Just a little manic

Think of it, Rocky's world must be so full of sound. All of them constantly using sound to see and locate one another and talk to one another. They are so social and need one another to survive and stay safe.

He is alone on the ship in a place his species has never been before. Pure silences of space with nothing solid around them but the ship.

He stands on such a thing surface and all he sees around him is openness and emptiness and silence.

He was bound to develop odd idiosyncrasies out there. Talking to himself, thinking out loud, singing, constantly sending out echo-locating pings to see if anything came by.

But the years stretch on and on and there are less pings. He is tired of seeing the emptiness around him. He has come to accept the silence. His voice has grown harsh from over use and perhaps from miss-use. He can't remember what that exact sound was that indicated he was near his favorite spot with his mate. He can't remember the sound of his mate's voice. He knows the name. He says the name in times of deep loneliness with such longing that the name has come to mean longing.

And then Hail Mary shows up.

A place of solid walls and build and panels and rooms and devices and depth. His pings go crazy as he just SEES for the first time in a long time. Is it any wonder he bounced around frantically in the ball? "What's this? Solid. A wall. A floor. A big empty room? Meh. But look a place of solid things! Layers!"

And because humans do love our sounds, everything makes sounds! This room hums with the sound of electricity. This room beeps. This room has the sounds of gears. This one makes fire sounds. Water sounds? A robot that makes strange little songs!

And Grace? His body is made of energy. It glows. It whooshes, it breathes, it has a heart beat, a rhythm. So glorious to look at. So glorious to sit next to. To talk and use words and say things he had not said in such a long time. The words come out so fast and stutter at first then build and yell and fluctuate then become stable so the stupid computer can pick them up and translate correctly.

Rocky has an accent now. One he can't hear. And some words stay strange and ragged and now have a new tone.

So when Rocky sees his mate again for the first time, the name is stretched out and said with such poetic longing and beauty. Every time now, for years and years, Adrian is said in a way that they all find strange.. And Adrian falls in love again each time it is said.

Never mind that their mate is now a little strange. That Rocky talks to things, hums to himself, has picked up human gestures and talks in a strange accent. Never mind that Rocky will sometimes just sit in their home and ping around just to look at the shape of their world.

The USS Independence catching sight of the Italian ship Amerigo Vespucci.

"Who are you?"

"Training ship Amerigo Vespucchi, Italian Navy."

"You are the most beautiful ship in the world."

They met again many years later and USS Independence signaled, "You are still, after 60 years, the most beautiful ship in the world."

"Who are you?"

"Hail Mary."