The Colony on Erid
Hail Mary Meets the COI & Eden
Inspired by Connection (Long Shot) by chubbysloth11 Inspired by where nothing bleeds by interstellarism
Where Grace actually meets the other people in the Iron Lung universe, other than Simon or Ellie. Then you can guess by the title what's going to happen.
This is just a prompt/summary/plot(?) of something that has been on my mind. I'm not really motivated enough to create a fic for it, but I'm still willing to share, so people can take inspiration from it.
Depending on what you want, BloodyMary could be platonic or not. It could easily be interchangeable since BloodyMary is not really what I’m focused on.
Words: 2,862 Note: The different colored texts = different sections + pretty + longer attention span (at least for me)
The Hail Mary somehow got in contact with the SM-13, Simon’s Sub
How?? Logically, Mary’s radio transmission would pick up the COI’s temporary on-moon base’s radio due to its quality and upkeep, but they run on two different power grids. Simon’s radio is old, before the new era of technology took over. It’s made out of old technology with a mix of the COI’s new technology, so it can connect without wasting too many resources. The radio glitches and connects to both signals of the Hail Mary and the COI’s base.
I’d imagine after the Quiet Rapture, the COI & Eden would have to reroute and create a whole new circuit to account for the fact that there is no sun anymore and no planet to send them batteries, oil, gas, etc. I feel like for all the space stations, their main source of energy is the sun; these guys are majorly solar powered. Any usage of power is exclusively for the radio, labs, higher-ups, and enough heat to not freeze; the rest of the population is in the literal dark.
When they first meet Grace, it is a literal flashbang lol
2. The normal song & dance of Grace, Rocky, and Simon's first meeting
Grace & Rocky: *shocked that there’s another human out here*
Simon: Am I hallucinating? Are you a hallucination? It must be that damn blood eel again- *grouches like a mean old neighbor*
They became somewhat friends over the radio
Things start getting bad for Simon
They redirect Mary to head towards Simon to save him
How much information Simon lets them know (about himself, the Quiet Rapture, COI, Eden, the mission, and the blood moon) depends on you
3. The connection is unstable during that time because of Mary’s rapid movement towards Simon’s location, and they couldn’t talk much
4. When they finally reconnect with Simon’s signal, Simon’s radio was connected to Ava’s on the temporary on-moon base. The 3 of them talk and make a deal.
5. They find the COI base on the blood moon in a dark part of the universe
Rocky & Grace were legit confused
But they gathered outside samples and found an evolved type of astrophage
They decided to do a quick in-and-out mission; the unknown is too dangerous
Mission: Pick up Simon and talk with the COI
6. They made somewhat relations with the COI and convinced them to move their space stations to follow the Hail Mary. Consequently, they meet Eden along the way. After connecting comms, despite the COI being highly against it, an expected kerfuffle happens between the two factions, but was mended by Grace after the promise, giving them a safe place for humanity to rebuild, with the confirmation from Rocky, who will talk to the Eridians council about it.
I low-key wanted both of them to room with Grace & Rocky, but while they do have a small amount of survivors each, that’s still one too many for the Hail Mary, which was originally meant for 3 people
I originally wanted to add the drama of the COI/Eden discussing amongst themselves: hijacking Mary, stealing Grace’s supplies, killing Rocky, experimenting on Rocky, and revolting against the peace treaty they created and restarting their space station war. Rocky, who hears everything, is terrified. He and Grace spoke about meeting each other’s people before: The Eridians would’ve been fascinated, and in awe at Grace for being an alien and saving their planet; sure, they would be a bit invasive because they’re curious about the alien, but still respectful of him as a being and their savior. Rocky asks if humans would do the same, Grace with an “Uhh… Yeah…”, in a way that was very obviously a lying tone mixed with a “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” Rocky knew it was bad, but this was terrible. He’s extremely scared and tells Grace about it, to watch him sleep more seriously, and be more aware of the other humans.
Or having a representative from both the COI and Eden, but that would mean trapping Simon in a ship with 2 people he kinda trusts, and 2 people he doesn’t, and that’s too much stress for the baby.
But no. This doesn’t happen because it doesn’t logically make sense. I know it doesn’t have to logically make sense for it to happen, but my brain says no.
7. They create a communication system between the 3 of them, and they head off to the stars
The COI doesn’t believe it, but still follows them because the Hail Mary is a ship that has human and alien life on it that isn’t themselves or Eden, that’s a chance for them to at least survive longer
Eden is slightly doubtful, but still do follow them because p l a n t s
As they slowly make their way out of the dead zone, they see stars
Grace wasn’t lying
He was telling the truth
The stars are there, the stars are alive.
It was an incredibly emotional moment for both Eden & the COI. They cried. They’re going to live, they’re going to be saved.
8. During the trip to Erid:
Simon's healing time
Physically and mentally, with the help of Armando/Nanny and Grace
Rocky and Simon have an instant tsundere friendship. Roasting each other left & right.
Trying to keep up constant communication with the COI and Eden without it becoming a cat fight
They kind of become amicable, with the COI still having a grudge about Filament station (understandable), and Eden is indignant that they did what they had to do to survive.
Simon is a child of divorce, and both parents (Eden & COI) were abusive. Don’t worry, the social worker (Mary) is here.
9. They finally get to Erid, and they have to stay in orbit for a bit, waiting for the construction of the bio-dome to accommodate the large number of humans
Grace’s beach now has a forest right behind it
There are also cookie-cutter houses because they don’t have time for unique designs
They also brush the dust off the old translator
Once they get down to Erid, into the bio-dome, they are brought down to tears once more
10. They literally make the first human colony on Eridani
You’re telling me Stratt could pirate the entire internet, but couldn’t properly store seeds for 10+ years? I’d imagine Grace finally found them once food became an actual issue when he and Rocky were first heading back to Erid. Once the bio dome was done, they planted them.
Of course, they figure out the meat/protein problem by cannibalizing themselves. Don’t worry, it’s cloned human meat; no humans were killed in the making of this product.
Eden is chill with it; they are really happy they don’t have to sacrifice people for the cannibalizing to happen. COI is very disturbed/disgusted/hesitant about it; they eventually crack because they know their supplies wouldn’t last much longer, and they need to survive.
11. I’d imagine this was literal heaven for them: Saved by a person named Grace on the Hail Mary, which led them to the stars. They go to an alien planet that still exists and has inhabitants that are thriving, which has a bio-dome that is a replica of Earth, it has sand, dirt, trees, a garden of plants, and an ocean made of water, not blood. This was paradise. They’ve made it; they survived.
12. After they all settle, Grace gathers them for a meeting to talk about Eridian culture, creates some rules, boundaries, etc.
The COI is extremely grateful to him; Eden is too worshipful of him, but it’s not too bad.
Most Eden members take care of the plants.
Most COI members joined the scientists & mechanics helping the Eridians.
Grace would help in both fields
Some do interchange their position and work in a ex-enemy dominated work place if they're brave enough and hold some faith in Grace’s rules
13. Simon lives with Grace now because this man cannot live on his own
He can take care of himself, but it’s gonna be a lonely existence
He feels too angry and sad to be housed with the COI and Eden
He only trusts Grace now (unhealthy, but understandable)
14. The only bad thing is that Grace’s house is near the ocean
Grace hopes to help him overcome his fear by doing exposure therapy
Put on an ocean scenery in the "don’t go crazy" room
Walks by the beach
Dipping his toes in the ocean
And eventually getting into the ocean
It's overall a very healing process
15. Grace observes them for a week to see how they are settling in and following the rules.
Rocky sometimes snitches on the troublemakers, and Grace confronts them.
They find Grace kinda scary with his omniscient knowledge; knowing what’s impossible to know unless he was there when it was done or told.
Grace does not tell them that Rocky told him because he’s either no snitch of a snitch or genuinely did not think to bring it up
16. Once he finds them safe enough, he announces that he’s going to restart his classes and that the children of the COI and Eden could join as well.
The Eridian children extremely miss Grace and have been bugging their substitute teachers for the past few weeks
The children don’t even wait behind the xenonite glass; they immediately put on their xenonite suits and run to the airlock to smother Grace
They miss his cool, soft, squishy body. They miss his pets when they do a good job. They miss his human way of teaching. They miss learning about Earth and humans. They also like being the teacher sometimes, teaching Grace more about Eridian culture and their language.
The human children got scared, thinking they were eating/attacking Grace. They either ran away to an adult or tried to pull the Eridian children off of Grace, but they failed because they were too heavy for the children to pick up
Grace calmed things down and scolded them both; he told the adults who came running for his “rescue” that it’s alright and that the Eridian children were too excited to see him, which scared the human children
Once everything was in order, the Eridian children went back behind the xenoite glass, and the human children in chairs
The lesson starts with Grace asking the human children what they know so far. They are okay at math and science, not really good with history or English, but good at practical skills. It really shows how the environment they lived in affected their learning and growth
He decides to give the human children an extra class for them to slowly catch up with the insanely smart Eridian children. Even adults join those classes, and it really hurts his heart.
17. Grace talks with the other Eridians and Rocky about entering a thrum with the council about the dead zone that is filled with an evolved astrophage
Grace rarely joins thrums since they’re overwhelming, but he’s been getting used to it and could now represent himself in a thrum instead of voicing his ideas through Rocky or Adrian
18. They have a sample from their trip to the dead zone, and they are going to experiment with the taumoeba to figure out how to “purify” the area
*insert whatever struggle they have with the experimentation*
Maybe Ellie tries to contact them through the evolved astrophage?
19. They finally found out how to evolve the taumoeba to kill the evolved astrophage without it being sentient
They sent a team out to distribute the evolved taumoeba to get rid of the evolved astrophage and hopefully restore life in the dead zone
Maybe something more happens; it depends on you.
This is just to close up a loose end in the Iron Lung universe.
20. Once they finally have enough resources to make the trip to Earth, some want to stay & some want to go
They stay to get each of their individual ships repaired, restocked, and fueled up
That’s gonna take a long-ahh time
Most want to stay due to the fact that most of them have never been to Earth, especially an Earth of a different reality. Some of them are traumatized to see space; they want to stay on the planet where they know they are safe from the vast void.
Some want to go to see a familiar Earth again, to see stars get brighter and brighter, to confirm that the world won’t end. Or they want to alert them of the new situation of the new colony of humans on Erid, made up of survivors of an alternate reality of dead stars
Then, some Eridians volunteer to go as scientists and engineers as they help keep the ship running. Most of them are curious about Earth; they’ve only “seen” it from Grace’s videos, movies, and pictures, and they want to know what it’s really like. (They found it extremely noisy.)
21. Grace, as important as it is for him to be on the “Return to Earth” mission, as he is the only human from Earth, decidedly stays on Erid.
Bro has done what he needed to do. He completed the mission: He investigated Tau Ceti, found the solution, sent the solution to Earth, saved the sun, saved Earth, saved humanity. He has done more than what he needed to do: He saved another star, saved another planet, saved a whole other population, discovered the multiverse, saved humans of a different reality whose star & planet already died, created a colony, and became somewhat of a leader of said colony (Grace doesn’t see himself as that).
Grace has done more than enough. He’s done. Let him enjoy his life on Erid with his best friend and boyfriend.
Grace did record a video with them in the frame to confirm the legitimacy of the crew sent into the “Return to Earth” mission.
22. Humanity on Earth is like “WTF”
Dr. Ryland Grace, a middle school teacher, became the leading scientist of astrophage and the 2nd in command of Eva Stratt, the person in charge of the Hail Mary Project to save the Sun, therefore, the world. He “stepped up” to the mission when both his students/replacements died in a horrible explosion accident. Through the mission vlogs, they found he actually got amnesia, found both of his crewmates dead, and gave them a somewhat proper funeral. He also met an ALIEN!? HELLO??? He investigated Tau Ceti with the help of the alien, and both of them nearly died, but they’re both alright. Found the solution to the dying star problem and was coming home with the alien, giving him the astrophage needed to go home. Then the leak happened; he fixed it, but realized the alien couldn’t fix it, so he sent home the solution & videos in the beetles to save Earth and went to save the alien even if he died. Around 13-14 years have passed, and the Sun and humanity are saved with the roller coaster that is Ryland Grace.
5 years later, a ship, foreign to any human technology, appears. (5 years passed, assuming that with the mix of Eridians & human technology & intelligence, space travel is a lot faster)
Apparently, Dr. Ryland Grace, savior of the Sun, savior of Earth, and savior of Erid, is still alive??? He didn’t die due to lack of resources; the Eridians were very accommodating to his alien-ness on their planet. Actually, even before he got to Erid, he discovered the MULTIVERSE and found an alternate reality where they didn’t save the stars; all the stars and planets died, leaving only people in the space stations to survive. In one of the videos, Dr. Ryland Grace explained the entirety of their universe, from where the Earth’s timeline deviates from theirs in 1992 to the Quiet Rapture, COI, Eden, blood oceans on moons, and how he found them. Then he explained the science behind evolved astrophage and his theories. Anyways, he picks up the survivors of that universe and gives them a peace treaty that if they break, he’ll abandon them. He took in the man he contacted from the blood ocean to live in the Hail Mary with him (ppl def saw the tension between them). They finally got to Eridani with all of them reluctantly compliant with each other, only really listening to Dr. Grace as their savior, mediator, and neutral. They stayed in orbit of the planet for a few weeks to prepare for a large bio-dome for a lot of alien visitors. They figured out the food crisis by cannibalizing themselves?? They got along mostly well, with some humans more aggressive, resistant, or abrasive than others. They created a new human colony on Eridani, and Dr. Ryland Grace is the leader of it. WHAT??? He sent a crew with a mix of mostly humans and some Eridians out to Earth in a ship made up of human and Eridian technology, which is absolutely groundbreaking for scientists and mechanical engineers.
Bro dropped a world-changing life update
Bro is completing side quests
Bro did not need to go this hard
This was not in bro’s job description
23. Humanity is waiting to see what Ryland Grace will do next.
