Chapter Text
This was a horrible idea. This was an awful, terrible, monumentally ABYSMAL idea, and somehow he had agreed to it!
Grace was floating in an ocean of crimson fluid on an alien moon, trying to find the source of a strange, distinctly human signal they'd found— by dangling from the end of a long, long chain of xenonite. The signal was moving erratically, not like it was attached to a ship, but to a living creature. Rocky all but confirmed it, pointing out a large dark shape in the opaque fluid that Grace hadn't noticed on the screen. So, to identify the signal they needed to catch the creature, and in lieu of a lure, they had... Well, Grace.
The fluid is oppressively warm and thick, impeding his movement and vision even more than the EVA suit currently preventing him from drowning in it. Still, he can feel movement in the abyss, can see the shadow of something looming in the deep red haze. He knows he's not alone, and it's terrifying.
One moment he's pondering the meaning of life in a sea of red, and the next he's getting yanked from his spot by a sudden ripcurrent, dragged into a gaping maw and compressed on all sides, surrounded by nothing but darkness. Well, almost darkness.
He flails as much as he can to see what's going on, and his stomach flips upside down when the light on his helmet illuminates giant, sharp teeth.
The plan worked. He's in the creature's mouth.
He screams, and the chain attached to his waist yanks him back into its teeth as Rocky begins reeling them in, chattering through his suit's radio.
"Friend Grace died, question?!"
The mouth around him moves, the slick muscle of the tongue pressing into his side uncomfortably as the fluid level drops with a sickening gulp. He struggles a bit in blind panic as deep growls echo from the throat beneath his feet. He shudders and tries to force the thoughts from his head: think about anything! The students, rainbows, kittens, the look on Eva Stratt's face when he wins that argument in his head!
"I— I'm alive! Kinda distracted by the giant MOUTH I'M IN, ROCKY!!!"
Rocky says something else over the comms, but he's overshadowed by the deafening groan of the creature surrounding him. It sounds like it's in pain.
"It— it's okay, big guy! Once we get you in a controlled environment we can take care of that!"
He groans, suddenly wondering why he's the one comforting the giant alien fish that has him in its mouth. Light crawls up the creature’s throat and along the confines of his prison. Blood red photophores— likely meant to draw in prey. Ohhhh this is it, this is how he dies: in the mouth of a giant alien fish monster because he decided to play the bait! Well, at least he lived a good life, one far longer than Stratt intended him to when she shot him into space to die.
"Uh, as long as I don't get eaten, that is! Can't help if I'm— not here. So you gotta let me out, alright?"
The chain isn't pulling directly on his suit anymore, but he can feel it's still attached. Probably stuck in the fish-thing's teeth. He wiggles a bit to reposition himself so he isn't staring at those terrifyingly sharp teeth, each the size of his arm. Granted, the other views aren't much better, but it's better than nothing. It's a little less painful to lay on his back anyways, with the way the palette was digging into his side. The tongue shifts to cradle his back, splitting down the middle and wrapping around his waist, making him yelp. It doesn't seem to be pulling him further back, so he takes it as a win.
"Oookay, not sure how things work in your culture big guy but this is NOT fun for me! Jiminy Cricket, I feel like Geppetto in here— how much longer on the chain, Rock? I'd like to get some fresh air soon!"
"Almost at ship, friend Grace don't die!"
"I'm doing my best!"
There's a loud clang when the thing holding him makes contact with the inside of the Eridian's collection probe, then it groans, the tongue’s grip on his torso tightening. His head buzzes from the way the sound passes through him. A moment passes and gravity shifts as the chain releases, dropping them both to the floor. The monster growls.
"Whoa, hey, hey it's okay! We just need to— whoa!"
Everything tilts downwards and the beast makes an awkward choking/gagging sound, dim light flooding in from below as it tries to part its teeth. He slides forwards in the confined space, like the world's most claustrophobic slip-and-slide. Grace feels hopeful for a second, but the movement stops halfway through with a metallic clink. The chain.
He scrambles towards freedom with the meager amount of extra mobility, already prying off the gloves of his EVA suit so he can try to help.
"Sorry about that big guy, we didn't account for your teeth being so— pointy. If you can understand me, lower me to the floor, I need a tool for this. Rocky, xeno-pliers, now!"
Miraculously, the thing listens, and he can see the sweet, sweet relief of a floor approach his vision. Oh, thank GOD!
Rocky runs over, passing the pliers through the gaps of the teeth like prison bars, and Grace wastes no time before starting to dismantle the parts of the chain keeping him trapped. Rocky stays close, but scuttles back a bit when the creature whines and shifts to rest its head on the floor. Grace is thrown off-balance as it rolls onto its cheek.
"I know, that probably doesn't feel too good, buddy, but just a few more cuts and you're free. Then, we can figure out what's on you that's sending that signal into space, and we can throw you back!"
The creature almost relaxes after the first sentence, but makes another odd, whine-like noise after the second. The photophores going down its throat flicker in response. Does it not want to go back to its own ecosystem?
"Or not! We can put you somewhere else if you'd prefer that! All I care about right now is getting these things out of your mouth— including me, ideally!"
"Why Grace take so long talking to creature, question? Probably not even understand, statement!"
"Well maybe I feel a little bad for giving it the universe's worst set of braces, and I talk when I'm nervous, and I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!!"
The mouth he’s in twitches a bit at his shout, and he apologizes mentally for startling it. Then he pulls the last bit of chain free with a victory cry, tossing the pliers aside before being unceremoniously dumped from the mouth with a gagging sound. He breathes a sigh of relief and tries not to feel slightly offended by the noise. Though, he probably wouldn't be too pleased if his food started wiggling around and talking to him, either.
When he sits up his limbs are shaking, and he pulls his helmet off so he can wipe the sweat from his brow with his… slightly cleaner hand. Rocky runs over to practically tackle him in a hug, chirping happily even as red-tinged saliva coats both of their exosuits.
"Yeah, glad to see you too, bud. Next time you're being the bait." He sags against the warmth of his best friend's carapace, tempted to give in to the adrenaline crash, but movement from the creature behind them draws his attention back to their catch.
He's taken aback when the face that greets him, just a few feet away, looks mostly human aside from a few key details. Its— or his?— pupils are blown wide, like a cat about to pounce. A shiver crawls up his spine, but he forces himself to stay calm as he stands with the help of his friend, turning to address the creature directly.
"Well, it's good to see you from out here for a change! I'm Dr. Ryland Grace; middle school teacher, scientist, captain of the Hail Mary, astronaut, and most recently, alien ambassador of both Earth and Erid! And, uh, fish bait, apparently. Welcome to our ship! Or, one of them. This isn't the Hail Mary, it was especially made for you!"
He smiles and spreads his arms wide, but the creature just stares at him, unblinking. Oookay, awkward.
"Uh, like I said in your... we found a human-like signal coming off of you, and came to see what it was! My theory was that it's a research tag, but you're clearly intelligent enough to understand that I was trying to help, so maybe not? I can't imagine it'd be very fair to tag a sapient creature, but I've seen how people treat dolphins so... I dunno, but that's why we wanted you up here! To find out what it is and how we can help."
The giant blinks slowly, scrunching its nose and opening its mouth to say something. Grace wishes he could say he didn't squeak and flinch back, but that would make him a liar.
"R'yoo Shio-ay?"
The sound rumbles from its throat, startling Grace with how deep and gravelly it is, reverberating beneath his boots. It sounds... vaguely comprehendable, but he's nowhere near mentally capable of reading between the lines right now.
"Uh... not entirely sure what you said there, but this is good! Communication! And I'm not in your mouth for it! Exciting news!"
He shoots the fish man two thumbs up, genuinely unsure what else to do with his body. The eyes keep staring, one a deep, rich mahogany, the other bright red.
"And I can tell you were asking a question from your inflection, which is a good start! We have similar sentence structures, which is probably why you could understand me! That means this should be way easier than it was for me and Rocky, which is a relief. Oh, man, I can't imagine having to explain social conventions and microexpressions to a giant fish man... I mean, clearly we need to work on boundaries about putting people in your mouth, but to be fair that was kinda the plan so I can't blame you, I guess?"
The giant bows his head, his eyes trailing down to the floor as it mumbles something like a scolded child.
"Shah-ree for th't... Ay d'noh why I did't..."
Grace blinks a few times— that one almost made sense. Wait... is that English? The leviathan growls, shaking his head and trying to force his mouth to cooperate. Oh. OH!
"Wait... That's not a foreign language at all, is it? You just can't talk well through all those... teeth. Holy smokes, Rock, I think this... he might be human? Or, he was, I dunno how..." He takes a tentative step back and to the side, trying to see the rest of the massive body. He has to be at least 100 feet long, head-to-fin! The weird-looking fins and tail are still there, as he thought they would be, and the guy's missing a whole arm, but he otherwise looks fairly human. Aside from the teeth, scales, gills, and fins mostly growing from his left side.
"What happened to you? How did you get out here, how are you... alive?"
The looming figure shrinks back, looking away to hide the mutated flesh. Grace starts to reach out and comfort the man, but thinks better of it a second later. Then, a more pressing question slips into his mind that he'd completely neglected to ask.
"And why the hell would you put me in your mouth?"