In the Faubourg Saint Antoine, republican rhetoric is flowing freely and residents are arming themselves in preparation for Lamarque's funeral tomorrow morning.
I have other fic to finish. I know this. I KNOW this.
But . . .
Imagine on the trip to Erid, Grace is starving to death and they are trying to keep the tauomeba alive but also not eating the fuel and then they need to ensure they don't die due to space radiation and in the middle of it all the Starship Enterprise shows up.
Captain Kirk and crew were heading to Vulcan (the Eridani system) and suddenly they are technically in the same point in space but this isn't their time and this isn't even their reality. There are moments of concern that this may be bearded!Spock mirror universe stuff but then the ship nearly runs into the Hail Mary.
And Spock will be all "Captain, think of the Prime Directive/Temporal Directive" and also "I don't recognize what they are using as fuel but it is fascinating and there appear to be two life forms and one is very weak and human."
So screw the Temporal Directive and the Prime Directive. They reach out to the ship (the human is starving to death, the other species is like if a Horta grew legs and started singing in multi chord harmony). Bones is not having it. ("Scurvy? SCURVY? And what's this? Beriberi?! Why is there no food or vitamins on this ship? Did they send you out here to die?! This is medieval!) Grace gets treated and brought back to optimal health. ("Thank! Thank! Thank!" Rocky keeps chanting, rolling back and forth at the doctor's feet.) Scotty and Spock are eager to get their hands on the astrophage and the astrophage drive. Uhura is enthralled with the Eridian language and Grace's attempt at a dictionary/translator. Kirk finding out all about Project Hail Mary and Grace's decision to save Erid is deeply impressed (it takes a lot to impress James Kirk but Grace has absolutely met and exceeded the bar-- talk about a no win situation!)
And then . . . I mean the Enterprise has to be returned to its time but maybe they stock up the ship with food before they leave and the entire crew is enthralled with what did evolve in place of the Vulcans they know and love (if you've read the novel Spock's World you know that there is a possible tie there with the Eridians and mountains and rocks in general). And . . . help me out here. I've got an incomplete daydream that I need to flesh out a bit more for it to be really satisfying. What does Grace think about all this? What about Rocky? Do they patch him up too?
grace, who has been alone for five minutes: oh my god. an alien! im not alone anymore! i hope he wants to be friends :)
rocky, coming up on 50 years of solitude, imprinting on grace in ways baby ducklings can only dream of: if you leave me to sleep where i can't watch your heart beat i am blowing up this tunnel with us both in it
There Is No Circumstance In Which I Would Not Cherish You
He's getting used to Grace needing sleep so often. Less so to the decline in cognitive function (and the weirdness that comes with it) before sleep. Or right after. Or, as he finds out, when half waking in the middle of sleep.
"Heyyyy Rocky? Rocky?"
[Yes]
"Wouldyoustill looove me if... if... if I was a w o r m?"
The last sounds mean nothing to Rocky, but he can guess from context that it means something-worse-than-Grace-as-he-is. Not that it makes any difference. If science could turn Grace into a different creature, or if Grace lost any parts, or if his voice changed pitch (Grace had explained that it won't happen again, it's a process that only happens to the age-teen humans) and started making different music... any mutations Rocky can imagine, and even the ones he can't, still would not change anything. Rocky would still look after Grace, make fun of his strange ways, make room for his strange ways, and be comforted and reassured by his strange ways, and by his not-so-strange ones too. His care and his fear, that Rocky has also felt. His curiosity and learning, that are also praised on Erid.
He starts singing it, slow and off-kilter at first. Conversation that is not about objects and numbers is always a little harder, the context makes or break a joke, or a feelings word. But they manage, usually.
[yes statement]
It's a bit dry, but they have both learned the importance of being clear, at first. Elaborate after.
[obviously]
escapes him by accident, because. Obviously. Why is that even a question. But it's not like Rocky himself has never needed reassurance.
[what is worm question]
and that's.
That's the extent of it.
The translator pushes the meaning over with no finesse, no music, harsh lines all over. Rocky's affection, his curiosity, flattened. He starts a little trill, but it's not something the machine knows to translate, so he lets it wane.
He follows the sound of Grace, his now familiar shape (without the line of the glasses, for sleep), the peaks of his internal organs doing the blood thing and the oxygen thing, the temperature variations of skin and clothes.
The oxygen pump slows down gradually. Grace has fallen asleep again smoothly, without responding. Maybe it's better like this.
grace, who has been alone for five minutes: oh my god. an alien! im not alone anymore! i hope he wants to be friends :)
rocky, coming up on 50 years of solitude, imprinting on grace in ways baby ducklings can only dream of: if you leave me to sleep where i can't watch your heart beat i am blowing up this tunnel with us both in it
Even though Grace's atmosphere was significantly cooler than mine, something about the presence of another person made the cold void of space almost seem cosy.
I watched Grace sleep, and I thought back to my crewmates. They hadn't all died at once. One by one, they slept, and stopped waking up.
I could hear where each of them were, feel the vibrations in the ship as they walked and worked and sang. 23 crewmates all chattering and going about their daily business. Then, one by one... their voices fell silent. They stopped waking up. The ship went from a bustle of near constant movement and chatter, to a muted muttering, to a sparse whisper... and eventually silence.
I hated the silence more than anything. Without my crewmates, I was lost, adrift in space. I knew how to build things, but not what to build or what to use it for. I had no way of saving my star alone. I had nowhere to go and nothing I could do, nobody with knowledge to help me. Without their voices, I was lost. In the silence, I was blind.
And then, after years and years of deathless, blinding silence, I found Grace. Stupid, loud, obnoxious Grace. He kept crashing into the models I had him make. He stomped louder than me when he walked. He talked to himself when it was totally unnecessary. He argued with me about stupid things. He made jokes I didn't understand. He spoke to his ship, which incredibly, also spoke back. He tripped and crashed into things constantly. He told me stupid science jokes.
I had never been so happy.
Every time he spoke I was reminded of what the scientists I knew before him would think and how fascinated they'd be. Every footstep reverberated around the ship and fought back against the silence. Every badly assembled model brought us one step closer to saving our planets. His presence alone beat back the silence. His biology was so, so weird and squishy, and there was nothing I wouldn't do for him.
I watched him carefully as he slept. He even slept loudly, something i was most grateful for. He seemed to move little bits in his sleep, occasionally mutter things that sounded a little like words, or make this strange guttural noise with his face. Even asleep, this weird alien was helping fill the silence, making sure I wasn't facing the empty silence alone. Even though he was the one asleep, sometimes it was like Grace was the one watching over me.
I watched as his blanket shifted a little and his eyelids blinked open. I made sure to tell him good morning. I hope I made him feel safe while he slept. I hope he knew I was right here for him. I hope he knew how much of a void he was filling, how already he saved me from my darkest moments and gave me a reason to hope. I wish I had a way to tell him. Our communication was improving but it was still so woefully inadequate.
"Hey Rocky?"
"Yes Grace?"
"Would you still love me if I was a worm?"
"Yes." I said immediately. "Obvious. Grace question stupid. What is worm, question?"
"Aw haha, thanks buddy! A worm is a creature that..."
No no no, Grace! Stupid, endearing, squishy Grace! These words are too SMALL!
Oh well. If words can't hold the enormity of how important Grace is to me, I'd have to make sure he gets the message.
As he explained worms to me, I started thinking about a new design. I would make sure this dumb, funny alien never felt as alone as I did. I wanted to climb inside the Hail Mary and fill it with noise and conversation and laughter. I would make sure I was there to watch him sleep and ensure neither of us ever felt alone again.
grace, who has been alone for five minutes: oh my god. an alien! im not alone anymore! i hope he wants to be friends :)
rocky, coming up on 50 years of solitude, imprinting on grace in ways baby ducklings can only dream of: if you leave me to sleep where i can't watch your heart beat i am blowing up this tunnel with us both in it
a tiny Polydrusus surveying the area after falling from its plant onto my conveniently placed hand. while it can often be difficult to estimate a bug's size in a photo with no frame of reference, in this case i can tell this thing is One Fourth Of My Knuckle long
(May 31st, 2025)
PJOwriter @percyjacksonwriter - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag