âI didnât do anything to you. I promise,â Grace started as gently as he could manage. âI woke up here, same as you, and I didnât remember anything either. Coma side effect or something.â He gestured between the two of them with one hand.
The teenager was not really calming down, so Grace followed his instinctsâ probably from when he was a teacher, if his memories were trueâ and sat himself down on the ground, making himself smaller. Less intimidating. He was⊠tall. His hair was a mess, though, so maybe he didnât look scary? Hopefully.
âTake a breath. I donât know much, but I do know some things,â he put his hands in his lap, sitting crisscrossed. âWe are on the Hail Mary, a spacecraft traveling near the speed of light. Weâve been in a coma for about four years, but havenât really aged, and Iâve been awake for four days.â
He paused to make sure she had a second to take in the information. âStars are dimming. This spacecraft is out, probably to explore a star that isnât dimming and use it to fix ours. I think. Probably.â He nodded to himself.
One hand went up to his face, rubbing the scratchy stubble. ââŠsorry if that was a lot, but Iâm not evil. Iâm confused, too,â he looked up, eyes full of gentle concern. âYou okay, kid? Whatâs your name?â
Her voice hitched. "Spacecraft?" she squeaked out, eyes widening as she flexed her shaking fingers into the fabric of her gown. "No, no, you're just fucking with me. Iâ I don't know who I am, but I do know that I am not a space person. Who would even send me to space? A-and 'Hail Maryâ'" It sounded familiar, but she didn't have to accept that right away. "âThat's a prayer, not a spaceship."
She is not on a spaceship. She is not in space. This is some super vivid dream and in a little bit she is going to wake upâ on Earthâ and remember everything about herself and go back to living her life.
It was getting progressively harder to control herself and stay calm when every new word spilling from Grace's lips was some life altering revelation.
"Stars don't just dim, maybe? I-I dunno," she spat out quickly, pushing herself towards the edge of the bed, her forearms visibly shaking from how much pressure she'd been putting on them just moments before.
Using immense effort, she threw her legs over the edge of her weird looking bedâ her eyes still latched onto Graceâ and tried to stand up, only to be met with the ground below her.
Letting out a pained grunt, she wasted no time pushing herself back up, eyeing the room around her for a way out that did not involve using a ladder, because that was most definitely off the table.
"I-I'm, I'mâŠI don't know my name, but that's okay, because I will figure it out. And after I do thatâ" She hadn't even realized she was fighting back tears. "âI am going to go and find a window to prove that I am not in space on a ship called the 'Hail Mary.'
Eyeing a square shaped panel in the ground that looked like it had been opened recently, she practically crawled her way over to it, ignoring whatever Grace was probably thinking about her.
"What's this? What's in there? Is it a way out?" She asked, voice trembling as she began to weakly attempt to climb down it.
Distracting herself from the discomfort the movement was causing her, she asked: "Since you were in a coma as well, right? Did you forget your name too? H-how did you get it back in your head?" Maybe this weird, but albeit kind, man could give her some tips and tricks, if he was apparently in the same position as her.
What was she even thinking? He thought they were in space; he was crazy, trusting him seemed to be the stupid thing to do.
She felt her feet hit the floor again, and she realized that this hatch just led to a really small room with a lot ofâŠadvanced looking box things, though some of them had clearly been removed prior.
However, one box, a few feet away from the others, stood out to her. It was labeled 'Penelope Fletcher.' Did she know this woman? Was she Penelope? Maybe? That name sounded so familiar.
"GraceâŠ?" She called out, hoping he was still there. "You, can you help me get this up there?" Reaching her hands around the box, she tried picking it up, only to be met with a lot of struggle. "It's heavy. ButâŠI think it's important?"
Her mind was all over the place now, her senses overloaded, but if she just kept herself focused on one little thing at a time, then she should be goodâŠ
Grace watched in concern as the kid rambled, starting to panic, but trying to control herself. Regrettably, he realized he said too much too fast. Honestly, though, thereâs no good time to admit youâre on a spaceship on a suicide mission to save the sun and, in turn, the earth.
âSlow down, you just woke up, your muscles arenât going to be very well responsive for a bit,â Grace tried to cut in, standing up as she stumbled around. He kept just far enough away to give her space, but close enough to catch her if she fell again.
Following her over to the hatch with their personal items, Grace lowered himself to the ground across from her as she struggled with the box. Putting out a hand to try and slow her down, he made direct eye contact and softened his expression.
âYeah, I can get the box for you. I have one, and it had some of my stuff in it, so this might have your stuff. Justâtake a second and breathe,â he waited for her to look up, nodding gently.
Reaching down into the square hole, he extracted the box the kid had been trying to retrieve before. The name on itâ âPenelope Fletcherââ that wasnât one he saw before. It would make sense for it to be hers.
Scooting over to the side of the opening, Grace placed the bag down in between them. âThis is probably yours. The other three are mine, and two people who⊠arenât here,â he let out a small breath, looking up to see her reaction. âDoes the name âPenelopeâ seem familiar?â
He was suddenly very glad he had sent off the bodies of Yao and Ilyukhina before this kid had woken up. Kids shouldnât be seeing dead bodies.
Thinking for a moment, Grace decided it was probably a good idea to open up the bag. The other two had pictures, other than Graceâs, so it wasnât far off to think this bag would have pictures of the kid in it.
Grabbing the zipper, Grace opened up the bag a bit. âOne thing at a time,â he offered. âLetâs see if thereâs pictures in here.â
Moving a couple shirts around, he then picked up a couple of photos from inside of the bag. The one on the top looked to be a graduation photoâ college, if he wasnât mistakenâ of this kid, with much shorter hair, and holding up a diploma. The name on it was Penelope Fletcher, so that confirmed that she was Penelope.
He held it up for her to see. âThat looks like you. You must be pretty smart to have a college diploma at this age,â he gave a small smile, trying to be light with his words and calm down the situation.
She took a deep breath, meeting Grace's eyes and giving a small nod. The name 'Penelope' did seem familiar.
Biting down on her lip, the girl looked over at the names plastered onto the other two boxes.
YĂĄo. She knew him. Blinking hard, she did her best to force the foggy, gray memories back to her mind.
Flashes of previously felt confusion, seeing him packingâŠsomething into his bag. She wasn't supposed to be there. Was it even her?
âŠ
Yeah, it was. Bringing her fingers up to her hair, she opened her eyes, seeing the same jet-black color that her memory was trying to feed her. It was longer now. Past her chest. Her little braid she always used to keep in was gone now too.
Focusing back on Grace, she wiped her eyes before leaning forwards, looking intently at the picture he was holding up to her.
It was an old school Polaroid. And there she was, in the middle, a lopsided, happy grin plastered on her face as she held up a diploma. It was in Molecular and Cellular Physiology.
It felt almost unreal. She looked down at herself. Nothing impressive. She was definitely not college aged. Or an adult. Was she the next Einstein?
"My mom," Penelope started. Because she was Penelope. "My mom taught at Stanford!" She exclaimed, smiling up at Grace; because even though she was maybe in space, at least she remembered her mom. Sniffling, she continued, "I'm a Stanford graduate! I remember this!"
Where was her mom now? Or her dad?
Taking the picture entirely from Grace, Penelope held it tightly in her grasp.
âCan, can I um, put some actual clothes on, and then maybe you could prove to me that weâre actually in space and that youâre not crazy?â
After Grace left, Penelope spent a few minutes rummaging through her bag, mostly fascinated in her taste of shirts.
Sure, there were some basic ones; one with the Hyrule Crest from Zelda on it (Zelda was fucking amazing, she thought, not that she remembered why), some that had album covers on them (Michael Jackson was the standout there), and one that literally just had a picture of her face on it, how lovely.
Sliding the face shirt on, along with some black sweatpants, Penelope climbed her way back out of the hatch (still with a little bit of struggle), finding Grace again.
âHey, so, if I fall off the ladder, because I still kind of feel like jello, youâre not just gonna let me fall to my death, right? Like I dunno, youâll catch me or something?â
Even though Penelope didnât fully remember Grace yet, he was still kind of easy to talk to, like she mightâve had conversations with him before? Maybe. Hopefully some more memories would come back to her soon. Probably. Right now, she was just holding tightly to the memories she currently had.
Grace looked over to the hatch as Penelope poked her head up and climbed up into the room. She was clearly an intelligent person for her age, and probably a nerd. The fact she had graduated from Stanford before she was even eighteen still had him reeling.
Did he know Penelope before this? She seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldnât remember details. He was a teacher, he knew that, so maybe she was his student in some way? Maybe just in a professional way, too, given her education level.
Blinking at her, glancing briefly at her t-shirt, he then nodded. âOh! Oh, yeah, of course. And if I donât catch you, Armando definitely will,â he confirmed with a nod, still trying to figure out if he remembered her at all.
After a brief, confused shared look, Grace perked up again. âArmando is what I named the medical robot. With the arms. Arm-ando,â he trailed off, scratching the back of his neck.
Geez, having amnesia while on a spaceship with one other person who was most definitely a teenager was not an experience he could have prepared for. Probably. How do you act human, again?
He paused for a moment again, then raised a finger, pointing it up towards the next hatch. âThereâs a window up there. To, uhâ space,â he blinked. âYou feel stable enough to climb up, or do you want to wait a bit?â
To be honest, Grace had taken much longer to recover from the coma than Penelope seemed to have been. He had passed out a few times before he made it up the first ladders, and she already figured out her own name and climbed up here on her own.
Must be something to do with youth or whatever.
âWeâve got five days to do nothing, so if you need to go nap for a bit, you can do that. I can figure out ship things,â he offered, trying this time not to say too much. No need to overwhelm the recent coma patient-slash-child.
Raising an eyebrow, Penelope snickered at Grace's brief look at her t-shirt. "What? Maybe I'm just super self-centered, I dunno." She shrugged. "I thought it was pretty funny," she added, letting out a yawn.
Penelope glanced released between Grace and 'Armando.' "I thought you said you woke up four days ago." Her eyes narrowed. "You're already naming the advanced Alexa. Also, Armando looks like he'd just let me fall to my death. He was literally ripping a feeding tube out of me like, half an hour ago."
Tilting her head to eye the ladder, Penelope shook her head. "Nah, I um, I think I'm fine to try. It's only whatâ" She paused. "â12, 13 rungs?" It wasn't hard to miss the slight nervousness in her voice, though.
Walking slowly over to the ladder, she grabbed onto the fourth rung from the ground, planting her feet and beginning to climb.
She was slightly wobbly, but she was getting it. And her limbs were only getting mildly sore, which was a huge plus.
"See? I got it. Yeah, I am so good." Whipping her head back, she said, "Just checking that you're still there!"
Once at the top, Penelope twisted the latch and pushed the hatch door open.
"What the fuckâŠ!" No window to space yet, but there was a sick ass lab! Distracting enough to distract her from the fact she was looking for a space window.
"Why is there a lab here?! Oh dude this is sick!" Her voice echoed back down to where Grace was. "Is this just yours? Or like, am I even allowed to be here?! Is that an actual Fluorescence Trinocular Microscope?!"
Scratching the back of his neck, Grace felt a bit self-conscious at Penelopeâs words. He had forgotten how blunt teenagers were. Well, he forgot a lot of things, so it shouldnât be that crazy to forget that.
âYeah, wellâ I thought I was alone here, so naming a robot isnât really that crazyâŠâ he trailed off, raising his head to look at her as she eyed the ladder. âArmando was the one keeping us alive in the comas, and he caught me when I fell⊠would you have rather he kept that uncomfortable tube in?â
The second Penelope started to climb up the ladder, Grace moved to the bottom of it just in case. Mild panic and definite worry crossed his face as he braced himself if she fell.
His priorities from this morning had shifted significantly from âwho am I? Always muscles? How to save stars?â to âthereâs a teenager on the spaceship and I need to keep her safeâ. Honestly he had forgotten about the lab until she pointed it out excitedly. With some cursing that made him have to restrain himself from saying âlanguageâ.
Huffing out a light laugh, Grace followed her up the ladder to the labâ which was very sideways right now for some reason. Something about a centerfuge, he thinks? Memory is dumb.
Poking his head up through the hatch, he looked up at the microscope, then over at Penelopeâs curious expression. âI assume since youâre on this ship you can be in here. Canât really use it yet, though. Since itâs sideways. For some reason,â he tilted his head and smiled. âItâs definitely really cool, though.â
Pulling himself up, he gestured to a slightly shorter ladder and headed towards it. âThe window is up there, actually,â he explained. âItâs a bit nauseating and weird, but itâs definitely space out there.â
There was this sinking feeling in her gut at the sideways nature of the lab; something that pointed to being in space not a lie. Her smile suddenly shrunk at the thought, even though her eyes were still fixated on the incredible microscope.
Penelope knew what she was doingâ knew what her mind was doing, at the very least. This was all a trick her prefrontal cortex was playing; refusing to believe the inevitable truth that she was in space to keep her from freaking out.
Goddamnit, she had been in a good mood. Her head was still a bit fuzzy, her body was a bit sore, she was still a bit scared, and technically, she barely knew Grace at all, but still, she'd been having a decent time despite all that.
Giving Grace a slight, shaky nod, Penelope headed over towards the smaller ladder, climbing up with less struggle than before and leaning forwards so that she could peak out of the windowâŠ
Grace wasn't lying. Looking outside that window, it was definitely something space-akin. A pitch black punctuated by exceptionally bright stars here and there.
Completely silent, Penelope carefully stepped back down from the ladder and wiped her face. She wasn't a child, she wouldn't start crying just because she was in space.
Turning around to face Grace, she looked up at him, wide-eyed. "Grace, can you fly this thing back down to Earth? I don't, I don't know why the stars are dimming, or whatever you're supposed to be doing here, but I know that I'm not supposed to be on this ship." She took a few steps towards him. "You need to fly this thing back to earth, now, because I do not want to be here."
She knew she was a Stanford graduate, knew it was in Physiology, but that couldn't have been enough to qualify for this, right? Someone must have been a first choice before her?
A slight memory came back to her. "You said that we have five daysâ five days for what?" Her eyes narrowed. "You need to tell me everything you know about what's going on. Please."
The exhaustion from the coma was starting to catch up with her, along with the sheer force coming from this shock of information, and she found herself stumbling backwards just a little bit.
//if you want either of us to write a small time skip to when theyâre both more acquainted with each other, we could definitely do that! Or if you just want to keep going how we are now, thatâs cool too!
The more Penelopeâs mood fell, the deeper grew the pit of concern in Graceâs chest. He didnât want to lie to her, but this situation was very hard. She doesnât need to know everythingâ about not being able to return home, and the risk this mission was for everyoneâ but, he needed to say enough truths so she wasnât in the dark.
Then she stumbled. Emotions falling with what had probably been adrenaline-fueled strength. Grace was immediately beside her, arms braced close, but not touching, to catch her if she fell. To not make her uncomfortable, but also to keep her from falling and getting hurt.
âHey, hey, breathe, kiddo. This is a lot to take in right after waking up,â he said gently. âI can tell you what I know, but itâs overwhelming, okay? Everything you feel is valid, and itâs okay to be emotional.â
Taking in a breath, Grace started to try and explain what he could. âI canât take us back to earth. Itâs⊠too far right now. It would take too long, and we are here for a mission,â he paused, letting her take that in. âWe have five days until we reach orbit around the star we are here to look at. Thatâs when engines will shut off, and we will go into zero gravity. Before then, we donât need to worry about anything.â
Grace kneeled down below her eyeline. âIt was a lot for me, too. It still is,â he started gently. âBut, just like me, you need time to rest and let your body recover from such a long sleep. Let me worry about this stuff for now, and you can worry about resting and remembering what you can, yeah?â
Nodding towards the open hatch to the lower section, he leaned back on his heels. âYou want to go down to the beds and sit or take a nap?â He offered.
//Iâm good doing a time skip soon ! It could be between Penelope resting and the engine shutoff/checking the Petrovascope and are more familiar with eachother, or it could be somewhere else. Any is good with me!
âââââ
Saying that 'Day 4, Meal 2' was a lot better than 'Day 4, Meal 1' would be the understatement of the century.
"This shitâ sorry, crapâ is supposed to what? Boost our morale or something?" Penelope asked, grimacing at the previously vacuum sealed 'creamed spinach' that she was, despite not liking, shoving into her face.
At this point, she knew what her purpose on the mission was: if the unaffected star they were traveling to had some sort of other living cell on it; something that was potentially harming the astrophage, it was her job to study the physiology of the cell. Which, from everything she remembered about the astrophage, the physiology of this potentially existing second cell probably wouldn't even differ from astrophage, or any other cell for that matter.
Astrophage still had majority of the components of cells that had already been known and studied for decades: they had mitochondria, vacuoles, ribosomes.
So, AKA, she was useless.
However, she also know that she wouldn't be going back home after this.
Grace had been trying to hide it, but she wasn't stupid. The patches on her jumpsuit told her what she needed to know. Above her right chest sat NASA's Civilian Astronaut Badge. That alone didn't mean much, but the golden embroidery did. It started as silver, only went to gold after said civilian astronaut came back from space. So, putting two and two togetherâŠ
"SoâŠ" She started, attempting to generate small talk and break free from her chain of sight thought. "I know that you were a middle school science teacher, and that you have a PhDâ" She paused to swallow her bite. "But I feel like beyond that, you're kind of just some guy. Were you married? Kids? Come on man, give me some details to work with here." If he was the last person she was going to know, she wanted to at least be somewhat close with him.
She was currently sitting on the floor in the lab, one of the blankets from her box of belongings draped over her shoulders. It still smelled like home, which was comforting.
///Alright! :D lmk if youâre okay with this!!! Feel like it might be a bit better to have them have some interaction thatâs not as high pressure so we can get an idea of how we wanna write their dynamicâ but still stay pretty close to the time where they get to the star?
Looking up from his mealâ day 8, meal 2, which was a fairly bland sandwich, but he couldnât complain about getting fully solid food againâ Grace raised an eyebrow at Penelopeâs meal and snorted lightly. âItâs going to be gross for a couple more days, then youâll be back on solid foods again. Weak stomach from the coma is all,â he shrugged.
He was sat on a bit of a ledge, a white board covered in equations, but minimal diagrams. He had been trying desperately to figure out how to get them home after all of this, but hadnât figured anything out yet. It takes too long to breed astrophage, and he canât just do it in the tanks.
But, Grace was determined to keep this kid alive. It was fighting for first position in his priorities with the whole âthe sun is dimming and we need to fix itâ thing.
Pulled from his thoughts by Penelopeâs inquiry about him, he blinked, finishing his bite of sandwich. âAh, wellâ I didnât have that exciting of a life at all,â he let out a halfhearted laugh. âI had a girlfriend onceâ that didnât work out. No wife. Iâve got my students, and thatâs enough kids for me.â
Grace shrugged vaguely. âI did work with scientists for a while, though. That⊠also went up in flames. Kind of the reason why Iâm here, though, soâŠâ he trailed off, squinting as if to try and see his own memories clearer.
âI donât know much about you, either. Youâre a smart kid with smart parents, butâ what else? You play video games? Have any friends back on Earth?â He asked, trying to keep the conversation going even if Grace thought he was a boring person.
//yeah, this is good! They should definitely have some casual moments before the chaos lol
Penelope nodded slowly, eyes narrowed as she ate another spoonful. "Mm." She swallowed. "Sounds like⊠super boringâ except for the scientist part, which I feel like I already kinda knew for some reason? Now, obviously I don't want your girlfriend details, but can you remind me exactly what kind of science you do? 'Cause it must be pretty special if it landed you here."
"Oh! Uhâ" Why did he want to talk about her so bad? Why was she suddenly so nervous when the topic switched on her?
She just decided on shrugging her shoulders. "I dunno, being the smart kid with the high IQ pretty much sums me up, I guess." Holding her eyes closed mid blink, she allowed some smaller bits of her memories to flood back in. "Yeah, I um, definitely did not have many friends; I graduated from high school atâŠnine, I think? And then from Stanford at about twelve, so I was not really in the age bracket of my peers." Looking back up at Grace, she smiled. "I like Zelda, though. Do you know-slash-remember that game? I dunno what senile thirty something dudes like, soâŠ"
//very true đđ„
Humming in thought, Grace bit into his sandwich again and thought for a minute, trying to remember what his degree was in, specifically. His eyes brightened as he swallowed. âOh, uhâ molecular biology, Iâm pretty sure. Doctorate, since thereâs âDrâ before my name on the little name label things, probably.â
Tilting his head as Penelope nervously started talking about what she remembered about herself, Grace could see she was definitely a bit self-conscious about it. He understood, honestly. He hated those sorts of questions as a kid.
âThatâs impressive, kid,â he said with the small amount of a smile he could manage. She had grown up too fast, if anything she said was looked into for just a second more. Did she choose to do such an accelerated learning course, or was that her parentâs choice?
âŠhe really needs to figure out how to get her back to Earth after all of this.
âI do know Zelda, yeah. Played all of the games as they came out, other than the newest one. I was waiting for it to go on sale on Steam, becauseâ yâknowâ teacherâs salary, but then the whole Petrova line stuff happened, so I never got around to it,â he shrugged.
Grace snorted. âAnd Iâm not that old. All of my joints work fine. Other than some minor atrophy from the added gravity from the speed we are traveling,â his eyebrow raised as he took one last bite of his sandwich.
After a moment, he offered up another question. âYou remember what you were doing before the whole Project Hail Mary thing?â
âItâs really not. Iâm sure if my parents werenât asâŠpushy as they were, I wouldâve been just some average person. Which, right nowââ She gestured to the space craft as a whole. ââDoesnât seem all that bad.â
Her eyes widened. âYouâre joking, right? Thereâs no way a teachers salary was that bad that you couldnât afford a fully priced video game? I know they were getting expensive but damn, dude; were they just giving you an envelope full of pennyâs for your paycheck?â
Talking to Grace like this was nice. Something about being talked to like a kid and not like a business partner, or disposable object, was really comforting. Even though he was a little awkward. Though she was too, so whatever.
âUmâŠâ Penelope paused, try to draw back more memories. âI remember being with my parents, on a boat of some sort? They were working in a lab. I think they were looking at Astrophage, trying to see if there was anything physiologically different or helpful. I remember⊠a lady with like, reddish hair? She had a thick accent, her name⊠s-something with an âS?â We only talked a couple timesâŠcome onâŠâ She was trying to pull more memories back, but it was becoming increasingly difficult. No need to force it all back now. âSorry, thatâs all I gotââ A sudden realization washed over her, and she locked eyes with Grace. ââWait! You were on that boat too, werenât you?! You, you were the head biologist for Astrophage! You had that cool fox cardigan I always liked!â
Graceâs eyebrows furrowed briefly before he forced them to relax. There was no point in thinking about the negatives right now. He tilted his head to the sides in a so-so gesture. âMaybe. Iâm sure you would still be an exceptionally smart kid, though,â he said.
âBut, uh, yeah, no. Teacher salaries are the bare minimum,â he nodded with a small snort. âI couldnât afford a car, so buying a seventy dollar game wasnât high on my purchasing list. Not quite pennies for a salary, but itâs a close comparison,â he partially joked.
As Penelope tried to recount her time before the Hail Mary, Grace tried to piece his own memories together with hers. He mightâve sort of remembered someone with her last name working alongside him for astrophage research, but he wasnât sure.
âOh, Stratt? She was the one leading the whole project, Iâm pretty sure,â he hummed, just to be cut off by Penelopeâs excited words. She remembered him? On the⊠boat⊠âThe boat?oh, wait, youâre right! I figured out how to breed astrophage, so Stratt brought me on the team officially.â
Squinting at Penelope, he pointed at her, trying to remember if he knew her before this. âI sort of remember you, I think⊠I remember there being a kid on the boat, and I argued with Stratt about it,â he looked over to the hatch to the sleeping area. âI think my fox cardigan is here, actually. I remember seeing something like that in my bag thing. Wonder why I chose to take it.â
Penny huffed out a laugh, setting the remainder of her meal down, for now. No more creamed spinach for like, at least another two hours. âHey, if it makes you feel any better, I didnât have a car either,â she replied. âI had a pretty sick E-bike, though. Itâs how I got around campus and stuff.â She hadnât even realized that memory slipping back in; things were just coming back to her naturally. Raising an eyebrow, Penny asked: âWhy did you teach middle school? I mean, you have that molecular biology doctorate, if you wanted to teach, why not university level? Pays more, and Iâm sure the people there actually care about what theyâre learning about.â
Readjusting the blanket around her shoulders, Penny moved to sit crisscrossed on the lab floor. âStratt! Thatâs her name! Yeah, red hair, kinda tall, thatâs the one. She was a veryâŠcommanding woman, from what I remember.â
She couldnât help but laugh as Grace pointed at her. He was insanely dorky. But super fun. Her smile remained. âYou tried arguing with her? Grace, dude, Iâm sure it wasnât that serious that I was thereâ well, it was, because now IâmâŠin spaceâ but seriously! Iâm less my parentâs kid and more their subordinate.â She shrugged. âWhat did you even say to her? See, now Iâm curious.â
Eyes following the food Penelope was putting aside, Grace put that fact in the back of Gus mind to remind her to finish it later. The meal plan was set for a reason, and he didnât want her taking longer to get to solid food because her stomach wasnât receiving enough. Having a break from it is fine, though. The creamed spinach wasnât very tasty.
âI used a bike, too, actually. Just a normal manual one, though,â he nodded. Then, at the topic of why he was a teacher with his degreeâ he grimaced slightly and shrugged. âAh, wellâ I wrote a paper that didnât make a lot of people happy, soâ professionals didnât take me very seriously.â
Grace snorted, leaning back against the wall and tugging his sleeves down over his hands to warm them up a bit. âShe was picked to lead the program for a reasonâ makes sense she would be so commanding and stuff,â he agreed.
âI knew her fairly well, Iâd say, so it wasnât the biggest deal for me to argue with her,â he ruffled up the back of his hair. âThink I said something about⊠kids being the future for the planet, and thinking itâs not safe to have you so close to so much astrophage. One milligram is enough to level a building, much less the two million kilograms in this ship.â He shook his head. âShe insisted, though.â
Sighing, he added one last thing, a bit quieter than the rest. âThe more you talk about your parents, the less I like them, kid.â
"Hm." Penelope nodded, absentmindedly fidgeting with the ends of her hair. Grace had actually advocated for her in a way nobody ever had before.
The mood shifted after that; the air feeling clogged, heavy.
"Yeah, I don't think that's a crazy thing to say. UmâŠ" She sighed, her hands moving to instead pick at the fresh scabs around her fingernails. She'd always been a nail biter. Even more so after understanding that she was going to die in space (pretty reasonable situation to anxiously bite your nails over, at least in her opinion). "I don't like them very much either." Flashes of the past, of being nothing but a prodigy, not being allowed to make friends or engage with the world the way she'd needed, being pushed to do nothing but study, work, be the best of the best.
Penelope let out a watery chuckle, wiping at her eyes. "S-Sorry, not trying to be a Debbie downer here, it's just, y'know." Her gaze slowly moved back up to meet Grace's eyes, debating on whether or not to fill him in on the fact that she did know what the end result of this mission was. "I know we're dying out here, Grace. I kinda figured it out." She gestured to the badge on her uniform, the one right above her right chest. "We're wearing gold embroidered civilian astronaut badges. They um, they're supposed to be silver, and then, when the astronauts return after their first space mission, they redo them in gold. And since we aren't going back to EarthâŠ"
It was quiet for a few moments after that, and during those moments, Peneloope scooted over to be sitting next to Grace instead of across from him, leaning back against the shelf.
"There's no way I would've chosen this, Grace," Penelope breathed out, shaking her head. "I can't directly remember everything, but I'm still me, y'know? I know the choices I'd make, and I don't see myself picking this. I don't care enough about Earthâ which sounds horrible, I know, but I justâ I dunnoâŠ"
She tilted her head to the side, looking up at her only companion. "Thank you, by the way." She smiled. "For like, giving a shit. I do appreciate it, even though I can't fully remember it all."
"Approaching the Tau Ceti system in twelve hours." The automated voice spoke.
Penelope couldn't help but laugh lightly. "Gosh, that doesn't interrupt the mood or anything."
Hands twitching, Grace restrained himself from getting up and stopping Penelope from picking at her nails. With every word she spoke, Grace felt the pit in his stomach grow. She figured out the ship wasnât meant to go back. Before she had a chance to just be excited about the science, she had to deal with the thoughts Grace himself was struggling with.
It wasnât fair. She was a kid. After these past couple days, he even thought of her as his own kid, as much as his students were. She sounded like she needed someone, anyways, and he was glad to be that person. Justâ not glad to be in this situation.
Thenâ stupid Mary interrupting emotional talks. âYeah, thanks, Mary,â Grace responded dryly.
âKid, Pennyâ I⊠Iâm sorry I didnât tell you. I just⊠didnât want you to, uhm⊠crash. Like I did, when I first woke up,â he let out a tiny, sad laugh. âYou know there was vodka in one of those bags? I⊠drank some of that gross stuff and kicked around the ship for the first couple days. Youâve been much more mature about it.â
Grace turned to look at Penelope beside him. âI know you probably donât want to hear me say it again, but, youâre a kid. You should have been allowed to be a kid. While youâre here, have fun, be a nerd, donât worry about things. Leave the stress to the adult, yeah?â He tried to be a bit lighthearted.
âI know I wasnât the first choice to be on the ship, but⊠I assume I chose to come. I donât think I wouldâve agreed with you coming, so⊠Iâm not sure how that went,â he huffed bitterly. âSomeone needs to care about you as a person if youâre parents arenât going to.â
Grace rubbed his face and groaned quietly, glancing at his whiteboard of frustrated equations, then over at Penelope. Letting out a quiet sigh, he opened up an arm as an offer for a hug if Penelope wanted it.
They could deal with getting ready for approach in a bit. For now, Grace wanted to make sure his the kid was okay.
Even though they were still glossed over with tears, Penny's eyes widened slightly, and her expression morphed into one of slight surprise. "Shit, is there any left over? C'mon Grace, share with the class now." Normally, she wasn't stupid enough to alude to adults that she drank every now and again. But, they were about to die in space, so, definitely bigger things to worry over. "I'm glad I didn't wake up to that version of you." She shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest. "Also, I didn't really peg you for a drinker. You just like, don't give off that vibe." At the mention of her apparently being 'much more mature,' Penny let out a deep sigh, her shoulders visibly deflating. "Dude, I've been losing my shit when you're not looking, don't worry. These past couple of days? It's been horrible. I'm just trying to remember everything, remember how I got hereâ all it's been doing is hurting my headâŠ"
She shook her head, huffing in disbelief. "You do realize you just told me to be a nerd and have fun with the knowledge that we are both going to die here, right? It doesn't really work like that, Grace." She paused. "IâŠI want to help. Now that I'm already here. It would be a waste to send me here with you only for me to 'have some fun'â it would be dying for literally no reason."
Laughing lightly, Penelope listened to Grace talk, rolling her eyes playfully, though she was practically soaking in his every word. "Wow, you are just super sappy. Fifteen, not five, by the way, so please don't start trying to 'take me under your wing,' or whatnot." In reality, however, she'd kill to have someone caring for her in this last part of her life. She just wouldn't admit it out loud.
Still, it didn't stop her from accepting his invitation; scooting over to him and resting against his side, her blanket haphazardly falling into her lap. Penny couldn't remember ever getting attached to someone like this, but she guessed that when this was the last person you were ever going to know, and it was just the two of them stuck in space, things changed pretty quickly.
After a few beats of comforting silence, Penny spoke up once again, her voice becoming a bit lighter as she began to grow tired. "Hey, so if the answer is gonna be 'no,' then that's totally okay, you never heard this from me, but um, could we just stay like this for a bit? Iâ I'm sorry if that's weirdâ"
Grace let out a small snort, shaking his head. âIf there was any, I probably wouldnât tell you. It was not a good decision on my part, and you should definitely not be drinking at your age,â he looked at her, amusement in his eyes that dulled after a moment. âBut, uhâ yeah, Iâm not usually a drinker. It was a low moment for me. I just⊠woke up here. Alone.â Beside dead bodies, he didnât add.
âAlso, if youâre freaking out, you donât need to hide that from me. Weâre stuck here together. If youâre struggling, Iâm here for you, okay?â He nudged her lightheartedly. âEither way, you arenât useless, kiddo. You can do some fun science stuff, but Iâm just saying Iâll figure out the piloting and engineering stuff in that we donât have a person for. When Iâm being a crazy person, trying to figure out the engine, you can sit back and laugh at me. Thatâs all.â
Wrapping his arm around Penelope, he let her lean against him, gently rubbing her arm. âDoesnât matter, youâre still a kid, so Iâm going to treat you like a kid,â he shrugged. âIâm a middle school teacher, what do you expect from me?â
Letting the air settle, Grace kept the kid close, eyes drifting over to his whiteboard. Equations to try and get her home. He needed to figure it out.
Looking back down at Penelope when she spoke, seeing her tired eyes, he nodded. âYeah, we can stay here for a bit. If you fall asleep, Iâll wake you up before we arrive,â he said gently.
âYou do know that even if you didnât tell me about any potential alcohol, it wouldnât be hard to find. Not like thereâs too many places to hide that stuff.â Looking back up at Graceâs face, she couldnât help but laugh. âOkay! Geez, I will not try to ransack the ship, I promise.â With a smug voice, she added, âNot like I donât have other stuff in my bag.â Which was true. It wasnât alcohol, but it would help. Fun to keep Grace guessing about it, though. His expressions were priceless.
Penelope nodded, though her face contorted into something akin to a grimace. âYeah, uh, thanks for the offer, but I think Iâm good to have my fun little crying sessions alone. I mean, how would you feel breaking down in front of me? That would be pretty awkward, am I right?â She chuckled softly at the nudge, shaking her head. âW-wait, youâre saying Iâm not allowed to fly the ship? Grace! You know what, my memory, itâs coming back to me nowâ I was actually the pilot on this mission! Can you believe it?!â
Leaning into him further, Penny nodded, giving a light shrug of the shoulders. âThatâs fair, I guess.â Her eyes drifted over to whatever equations Grace was doing on the whiteboard. Huh. Definitely not equations sheâd be doing in her field. âThanks, Grace.â
ââââââ
âArriving at the Tau Ceti system. Engines shutting down. Entering zero gravity in 15 seconds.â
Mary was speaking very, very loudly this time around, and Penelope was not in the mood.
Grumbling, she rolled over onto her other side, using the pillow that had been under her head to press it over her ears.
â13, 12, 11âŠâ
âMaryâŠshut upâŠâ
â10âŠâ
She shot up.
Oh fuck. Shit.
Eyes darting around frantically, she searched for Grace, though he wasnât in her immediate vision.
âGrace?!â She yelled, getting to her feet and stumbling towards the cockpit.
Mary had not given them much warning with this aside from the twelve hours. Or at least Penny hadnât heard it.
Pushing herself into the cramped control room, she spotted Grace just as the countdown hit zero.
Desperately flicking levers and trying to stop the engine shutoff, Grace didnât notice Penelope entering the control room. âNo, no, waitââ he said hurriedly as the countdown reached zero. Grace grabbed onto the pilotâs seat and braced himself forâ whatever.
For a moment, nothing happened. Grace peeked open an eye and finally noticed Penelope. ââoh, hi, sorry, I fell asleep and Mary didnâtââ he cut himself off as his feet started lifting off of the floor. Oh. Engine cutoff meant zero gravity. Forgot about that part.
Grace let out an embarrassing yelp, clinging to the straps of the chair before he fully registered that Penelope was going to be in zero gravity too. âWhâ oh my goshâ kidâ! Uhâ grab onto something!â He called over to her, accidentally starting to spin around.
Fully freaked out, Grace came to the realization he probably never had astronaut training. He must look like an idiot right now.
If this had been any other situation, Penny wouldâve been laughing her ass off at Grace, but this was not any other situation, and she didnât have any gravity either.
âYeah, Iâm trying, Grace!â She yelled, fighting her way next to him, getting a white-knuckled grip on the seat belt. It wasnât holding her down, but it was keeping her in place.
âOkay, okay,â she started, shutting her eyes tightly and doing her best to take deep breaths. âAt least we made it to Tau Ceti, right? Yeah! Yeah, um⊠okay, so, what do we know? We know that the engines are off becauseâŠoh! Because the Astrophage is the fuel, and if the engines are running while weâre in Tau Ceti, the Astrophage would be trying to migrate itself to the star? Maybe?â She was rambling now, clearly just as freaked out as Grace.
//If weâre still keeping Rocky in the RP, I wanted to leave you the option to write the first contact scene if youâre cool with it?
âUhâ maybe? I think our engine is pretty sealedâgeezââ he tried to say, grabbing hold of the back of the seat to stop himself from spinning, now upside down in relation to Penelope. âWe, uhâ are in orbit around the star. I think this was the intended place to stop.â Grace gave an unsure look to her, his glasses lopsided on his face.
âPetrovascope online,â the automated voice of the ship echoed.
Grace blinked. ââŠshould check that, then,â he said begrudgingly, looking over at the telescope thing that now had a little green light on over it. Taking in a breath, he pushed himself over to it, giving a bit too much power and having to grab on as he flew by, then tugged back the opposite direction, detracting and retracting the petrovascope a couple times before stabilizing himself.
âFfâ okay. Alright,â he mumbled, carefully pushing his glasses up and flicking the lever on the petrovascope, looking through it, turning it until he foundâ âthereâs Tau Ceti.â He flicked on the infrared. âItâs got petrova line, but itâs not dimmingâŠâ
He hummed, squinting at the screen. âThatâs⊠weird, thereâs a gapââ Grace reached up like a weirdo and touched the glass where the gap was.
//Yeah, I can do that! We can have some confusion here beforehand if you want, though, as they discover the ship and maybe when they pass messages back and forth.
Penelope chuckled nervously. "You think? Hey, so like, thinking is great and all, but knowing would be a lot better," she spat out, still death gripping the seat belt, her legs crossed mid-air. She trusted Grace, she really did, but good lord, the uncertainty he spoke with sometimesâŠ
It was a tad humorous, she'd admit, seeing her companion flail about the way he was, but weirdly, it also eased some of the fear churning in her gut. Sure, they were currently gravity-less, but it wasn't like they were in any imminent danger. In fact, they'd be in danger if there was gravity.
After watching Grace for a few moments, she sucked in a quick breath, slowly letting go and trying her best to force her body towards him. "Graceâ" She didn't crash into him, per se, she just⊠forcefully used him to break her⊠fall? Could she call it that? "Sorry! Sorry, here, let me justâ" Not being graceful at all, Penny maneuvered herself around, eventually ending up in a position where she was holding onto Grace's right sleeve as her main way of staying 'put.'
Listening as Grace spoke, Penny nodded along, watching intently as he pointed to the Petrova Line. "Huh. So either Tau Ceti has a natural defense against the Astrophage, it evolved rapidly to fight it off, or it is still infected and it just handles the infection differently than every other star ever⊠â Hey! get your face outta the way! What gap are you talking about? I can't see itâ!"
//Sounds good!! That's kind of what I was thinking too! Like if you wanted to do it when they encountered the ship? Sorry if I worded that weird
Grace latched onto the side of the petrovascope as Penelope shoved her way to see what he was talking about, trying not to go flying into the many controls around them. âGeez, kid, carefulââ he huffed lightly, pulling himself back to the glass. He tapped it. âRight there. Weird gap.â
Pushing his glasses upâ they came off a lot faster in spaceâ Grace looked closer at it. There was a short burst of infrared light for a moment in the gap that disappeared quickly. âDid you see that?â He commented under his breath.
Leaning back, both to let Penelope get a look and to find the switch to change it back to normal light perception. It took a second, but he flicked the switch right when he found it. âThere you are..! Okay, letâs seeââ he looked back at the telescope.
There was something⊠geometric? Straight edges, that he could sort of make out. A bit of golden brown around it. Some sort of freak asteroid, maybe? âWhat is that?â
//That sounds good to me!
Penelope nodded, eyes narrowed in both curiosity and suspicion. âYeah. And thatâs not part of the Petrova LineâŠâ she mumbled, her face impossibly close to the telescope.
Though she begrudgingly gave some space back to Grace so that he could view it without the Petrovascope on. âWhat is it, Grace?â She asked, even though he had just asked the same question moments ago.
Thatâs when the automated voice chimed in.
âBlip A detected.â
âWhatâs a Blip A? Mary?â
âBlip A detected.â
âNo, I know, but what is a Blip A?!â
âBlip A detected.â
âFuck this dudeâŠâGrace, gimme some room here, câmon,â she practically demanded, lightly nudging him away from the telescope.
All it took was a quick peek to realize. âItâs getting closer. That thing?! Why is it coming closer?!â It did not look like any normal space thing. It was obviously something that had been built. But it wasnât from them, and nobody else on Earth could make it out this far. âUh, Grace? Any chance of this being an actual alien spaceship? Also,â She laughed nervously. âAny chance you would want to start flying this ship? Like, now?!â
/// :D
Grace clumsily pushed his way over to the the proximity sensor display, latching onto every hand hold around the control room he could find. Blip-A seemed to be approaching fast. âOh, fudge,â he looked over at Penelope panickedly. âWell, I donât actually know how to fly itâ! Do I look like Iâve been in space before?â
âBlip-A detected.â
âWe get it, Mary!â He shouted, glancing briefly towards the window at the side of the control room and seeingâ shadows. Long rods and geometric shapes coming from a point past the window, moving across what he could see. It was huge.
Blip-A. It was a spaceship, just like Penelope thought.
âNope,â he said after a moment, pushing over to the pilotâs seat and desperately trying to strap into it, fighting with the zero gravity. âCome on, pilot detected, pilot detected, right?â
âPilot detected,â Mary echoed, the consoles turning on.
âYes!â Grace glanced around for a moment, eyes locking onto a glorified joystick. Grabbing onto it, he shouted towards Penelope. âHold onto something!â
Once he was sure Penelope had a hold on something, he pressed the trigger thing on the controls, jerkily making the Hail Mary shoot forward, wobbling through space and away from Blip-A. Once the alien ship had left the sensor, he let go of the controller with a sharp exhale, leaning back on the seat.
"Uh, obviously not?! But what happened to you being the one that'd learn to fly this?!" She yelled, glaring at Grace. "You didn't think to, oh I don't know, see if there was a flight manual?! A little spaceship tutorial?! There was time?!"
Looking out the window, she saw the same shadows as Grace, and a sinking feeling of dread appeared in her stomach, which was very quickly morphing itself into nausea. "We're dead. Dead. We're about to be murdered by aliensâ Mary!" She interrupted her own train of thought. "The pilot is here! Detect him!"
Once Mary finally did her fucking job, Penny wasted no time in latching herself onto the back of the flight chair.
"Yes! Yes! I am holding! Just drive the damn ship! Please!"
Grace had no idea what he was doing. And his flying was so absolutely shit that; "I feel like I'm gonna puke, fuck, fuck thisâ" She didn't, thank the lord. And when the ship finally settled, so did her stomach.
Ever so slightly loosening her grip on the chair, she pressed her forehead against the back of it, her legs still floating behind her.
"Whew! Sorry for that over reactionâ" She started, letting out a light huff of laughter. "That's not gonna be like, a problem, right? You know, likeâ" Suddenly the shadow reappeared.
"Blip A detected."
"Nevermind! Go!"
âŠ
"You knowâŠ" Penelope started, looking at the alien spaceship that was currently lined up with them. It'd been cat and mouse for the past half hour, but nothing else. The ship was just following them. "Maybe they're not trying to kill us?" She asked, tilting her head one something on the screen started beeping. Something on the outside of the alien ship was moving.
"What'sâŠ" She took a breath. "What's thatâŠ?"
Grace stared out of the window, glasses skewed and utterly baffled. The alien ship had moved back to the exact position it had first stopped in every time he moved the Hail Mary. Penelope might be right. They might be friendly.
âMaybe,â he said under his breath, tilting his head to look at the odd structure of the shop. ââŠwhatâs what?â Turning to look in the direction Penelope was looking in, he squinted through the one of his two glasses lenses that was still over his eye.
âBlip-B detected.â
Grace jumped, looking over at the sensor. There was something elseâ this one moving towards the ship. âItâs throwing something towards us,â he moved to look back where Penelope was looking, finally spotting the thingâ a blocky tube? Something like that.
âOh, geez, I hope it isnâtâŠâ he cut himself off and let out a muffled sound. âWhat do you think it is?â
Penelope let out a sigh. It almost sounded disappointed. âIsnât what? A bomb?â Readjusting how her arms were wrapped around the headrest of the pilot seat, she crossed her ankles over each other. Huh. This zero gravity thing was getting easier. She could thank her brain for thatâ the brain could get used to anything after being exposed to it enough. âGrace, I think itâs either a bomb and weâre dying right now, or itâs um⊠yeah, bombâs actually all I got.â They were going to die anyways. See, her brain was getting used to that information. It was accepting it. Penny was just working with her brain to make it seem less terrifying than it was, and cracking stupid jokes seemed to be working.
Her method worked and all, only until Mary started practically counting down the meters until it hit the ship. Verbally, she didnât react. But her body tensed up dramatically, her knees curling to her chest in fetal position.
â20 meters.â
â10 meters.â
â5 meters.â
âŠ
Nothing happened.
Penelope opened her eyesâ which she hadnât even realized had been closed to begin withâ and squinted her eyes at the screen.
The⊠weird tube literally just ricocheted off the ship.
All that nausea inducing fear for nothing.
âHuh.â
Seeing another sensor go off again, she rapidly moved to point at it, shifting the chair on accident.
âLook, itâs throwing something again!â Pausing, she tilted her head to the side, adding; âItâs moving a lot slowerâŠâ
She locked eyes with Grace. âMaybe itâs trying to send us a message! Grace! Dude! We can definitely cross off the possibility of it killing us, right? Maybe? I mean, it wouldâve done it by now, I think. Grace, if itâs sending us a message, we have to get itâ Mary! How do we get that tube thing?!â She asked excitedly.
âWould you like to go on a space walk, Dr. Grace?â
âGrace, I think you want to go on a space walk, one, because Mary asked you, and two, I am not doing thatâŠâ
The buildup to the tube thing approaching the ship had left Grace more frazzled more than he would care to admit. Penelopeâs rambling that it was a bomb convinced him that it was what she said it wasâ until it bounced off the ship harmlessly with a quiet thunk. Then he just felt silly. ââŠsuppose it must just be a message, then.â
Though, at the mention of a space walkâ Grace felt this stomach drop. âIs there any other way to get the tube thingy?â He pleaded up towards the speaker in the corner of the control room as if the Hail Mary was anything but an automated system.
âA space walk can be used to acquire foreign objects.â
Grace groaned quietly. âOkay. Thanks, Mary,â he grumbled, looking over at Penelope with a sigh. ââŠIâll do the space walk, then.â
Floating down into the main area, Grace, not living up to his name, floundered around, struggling on the undersuit, then the full space suit (âStop giggling, Iâm trying my bestââ). Finally, he entered the airlock with a dozen tethers and headed out to grab the âBlip-Bâ thing.
As Grace ran, jumped, and slammed into the ship to hurry and get the tube thingy, all Penelope could hear was the occasional thump for almost five minutes. Then Grace appeared back in the airlock, everything about him askew, but the tube clutched in his hand triumphantly.
After sealing and pressurizing the airlock, Grace pulled off the helmet with a huff. âGot it!â He said, a bit shaky, holding out the tube. âAlrightâ letâs see what it isâŠâ he grabbed a spectrometer, scanning the tube, andâ
âXenon,â he mumbled. âBut xenonâs a gas.â He scanned it again. Chucked the spectrometer backwards. âNope. That thing is broken.â
Grace struggling to get into his EVA suit was the most entertaining thing Penelope had ever had the pleasure of witnessing. Even by the time Grace had come back into the Hail Mary fully, she was still laughing; her face red and tears streaming down her face (only for so long, gravity was pulling them straight from her face).
Once the two of them were back floating in the lab, which couldnât really serve them much purpose in the zero gravity, Penelope watched Grace scan the weird looking canister with the spectrometer, her expression matching his when it came up as Xenon.
âCould the gravity be messing with it?â She shrugged when he looked at her. âI dunno, maybe thereâs a way to fix it? I meanââ She fixed her hold on a bar on the wall. ââThey couldnât have expected us to do all this Astrophage crap with a lab like this.â
She looked around, frustration coming across her face. There had to be something that would come to her. A memory with a solution. Looking back at Grace, she asked, âDo you have any ideas? I donât, I canât think of anything.â
Spinning slightly, Grace stared at the weirdly shaped object floating between them. ââŠyouâre right,â he started, peeling his eyes from the thing and looking around the lab. âMost of the things in here canât work without gravity.â
That⊠reminded him of something. Arguing about how long it would take to make zero-g science equipment, versus⊠artificial gravity. Graceâs head shot up. âOh! Centrifuge!!â He said excitedly, looking around wildly before pushing his way up to the control room.
After a bit of a search, Grace found the right controls, flipped a couple of switches and pressed the screen. The Hail Mary shook briefly, then it looked like the alien ship was movingâ but it was really the Hail Mary that had started moving. Spinning, more accurately.
Slowly but surely, gravity grew and grew untilâ Grace was on the floor of the control room, letting out a whoop of excitement. âArtificial gravity!! The ship is a giant centrifuge!!â He called back excitedly as he climbed back to the lab room. âScience time.â He grinned widely. ïżŒ
Penelope's eyes lit up alongside Grace's at his revelation. Thank him and his super smart, more developed brain.
Anticipation filled her as she watched Grace guide himself into the control room, letting out an audible, excited gasp as she felt the gravity start to return. Smile as wide as it had ever been since waking up on the ship, she went over to Grace the moment he returned to the lab, giving him an incredibly enthusiastic high five.
"You are like, my new favorite person ever," she said happily, walking with him back over to the canister.
Penelope got her hands on the spectrometer before Grace, aiming it at the contraption and pressing the button to activate it.
She frowned. "It's still XenonâŠ"
Dropping the spectrometer down on the table with what was probably too much force, she threw her hands up in the air.
"Remember when Xenon was a solid, Grace? Yeah, me neither! What the hellâŠ"
The two tried figuring the canister out for what felt like forever, and after about an hour, Penelope quit, slumping down in the corner. Biting back down on her fingernail, she spoke with a muffled voice, "So, we could try forcing it openâ banging it against the wall or something, I dunno," she said, shrugging.
She eyed Grace curiously, watching to see what his next move was. Maybe he'd start banging it on the table like she'd suggested, who knew? Probably not, though; (kind of) knowing Graceâ
This was getting rediculous, in Graceâs opinion. There was nothing on the canister that was indicating languageâ not enough varying linesâ and though there was something of a seam line, they werenât able to get it open.
Grace looked at the canister. Then at the table. ââŠwhy not?â He huffed, grabbing it and, after lining up the seam with the edge, slamming it onto the table a couple times. Nothing. Shaking the canister, frustrated, he gritted out, âwhy wonât it just open!?â
He gripped the end of it again, twisting it harshly to the leftâ lefty loosey, rightâ nothing. It didnât budge. âCome on, lefty loosey, just come offââ he paused. âTheyâre aliens. Why would they follow human rules?â
Grace sat down, squinted at the thing, and twisted it rightâ the top popped off super easily! Then, like an idiot, he leaned into it and took a sniffâ âNOOââ he darted over to the glovebox fume hood, throwing the canister into it and slamming it shut.
Breathing heavily, he looked slightly over at Penelope. ââŠsmelled like ammonia,â he mumbled, a bit embarrassed. âForgot about the whole âwaft donât sniffâ thing.â
Glancing back at the canister, now open inside of the fume hood, he tilted his head, taking a second to breathe. âGot it open, though. Right to loosen, apparently,â he tapped the glass. âYou wanna check it out?â
Other than Grace's frustrated mumbling and the hum of the ship, it was quiet; Penelope eyeing the man as he did whatever else he could think of to open the canister. Honestly, she was getting to the point of suggesting that they just send the damn thing back with a noteâ 'Hey, we actually can't even open this. Do you mind giving us some step by step instructions?'
Briefly, Penny looked away, gazing down at her nails, which were now bleeding slightly at the cuticleâ until Grace absolutely freaked and bolted to the glovebox.
"How do you forget basic lab safety?!" She yelled, scrambling to her feet. Sheer disbelief was plastered across her face. "You could've just inhaled like, the most poisonous poison to ever exist ever, by the wayâ 'Oh, but it only smelled like ammonia' he says," Penny mocked, moving to stand next to Grace, her eyes rolling drmaticially. Looking up at him, she nodded. "Of course I wanna check it out, Grace."
She couldn't hold it back, the child-like curiosity that came over her as she observed Grace handling the foreign object. This was the first ever message received from a sentient life form outside of Earth! And her and Grace were the receivers! Without thinking, she moved to stand on her tiptoes, fingers grasping the small edge of the glovebox as she tried to make herself tallerâ she wanted to see what was inside of this thing so bad.
"WoahâŠ" Whatever it was, it was made out of some form of metalâ probably the same solid form as Xenon that the canister was. It had some sort of base, with little rods coming out of it that had a variety of different spheres attached to it. "Oh! Ohohohâ Grace! I think it has something to do with stars! And planets!" She was full-on radiating with excitement now, pushing herself away from the glovebox and hastily heading towards her laptop.
Grace watched curiously as Penelope pulled up a star chart, lined it up with the object and put together the piecesâ the alien ship was from Eridani-40. They figured out which star was the sun, and fashioned a little flag onto to send back. Shortly after, they got another message from the other shipâ they were going to attach a tunnel between their ships.
Of course, Grace was the one to go out in the tunnel and meet the alienâ which Grace dubbed âRockyââ albeit with a couple spooks on both sides. Once they evened out the atmosphere in both sides and established a clear wall, Grace let Penelope into the tunnel, and they slowly established communication.
It wasnât long before Rocky established a space in the Hail Mary, the three of them working on a shared goal. Having someone else on the ship gave Grace and Penelope a burst of hope. They snagged astrophage samples, and found new alien life on the planet Tau Ceti-E or, Adrian. A predator to astrophage. Taumeoba.
Acquiring the Taumeoba they needed was⊠rough. They almost fell into the planet. The engines got a hole. Grace broke his nose. Penelope got a bad concussion. Rocky almost died to save them all, and he didnât wake up for a while.
When he did, though, Grace and Penelope had breeded taumeoba to withstand nitrogen, and they were able to send Rocky on his way after he gave them enough astrophage to get home. It was sad, but Grace was happy to be able to get Penelope home. Safe. Free to be a kid. And, with the added bonus of saving the sun.
ââ
They were a couple weeks into the trip back to earth when an alarm went off in the lab. A leak of Taumeoba. They drained the lab of oxygen to contain the leak, but⊠Grace found out the leak had been through the xenonite. It had learned to hide in it to escape nitrogen, butâ that meant it made its way out.
Once the leak had been cleaned and the containers had been replaced, Grace was sat in the lab, now refilled with oxygen, head in his hands. He hadnât told Penelope how the leak happened yet. He was still half in his EVA suit.
He didnât know what to do. Penelope deserved to go home. To have a life. To have fun and be a kid andâ live. But, if they didnât go back for Rocky, his entire planet would die. And Rocky himself would be subjected to a slow death in space.
It wasnât fair.
Penelope was lingering at the door. Grace looked up, and took a breath. ââŠthe leak is contained,â he said quietly, trying to stifle the shakiness of his voice. âOur fuel is safe, and the taumeoba survived.â
It did not take a genius to know that something was wrong.
Grace had his moments, sure, they both did. But this felt different. Heavier.
ââŠGraceâŠ?â
She didnât fully enter the lab yet. Her head was resting against the frame of the entrance, her eyes tired and worried. Her free hand came up to scratch the side of her headâ where the scar from the âfishingâ had happened. Same with Grace, the excessive centrifugal had slammed her forwards, deeming her heavily concussed and with a gaping gash on the side of her face, from her forehead down to her nose.
Her head still felt fuzzy and fogged sometimes, her eyes still had trouble focusing every once in a while, but she was mostly better.
Crossing her arms over her chest and hugging her blanket tighter around herself (it technically wasnât hers; the colorful patchwork quilt that was sent with Grace, but she still used it every now and again), she nodded. Her eyes started to sting, even though nothing bad had even been said. Not yet at least. His voice barely even sounded Grace-like, at least to her. It was so shaky, so weighted.
âThen whatâsâŠâ She paused, took a choppy breath, wiped her eyes. âWhatâs going onâŠ?â
Penelope eyed him, did her best to map out every microscopic movement of his face. Then, she asked about the only thing she could think of going wrong. âWeâre still going home?â She took a small step forwards. âGraceâŠ?â Her bottom lip trembled. God, sheâd been so emotional lately. It was the effects of her concussion still healing, she knew that, but it still feltâŠoff.
The air in the lab was heavy. Tight and consuming in every way possible. Penelope had asked the one question he didnât know how to answer. âI, uhâŠâ He took his glasses off, setting them on the desk in front of him. Eyes drifting down to the floor. He couldnât keep eye contact right now.
Grace had promised her so much. Going to an amusement park, promising heâd swear once when they got backâ it was going to be to her parents, but she didnât know that planâ and just⊠taking her to do normal kid things. How was he supposed to keep a promise like that? How, when the weight of a second planet and their new friend was on him?
âI⊠donât know,â he choked out quietly, forcing himself to say something.
There was barely enough food to take the trip back to Earth. Theyâ they might die if they go back to save Rocky. Sure, they can send the beetles to earth to make sure theyâre saved, too, butâ Grace would be dooming Penelope to death if they went back.
She canât know why, he decided. Not unless he decides to save Erid and Rocky. Otherwise, sheâd blame herself if they went home to Earth and left Rocky to die. She shouldnât know.
Grace stood up, eyes drifting over to the patchwork quilt made by his former students resting on Penelopeâs shoulders. His breathing shuddered. ââŠIâm going to the screen room,â he mumbled, turning to walk shakily into the next room and turn on the screens, preset to a foggy shore.
Her breath hitched in her throat, her grip on the quilt so tight that her knuckles turned white against the fabric.
âI donât know.â
What did that mean? Rocky sent them off with enough Astrophage, theyâd made sure of it.
Tears ran down her face. She was choking for air, on the verge of sobbing like a child.
âW-What? Grace, noââ She watched him get up. âWhat are you talking aboutâŠ?â But he was already walking away.
The moment Grace was fully out of the lab and Penelope was alone, she stumbled in the opposite direction towards the control room.
âMary?â She cried, looking at the plethora of screens, the answer to her question not yet appearing.
âYes, Dr. Fletcher?â
âH-How much, how much fuelâ Astrophage is left?â
Her head was starting to pound, violently. Penelope groaned, pressed her hands to her eyes, and blocked it out.
âThere is 1,526,437 Kilograms of Astrophage remaining for yours and Dr. Graces trip back to Earth.â
âWe, weâre still on track for Earth?â
âYes. Estimated time of arrival for Earth is in approximately 9 light years.â
So then what was Grace hiding talking about?! She needed to know.
Staggering in the direction of the screen room, Penelope practically barged in (even though there wasnât a door); tears running rapidly down her face and snot leaking from her nose.
âGraceââ Her breathing choked. âI am going home.â She pointed at him. âYou are going home. Rocky said we are going home. You canâtâ you canât take this away from me.â She needed to get home. She wasnât just letting Stratt get away with everything sheâd put Grace and her through. Grace didnât even know everything that had happened; she never told him what memories had come back.
It was taking everything in her not to break down; her whole body practically shaking with the amount of effort it was taking.
She whined in sudden pain, hand coming back up to her forehead, the movement causing her braid to fall over her shoulder. It was the only part she never cut. Rocky had made her a mini Xenonite star that sheâd tied into it with string.
At the sound of Penelopeâs sniffly voice and desperate words, Grace turned to her, eyes watery. He got to his feet and moved to her quickly at her whine of pain, gently putting a hand on her head and kneeling down in front of her. âHey, heyâ Penny, breathe,â he insisted quietly. âCome on, follow me.â
Grace took an exaggerated breath in, held it, then exhaled slowly, and repeated it until Penelope was following him at least slightly. Stress would hurt her head too much. He canât risk that right now. She needs to heal.
âKiddo, itâs okay. Itâs going to be okay,â he tried, gently moving some of her hair back. Her bruised and scabbed face was a hard sight, and it wasnât helping his decision making skills. His stomach was doing flips.
âLook, Iâ itâsâŠâ Grace started, trying to figure out a way to explain it without scaring her. There wasnât, though. It was life or death for so many people. If he was alone, he would have already made his decision. But he had a kid here.
âŠher opinion mattered.
Grace took in a breath.
ââŠThe Taumeoba can get through xenonite. Thatâs what the leak was,â he breathed out quietly. âI⊠Iâm trying to make a difficult decision.â
It took close to half an hour for Penelope to even begin calming down. Sheâd kneeled down with Grace, did her best to âjust breathe,â but everything had become suffocating, her vision going foggy for quite a bit. But sheâd gotten there; her sobs eventually dying down back into wet, choppy hiccups.
âB-but Grace, youâre not acting like stuffâs gonna be okay,â she said, making eye contact with him. He looked like he had been slightly crying as well, at least from what she could see.
Hands still slightly shaking, Penelope readjusted the quilt around her shoulders, then moving to shift her body so that she was leaning against Graceâs side. Sheâd become used to seeking Grace for comfort, for that sense of protection and safety that she didnât really get beforeâ not even back on Earth.
But then he finally started to talk, about the Taumeoba being the cause of the leak, because of the xenoniteâŠ
âRockyâs shipâŠâ It wasnât a question, just a whispered statement. She was a smart kid, Grace had reminded this of her constantly, so it didnât take long for her to piece the puzzle together. A couple stray tears fell down her face. âItâs all xenoniteâŠâ She paused. âHeâs gonna dieâŠâ
Itâd be crazy for her to say she didnât love Rocky. He was her friend, but more importantly, he was Graceâs best friend, and Penelope was thankful for how much Rocky lifted Graceâs mood.
Her expression became blank. ââŠSave Rocky and we die, or go homeâŠâ
It was a hard decision indeed. A scary one. On one hand, she wanted to go home, to make sure Stratt paid for what she did. But on the other hand, there was Rocky; the coolest alien ever who would slowly die in space if they didnât do anything.
âWhat, weâd starve to death after saving him? Or, or are there drugs Mary could give usâŠ?â That was only half the bit. Penelope sniffled, fidgeted with the corner of the quilt. âWhat about StrattâŠ? Sheâ sheâd just get away with it, with everything. I know sheâd be old by the time we got back, but donât you want to see herââ She shrugged. ââI dunno, get held accountableâŠ?â She needed to know how Grace felt about that.
As Penelope leaned against Grace, he tucked her close with an arm, wrapped around her and gently rubbing her shoulder. She seemed so small, shaking as she slowly pieced together what he had just a little while before. Grace hated the idea of her thinking about how she was going to die again. Again. Afterâ after he promised her a way homeâ
Then she brought up something else. Stratt. Not really someone he gave a lot of thought about after learning about the leak. Did Penelope remember more that Grace had?
ââŠStratt? I⊠I know she expected to be arrested, uhâ after the mission was successful or sent off or whatever. Abuse of power or whatnot,â Grace said, in a bit of a mumble. âShe⊠she didnât do great things, butâ I donât know how else we wouldâve been able to stop the sun from dimming. She didnât what she had to. Iâm not happy about it, butâ I donât need to see her again.â
Grace looked off to the side, taking a slow breath. He canât cry right now. Penelope didnât need to see him break down again. Not after Rocky almost died. His scars on his arm from the burning atmosphere and ammonia exposure of the whole âfishing on Adrianâ incident twitched. Why does this have to be so hard?
âI donât know what weâd do. Thereâs⊠maybe enough coma slurry and spare food to get us to Rocky and stay alive to take him to Erid, but⊠not much else,â his hand moved to her hair, gently pushing it back. âWe can still go home. Stay on course.â
Penny leaned into his touch, seeking what little comfort Grace could offer her while they both thought through this. She knew she was being selfish, still wanting to go back home so badly even after having the knowledge that if they did that, Rockyâ and Erid as a wholeâ would die. And her main reason for wanting it so bad was even worse; getting revenge on Stratt, who would be sent to prison after the problem was solved, but she wasnât there yet? God, she was terrible. And Grace was probably aware of the selfishness she was letting into the open air, yet he was still offering to stay on course. For her. Even though Penny knew that it would destroy Grace to let his best friend die.
They sat for a while, leftover tears still leaking down Penelopeâs cheeks every now and then as she looked out at the fake ocean ahead of them.
Sure, Strattâ and everyone else on that teamâ had done cruel things to make this mission take place, and she still had her feelings about that. But this wasnât about her. It was about saving Rocky, saving Erid. Doing the right thing. Even if it meant dying in space. At least sheâd be with Grace, though, right?
âWe canât,â she rasped. âWe canât stay on course. We needâ we need to help him. And his planet. He, he saved us, we should save him.â She took a shaky breath in. âEven if it means, you knowâŠâ
Grace looks out at the screens surrounding them. The pulsing waves pushing forward and drawing back methodically. The echo of Earth. What it could be for them. How it was supposed to be when they got back.
How could Penelope be so sure of the right course of action? She knew about the likelihood of dying if they went back for Rocky, butâ she wanted to save him anyway. He didnât understand it. Thoughts like that from a kid.
ââŠI donât know, kid,â he breathed out. âYou⊠you deserve to go home. I donât want to take that from you.â
Grace didnât care about Stratt. He didnât care about vengeance. He wanted Penelope safe, and that was it. There was nothing left for him on earth, really. Nobody to return home to. Maybe an old apartment and his students, butâ theyâd be adults by now. He wanted this for Penelope, and she wanted to go back for Rocky.
He shook his head. âI promised youâd go home,â he said quietly. âI canât just tell you to abandon that and risk your life again. Iâ I donât even know if thereâs enough food and coma slurry for the whole trip to Eridââ
Penelope sniffled, moved her head to rest on Graceâs shoulder. âI donât have anything important left, GraceâŠâ she cried quietly, taking a second to pause. ââŠI, I never told you, âcause I didnât know howâd youâd react, but a while ago, memories of why I was here in the first place came back.â She took a shaky breath. âMy dad was supposed to be hereâ or my mom; she was his backup. Last minute, my dad just⊠took the easy way out, and then my mom followed. Stratt sent me in their place.â
Penny looked up, making eye contact with Grace. âOther than wanting her to be held accountable, I donât know what else Iâd wantâŠâ She wiped at her eyes. âIâm notâ Iâm not trying to sound all whatever, but youâre like, the only person left that I care about. You and Rocky. If youâŠâ She chose her next words carefully. âIf you want to do this, Iâm for itâŠand itâs not like youâre breaking your promise to be evil. Itâs for a good cause.â
âGrace,â she said. âWe have to save him. I want to do it.â
The air in Graceâs lungs turned to lead, pushing down in his chest. He⊠hadnât remembered that. At all. And, hearing Penelope have to tell him thatâ there was nobody waiting for her at home, because of those⊠those cowardsâ
If her parents werenât already dead, Grace would have strangled them twenty times over by now.
Grace pulled Penelope closer, drawing her into a gentle hug as his breathing stuttered. Then she looked up at him, insisting they needed to go back for Rocky, and⊠she really wanted to. He could tell.
Maybe, if they could save their friend, and have a few more years together⊠it would be okay. They could be okay. There was nothing left for them on Earth, so theyâd save the one who was waiting for them.
Grace nodded slightly. âOkay,â he breathed out. âIf youâre absolutely sureâŠâ he looked down at her, giving her a serious look. âAnd I mean completely.â
He paused, calculations already running I. His head. âThen we go to save Rocky.â
Penelope noticed the shift in Grace's demeanor after she revealed the memories she had regained. He was upset for her. Hell, he had proven time and time again while they were on the Hail Mary that he cared about her.
She reciprocated the hug eaisly, wrapping her arms around his torso, her forehead pressed agaisnt his shoulder.
He had been more of a dad to her than her actual dad, that much she knew.
Penelope met his serious gaze, nodding in reply, her lips pressed into a thin line. "I'm sureâ I promise."
â
It had been close to two months of passing time. The Hail Mary had been officially rerouted, and the two space travellers were waiting for the day that they would come across the 'Blip A' again. That they'd see Rocky again.
After Penelope and Grace had made their mutual decsion to save their alien friend, she'd grown more attached to Grace. It had been this feeling of companionship at first, but now, she enjoyed entertaining the idea that she truly saw him as her dad. Not that she'd ever admit it out loud. Not until they were like, actively dying on the ship.
"Hey, Grace?" They'd both been doing their own things; Penny listening to her music through a portable CD player that had been brought up to space with her, and Grace doingâŠwhatever he was doing. "What kind of music did you listen to back before?" She asked randomly, breaking their comfortable silence.
In the past couple months, Grace had been⊠working through things, but also getting closer to Penelope. She felt more like his kid than any of his students ever had. Honestly, he didnât think that was bad at all. Penelope needed a better parental figure than her parents, and Grace was happy to be that for her.
There was also the problem of⊠memories coming back. Embarrassingly, he had shut down for a little over a day after remembering⊠how he was brought up here. Involuntarily. Afterwards, he made sure to apologize for freaking out Penelope, but didnât talk about what freaked him out. She didnât need to know that he was a coward.
Today, Grace had found himself sitting in the window again, staring off into space with a whiteboard in his lap, calculating distances between stars and tracking their progress. Sure, he could check the display in the control room, but this gave his brain something to do.
Having been subconsciously chewing on the tube bit of the bag of water meant for zero gravity he was sipping from today, Grace perked up and took it out of his mouth when Penelope spoke. He smiled a bit.
âWell, I was a bit of a musical nerd,â he started with a small snort of amusement. âSo, soundtracks from shows like Cats, Hamilton, Next to Normal, stuff like that.â
âOtherwise, it was pretty random. I like classic rock, but I also like some alternative bandsâ like Twenty One Pilots, for a more recent band, or Queen, for something a bit older,â he shrugged. âWhat do you like to listen to?â He tilted his head, leaning it back against the curved wall behind him.
Penelope raised her eyebrows at his answers, her head tilting to the side in amusement. âClassic rock? YouâŠâ she chuckled, shaking her head. âYou really donât seem like the type. All the musical stuff checks out, though,â she added, shifting herself to sit a bit closer to Grace.
Smiling, she held up the portable CD player, along with a Michael Jackson CDâ Thriller. âGood âol M.J. Heâs my favorite. Queen is also really good, I can agree with you on that. UmâŠâ She paused, thinking for a moment. âThe Beatles? I like themââ
âBlip A detected.â Mary interrupted, her voice warm and monotonous as always, but Penelope locked eyes with Grace, only briefly, before scrambling to her feet and rushing towards the control room.
âItâs Rocky! Grace!â She didnât even make it fully into the room, already seeing Rockyâs ship on the largest panel.
âYouâve got good taste. Michael Jackson is a classic, really, youââ Grace started, cutting himself off at a same time as Mary spoke up. They shouldnât be that close to him this fast.
âWhat? Heâ the astrophage mustâve run out faster than I thoughtâ heâs just driftingââ Grace shook himself, refocusing. He needed to redirect the ship. âHold onto something for a bit, Penny. Iâm going to get us over to him.â
Hurrying up the ladder into the control room, Grace strapped into the pilotâs seat as Mary echoed âpilot detectedâ. He turned off the auto drive, going into zero gravity and started pushing the ship towards Rockyâs, lining it up as close as he could with the old tunnel.
Unstrapping from the seat, he floated down to the airlock, starting to put on one of the EVA suits. âYou stay in here, Iâm going to go get him,â he said seriously. He didnât want Penelope going out after him and getting hurt.
âWhat?!â That was such bullâ she had to stay in here, waiting with bated freaking breath, while only he went to get Rocky?! âNo fucking way, man!â Pushing herself after him, she waved her hands wildly at the EVA suit that had been designed for her. Other than the time sheâd tried it on for fun, she hadnât actually used it, but still! It was there! For her! For shit like this! âGrace. Youâ you canât be serious about this! I have my own thing! I can get into itâ!â She loved Grace, really, butâŠthis was lunacy! She wasnât a little kid!
But while Grace was already fully in his EVA suit, Penelope was still struggling to get into hers. He was ready to go. âGraceâ câmon, Iâm almost done, just let me come with!â She locked eyes with him. His face still looked serious. Did he not think that she had just as much right to rescue Rocky? What if something happened to Grace out there?
Grace was dead serious as he grabbed Penelopeâs EVA suit and pulled it away from her, still being gentle, but trying to make her let it go. âNo. Youâre not going out there,â he insisted. âYou havenât been out before, and going off to Rockyâs ship is much less safe than anything else you could do out there.â
He put a hand on her shoulder, meeting her eyes and softening his expression. âRocky ran out of fuel earlier in his journey than I expected. I donât know how life support is on his ship. I donât know what Iâll find out there,â he took in a breath, shaky but quiet. âI need you to stay here and keep an eye on our position and safety. We canât go anywhere if the Hail Mary breaks down.â
Graceâs gloved hand lightly squeezed her shoulder. He left most of his explanation unsaid. Everything about keeping her safe and needing to be sure she was there when he got back, even if he wasnât able to save Rocky.
âPlease, kiddo. Just let me do this. We can stay on comms the whole time,â he tried.
It was childish, she knew that; tugging back and forth on the top part of her EVA suit with Grace. Undoubtedly, he could âwin;â he was 6â0 and had an actual muscle mass to him. But she was angrier, more frustratedâ because how could Grace be so fucking dense?! All this crap about âwanting her safeâ was just a load of shit. Sheâd be a lot less safe if he went out on his own, died, and left her stranded.
She scoffed, jerking her shoulder away from his hand. âDonât fucking touch me, Grace.â Her gaze was hard, lips pursed into a tight line. âYou know thatâs a bunch of crap, youâre just acting all worried for no good reason. It doesnât matter how much you âcareâ about me, or want me safe; I was sent on this trip with my own suit because I was just as capable of you.â She gave another hard pull on the EVA suit. It just wasnât fair. He treated her like she wasnât capable of doing anything. âAnd you know what?â She said, her voice raising slightly. âIâd say Iâm even more capable than you to do stuff like this, because I didnât have to be dragged kicking and screaming to go on this mission. I wasnât acting like a fucking coward, unlike you!â Of course, she hadnât wanted to go on a suicide mission to space, but at least she hadnât tried running away like Grace did.
Finally, she let go of the EVA suit, taking a couple backwards steps. âFine. Go. Iâm not going to keep standing here and arguing with you when Rocky could be actively dying.â
Grace had opened his mouth to argue back before Penelope cut him off again and⊠basically told him she knew aboutâ everything that happened for Grace to be sent up here. His fingers felt numbed, eyes staring back at Penelope, trying to stay without any emotion. She was right. Heâd admit it if his throat would let him speak. Grace was a coward, and she was just as capable as him.
This wasnât the time to think about this or argue more. It would delay everything, and cloud his thoughts.
ââŠIâll set up comms,â Grace said quietly after a moment, dismissing half of the conversation. Moving, he went over to the wall, hanging up Penelopeâs EVA suit and securing his helmet, clicking on comms numbly and connecting them to the computer beside the airlock. He glanced back at Penelope. âI will be back. With Rocky.â
Then he stepped inside, hooked all of the tethers to each other, and headed out, pushing off to get to Rockyâs ship. It took some time and clumsy maneuvering, but eventually, after screaming for Rocky, they got into contact. To say Grace was relieved would be an understatement.
Rocky grabbed the resources heâd need for the trip and loaded himself into a xenonite ball. Grace hooked the ball and container of resources to a tether, and brought it all back to the Hail Mary.
When he finally resealed and opened up the airlock, Grace managed a tired smile of success, leaning against the wall. Rocky burst inside, hurrying over to Penelope. The translator whirred to life as Rocky rambled out some notes. â<Penny! Penny okay, question? Leak in xenonite! Thought might be hurt or die orâ>â
Seeing Grace try not to show any emotion in response to her words; hearing his voice drop lowerâ sounding so⊠resigned. Sheâd fucked up. Of course she had. Her anger was quickly morphing into a crushing guilt, one that felt like it was physically starting to weigh her down.
âIâll be back with Rocky.â
But what if he wouldnât? What if he was about to die and this was their last interaction? What if he died thinking she hated him? She didnâtâ
She sank down the wall of the ship once he was gone, practically clutching to the computer that had the comms set up.
It was just some stupid misunderstanding. She just got angry; fed up with being treated like a little kid. But was that not how she was acting now? Curled up on the ground and holding a computer like a lifeline?
He was gone for almost a half an hour. She didnât move. Didnât speak into the comms. Because while the guilt was crushing, and the fear was consuming, she still had her ego, and it wouldnât allow her to sound weak right now. To prove Graceâs point.
The second the airlock opened up and Grace and Rocky were both safely in the ship, Penelope sprang up, meeting Rocky in the middle and dropping to her knees, wrapping her arms around his xenonite ball.
âRocky!â She exclaimed happily, tears of relief falling down her cheeks. Pulling back, she left both hands on either side of the ball. âIâm- Iâm okay, Iâm good. I thought you were gonna dieââ she cried, sniffling and wiping her eyes, letting out a wet chuckle.
Taking a breath, she moved her gaze up to Grace. Hesitantly, she stood up and went towards him, and saying nothing, she wrapped her arms around his middle. It wasnât a verbal apologyâ she knew theyâd have to talk about what happened laterâ but it was the best she could do right now.
Rocky pressed up against the side of the ball that Penelope had hugged, reciprocating it in the way he knew how. When she pulled back, he did too, trilling happily. â<Safe safe safe. No die, promise. Thought you and Grace might die. Not dead! Happy happy.>â Then, once the moment was over and Penelope was getting up, Rocky shifted back a bit, sensing the tense air that filled the space between her and Grace.
Grace, who had been watching with a sort of happy but tired look, flicked his eyes to Penelope, offering a kind look to bridge the gap. With a nod, he acknowledged her nonverbal apology as he slipped his gloves off.
âItâs okay, kiddo. I just didnât know you knew,â he said gently. âI know what I am. Iâm not proud of it. But I also know that you are an insanely brave kid, and Iâm so proud of you. I just donât want you to have to be brave about this again.â He offered an arm, in case she felt comfortable enough for anything between a light squeeze on the hand to a hug.
Rocky tapped the ground, a bit anxious, then shifted back in the ball, knowing something was up that didnât really involve him. â<Rocky get no context. Something happen. Need to helpâŠ>â he mumbled as he rolled off to the sleeping area.
She took Graceâs invitation, leaning in against his side and allowing his arm to wrap around her. ââŠItâs not okay, Grace,â she started, her eyes shifting down to the ground. âI shouldnât have said what I said. I was just angryâ but I know that thatâs not an excuse.â She bit her bottom lip, thinking about what else to add. âI donât think youâre a coward, or that Iâm better than youâ I um, I literally donât know where Iâd be here without you, and I really appreciate you.â She leaned in closer to him. âI just donât want you to think that I hate you, or donât like you. Seriously.â
Penelope looked up at Rocky as he suddenly spoke, and she tried to interject. âOh, wait, Rockyââ But he was already rolling off towards the sleeping area.
She chuckled lightly. âIâm glad heâs okay. Just worried about what heâs off to right away. I mean, he just got back.â
There were a few beats of silence. âI guess I just want you to understand that I want to be brave about this, Grace. Or else me being here was for nothing. But itâs hard, because I- I like how you treat me, I guess? Like, no one else has ever let me just be me before, so I feel like if I go against that, and I do the âbraveâ things, that you wonât treat me like⊠like a âkidâ anymoreâŠâ After admitting to that, she quickly shrugged and avoided Graceâs gaze, though she didnât move away from him. âI dunno, Iâm just talking.â