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@dr-rylandgrace
Dr. Ryland Grace, sending transmission…
Message received.
>><<
<Hello, strangers! Rocky, Adrian, some Eridian scientists, and I have developed better interstellar travel and communication, and have decided to establish a social media presence!>
Info:
Erid is 16 light years from earth, and the newly revamped Hail Mary ship can bend space time and travel those distances in days. This leads to some… odd universal conundrums.
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The comms flickered to life as a strange, almost garbled sound came out of it. It took several seconds before the sound dialed into a female voice. She sounded desperate and tired.
H-Hello? I-Is someone out there? I've been trying to secure contact for days...
@the-blood-monster
Grace, bored out of his mind like usual on this dang ship and having been trying to find something to read, was startled up from his seat when he heard a voice over the comms. Not only was he not broadcasting anywhere, he thought they were turned off completely—
Hurrying up to the control room to turn on outgoing communication, Grace also extended out the sonar detector.
“I, uh— yes. I am reading you. This is Dr, uh— Captain Ryland Grace aboard the Hail Mary,” he fumbled, trying to talk like a normal astronaut. “How are you all the way out here..?”
I- I've been stuck out here. For how long, I don't know... I-I was supposed to be finding someone- But my engines cut out days ago. It's really just been me and whatever remaining supplies are left in my ship...
The voice speaks frantically, like she's been desperate for any kind of connection. She does sound relieved to have finally found someone, though. Like a huge weight has been lifted off of her shoulders.
“Your engines cut out—?” Grace echoed, a familiar fear pooling in his gut, just like when Rocky was stranded because of the taumeoba leak.
“I… I don’t see you on my sensors. Do you have coordinates, or— maybe, can you recognize the star positions around you?” Grace tried, still trying to make the sensor work properly. “I’m going to try and find you and get you into somewhere safer as best as I can.” He insisted.
There was some quiet rustling down in the dorm area. Rocky had been asleep a moment ago.
Star patterns or coordinates... Y-Yeah, I can look around for you-
Her comm goes silent as she looks at her "sensors" to see what's around her.
Okay, so, I'm at [coordinates]. Does that... Does that help you?
Blip-A detected.
Grace paused for a second, looking over at the sensor as the blip appeared at the corner of it. “Oh, you’re really close—“ he said under his breath. “Okay, I am… going to approach. What sort of ship are you in?”
Securing himself to the pilot’s seat, the Hail Mary powered up. He started flicking a couple of levers, overriding to take manual control.
There was a bit more rustling in the other section of the ship, along with a distant call of, “Grace, question?”
I-It's not a huge ship, by any means... Just large enough for me and the person I need to rescue.
The way she says person doesn't seem... Right. It's off-putting and uncanny.
Grace paused, hand on the control but not moving the ship yet. “…who were you trying to rescue..?” He asked cautiously, a bit put off by their tone of voice.
He paused. “Who are you, again?”
“Who is Grace talking to, question??”
I'm Elli. But you can simply call me the Blood Eel. And I'm looking for S̶̰̊ḯ̵̦m̵̟͝ò̸̦n̸̝̓.
Their voice distorted and crackled as their true intentions became clear. They were done hiding.
Grace paled at the sound of the… Blood Eel’s voice. While he was rebooting his brain, Rocky tumbled into the control room, rambling that he could hear something on the sensors and to ‘fly fast fast fast’.
Coming back to himself, Grace began hitting some buttons hurriedly. “Yep, yep, doing that—“ He then raised his voice a bit more. “I, uh— don’t know any Simons. Sorry. But, good luck—! We’re going to leave now, sorry, bye—!”
With that, he grabbed the throttle and started pushing the ship away from the blip on the radar.
You do. I can sense him. You can't avoid me forever. I will get what I've been searching for.
They follow after the Hail Mary, not wanting to let it get away from their reach.
“Oh, my gosh, how is it following us—?” Grace said in a squeak under his breath as he watched the radar pick up the blip again.
“No, you must be mistaken. No Simons here. No idea who that is. You should try a couple galaxies over, though. He might be in a supermassive blackhole,” he said, trying to be witty, but admittedly really scared as he pushed on the throttle, causing Rocky to have to brace himself on the wall and floor.
They... Swim? Is that what the Blood Eel is doing right now? Swimming through space?
Either way, they are making their way towards the Hail Mary. It is not super fast, by any means, but it's sheer size does lend it some reach.
Stop fleeing. It makes this much harder on both of us. Just return Simon to me, and nothing bad has to happen.
“Oh, my goodness, how the heck—“ Grace muttered under his breath as he watched the Eel swim through space with its horrifying— everything.
“Naahh, I don’t think imma do that. You’ve got a weird obsession with this guy, you know? Not healthy. Maybe you could go get some other guy. That Simon dude definitely isn’t here—!” He laughed shakily, pushing the throttle harder.
There was a grunt of slight pain from the back of the ship by the dorm area. Simon woke up and he probably rolled off the bed. Not good.
No, no. I can't go and find someone else. I need Simon.
It continued pursuing the Hail Mary, tempted to just get the ship in its jaws so this mortal stops fleeing from it.
He will save us. Now let me have him.
Grace tried some sort of invasive maneuver, weaving the ship a bit to the left just in case that thing tried to bite the ship.
“Can’t we just talk about this?? I’m sure we can find something to help without any chasing and kidnapping—!” He tried, loud and a bit desperate.
(pjo crossover GO)
Grace was walking along the beach, staring out at the water. It was nice. Peaceful, even. Until he noticed something, no.. Someone? Standing under the shadow of a large rock. They were incredibly thin and had the longest brown hair he'd ever seen. They were pretty far away, but it seemed like their eyes were closed?.
@eyeless-insect
Grace paused for a moment, staring at the figure beneath the rock’s shadow, as if trying to figure out if they were real or not. Then, after a minute or two and confirming that they were real, at least mentally, he started forward cautiously.
“…hello?” He called hesitantly. Was the person even awake-? Their eyes seemed to be closed— “Who’s there?”
'Huh?!- Oh, shit uhm..' The figure shot up in surprise, though they were still hunched over a bit. Or their back was just.. Really bent. Their eyes remained closed, but.. Now that grace got closer, he could see what looked to be.. Multiple eyes. 18 in total. All closed. 'Uhm... M-mind telling me where I am?..' His voice was raspy, and he sounded decently young.
Grace couldn’t help but stare at the closed eyes when he got closer, but he tore his gaze away as quickly as he could. No reason to be rude and stare. He’s met an alien, for gosh sake! He can handle some… extra eyes.
Also, they seemed to be a child, and he was much more focused on his ‘help the kid’ instinct.
“Well… This is 40-Eridani ab. 16 point something light years away from Earth,” he said, careful and steady.
'HUH?!' He yelped, clearly surprised. 'I'M NOT ON EARTH?!' He 'looked' around rapidly, body trembling. He sighed, running a bony hand through his hair. 'Okay uh.... I've been in Tartarus! I-I've been in the literal Underworld, I'm DEAD..! Not being on earth isn't that weird...' He muttered, letting out a long breath.
“You’ve been wh— you’re what!?” Grace exclaimed in a stammer, hands out in front of him in shock. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish for a moment before giving up on trying to articulate, and just rubbing his face.
“Okay, so… you’re from Earth, and you keep making Greek mythology references,” he clarified for himself after a moment, under his breath. “But you also have a bunch of closed eyes. Way too many. And you look like you need more food.”
He paused. “Food,” he repeated louder. “I can fix that. Okay, hi. I’m Ryland Grace. I have food. Do you want food?” Wow, that was awkward.
He watched Grace for a second, not too surprised by his shock. 'Huh.. So you can see through the mist, okay..' He mumbled to himself.
'Uh, well.. I am, y'know, dead, so.. I don't need food.' He muttered, scratching the back of his neck. 'Bee, by the way. Bee Boggs. I'm uh.. A child of Hades.' He held a hand out.
“Mist..?” Grace echoed under his breath, still very baffled, but trying to make the best of this. “Well, even if you don’t need food, you could still have some food. Though, I was also just thinking that you might need it because you’re pale and bony, but that might just be a dead thing…”
Shaking his head slightly, Grace took a breath. “Nice to meet you, Bee. I’m very confused,” he said in the strongest voice he’s managed this whole time, shaking the other’s hand.
'Nice to uh.. Meet you too.' He said, his head swiveling as if he was actually looking around. 'I'm.. Not as confused as I was. Not being on earth is honestly uhh.. Normal-ish for me.?' He chuckled awkwardly.
'So.. How'd you even get here?' He asked, tilting his head.
Grace blinked. “That’s a bit weird, but fair enough,” he shrugged. He’s seen enough that this isn’t wildly crazy. I mean, he hasn’t been on Earth in a while, so who was he to judge?
“Well… I had to be sent on a mission to save the sun from sun-eating alien microorganisms. Supposed to be a one-way, found an alien, and he let me go home with him,” Grace tried to explain as simply as possible.
'Oh. That's uh.. Interesting.. I think I heard something about the sun thing a few years ago?. Don't remember it all that well.' He hummed in thought, tapping his chin. 'Well.. It's good that you're not dead, I guess.'
“Yeah, it was a bit ago for earth, and everything should be fine now, so…” he shrugged. “I’m glad I’m not dead, too. Not sure how you’re dead and still here, but I am not happy that you’re dead. I mean— aren’t you a kid?”
'Uhh.. It's a bit confusing..' He muttered, fidgeting his with hands. 'I'm a uh.. Child of Hades, y'know, Greek god of the dead. I can shadow travel, which is travelling through shadows.. I guess I must have gone to the wrong beach, since, y'know, I'm.. Here, and not on earth.' He explained, sitting on the ground. 'Also, I'm 21.' He added.
He blinked. Child of a Greek god. Okay. Sure. Not the craziest thing he’s seen.
“Shadow travel. Huh. I mean, there’s a beach on earth that’s almost identical to this, it that must’ve gotten mixed up or something,” he hummed, following the other’s lead and sitting down as well. He squinted at him. “You’re less than half my age, so I’m still going to count you as a sort-of kid. You’re young.”
“So… are you like Heracles or… Perseus, or, like— Acheillies, then? A, uh— demigod?”
'Oh, gods no. I'm not that important. I am a demigod, yes, but.. There's a lot of other Demigods out there, too.' He chuckled, waving a hand. 'I was originally trying to visit a place called Camp Halfblood. A summer camp for Demigods. I'm not.. Technically supposed to be there, but.. I wanted to see my kid.' He explained.
“Summer camp for— geez, there must be a lot of you if there’s an entire summer camp,” he paused. “Does make sense, though. The Greek gods could never keep it in their pants, could they?” He added flatly.
After a second, Grace looked over at Bee curiously. “You’ve got a kid?” He asked. “Well, if you’ve got a kid at this summer camp, you should be allowed to visit them sometimes. Right?”
He shrugged. 'I can. I'm just.. Not supposed to. But hey, I'm dead, what can they do?' He laughed. 'But.. Yeah. It's name is Stavros. It's technically not my kid, since no paperwork or anything was done. It's a child of Tartarus, so.. I take it to visit sometimes.' He hummed.
Grace’s eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, but he decided asking more questions would just make this all more confusing.
“Sounds… complicated,” he commented. “Good you figured something out. I know how complicated stuff like that can be. I was a teacher, so— I’ve heard some stories.”
◇certainly a scenario
RP starter for @dr-rylandgrace :D
Take your time to answer, never fell rushed and if you ever get bored or whatever, just tell me! Appreciate ya!
❝....So you're here to stop the Sun from dimming? With those uh, my-crow-organs?❞ close enough right? ❝You're the sun protector!❞ Dylan chuckled, smiling a little easier now as he grabbed the railing again to steady himself.
❝Huh. Weird. Why's it make us float? Is that normal? How'd they figure we can travel space? Can we go outside the ship? What do stars look like up close?... 2040?❞ he gasped and looked up at grace, his one eye wide.
❝The human race lives that long? Damn. How long have you been up here? How long do people usually stay up in space? Are you the first?❞ Ok, now he's kinda back to how he usually is, firing 20+ questions.
At the prospect that the other was a teacher, Dylan hummed and nodded. ❝Works for me. Never had a 'teacher' before..... and uh, no,❞ he frowned.
❝Well, maybe. It's weird. Uh. I guess 'm kinda a multidimensional person, ever since a... incident took place. Happened to my brother too, said sometimes he'll see things, or go to different places that aren't where he's supposed to be.❞
“I guess I am sort of a ‘sun protector’,” Grace chuckled lightly. “A fun title to come out of this craziness, I suppose.”
Then, at the sudden influx of curious questions, Grace found himself floundering for where to start. There was a lot to talk about here. Maybe he should just start by responding to the last statement.
Grace took a breath.
“It’s sort of insane to think this isn’t your first instance of interdimensional travel. Really hope you’ve been safe most of the time through all of that,” he comments.
“For your questions, though—“ he starts, “we are floating because there is no gravity in space, which is what keeps your feet on the ground on Earth. Humans do indeed live until the 21st century.”
“I’ve been up here…” he trailed off, trying to figure out if he should explain time dilation or not. He ultimately decides not to. “About five or six years, but I’m not the first person in space by a long shot. That happened in the 1960s. I do think I’ve been up for the longest single stretch of time, though.”
Grace nodded to himself. “But, uh— once I fire up the boosters again, we should have gravity and stuff,” he paused. “Which— do you want to see the ship?”
Dylan snickered, rolling around as he floated. This was becoming more fun by the minute. ❝the word safe isn't really in my life, but I'll say yes jus' to make ya worry less if that helps.❞ He beamed at Grace, about all fear gone, now just a curious guy.
❝Gravity? Ohhhh, right. That. We can breath without gravity? We are breathing yes?❞ he seemed to snort at hid own question, ❝Course we are. We can go to space though-er- you lot can, that's amazing. Kinda scary though. But cool.❞
He turned his head to look back at him as he turned. ❝1960's huh... alright. Wonder how they figured it out. How'd they figure? Six years is a long time. What do you do up here?❞
At the questions his eye seemed to shine, ❝Yes. Yes absolutely I would. Yes. Can we now? A tour! I've only ever had a tour once in my life i think. Didn't end well.... but I have a notion you arn't the kind to put a gun to my head. Wouldn't bother anyhow if you were thinking of doing so.❞
❝...Do you like it up here?❞
Grace smiled as he saw the tension and anxiety leave the kid’s body. Now, he was bouncing around and asking questions, curious to know more. Honestly, he thought it was impressive that Dylan hadn’t panicked for longer. Grace did. He had a bit of a, uh— meltdown when he woke up here.
“There was a whole race between some global superpowers to see who could get to space first. It was a whole thing,” Grace said, not fully getting into detail because he knew he could ramble for hours. “I, uh, mostly fill my time with science stuff and movies, but I was sent up here on a mission originally. It’s alright in space. Just… a little scary.” He chuckled nervously.
Grace sighed. “You really concern me, buddy. No guns I’m planning on ever getting out of it’s unlocked case anytime soon up here,” he added briefly before nodding towards the opening to the next room, “Let me show you around—“
Leading him inside, Grace drifted forward, peeking around the corner to make sure Rocky wasn’t in the next room to open his arms and gesture around. “This is just data storage. Oh, you don’t know computers do you— uh, it’s a bunch of information stored with electricity. Next room ahead of us is the system that runs the ship. Not super exciting…”
Coming to an intersection, one side held a window, but Grace gestured to the room across from it. “Down there is the lab. Science stuff.”
*injects grace with orange liquid labeled 'fox DNA' while he's sleeping and runs away in glee*
Mmf— h— what? Who js’—
No needles. Nooo needles.
[ Grace rolls over and goes back to sleep, pulling his blanket over his head. Now with an achey tailbone and unknowing of orange fur starting to grow in patches around his body. ]
[Rose knock on the door to Grace’s room before entering.]
Hey Grace Roc-
[She notices the fur.]
Um, Rocky? We’ve got a problem!
[Her heartrate is evelated as she panicks for her friend.]
[ Grace snorted awake, looking up blearily at Rose, every sound feeling like it’s reverberating through his head. He groaned. ]
“Rose, s’op yellin’… ‘s too early—“
[ Putting his hands up to cover his ears, Grace feels a bit of fluffiness and just blinks, confused. ]
“What..?”
[ There is some distant clanking as Rocky hurries towards the room. ]
Uhh- Grace, don’t freak out, but-
[She pauses.]
You have what I presume to be fur-
[She’s trying not to panic at the sight of her friend changing.]
“Fur..? No, ‘s hair, see?”
[ Grace plopped both hands on top of his head, smooshing down his new ears. He seemed utterly baffled. ]
“Why’d it get quiet—?”
[ He paused for a second, his brain slowly catching up. Behind him, his new tail flicked curiously. This drew Grace’s attention. ]
“…what the heck is that—?!”
I- um- you have-
[She guestures vaguely at her own tail that the mutations have her.]
Ooc: it be funny if Rocky knocked Rose over.
[ Grace looked at his tail, then at Rose, then back. ]
“Did your mutations somehow spread to—“
[ Rocky burst inside, cutting Grace off and barreling over Rose to get to Grace. ]
“<GRACE!! WHAT WRONG, QUESTION? Grace— have new libs!?? Where did soft texture come from??>”
Ack!-
[Rose yelps as she is run over.]
I- I don’t think so, otherwise that tail would look more like mine. Yours, I believe, is a fox tail?
Grace’s new ears flatten at the loud sounds from Rocky barreling into Rose, and he grimaces slightly.
“…a fox— I… I guess it does look like that,” he said slowly. “Why would I be— yes, Rocky I have new limbs, no I don’t know why— this is insane—!”
[Rose sits up, wincing slightly.]
You okay? I- mean after the, um.... growths?- I don't know what to call them.
“Other than a bit achey, I… think so?”
[ Grace shrugged. ]
“Everything’s overwhelming, and my… tail is weird, but otherwise, I’m normal.”
[ His tail flicked. Grace stared at it, as if baffled it had just moved. ]
[Rose gets up from the floor.]
They look soft..
[She mumbles, moving closer, but keeping her hands behind herself.]
[ Grace hummed. ]
“I mean, it sort of does…”
[ Cautiously, Grace put a hand on his own tail, shuddering slightly when he could actually feel his own touch, but learning it was, in fact, soft. ]
“Insane. I’m insane. This is insane.”
Yeah.. But how did this happen? It’s not like a person can spontaneously grow animal traits at will.
[Rose is very confused.]
“I… I don’t know, honestly. I mean, is there any radiation in here, or… did something weird happen with the universe, again—?”
[ Grace speculated, just as he noticed his fluffy and padded hands, poking at them with utter confusion. ]
Did you feel anything last night when you were sleeping?
[She sits on the edge of his bed.]
[ Grace shrugged, pushing Rocky off of him and sitting up. He scratched the back of his head. ]
Not that I can remember.
Though, that isn’t saying much. I still forget stuff easily because of… the stuff. Before.
[ he paused. ]
Is there any sort of… chemical thing in the air..? Can you see anything on my skin?
[Rose looks over him from where she’s sitting and notices a small puncture wound on his neck.]
[She stands and gently grasps his chin, tilting his head to the side to get a better look.]
I think you have some sort of injection site here..
[ Grace stiffened, raising a hand to his neck to try and see if he could feel the supposed injection site. He didn’t have great experiences with needles in the past, so he was… freaking out. Internally. ]
“A— are you sure?”
“Why would— who could have—“
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Mary's voice echoes through the overhead speakers in the lab.
"Object detected."
Something was outside.
A ship, larger than the Hail Mary and covered in angular panels (kind of looks like a shark?), painted black and dark purple, floats besides the Hail Mary.
@asktfan-official
(ooc: HIII. uh. big alien ship :] looks like the Nemesis from Transformers Prime if you want a good idea of what it looks like-)
Grace jumped at Mary’s voice, having been previously sucked into some random research paper on the computer. “H— what?” He got up, shoving his glasses up on his nose and hurried up to the control room.
“We’re in the middle of space, in between solar systems, why would there be anything out here—?” He grumbled to himself, tapping on one of the display screens to pull up the sonar display. Squinting at the object’s location, he determined it was just about outside of the right window.
Moving over to the window, he paused, spotting the large ship before he even got very close. It looked like something out of a space movie. Like— one of the bad guy ships. Though, Rocky’s didn’t look very friendly at first, either.
“Oh, geez,” he put a hand to his head. “There are more aliens.”
It floats closer, getting up right besides the Hail Mary.
Mary's voice rings through the speakers again.
"Incoming transmission."
"Unknown language. Attempting translation."
"Translation failed."
"Retrying..."
Mary goes eerily quiet for a long moment.
Then alarms start blaring, red lights flickering on an off in steady beats as Mary keeps repeating,
"Firewall breach detected. Firewall breach detected. Firewall brea-"
Until it stops.
"New language packet received."
"Incoming transmission."
"Unknown language. Attempting translation..."
A pause.
"Translation complete."
"Hello? This is Prowl, co-commander of the Union. Please respond."
A calm yet slightly disgruntled voice calls out through the speakers.
The second the something began trying to breach the firewall, Grace hurried over to some different control and translation panels, using his very small amount of computer knowledge to try and prevent the breach to no avail. But— when it did breach, it was just a language package. Oh. Not a threat, maybe?
Grace jumped at the voice coming through the speakers, embarrassingly. A very gruff and deep voice belonging to someone named.. Prowl? It must just translate into Prowl or something— like Estrella being Star or— he scolded himself to focus.
After a couple of steadying breaths, Grace shakily pressed on the button to transmit communications. “…uh— hello. This is Captain, uh— Dr. Grace on the Hail Mary—“ he tried to copy the formal wording the other used. “What are you— doing out here?”
So— to anyone who didn’t know, I apparently have a cat now. Their name is Félicette, but I call them ‘Cette for short sometimes.
Uh, they’re… sleeping on my chest. Purring very loudly. So, uh— if someone could tell Rocky to let my students and their parents know that I can’t make it to class today, that would be great.
I don’t want to wake up ‘Cette.
.hey this is john
.and paul
.and george
.and ringo
.for some reason we’re alive now
.and no one on earth is dying, or aging for that matter
.did you tell him about the football
.no dude not yet
.anyway just thought you should know bye
Wh— are you guys the real Beatles?? How—
I… okay. Sure. Yep.
As good as it sounds that nobody on earth is dying or aging, that also sounds like it might have significant problems to agriculture and, well— getting enough food and water and shelter and—
Oh, geez. What the heck.
{ Are those the Beatles or the beetles? }
{ Seems like an important distinction to make. }
I think—
I actually don’t know. They didn’t technically state it, but I also don’t think the beetles had the ability to communicate past location signals…
Woah if you're taking period cramps can you take mine too, they're pissing me off
- Casper
I— I have like three people’s period cramps right now— I don’t really want any more—!
Can’t you, like— have some pain medication or something? Does that work for this bad of pain..?
I guessss okayy I'll just suffer through it then since you secretly hate me
This was a joke btw are you ok do I need to bring YOU pain meds?
ⁱ ʰᵃᵛᵉ ˢᵒᵐᵉ ⁱⁿ ᵐʸ ᶜᵃᵇⁱⁿᵉᵗ ᵗʰᵉʸ ᵐⁱᵍʰᵗ ᵇᵉ ᵉˣᵖⁱʳᵉᵈ ᵗʰᵒ
What?? I don’t— I— no, you keep your medication. Actually get new stuff, and you have that. Please.
I’m fine. I’ll be fine.
Wait, any chance you have pain meds left from the Hail Mary? Those HAVE to help, I’m pretty sure they would’ve given you the good stuff.
I… used most of it in the years getting back to Erid, and I’m sort of saving the last of it just in case there are any big injuries I really need them for.
Can’t really— owowow— use them for menial things like this.
Rp starter for @ask-nosignificantharassment !!
———————
To say Grace was getting a bit bored while drifting through space towards Erid would be an understatement. Sure, he had Rocky and an almost endless amount of digital media to look through, but being in a small space gets to you after some time.
But really, Mary detecting an odd signal from some part of space made hum way more excited than it should have.
Grace had been lazing about at the window while Rocky slept, though he should be close to waking, when Mary cut through the dead air in the ship with a loud announcement.
“Incoming transmission. Language unknown. Attempting to decipher…”
Grace shot up, nearly falling out of the little indent for the window as he scrambled up to his feet. “Wh— a transmission? What do you mean?”
“Unknown transmission.”
Climbing the ladder up to the control room, Grace huffed, “Yes, Mary. I caught that. Where is it coming from? Can you display the message?”
“Message coming sixty two degrees from the top of the Hail Mary. Displaying message.”
Grace pulled himself up into the room, grabbing the sides of the display screen and squinting at hit as he tried to fix his glasses. All that was displayed was a bunch of boxes with question marks in them. Like when someone puts in an emoji your phone doesn’t know or something.
“…right. Very helpful,” he grumbled. “Uh— Mary, expand blip detection radius and prioritize the north to west sections of the ship. Let’s find this transmission source, shall we?”
No Significant Harassment has been drifting somewhere unknown for a while. Some kind of malfunction occurred in his void fluid engines, so now he was repairing it.
His communication arrays would occasionally emit a call for help. Sig wasn't sure if any other iterators would be able to help him, but hey, they can at least keep him company.
Suddenly, his sensors detect something approaching. Something small, further scans showing it's... a vessel, of some sort. About the size of some medium-sized spaceships his creators would use before they left.
He sends another message:
//ooc: I know the Hail Mary won't be able to display those but fuck it I'm not gonna let that image go to waste, it was so annoying to find a font and a proper background remover
Grace squinted at the screen when another series of boxes with question marks filled it, as if whatever was sending the transmission had sent another one. He sighed in annoyance and leaned back, flopping his arms down to his sides. “Yehp. Very helpful, infinite knowledge computer,” he grumbled.
Just as he was rubbing his face with his palms, Mary interrupted again.
“Blip-A detected.”
Grace shot up from his seat. “Blip— what now? Where?” He scooted over to the display screen, zooming out as far as he could.
“Blip-A detected.”
“Yes, thank you Mary,” he said pointedly as a dot lit up on the sensor map. His breathing hitched. There was something there. And, apparently, it was massive. “Oh. Oh wow. Okay, maybe let’s scoot a little closer. Maybe they’re friendly?” He hopped into the pilot’s seat, strapping in. “Hopefully.”
“Pilot detected.”
“Let’s go see this thing, yeah?” Grace grabbed the steering stick and started towards the ‘blip-a’.
Sig was observing the vessel through his overseers, when it started approaching him. Okay, that's a good start! Whoever or whatever was on there wasn't responding to the messages he sent, though. Well, minus the fact they started approaching. He sends another message, a bit shorter than the ones before.
He didn't move closer; the engines still needed repairs, plus he was worried he'd end up losing control again. After all, he didn't want to accidentally destroy a potential ally. He does, however, move one of his overseers to get a better view of the spaceship. Yes, he could scan it, but... that might be considered a little too invasive...
“Incoming transmission.”
Grace huffs as he slows the Hail Mary to a stop a good couple hundred meters from the alien ship. Glancing out the window, he immediately thought — ‘oh. Wow. Weird.’— not really anything more. After Rocky, he’s fairly desensitized to alien ships. Unfortunately.
“How about an outgoing transmission, huh?” He said under his breath, spinning around the chair to open the radio transmitter. Finding a quick auto translator, he set a simple message through every known language and computer language— including morse and binary— and sent it all in the direction of the alien ship in a loop.
Grace leaned back in the pilot’s seat before deciding to peek his head down to check if Rocky was awake, which— he wasn’t. Of course.
Sig's systems alert him of an incoming signal. Finally, a response! That's... a very long and completely unintelligible message; instead of displaying any proper symbols, there were just... blank rectangles. Huh, so if he was facing this issue... wouldn't that mean that whoever was on the ship had the same problem with his symbols? He sends an audio... well, it technically wasn't a recording, his chamber was currently depressurized, but it was his voice. It was just a simple greeting, no need to complicate.
And then it hit him; that was an alien ship! Sig had some other civilizations in his database, but none of them were capable of space travel other than the Benefactors, his creators! What are they like? They seemed friendly enough. Maybe they'll help him figure out where he is? The navigation system was busted (...he should repair that once he finishes with the engines...), so any help would be great. Okay. Okay. He needs to calm down. He'll figure it out soon enough, he just needs to be patient.
Grace perked up at another incoming transmission— audio, this time. Short, and— he couldn’t understand it. He sighed. They were going to have to figure out each other’s languages, just like he and Rocky did. It’ll be time-consuming, but hopefully successful.
“Mary, can you scan the audio for any recognizable languages?” Grace asked, pushing himself over to the transmitter again to send a simple ‘hello’ in audio out to the other ship. Simple.
Thinking of Rocky, Grace had the wonderful idea to reuse the xenonite container Rocky had thrown to Grace at first to attempt communication. While he waited for any response to his audio, Grace made a shoddy replica of the alien spaceship and the Hail Mary, connected by a stick to try and show that they should hook up to each other’s ship to communicate faster. Then, separately, Grace put in Rocky’s little model of O2 so the alien might figure out that he uses that to breathe. It might work. Hopefully.
Pretty quickly, he threw it out towards the other space ship before reentering the ship. Now to wait.
Sig receives the transmission. Audio, like his. Not any more understandable than the last message, though. Void below, this language barrier is starting to get annoying. If he were to guess what it meant, it's probably a greeting or something. Too short to be much else.
The overseers alert Sig of a new, smaller object approaching from the direction of the ship. He used one of his sample collectors to get it; they weren't much different than the overseers, other than the fact they had two mechanical arms. He brings it into one of his labs, doing some initial scans while it was on its way there. The object was cylindrical and hollow with some other items inside. He wanted to bring it into his chamber, but... getting it to the lab would allow for more detailed scans, so he opted for that. Besides, he can always bring it there later!
Some gasses escaped the container once he opened it. Good thing he opened it in a lab! The gasses couldn't harm him of course, but he wouldn't be able to analyze them in the chamber. It was mostly oxygen, which matched the two rings with eight beads, though there was also some carbon dioxide and ammonia. Now for the items inside... crude models of his superstructure and the spaceship, but the message was clear (finally!). They... wanted to connect? With a tunnel/bridge? How are they planning to do that? His superstructure didn't have the capability, and, to Sig at least, it didn't seem like the ship was able to create something like that, either.
Still, if they can do it... He'll at least show them where the airlocks are. It'd be a pain to find them without any guidance, after all. Sig guides one of the overseers to the lab, taking it apart with the mechanical arms in there. He just needs the hologram projector and the power source from it. After that, he programs the projector to show the ship's current location relative to the airlocks. Considering everything in Sig's superstructure is currently in a vacuum, he cuts open a small hole in the container with a laser. It's a win-win situation; it'll be easier for whoever is on the ship to open it, and he'll have a sample of the container to study!
Sig sends back the container and starts studying the sample while he waits. No point in trying to send transmissions with the language barrier, after all.
Grace hangs around for a while, drifting by Rocky’s sleeping form and keeping an eye on him while he waited for a response. He put on half of his EVA suit to get ready to grab the response in preparation. The alien had to be smart enough to send one back, right? He needed confirmation, and—
“Blip-B detected.”
Perking up, Grace hurried over to the EVA supply area, shoving on his helmet— messing up his glasses, annoyingly. Checking the display for the speed and position of the message, he took it into account as he took a short but nerve wracking space walk to grab it.
Popping it down inside of the gas vent sheild, he opened it up to see, first, there was no gas in it— opening up the glass— and finding a device inside. Picking it up and turning it over revealed… was that a hologram—?? How— it’s possible!? That’s so cool—! Oh, it’s their ship— and… glowing points on it— maybe access points? Airlocks?
“Okay, yeah. Let’s do this,” he said to himself, heading back up to the control room.
Slowly, he brought the Hail Mary’s airlock very very close to the alien ship’s. With some effort, he used the xenonite making things that Rocky had given to him, headed out of the airlock, and started to seal the airlocks together. Easy peasy. Except it took a couple hours. His hands were sore.
Once he was done and made sure it was sealed, Grace knocked on the alien’s airlock door and moved to the back of his own, keeping a wrench close to his side. Despite everything, he was still a bit paranoid.
Sig was immediately alerted when the spaceship reached one of his airlocks, so he activates the lights in that area. Judging by the occasional flicker, it's clear they haven't been in use for a long time. The hallway was decorated with intricate green patterns and symbols. The paint also seemed old and worn down.
He sends a mechanical arm to the area; just about every place in his superstructure had rails for these. The arm had a camera through which Sig observed Grace. How he wishes he could actually... be there.
While waiting, Sig diverted his attention to the sample of the container in his lab, though he was too excited about meeting a new intelligent life form to properly pay attention to it. He locks a different lab; Sig didn't want them to see...
...he shouldn't think about her now.
Ah! The connection is finally finished. Sig moves the mechanical arm closer when Grace knocks, and responds with his own knocks. Should he open his airlock...? What if it puts the other life form in danger? He doesn't want to kill them accidentally. He should allow them to enter eventually, though. Communication isn't exactly feasible like this.
Grace jumped at the nearly immediate knock on the other side of the airlock. Nodding to himself, he took a few breaths and knocked again. He wasn’t sure if they could see him or not, and he was still pretty nervous, so he mostly just acted on instinct.
Making a vague gesture that tried to mime the airlock door opening, Grace tried communicating that they should open it. As long as nothing in there was sweltering hot or way too pressurized, he was safe in the EVA suit. To communicate that, he pointed to his helmet and knocked on it.
“You can, uh— open the door!” He called, as if they could hear or understand him. “I’m safe in the suit!”
Oh! They want him to open the airlock door. The door slides to the side. Sig dismisses the alerts. Yes, he is not following the proper procedure, but there's no air to cycle in the first place, so of course he's not gonna do that. He uses the mechanical arm to point deeper into the hallway, seemingly made for beings taller than humans. There's some small debris floating deeper into the hallway. Yet more signs of abandonment.
Sig waits for the other life form follow. It... feels weird to call them that, but he wants to know how they call their species first.
Watching the door slide to the side— weird— Grace stayed fairly still. Then the little mechanical arm waved him towards the sort of messy hallway ahead.
“Yep. Okay. Alien ship. Entering. I’ll be fine,” he quietly hyped himself up, nerves eating his gut out. “Alright. Let’s go.” He carefully pushed off and started down the way the robot arm pointed.
Sig continued guiding Grace through the empty hallways of his superstructure. The only signs of any kind of life were the mechanical arm and the lights. The walls are covered in intricate patterns; his creators loved decorating just about everything.
Sig lets the mechanical arm automatically guide Grace to his chamber while he works on something else. He needs to figure out how to bring oxygen to his chamber... And how high the pressure in it should be, of course. It'll make things a lot easier for everyone involved, after all.
Grace drifted down the hallways, following the mechanical arm with some hesitancy. His eyes were glued to the walls, every intricate detail fascinating and spawning new questions. Was any of this a language, or just patterns? The alien must be able to see, with the light and flat surface decorating—
Refocusing as the arm turned a corner, he made sure his tether was still attached and followed behind to see… a figure in the next room, hovering in the center of the room, a console attached to a mechanical arm in front of them. There was a bit of a green glow coming from their head— or helmet, maybe, he can’t assume— and some light fabrics draped over their body. Grace paused at the entrance awkwardly, staring at the wide room full of odd circles and way too many screens, raising an arm to wave at them. “Uh… hi..?”
Sig was immediately alerted of Grace's presence. He shuts down the holographic displays and turns towards the alien. It's strange having someone there after so, so long. The movement of the... almost halo-like circles projected behind his head slows down. He waves back, imitating Grace. Hm. That tether might pose a problem if he wants to pressurize the chamber. Eh, he'll work on it later when there's at least a little bit of shared vocabulary. Plus, asking them to detach so he can seal the entrance might get misinterpreted as threatening.
Now, to figure out communication...
Grace stared at the… well, alien— for a long, awkward minute, fascinated and curious— maybe also a bit scared. After a second, he lowered his hand, bonking the side of his helmet lightly on the way down.
“Right— uh…” he trailed off, unhooking the computer he had used before to make the translation device for Rocky and him, starting up a new program.
Grace pointed very obviously at himself. “I’m Grace,” he said as clearly as possible, then paused a second. He grabbed the little microphone and angled it towards them, gesturing to them. “You?”
Sig's just really curious about this alien. And happy to not be alone anymore. He's being careful to not accidentally scare them off, though. He glances at the translation device. Once proper communication is established, he'll scan it; he doesn't wanna do anything potentially invasive, after all.
Oh, they're introducing themselves now! Grace... huh, a strange language.
"[No Significant Harassment]", Sig responds when a device is pointed at him, before pointing at Grace and repeating their name.
He'll probably use whatever language Grace uses. It'll be faster that way, and it's not like his speakers have many limitations.
Grace quickly moved to clip out the audio of the alien speaking and set it to a word, though it took him a second to think of one. “I need a better name for you than I gave Rocky…” he squinted at them. “I dunno. Something spacey? I can’t pronounce whatever you said so…. Let’s call you Nova for now.”
As he typed in the temporary name, Grace heard his name being repeated back at him. Perfectly pronounced, somehow. He looked up at them in bafflement. “You can just—“ he blinked. “Wow. Okay, makes one side of it easier.”
Sectioning for the next word, Grace nodded determinedly to himself. “Basic vocab. Point and name. Easy enough,” he said to himself. This would take a while, he knew, but it would be worth it to get a couple hundred words down for translations.
To start, he pointed at one of the many screens on the wall. “Screen.”
Sig repeated the word after Grace. Figuring out communication will take a while, but it'll be worth it, even if it just results in a simple conversation. He really shouldn't have started isolating himself after...
...
No. He shouldn't think about that, he needs to focus on the present. On figuring out communication with Grace. Figuring out numbers seems like a good next step, so Sig highlights 12 screens in a row. The 1st one has a green border but nothing inside of it, zero, and the last has eleven dots. Base 12.
Grace typed out the other’s response to his word, glad he was getting some down. Then, when the screens lit up, he squinted at them for a second. They lit up in order, and in a row, and the first one is showing the absence of color— oh! Its numbers!
“Oh— base 12? Numbers, probably ! Hopefully,” he nodded to himself, then held up all of his fingers one at a time. “I use base 10. 10 fingers.”
“Yeah, okay. Let’s do that first,” he said to himself, pushing off the ground to float to the screen with the green border. Starting at zero, Grace said each number amount in order, and the alien he dubbed Nova repeated their word for it, which he’d put into the system
Once they had base numbers and just about enough to count decent amounts, they moved onto other objects and some action words with movements and descriptive words with colors or textures.
Once there was enough, they moved onto some harder to explain words like ‘and’ or descriptive words or stuff like that. Finally, they had a mediocre database for translating, and they’d just have to figure out other things on the way.
It took a while for Grace and Sig to figure out a shared vocabulary, and it was... rather boring sometimes. That's alright, he was used to boredom. Still, he decided to set up some background processes, he should figure out where he is. He has overseers and external telescopes after all, though he's been distracted by trying to fix his engines, and then Grace. Sig lets them do their job automatically while focusing on developing the shared vocabulary with Grace.
Void, how much Sig wished he could just... give them a Mark of Communication. It was too risky, though. He doesn't know how their brain works, and trying to modify something as complex as that without knowing how it works can only end horribly.
Sig perks up when his overseers and telescopes alert him they've finished scanning the surrounding stars, now he just needs to find the matching location in his database and calibrate his navigation systems and- huh? No matches found? That can't be. Sig fully diverts his focus to that, ignoring Grace for the moment, and sure enough, no place in the (for him) known universe matched this location.
Sig brings his attention back to Grace. Do they know... where this place is?
"Where am I?"
Grace was more than happy that they had a solid amount of vocabulary now, even though it took way too long. Rocky’s probably getting anxious if he is awake. Grace would have to head back eventually.
Looking up when the other spoke, Grace looked briefly confused before clicking through the laptop for a second. “Last time I checked we were…” he squinted at the screen. “Well, the closest stuff is… There’s a red star in that direction, and a yellow one that way and just behind us.” He tried to explain, pointing different directions as he spoke.
Then he rattled out the coordinates, as compared to Earth. “Mostly empty space for a while here, though.”
Tilting the computer down slightly, he tilted his head at Sig. “Is your ship not detecting anything or…?”
"My [navigation systems] broke when I lost control over my engines and ended up here. Tried to fix it while we were talking, but... the stars here don't match how they'd look anywhere on my [maps]."
Sig kept his explanation as simple as possible, since he didn't have the words to properly explain what actually happened yet, or the extent of the damage. It's not like Grace can help him, either, not without understanding the full complexity of his superstructure. Too many things can go wrong.
Sig's cameras near the airlock where the Hail Mary's connected detect some movement from the ship, though he ignores it for now. Could be anything, Void knows how many times his cameras would get triggered by random debris in his superstructure, especially the habitable zone.
Grace hummed, eyebrows furrowed in both worry and thought. How far have they drifted through space? What star system were they even from to not recognize any stars around here? They might be from an entirely different galaxy, but— those are hundreds of light years away—!
“…you must be pretty far from home, then,” he said gently. “If it helps, we are currently in a barred spiral galaxy, and— for a few million years, a spheroidal galaxy has been passing in and out of it, basically merging with it.” He scratched the back of his neck.
Knowing that figuring this out probably wouldn’t go anywhere real— depending on the alien’s ship’s abilities— Grace’s mind drifted back to his own ship. Then to Rocky. He looked back towards the entrance to the room. Rocky is probably panicking and searching for Grace if he has woken up. He should probably make his way back in there sooner than later…
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Grace die like jesus but for our cramps. /joke
I suppose that is something of a comparison.
Everything hurts.
Why did nobody tell me my back would hurt too??
Can u be my new dad my biological one is in a weird cult
He’s— he’s what!?
I— uh, yeah. Sure. I can be your new dad. Please don’t get involved with whatever that cult is.
A black cat with orange eyes appears and jumps into Grace’s lap. It purrs as it rubs against the scientist.
~)O(~
Whuh— oh my—
Oh, hi little guy. Who are you..? How did you get here, buddy?
Can I pet you— yeah? Hi, kitty—
🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌
Uh… those are bananas, and your name is mangoes. With a lot of ‘s’s. So, uh— either you’re trying to confuse me, successfully, or you’re confused yourself.
So.
Has Official Grace contacted you about like, uh, using a wormhole or something to collaborate and design / create my new arm?
Cause apparently that's the plan in regards to the future of my currently nonexistent limb 👀
He has not yet, but I’m definitely wanting to help to make your new arm. You sort of… need that, especially if you’re ever in zero gravity again. Not that you’re not okay without it, it just might be useful to have something to help—!
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Does Dr. Grace know about oarfish, question? We love oarfish lots and lots!! If not know may we info dump about them? We think everyone should know about oarfish, statment!
I know a bit about oarfish, but not much. I would love to hear more about them, so go ahead and info dump!
I'm itchy
I shall uh— will some itch cream to appear next to you—!
Magic hands—!
