Achilles

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. ThudthudthudthudthudthudTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUD

Grace slithers out of bed, inconveniently woken up by the loudest door banging he's ever heard in his life. He wraps himself up in a blanket and stumbles towards the ruckus trying to keep his eyes open enough not to trip over his own feet. “Gosh, Rocky, you’re an impatient one.” Grace groans as he opens the door for his Eridian friend. Rocky comes strutting into the house like it’s his own. Well, technically speaking, it kind of is. “Good morning Grace!” he sings excitedly on his way in. “Ready for today?” Grace yawns, trying to get a hold of his bearings and shake off the remnants of a really strange dream he was having. Wait, what’s happening today? It takes him a moment to remember what they had planned. “Oh, the seminar? Yeah, yeah, I’m excited!” the microbiologist sits down on one of the kitchen chairs still wrapped in blankets and half asleep. Armando places a mug of synthesized coffee in front of him, earning a thumbs down and a croaky “thank you”. The Eridians did a bang-up job of simulating the effects and the taste of the beverage. Now that he’s a little more awake, Grace notices a bunch of xenonite containers that Rocky was carrying on this back. His head? His face? Whatever, on top of him. “Rocky bring samples. Grace bring equipment?” Rocky unloads the containers onto the floor and starts putting them on the kitchen table. “Yes, it’s in my room, I’ll set it up in a bit.” “Good good good. Scientists come in twenty minutes, so Grace hurry.” What in the world, did I sleep in that much? Grace looks at the clock and yes, he did indeed sleep in. He now has to eat, shower, brush his teeth and set up the equipment all in twenty minutes time. Welp. Thank Universe for the Eridian coffee.

One frantic glasses search and one stubbed toe later the kitchen table has turned into a miniature science lab. The equipment that Grace brought in yesterday from aboard the Hail Mary was just the essentials: the atomic resolution microscope, the element analyzer, a Geiger counter, some scalpels, gloves, goggles and a respirator. Safety first, kids. Rocky keeps reorganizing things on the table, either because he really wants to help but doesn't know how else to do it, or he just isn’t satisfied with Grace’s arrangement skills. We’ll never know for sure.

Knock knock knock. The Eridian scientists have arrived. “See, this is how polite people knock on door,” Grace points out jokingly with a cheeky grin, gets up from his chair and proceeds to let the guests in. Rocky regrets he doesn’t have a tongue, or he’d show it to Grace in a gesture of playful retaliation. The scientist team includes five of some of the most prominent scientists on Erid. Grace has already met them more than once, to learn from them about their wonderful planet and to teach them about his own. Today's seminar was going to be mutually informative. Grace welcomes everyone to the kitchen which gets a little crowded. Admittedly, it wasn’t designed to hold a whole human and six whole Eridians but they make do with what they have. “Alrighty, let’s begin!” Grace claps his hands in excited anticipation. “From what I understand, you guys want me to examine these samples over here and tell you what they are called on Earth, correct?” “Yes, is correct,” a small round red Eridian with yellow spots replies. Grace named them Isaac for convenience. “Okay. Can you guys tell me what these are first?” “Samples of minerals found on Erid,” a big pyramid blue-green scientist says. That’s Marie. “Scientists want to know if exist on Earth too,” sings Albert, the tall black one with white layers. “Scientists want to know names of rocks,” this orange-yellow Eridian’s name is Lynn. “And thank you for time, Dr. Grace!” that’s Charles. They always say “thank you” for everything. Very lovely. “Oh, no, it’s my pleasure,” Grace replies, trying to decide how to start the examination.

Eventually he determines that the first step would be to see if any of the samples are radioactive. The microbiologist takes the Geiger counter, turns it on and holds it next to each container for a while. None of them elicit a negative reaction from the device. That’s a great start. Grace opens the first container and takes the mineral out. It’s a gorgeous deep green rock, with visible layers like a tree’s annual rings. He has a vague idea of what it might be. The element analyzer shows a “Cu2CO3(OH)2” formula on the screen. A quick consult with the laptop confirms Grace’s theory. “This is malachite,” he proclaims to the scientists. It makes them chirp with excitement. “In Eridian is called ♪♫♫♫♪♪,” explains Lynn and Grace records the word on the laptop to learn later. “It’s very pretty,” says the microbiologist, “kind of reminds me of Adrian, eh, Rock?” Rocky softly purrs in agreement. The next container holds a hard white rock with several grey spots. Grace doesn’t recognize this one. He inspects it with the analyzer and searches it on the laptop for a while before finally concluding: “This, I believe, is called dolomite.” Eridian scientists murmur in fascination. “There’s a mountain range on Earth called the Dolomites, because the mountains are mostly made of it. It’s named after the scientist who discovered it. I actually visited the area when I was in Italy for a biology conference and it was stunning. The nature there is absolutely breathtaking—" Grace realizes that he’s starting to digress from the topic. They’re not here to listen about his academic adventures in Europe. They’re here to listen about rocks. That happened a lot when he was a teacher on Earth. The students knew that he liked to talk about everything and anything and tried to steer him into telling them fun stories from his life every chance they got. How long ago was that? “Dr. Grace?” Isaac softly calls him. Oh shoot, I spaced out! “Yes, I’m here, moving on,” Grace composes himself quickly. Good thing that Eridians can’t see color, or they would have seen his face turning red. Third sample is a transparent cluster of crystals. The analyzer shows silicon dioxide on the screen. So it’s quartz. “It’s quartz.” Grace lifts it up and it sparkles beautifully in the light. “Sand on the beach is mostly made of tiny quartz crystals. But you guys already know that.” Container number four. Another transparent crystal. This one is chunkier and much clearer than quartz. Grace scans it with the analyzer. “Straight up carbon. I don’t even need to double check, this is a diamond, everybody.” Microbiologist takes its sharp edge to the previous crystal and it leaves a scratch on the surface. Yup, that tracks. “This is the hardest naturally occurring substance on Earth. Humans make tools and jewelry out of it. It’s sort of a tradition to give a ring with a diamond on it to your mate, when you want them to marry you.” Isn’t it stupid though? Here, my love, have this overpriced piece of pressurized carbon to signify our eternal devotion to each other. We are now in debt. Grace isn’t a fan of this idea, as you can see.

Time to open the last container. When Grace tilts it over, a snow-white piece of mineral hits his hand. It’s very light and leaves powdery residue everywhere. He immediately knows exactly what it is. Back on Earth he held it in his hands every day for years. A soft smile lights up his face. “Calcium carbonate. Chalk.” The analyzer confirms the teacher’s words. “On Earth we use it a lot in schools. You write with it on a blackboard and it’s easy to clean up after.” The Eridian scientists harmonize in understanding. Grace tosses the chalk up in his hand. The memories from his teaching days are flooding in all at once. Everyday classes, crazy lab projects, science fairs, detentions, exams, proms, competition victories and so on. The teacher is sitting at the table, lost in thought, staring at this piece of chalk with a smile. The feelings are bittersweet, and the human can feel tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. He misses these days a lot. Suddenly something else hits him in the back of his mind. This is a strange sensation. He can feel it in his bones for some reason. Is this a craving? For calcium? Now that he thinks about it, he's probably not getting enough of it from Eridian food. He fidgets with this piece of chalk for a moment and then lets the intrusive thoughts win. Without thinking too much Grace lifts the chalk to his face, opens his mouth and bites down on it with the right side of his teeth. The chalk doesn’t give at first, but with a bit more pressure from the man’s canines it shatters into pieces. A good chunk lands in Grace’s mouth and he starts to chew. It’s crunchy, powdery, very dry and doesn’t really taste like anything, but oh, it’s so satisfying. The teacher sits in one place, staring into the distance, the chalk turning into paste in his mouth and it feels so good that he lets out a sigh of pleasure, like when you’ve been starving for days and then take the first bite of the best pizza of your life. It takes Grace a moment to notice, but the room is now perfectly silent. The Eridian scientists aren’t talking anymore. They’re just standing there completely frozen, watching him. If Eridians had facial features, in this moment they would look absolutely horrified. Grace swallows the chalky paste and looks around the room, confused as to what happened. And just as it dawns on him he hears Rocky’s melodically disturbed voice: