tend

Art by Obata Takeshi



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    “Grace! Why you no say plants are on Hail Mary, question?!”

    The question puts me on my back foot. Literally. I jog up to the door after my morning run to find Rocky waiting for me on my side of the house, suited up and ticked off. I rock back on my heel.

    “Huh?”

    “What you mean ‘huh’, is simple question! Why no mention plants on Hail Mary when almost die of no vitamins?!”

    “No bud, I heard you the first time,” I scoff, shaking my head ruefully. He gets under my feet, tapping at my thighs with his claws to annoy me while I toe off my running shoes.

    “Hey, quit— quit it! You’ve gotta be confused, the only plant matter on the Hail Mary was the food in my meals, and that’s years gone.”

    ——-

    Aka, Grace gets a bittersweet surprise several years after he settles into his life on Erid.

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    13 Jun 2026

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    My pride stings a little at being so underestimated by a species that couldn’t even outrun a particularly determined turtle if their life depended on it. Look, I’m no Sha’Carri Richardson, but I’m pretty proud of my seven-minute mile. I worked hard for it. I haven’t been able to handle myself like this since I was... well, since I left Earth.

    “Y’know what? Let’s settle this once and for all. I could use an endurance test anyway. Good for my cardio.”

    Dr. Bones perks up. “You’ll do a demonstration?”

    “Absolutely. Give me two rest days and a warmup, then I’ll show you what the average human athlete can do.”

    -----

    AKA, Grace doesn't consider himself much of an athlete, but he's no slouch either. And he's got the physical prowess of his whole species to represent!

    The xenobiology team, on the other hand, is horrified to learn what a 'persistence hunter' is.

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    13 Jun 2026

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    I lived with this hunger long before the Hail Mary. This is nothing new. I’m fine.

    Right up until Rocky asks another question.

    “When last time you touch other human person skin, question?”

    Oh. Oh no. “When I… a few days after I first woke up here.”

    Rocky starts to relax for a split second, but then tightens when something occurs to him.

    “Grace crewmates dead when you wake up. You said this, statement. You not even know your own name, remember nothing, see dead bodies, confirm?”

    I nod, because if I open my mouth I will gag.

    “When last time Grace touch ALIVE human person, question.”

    I swallow thickly. I don’t answer aloud because I know Rocky can hear the hitch in my breath. My stomach churns with fresh bile. He senses my vital signs tick over into stress patterns and goes very, very still again.

    “Grace. When last time, question.”

    I clench my jaw so hard my temples ache, and beg him with my eyes to just stop.

    “Grace. Please say not when… when Evil Stratt humans put you to sleep.”

    I can taste grass.

    ---

    AKA: Grace starves for more than just food on the journey to Erid.

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    13 Jun 2026

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    You are profoundly alone. You have been for a while. Suddenly, you aren't anymore, and you are struggling to be normal about it. Pooling strengths and weaknesses with the strange creature on its explosive-atmosphere ship might just be the only way to save both of your stars, but it might also lead to more than just strictly scientific discoveries, and neither of you are sure how to feel about that.


    OR: The universe's most unlikely meet-cute.

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    12 Jun 2026

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    The egg is the same bright copper color as the rest of Rocky’s body, but smooth where his carapace is bumpy and brittle, the first Eridian-made object I've ever seen with curved edges rather than flat panels and sharp corners. It has a slight taper as well, narrowing upwards from its widest point.

    Rocky’s words echo in the back of my mind: “Grace would be perfect at take many ♪♪♫.”

    I jam the dissection probe through the shell.

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    09 Jun 2026