Chapter Text
When an unknown spacecraft entered a cosmos field in this area, Rocky was sure that he had lost his mind and was finally prepared for death. Because… seriously? A spaceship? You’re going to be kidding him. He dangled there for so many years between a local star and stupid planets of its system and tried to solve a mystery of its undimmed brightness that drove him crazy.
Like, even more crazy than he used to be before this mission.
And now that.
Another – alien – spacecraft.
It was still far away from his ship, but it was perfectly presented on the locators. It was smaller and was lack of… texture… Like it was smooth all over its sides.
Cool. Aliens!
Were they here for the same mission?..
Rocky jumped up and down – he needed to establish contact right now. At this point, he never had another thought about aliens. Were they bad and cruel? Were they like him? Was he going to die as his crewmates because of his own recklessness that drove him to launch himself at this first contact like a fool, headfirst?
But Rocky couldn’t care more – he practically had no other choice, he had to be friendly and welcoming and totally normal about his deplorable situation.
What Rocky thought after he met an alien was an absolutely different story.
That alien was bigger than Rocky believed because he assumed the ship of this size should have a smaller crew than that fricking thing.
It stood upright on two limbs, then there was its… erh… torso with two more limbs. And another smaller blob of some sort. What a creepy weirdo right from the popular horror songs.
It was loud in so many ways – popping, gargling, puffin, jolting, creaking like a very bad structure of tubes with liquid inside that flowed from the center of its body to the limbs.
Surprisingly, the alien wasn’t aware of its own noises because it was still trying to move with caution and seemed very scared. It also looked like it couldn’t locate Rocky at all, while Rocky, on the other hand, had a pretty good view of it – so maybe the creature was deaf? How did it even navigate in the void of space? How did it sense anything at all?
Later it turned out that the weirdo sensed the light. It could s̸͓̆͘̕ę̸̇̕e̸̳̹͂ͅ.
And when it finally s̶a̷w̵ Rocky, it opened its maw on the upper blob with hard outgrowths in the rows and screamed. Rocky did the same because of shock.
Could that alien bite?! It sure could try – it had a whole maw full of liquid and little sharp bones inside! That was a predator species! Of course, it would bite!
Actually, the alien did not.
It closed maw, when Rocky scumbled back from the wall, and showed his now big empty… paws? Paws with a total of ten grasping and flexible claws.
Then it started to communicate and ramble – it was more sheepish and guilty because Rocky sensed how the alien was trying to be smaller for him and wanted him back in its s̷i̶g̷h̵t̸.
So, they started over and now both were pleased mimicking moves of each other like a little welcoming dance.
After that Rocky understood very clearly – that predator was dumb but in the best way possible.
Rocky didn’t know how to describe it better. Its body – Grace’s body – was badly designed here and there. But all together? Surprisingly efficient. And scary, and disgusting. And Grace didn’t pay much attention to it because it was just like that all its life.
It was a past for its – h̴u̵m̶a̶n̵ – species when they used the advantages of their body for a hunt, the alien explained later, but for Rocky it was so obvious, that Grace was a deadly predator, it wasn’t even funny.
Until it was because that predator tripped over its own long limbs all the time, couldn’t effectively use the paws and used a tool for its bad e̵y̸e̶s̶i̷g̶h̶t̵ – its prime sense.
But nonetheless.
There were always liquids in its maw so Rocky was constantly sure that it was going to spill every second. Though Grace always jagged the liquid – the s̵a̶l̷i̵v̸a̵ –back down. It was disgusting and truly exhausting to hear at first, never mentioned to imagine a life with a full head of liquid.
Grace said, it was all-necessary liquid, and s̵a̶l̷i̵v̸a̵ was helping to protect the t̷e̵e̴t̶h̶ and the t̷o̴n̷g̷u̶e̷ ̵ and also had a big role in digestion. For Rocky, it all sounded like the alien was ready to eat every second of its life because s̵a̶l̷i̵v̸a̵ was always there.
“Are you hungry every time then, question,” Rocky couldn’t help but asked.
“Of course not, why should I be?”
But the design of its greedy and always leaky maw talked loud and clear for itself.
Then Rocky experienced a new strange thing – the alien could hear in its sleep and wake up easily if needed. It was… unheard of. Grace said that h̴u̵m̶a̶n̵s are pack animals too; they lived in a society and had families, but there was no need to watch each other sleep so carefully as Eridians did because they could wake up in a second by their own – just a little noise, or a touch, or an unknown movement... Literally anything, even a random feeling, could be a reason for the awakening!
It could affect their health because it was bad for every organism to not have enough rest. But still. They were not in a helpless position even in their sleep. And, even if they were pack animals, they could survive alone in the wild independently. Imagine that!
Grace – a sweet dumb child of E̴a̷r̷t̷h̴ - didn’t understand Rocky’s surprise. It said, almost all beings on E̴a̷r̷t̷h̴ could do it too, so that was not a big deal.
Actually, it was a really big deal, but Rocky said nothing. Maybe he was just really happy after so many years of loneliness to finally watch someone’s sleep and to be sure that they’re okay. And also very thrilled that the independent alien – who didn’t need anyone to watch it – indulged his demand so easily.
More interesting discoveries came when Rocky moved in T̷h̴e̵ ̵H̸a̷i̶l̵ ̸M̵a̸r̶y̵.
“What, question,” Rocky said in disbelief.
“What ‘what’? I’m gonna run. To do exercises because if I don’t move enough, I won’t be healthy.”
“How long can you run, question,” Rocky in awe sensed as the alien went up on a running machine on its own will. The Eridians were not built for long runs, and actually never ever did it for health, or fun, or anything at all. Their body could do it, of course, and they could be pretty quick for several exhausting minutes but then their body just gave up – it was too hot and they couldn’t release enough steam to cool themselves down fast. So, they just passed out.
“I’m not an athlete and in the space now so it will be not that long. About thirty minutes at a lazy pace. I think I was better when I was down on Earth. Hm.”
And with that Grace started its run. Rocky still couldn’t wrap his mind around it.
“But what about all that inside energy, question. Bad, bad, bad for all body parts!”
“Buddy, that’s why humans sweat.” Grace said and bared its t̷e̵e̴t̶h̶ in a s̵m̷i̸l̴e̴. It was happy.
Oh, ancestors… It was a predator after all. And there was only one h̴u̵m̶a̶n̵ being and Grace said that they used to hunt in packs.
Horrific. Five to ten sweaty and oily beings with sticks and stones in their paws running after you for literally hours was a very unpleasant situation.
So, it was a measure of time until Rocky would ask Grace about that. Like…
“If we were on Earth, would Grace hunt Rocky, question.”
Grace stumbled with surprise and abruptly stopped. Its body was louder with a pumping heart and rushing blood, but the alien was completely fine because it still could move and talk.
“W-what? What is that all about? Of course not, you’re my friend, Rocky.”
It was like a t̴i̶g̴e̴r̸ – a carnivorous animal from E̴a̷r̷t̷h̴, Grace once showed him – saying it loved you. Cute.
“No, no, no. I-if, statement. Species to species. Ancient times.”
“I dunno, you guys seem very hard-shell and low meat type, not much for us to eat or take from you. Maybe if there was not enough food… then yeah, I guess. You look like an easy prey.”
With that, Grace came off its running machine and went for different exercises. All its body sang with motion and was so disgustingly leaky – but it was still moving nonstop. Its muscles were in active mode for so long and didn’t give up because of all that stress. Interesting.
“All Rocky plural heavier and stronger than humans, statement.” Rocky didn’t know why he wanted to notice this. But Grace just looked at him with its binocular v̵i̶s̶i̶o̶n̷. Another very uncanny thing of h̴u̵m̶a̶n̵s – they were built for aiming all their attention on one target.
“Yeah, also you can’t wake up while sleeping.”
Well… that was true. And really alarming thought. Rocky made himself shiver.
“Yes, that is why we have a society, family, – to help each other and together protect ourselves.”
The alien agreed with the motion of its head because their society was the same after all. Rocky still had one or five very unpleasant thoughts of Grace’s society but didn’t start the dialog of why Grace was in the space all over again.
“Though, maybe, if we do hunt you, there is a chance that a human can make one of your kind to leave others unsupervised for a little bit. I think, for a hunter in the wild it’s not a big deal to master that trick,” Grace said after a minute and Rocky huffed.
“How can you do it if they know that it’s dangerous outside, question.”
Grace stared him down for a second and began to whistle. It was just a few notes that imitated the simplest words that were needed for Eridian pebbles.
“♫Help… Am h♫ere… Co♫me…”
Rocky shivered once more. If it was speaking out there in the wild with that pebble voice and calling to come closer, well… It would be the end for the fool who wants to help a little one who, in fact, was a deadly predator with a voice of a child. It was so terrifying to listen, even knowing that Grace didn’t want to ever hurt him or use its abilities of an Eridian siren to kill anyone. Still, it was too off-putting to ignore.
Especially when Rocky knew and was fully aware that it wasn’t a pebble here but an alien, and he still sensed an urge to find and help that child right now.
So Rocky made an angry step and screeched. Grace stopped and covered its ears in shook.
“Do not do that ever again, statement.”
“Alright! Alright! Jeez, you scared me!”
“Grace scared Rocky first! Bad, bad, bad, do not do that voice!”
“Sorry, sorry, I thought that was interesting to try… jeez… I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
There was uneasy silence while Grace was over its exercises. It was two hours of its healthy stuff and his body was really gross and oily but still ready for a motion – what a crazy freak of nature.
“Rocky glad that human species can’t evolve on Erid. Scary leaky, ew.”
“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Grace said with its brows frowned. “Well, then Grace glad that Rocky’s species can’t evolve on Earth! Bossy rock spiders, boo.”
“Rocky species…” Rocky started but Grace playfully kicked his ball with a foot and he lost his balance a little. After that they run a few laps around the ship for giggles until Rocky felt a little too hot in his ball.
Well, it was nice to have a pocket predator who chased only when Rocky wanted to and understood when the fun was over.
A-and after some time Grace just happened to be more gross than ever.
Because now it was v̵o̷m̷i̸t̶i̴n̴g̷ ̸. Rocky didn’t have a word for it because Eridians didn’t do it at all.
All liquid and food from the stomach were presented outside of the alien body and… well.. it was bad.
“Why are you even have that body response, question,” Rocky was, once again, a little bit horrified. He couldn’t imagine that he ate and then spit it all again, especially when Eridians went to sleep right after the meal.
Grace was in its nest now shivering a little but mostly okay after that performance.
“We need it if we eat something bad so it doesn’t kill us.”
“And it still can kill you,” Rocky hmphed.
The alien made a chuckle.
“Yeah. But it could be worse. In the wild you may not know what you can eat so you kinda try all that nature gives you. Fifty-fifty chance that you will be okay. Not so bad, huh?”
Rocky was speechless. So, Grace’s species was so beyond greediness that they could eat something they shouldn’t touch than v̴o̸m̷i̶t̵t̶e̷d̷ and right after that just ran for another round of a food trying?
If Eridian ate something toxic or what they weren’t supposed to eat – they were dead. No v̵o̷m̷i̸t̶i̴n̴g̷ ̸. Just dead. That’s why they ate in private and shredded the food in those small pieces by claws – everything that went inside could go outside only after a long digestive cycle.
“How are you even alive with these chances,” Rocky mastered after a pause, he didn’t even put ‘question’ at the end and Grace barked a laugh.
“We’re lucky!”
And pretty dumb. Fortune favored them so Rocky did too.
Now he needed to find words for how to present that gross greedy alien predator to Eridian society.
Well, Grace was funny and cute. Should be working from there.