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"Wait," Adrian chirped, tilting their carapace slightly. "Humans only live for 80 year, question?" They asked Grace, sitting across from each other inside of Grace's house in the biodome.
"Kind of," Grace responded, pulling his sweater closer to him. "Some can live longer, but for most humans, they only live around 76 years. Some live longer, some live shorter. It depends on the human."
"Interesting," Adrian remarked, writing down Grace's answer.
In the past few weeks since Grace had moved into his dome on Erid, Adrian had been Grace's main caretaker instead of Rocky. He'd been needed on Erid for making sure the mission was logged and that everything needed for Grace to live was being taken care of, hence all of the questions by Adrian per his request.
Grace didn't mind Adrian being here though. Sure, it was odd to be away from Rocky after so long, but Adrian was great. Grace could see why Rocky liked them. They were funny, sarcastic, and curious - truly a scientist to the core, like Grace was. It made conversations easy.
"How about Eridians, question?" Grace asked back, leaning in closer to Adrian. "How long do you guys live, question?"
Grace had quickly learned that not all Eridians understood human speech in the way that Rocky did. He had to phrase things oddly to ensure that he was properly understood, but then again, Rocky had been telling him about the difficulties he'd been having himself when it came to conversing with his own species. Apparently, being in space for that long with an alien had a way of changing a person's speech patterns.
"Eridian live near 700 year," Adrian explained, making sure to convert all of their time into Earthen units. Their brain could keep up with the complex math, Grace's could not. Earthen units it was. "Like human, some more and some less."
"Amazing," Grace marveled. It made sense though. Rocky himself was nearly 300 when they'd first met and was at a similar stage in life to Grace - both were roughly middle aged. "What else can you tell me about Eridian biology, question?"
"Eridian mainly composed of heavy metal, mercury and cadmium main ones," Adrian explained. "It why Grace no can eat Erid food. Poison human, good for Eridian."
"That's so neat," Grace gasped. He knew that Eridians were composed of different things than humans - duh, of course their biology would be different - but he hadn't expected basically everything they needed for survival to be lethal to Grace and vice versa.
"What human composed of, question? What cell look like, question?" Adrian asked, bouncing slightly in anticipation. What could they say? They were a scientist after all, of course they were excited to learn about the alien that had saved their partner.
"It's hard to describe, especially since you can't see drawings very well. Do you have any ways to see cells on Erid, question?" Grace asked, an idea forming in his mind.
"Yes," Adrian nodded. "Have microscope for Eridian to see cell with."
"Could I give you a sample, question?" Grace offered. "You could use that to see it then."
"Only if Adrian give Grace sample too. Only fair for both to see cell."
And so a deal was made between the two aliens, sealed through a fist bump and an agreement to meet up tomorrow with the necessary tools for each of them to extract cells for the other to use and to go to the lab for scientific research.
~~~
"What Grace Adrian plan today?" Rocky asked his mate, the two walking side-by-side towards Grace's dome.
It had become customary for them to walk together to Grace's dome, let Rocky wave hi to Grace if he had the time, and then leave for more meetings with the rest of the thrum. Adrian would stay behind with Grace until Rocky came to visit Grace, talking with his old friend until it was time for Grace to sleep.
"More science," Adrian responded vaguely. "Human biology very interesting."
Adrian knew that Rocky wouldn't approve of them and Grace literally taking out pieces of themselves for the other to study, but he wasn't a scientist. Rocky was an engineer, he just couldn't understand the need for this kind of research.
"Yes," Rocky agreed. "Very different from Eridian biology. Love you, Adrian," he spoke softly, nuzzling his carapace against theirs. "See you and Grace later," he concluded, leaving Adrian outside of the dome.
Stepping into their suit, Adrian wasted no time in walking over to Grace's door, knocking furiously until he answered.
"You have what you need, question?" He asked, ignoring their usual morning greeting, but Adrian didn't mind. They were just as excited, evident in their tapping leg.
"Yes, have science supplies," they responded, making their way into Grace's house and taking out the syringe they brought with them from their lab that morning.
"Great! I have what I need too."
Working carefully, the two each used the syringes on themselves, taking samples of their blood for the other to see. They had agreed for blood samples first and, if everything went well, tissue samples later.
In their own collectors, a red and silver liquid filled the tubes, swirling with the lifeblood of stars inside of them - the power of life in their hands.
"I can take them," Grace commented, taking the small vial from Adrian. "Let's go over to the ship."
Walking down the beach, side-by-side, Grace and Adrian approached the Hail Mary - the ship that had been Grace's home for so many years with Rocky by his side.
Back when the ship had landed and Grace was too weak to move - suffering from malnutrition and near death - Eridians had brought their own equipment into the ship for researching what Grace needed to survive, including the microscopes that Adrian would need to use to see his cells. It was a perfect research lab for a human-Eridian duo.
Stepping inside, Grace was lost in the memories of the times he'd had on the Hail Mary. The good, the bad, and the scary. Him and Rocky sharing their time together. Him thinking he was going to die for months on end after getting to Erid, sleeping constantly and becoming skeleton thin. Rocky's lifeless form in his room for weeks on end, healing from injuries on Adrian that Grace wasn't sure he could come back from. Tears filled his eyes at all of the emotion welded into the very hull of Mary, into his very being.
"Grace okay, question?" Adrian asked, placing a small claw hand on Grace's leg, noticing their friend's emotional state.
"Yeah, I'm okay, Adrian," he reassured them. "Just a lot of memories. Not all good ones."
"Is okay. We make new memories here. Bad ones go away," they attempted to comfort. They were so much like Rocky when it came to Grace - protective and wanting to make everything better for him in any way they could.
"Then let's start," Grace responded with a smile, clapping his hands together before he plated the slides with dyes for both him and Adrian to observe.
Eridian cells had been very different than what Grace had been expecting, unlike anything he had ever imagined possible on Earth. They had no mitochondria to speak of and minimal organelles. They shouldn't be alive by Earth standards, but they were. How strange and odd - how incredible!
"Your cells are absolutely amazing, Adrian," Grace complimented, unable to draw his eyes away from the small forms of life.
"Grace cell interesting too," Adrian chirped back. "Much different than Eridian cell. Need study more cell, different cell."
"Definitely," Grace agreed. "We have all of the supplies here if you want to look at tissues today."
"Yes, tissue today," Adrian rambled immediately, their curiosity getting the best of them. "Need know more about human cell."
"Okay, just give me a few minutes to get what I need and I can get you a skin and muscle sample."
"Yay!" Adrian cheered, spinning in circles as they tapped their claws together.
Grace left them to their own devices as he stepped into the medical bay, knowing the layout better than the back of his own hand, and pulling out everything he would need to get the samples: a scalpel, iodine, needle and thread, gauze, a pen, a dish to hold the samples, and some numbing cream. It was going to hurt a bit - a lot - but he could, at the very least, make it slightly less painful.
Sitting down on one of the cots, Grace pulled a table beside him as Adrian walked in, wanting to observe the procedure for themselves. Who was Grace to deny a learning experience, especially for a fellow scientist?
Pulling his pants down to expose his thigh, a prime area for this kind of sample, Grace rubbed the numbing cream into his skin with a glove until he could no longer feel the site. Perfect! Breaking the iodine, Grace doused his skin in it, staining the white into a deep orange color before he marked a small triangle on himself with the marker. He was ready to begin.
Watching intently, Adrian observed as Grace cut into himself, blood spilling down onto the table below as he sliced through the layers of tissue until he reached the muscle tissue. With careful precision, Grace removed bands of meaty tissue, placing them into the dish near Adrian before cutting out the small triangle he had marked, placing into the dish as well. They had both a muscle and skin sample now, as well as a fatty layer to dissect as well - how kind of him.
Gritting his teeth, Grace stitched himself back up, pulling the sutures tight before wrapping his leg in gauze. There. Adrian had their human sample now.
"Oh," Grace breathed out, finally letting the experience of what he had just done hit him. "I… I'm gonna need a second before I move."
"Figured," Adrian responded. "Adrian get sample for Grace now."
Pulling out a small pair of pliers from a nearby drawer, Adrian let it enter their ball, preparing to get Grace a sample from their own skin as well.
"What the hell is going on?!?" A familiar voice shouted out, startling both Adrian and Grace.
Standing in front of them was a very confused, very angry, Rocky. Oh, we're in trouble, Adrian and Grace thought simultaneously.
"Science," Adrian responded, frozen in place with the pliers ready to grab at their skin.
"No! No take pieces of yourself!" He chastised them, taking the pliers away from Adrian as they whined. "Can't leave you two alone for more than 5 minutes! Try to kill yourselves! Have no words!" Rocky ranted.
Despite having no words, Rocky continued to curse out Grace and Adrian for 10 minutes before calming down, then continuing to curse out Grace for another 15 after finding out his friend had already cut into himself.
"Stupid human!" Rocky shouted, making Grace feel small. "Could hurt self! What if get sick, question?!? No can help if sick!"
"Sorry," Grace muttered out, curling in on himself slightly, feeling like an embarrassed child being lectured by an adult. "I didn't mean to worry you, Rock. I just wanted to help with your research on humans."
Pausing for a moment, Rocky let out a loud sigh, processing what Grace had said. There was no malice behind his friend and mate's actions, just scientific curiosity. They didn't mean to upset him.
"Is okay," Rocky relented, pushing against Grace and Adrian as he apologized. "Sorry to yell. Just worry about two most important to me. Understand why, but not safe for both."
"We promise not do again without supervision," Adrian promised. They didn't mean to worry their partner. Rocky was far too important to them to purposely make him worry.
"Agreement," Rocky spoke softly, pulling Adrian close to him. "Love you."
"Love you too," Adrian responded.
"Rocky love Grace too," Rocky began, turning towards his friend. "Want Grace safe. Grace been hurt enough for Eridian lifetime, much less human."
"I love you too, buddy. I'm sorry I worried you."
"Is okay," Rocky accepted. He wouldn't try to change them, but he could try to keep them safe at the very least. "Now, study Grace sample, question? No want waste."