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The radio signal had sent Erid into a thrum of activity.
The years had been long and slow, after the ship had been sent off. The astronomy thrum had watched it go until it was out of range, until even the infrared tail had dispersed. The planet had waited patiently, knowing it would take some decades for them to come home. But when the decades turned to centuries, a hopelessness and impending doom settled over the planet.
People were long past the panic, the freakouts and the tantrums. Instead, just a quiet hum of communities and families as they sat together, waiting. Some were still working, proposing new ideas or prepping what they could, but most agreed the time was best spent together.
Until a small team of astronomy Eridians came down the elevator with energy not seen since before their star was being eaten.
this is roc~~m the ship~~ave the solutio~~eed medical aid~~repeatin~~
A garbled, shaky radio signal from the far depths of the solar system was enough to get the planet back into a buzz of activity. With so much to do and prepare, thrums from all over were waking up from hibernation and working together. The solution, how to prep the elevator, the condition of the crew, the requested medical aid. Centuries spent in space proposed unforeseen medical challenges, and who knew what had happened out there.
However, as the ship got closer to Erid, the reality of the situation came upon them. There was no crew, only one survivor and, miraculously, an alien, who was the one needing medical aid. The sole survivor, Engineer Rocky, made it very clear that the alien was the reason they came back at all. That the alien had sacrificed going home and was facing starvation and illness, and was a priority.
With the ship -an alien ship!- getting closer and closer, sending information back and forth was easier and faster. Vitamins, medicine, and food research was immediately enacted. Losing the alien life was simply not an option. Even if it hadn’t helped solve the star eater problem, the truth of intelligent alien life was too incredible to lose.
So when during one of the routine radio check ups, when the ship was only a couple cycles away from Erid, when they finally heard the alien, it revealed something nobody was expecting.
The original astronomy team was still in charge of communications. Rosa (as the alien would dub the Eridian later) was checking in, updating them about the modifications to the elevator for the new ship to dock in and how the initial batch of synthesized vitamins came out.
“Good, good,” Rocky said, “Grace is going to need them as soon as possible. Its food supplies are extremely low, even with rationing. I can give more detailed medical samples once we dock.”
“Many scientists and doctors will be on standby for the alien as you land,” Rosa said, “Including scientists and doctors for Rocky.” While saving the alien was important, Erid would be remiss to neglect their other savior. The thrums had asked Rosa to make sure Rocky knew.
Rocky grumbled, “I’m fine, focus on Grace.”
Rosa was about to respond, when there was a series of sounds and notes unlike anything they had heard before. Rocky shot back, not at Rosa but at the noises, “I will be fine, I am not the one sick and sleeping most of the day!” They were quieter, as if they were angled away from the microphone.
Another series of sounds.
“Who cares if you’re excited enough to stay awake longer, if you’re just going to pass out more later!”
Rosa chirped out a question, a bit eagerly. “Is Savior Grace there?” It had been too sick to communicate with Erid (never mind nobody here could understand it, not that that would’ve stopped anyone). But still, their first time hearing an alien talk!
“Yes, yes, it is excited to hear Erid.”
“Hello Savior Grace! It is an honor to meet you! You have all of Erid’s gratitude in saving our home,” Rosa gushed, knowing it could understand them. Rocky had been sending data logs of their time together at Tau Ceti, including how they had learned to communicate with the alien. At a later time, Rocky would have to be asked to present fully what happened at a thrum, but the logs helped in the mean time.
The alien spoke some more, and Rocky translated, “It is excited to meet you as well. It also says Erid is very beautiful. It is glued to the window.”
Rosa trilled. “Thank you! I’m so happy our planet brings you joy!" Tapping their claws together, they dared to ask, "If it’s not too much trouble, perhaps you could send us the scans of your camera? We have little data on it from your angle.” Maybe a tad unprofessional to ask, but who knew what kind of information they could glean from alien technology. They didn't know what a window was - surely some sophisticated alien device! Rosa just couldn't help it.
“Ah,” Rocky said, “I forgot to say. Grace has different senses than us. It hears light. It’s looking with it’s eyes.” The alien spoke. “But Grace says its already taking lots of scans with its own camera and is happy to share.”
“What?” Rosa was stunned. “It hears light?”
“Yes. A little jealous.”
“Wow.” Hearing light? How did it do that? Could it hear other wavelengths? And if it's looking at the planet, could it hear other celestial bodies? Space was nothing to them, a black void with no sound detectable with only cameras. But to be able to freely look upon space, Rosa couldn't begin to imagine.
The alien made a different noise, which Rosa would learn to be laughter. Rocky made an affronted noise and said, “Don’t get too much of an ego!”
Rosa left them to their squabbling as their teammate was gesturing at them to come over. A new notice had come in to report to Rocky and... Rushing back to the microphone, they said, “One more thing! Adrian has been notified and will be on standby!”
That got Rocky’s attention. “Adrian? Will be there?” they asked in a high pitch.
“Yes! Adrian is traveling to capitol now, and will be here in time to see you dock.”
This time, Rosa left them to Rocky’s happy cries and Grace’s cheers - no translation necessary.
Getting to take care of an alien was an honor. Banner had never been too squeamish before, etiquette and politeness be damned. If one was going to get anywhere and learn, they had to put aside such frivolities!
And for this alien, well, one truly had to put aside all they could! Banner had only seen one such squishy and leaky creature before, and it had been found in the depths of their oceans.
When Rocky had said it was supposed to be more squishy and it was, in fact, starving, Banner could scarcely believe them. The universe held nothing back!
When the alien ship had first docked, Banner had not been there. They had heard it was an emotional occasion, Rocky finally reunited with their mate with the solution to their dying sun, the return of a hero. They were rushed for medical treatment - weakened joints, cracked carapace, radiator scars - but nothing a detailed medical plan couldn’t fix.
The alien had to stay onboard its ship. It was too weakened to handle the elevator, and even then, its medical observatory was still being fitted together down on the planet. With it docked, the medical team could finalize its design to best take care of it.
So it had floated around for many weeks, slowly getting better as it received the synthesized vitamins. Not perfect, but much better than the empty calories it had been receiving before. Its thinking machine, hailed by Rocky as an incredible knowledge resource, had proved invaluable for research.
By the time it had gotten strong enough to come down to Erid for more convenient care, Banner had been personally selected as part of its medical team. They had not seen it on its ship - Banner could stomach many things, but never the elevator - so meeting it in person was a day to remember. Their poor mate had heard all about it enough, but finally being on the other side of an alien was incredible. It had even waved at Banner! Or, it had waved at the team but Banner could feel the connection.
And now, after a few months, Banner was hesitantly calling them friends. They felt they had earned it, after being in such close proximity and truly testing their stomach for biology (as fascinating as it was, the human act of 'vomiting' was not something they'd ever want to repeat. Even if it did feel like a bonding moment of mutual suffering). The whole team could be called friends, the need for translation past them, and settling into a routine of medicine, food, and vitamins. Currently, it was just Banner on shift, but the others would arrive soon.
So, friends! And even friends make mistake and forget that Grace was an alien, a human, who did experience the world differently.
Banner hadn’t meant it, of course. But accidents were bound to happen.
Grace was sleeping, as it often did. Banner was watching, as Rocky was busy with the construction of its permanent home. But Banner was also working on positioning their new robot, an addition from the engineer team. It helped with administrative shots and care, when the barrier between the two of them was too thick and their suits too clunky.
And Grace was due for medication as soon as it woke up, therefore, Banner was getting it close. They were nothing if not prepared!
They heard Grace’s breathing change, indicating it was awake. “Good morning, Savior Grace,” Banner said, remembering the phrase from Rocky. Humans slept with their star, unlike Eridians who slept when needed. Morning was usually when they woke up.
“Mmmph,” Grace said, pressing its face into its pillow.
Banner was not put off by the lack of greeting, long used to it. But they did know that humans woke up better when exposed to light, so Banner hurried to turn on the lights.
And nearly jumped out of its carapace when Grace shrieked.
“What? What is the manner?” Banner asked, checking the monitoring equipment. Increased heart rate, sudden jerking of its limbs, widening of its eyes - all indicated stress but Banner could see no reason as to why Grace was stressed.
They quickly checked the atmosphere regulation (normal dangerous oxygen) and temperature control (cold). All normal.
“Holy carp, when did that thing get there? Why is it so close?” Grace wailed. “It nearly scared me half to death!”
Death? Why was it near death? It had been doing so much better lately! “Death? I don’t understand, is this an emergency?” Banner had one claw on the alarm button, ready to call in everybody.
Grace let out a large breath and relaxed back on its bed. “No, no, it’s just an expression, I just-” It sighed again. “I was not expecting the robot to be right in my face, is all.”
Its heart rate was going down to normal levels again, and it wasn’t as tense as before. Banner hesitantly removed their claw and approached the barrier between them. “Robot always in room though?”
“Yeah, but I couldn't see it until the lights came on! And it wasn’t there when I fell asleep!”
Ah. Banner had forgotten about that part. When they awoke, they could hear where everything was immediately. The human couldn't hear, or see as it called the sense, until there was light in the room. “Apology,” they said, “I moved it for preparation of administration.”
Grace laughed. “You’re fine, just a sudden wake up call, is all!”
“...not see robot so close in dark?”
“It was really dark in here, man!”
The biodome was finished, and the alien, human, had moved in.
Everybody had celebrated when the human was healthy enough to stand on its own for an extended period of time, its doctors declaring it fit enough to move in a more enriching and larger environment.
It still had sentries, in case of any accidents, but nowhere near it had at the beginning. One stayed near the airlock, guarding against any would be intruders, and another stayed closer to the human, to ‘keep an eye on it’, as the human would say. Not in the biodome, but close enough to a suit if they needed to come in. The human did say observing sleep was not needed for humans, but had sheepishly admitted it had grown used to it, so guards stayed close in case it asked. A small team of scientists also stayed nearby, far enough to give the human some privacy but close enough, least there was an emergency.
Knuckles was on such duty tonight, going by human time. The biodome was dark, coincidentally timing up with Eridian time. It had lights on when it was a human ‘day’, but Erid was dark enough to stimulate human ‘night’ on its own. Knuckles didn’t fully understand how Earth worked, but they were happy if the human was happy.
Tonight, the human was wandering around outside its home, but still inside Knuckle’s hearing range. It was oddly stubborn about staying up past its sleep schedule, something Rocky hammered it about, but Knuckles had been on guard duty enough to know that it simply liked to take small walks at night.
The wonders of human sleep! If Knuckles could control theirs, they’d probably do something similar. So the human’s late strolls were a secret between the two of them. The human never stayed out too late anyway, so Knuckles saw no harm.
Except, the human had paused its walk and was looking up. And then, it laid down outside. Strange, but it wasn’t sleeping yet. Knuckles worried that it had gotten too tired and couldn’t go back. It didn’t seem out of breath, simply just lying down.
And then Knuckles felt it, the low vibration of the ground, a rumbling echo throughout the sky.
A storm! Erid rarely got them, the atmosphere too thick for any storm to affect them on the surface. Storms usually stayed in higher elevations, which could shut down the elevator at their worst. Meteorology hives usually predicted them if they could affect their colonies, but perhaps this was a surprise storm.
But Grace! It had never seen a storm before!
Knuckles quickly put on their suit and entered the airlock, forcing itself to calm down and wait for the pressurization. The human was paralyzed with fear, too scared to move! Now was not the time for Knuckles to freak out with it.
As soon as the air had pressurized, Knuckles took off, the rumbling echoing even in the biodome. Maybe it was scared the biodome was collapsing! Could it feel the booming noises, even with its lesser hearing? Knuckles cursed themselves, they should've been more diligent in the human biology courses.
Knuckles quickly came upon the human, who had sat up and was looking at them. “Oh, hello Knuckles!,” it said, remarkably calm while waving. “Everything alright?”
Well, the human didn’t seem scared, thankfully. “Yes, yes, are you okay?” Knuckles asked, coming up to them and placing a claw gently on their arm. Heart rate was normal, no leaking, and muscles relaxed.
“Yes, why wouldn’t I be?” Grace asked, looking down at their arm but not moving away.
Another rumbling. “You are okay with noises?”
"Okay? Yeah, I’m stoked! I love storms! I haven't seen one in so long!” A loud crack reverberated through the biodome, and Graced oohed. “That was a good one!”
Knuckles relaxed. So they knew about storms Of course, they were a scientist. Perhaps they had storms on its home planet? “Good, was worried you didn’t know about storms.”
“Nah, they’re super cool. Back on Earth, I’d always stay up late to watch the lightning.” It said, looking up at the ceiling of its biodome.
“Lightning? Watch?” Knuckles chirped.
“Yeah? The lightning? The electricity in the air?”
Knuckles knew the air was charged, and that it contributed to the noises. Knuckles also knew it could be a problem if the charged air hit something metallic, but that was more of a meteorology question. But… “You see electricity?”
The human nodded. “Well, it’s more so the superheat of the electricity moving through the air, but essentially, yes, if it’s strong enough.”
Knuckles was shocked. They told the human this, and it laughed at their joke. Knuckles wasn’t even aware they made a joke.
“It’s a beautiful phenomena, if a bit scary. But it never scared me,” Grace said, looking upwards at the sky. “And it’s green! Our lightning back on Earth is usually white, but atmosphere composition changes it. It's really cool.”
Knuckles was still too shocked to reply. The human could see electricity! Eridians could detect this, could hear the damage if it struck anything, but Knuckles never heard anything about it emitting light! The scientists were going to have a field day with this.
The human yawned. “Watch until the storm over, and then bed.” Knuckles demanded, remembering they were on duty.
Grace nodded, and turned to them, “Stay and watch with me?”
Well, it wouldn’t hurt. Knuckles tucked its limbs under it and sat next to the human. They tried imaging what the lightning looked like.
Adrian was an architect, first and foremost. They loved designing, loved planning out a build and giving it to the engineers, and could hardly wait until they could see it in its full realized state. But then their favorite engineer went off the space, and their passion turned into a tedious task of measurements and models.
But then the universe had granted Adrian their wish, granted it so unlike those other mates, and gave Rocky back to them. And so their reunion had ignited a spark back within Adrian to design and plan.
Luckily, a challenge unlike any they had had before presented itself early. Designing a home for an alien? The alien who had brought their Rocky home? Well, the best only deserved the best, after all.
The months passed in a blur of planning, communicating, and referencing. Adrian ignored the politics and economics of it, too enthralled in its task. This was the most fun they had had in years, and it was even sweeter with their mate besides them.
But once the biodome was completed, Adrian still felt inadequate. This human had done everything from them, even sacrificing its home and life for Erid. There was nothing Adrian could do to ever repay them.
But Adrian was stubborn, and so when they weren’t an architect, they also were an artist. It was a past time Adrian had done before Rocky left, and now they were starting it up again.
Only the best for the best!
Adrian went hunting on their favorite beach, and had found the perfect rock for sound and texture. They set to meticulously carving and shaping it. It took them a few days, but in the end it was up to their satisfaction - a human carved with two Eridians on either side.
Adrian hoped it wasn’t too forward, but then they remembered that the alien had no qualms about eating in front of them.
Bounding through the biodome, Adrian found Grace sitting at the beach, a thinking machine on their lap and a writing utensil in their mouth. This was normal for it, apparently, using its mouth to hold things.
It turned to them, hearing them run over the sand. “Adrian!” It called around its writing utensil.
“Hello, Grace,” they said, slowing down.
“No Rocky today?” it asked, looking around.
“Rocky at engineer thrum, to discuss moving lab equipment down to biodome. I come alone, if okay?” They had waited specifically until Rocky was busy to visit the human. There was no reason to hide this gift from Rocky, but they still had only worked on it while Rocky slept or was busy. Adrian had wanted to portray to Grace its thankfulness by themselves.
Grace nodded. “Of course, you’re always welcome! How are things?”
Adrian preened. Small talk was so alien, but was fun to do with Grace. They had warmed up to the human quickly. Any worries they had had were calmed by Rocky, such as the whole eating thing and general softness. But it was hard to be grossed out by their savior. They chatted about the temperature of the air and the water (you accidentally boil its beach one time!), and how Rocky was being pulled every which way. Grace laughed and said at least he had the biodome to hide away in.
“Actually, I actually come with gift!” Adrian said, after pleasantries, pulling out their present from behind their carapace. Humans liked to wrap presents, Adrian had learned, but anything soft enough from their atmosphere wouldn’t work in Grace’s. Instead, they opted to hide the gift in their claws.
“Aw, no way! Adrian, you didn’t have to get me anything,” Grace said. “You’ve already given me more than enough!”
Adrian stomped a leg. “No. Never enough. But try.”
Grace rubbed the back of its neck, a gesture meaning nervousness. “Just being given a place to live and food is more than I could ask for. Please, don’t put yourself out trying to give me gifts.”
“Biodome and food is gift from Erid. This is gift from me,” Adrian said, stepping forward towards Grace and shoving their claws in its face.
“Alright, alright,” the human said, raising its hands in surrender, “But you’ll have to let me know what you like to get as a gift too! It’s only fair, though I may be limited in my selection…”
Adrian considered this and trilled in agreement. “Yes, later. Here!” And they opened their claws, revealing their present and the human leaned in closer to look.
They had never considered themselves shy, but in that moment, a feeling of uncertainty crept up on them. Giving a gift to an Eridian was done only with close friends and family, usually for a celebration or mating ritual. And this was to an alien, of all people!
But Grace only took that moment to gasp as it took in its present. “Oh wow, Adrian! May I?” It asked, reaching its hands forward to grab it.
“Mmm, of course! For you anyway,” Adrian said, pushing the piece in its hands, who quickly brought it up to its face.
“Whoa, that’s me! And you and Rocky!” It said, turning the piece around and around, admiring it. “This is incredible, how’d you get the details so correct? And wow, you even carved my glasses?”
Giving a gift to a friend was supposed to be for the friend’s benefit, and it was, but there was something to be proud of that an alien was in awe of Adrian’s work. It lived in a biodome they had designed, and the human knew that, but this, Adrian hoped, showed the human how much Adrian was thankful for it in a more personal manner.
“Been sculpting long before meeting Rocky, before architecture. Have no patience for xenonite, hopefully rock suffices?” Adrian asked. They had done their best to select the best medium, but Adrian wasn’t sure what humans considered good quality in rocks.
“Suffices? Adrian, I don’t know how you did it but even the rock itself is beautiful! The colors are so vivid, and are there crystals in this? It’s so shiny!”
Adrian paused. They knew, in theory, that humans had built in light sensors. But when they had picked the rock, they had been going off Eridian standards. Smooth texture, a ringing echo of sound, a pleasant feel. Something the human could still appreciate, even if they didn’t hear as well as Eridians. But colors brought up a whole new array of questions
“Colors?” they asked, somewhat excitingly. “What colors?”
“Ah, I’m not sure how to describe colors - Rocky was hopeless - but, it’s a soft gray with purple swirling around it. And the crystals make it sparkle, so the light bounces all over the place.”
The names didn’t make much sense to Adrian, but they made a mental note to look it up later. It seemed rude to confess they hadn’t thought of colors when selecting the rock, so instead they said, “Good, am glad is beautiful.”
Grace smiled. “It really is. Thank you Adrian, this means alot to me. You’ll have to help me pick a good spot for it.” It got up, dusting off its clothes and picking up its thinking machine. It began the short walk to its house.
Adrian scuttled around with happiness. “Yes, yes! And Grace helps pick other rocks for sculptures! More colors!”
Grace laughed and repeated, “More colors!”
It turned out science Eridians and science humans weren’t so different after all. After the human had moved into its biodome and regained its health, it grew antsy and bored. It complained that it wasn’t used to sitting around doing nothing, and now that it was all better, it wanted to study Erid and its inhabitants.
Not only that, but the human had agreed for it to be studied in return as well, said it was only fair. This was a boon nobody had foreseen from the Star Eater situation.
All the hives were excited to start, and so after painstakingly studying the human’s science machines, a careful plan of moving them off its ship and into its biodome had begun. A simple lab area had been constructed, off to the side of its main home and beach. There was a side for the human and one for Eridians, with an airlock in between. The human kept its machines, and Erid did its best to copy them, but it was a slow process. Luckily, the human never minded helping them out in the meantime, running samples on its side.
Human and Eridian schedules were hard to line up, but there was usually a small team in the Erid side at all times. They had completed their first prototype of an ‘Electron Microscope’, as the human called it, and everybody was trying to figure it out.
Bill was off to the side, preparing a lab procedure to dissolve compounds. Erid’s atmosphere was already a toasty temperature, but certain chemicals needed even higher temperatures to digest them for further analysis.They were excited for the Electron Microscope, of course, but Bill still had their daily tasks to complete, and they wanted to finish before the human came down.
Carefully, with padded gloves and tongs, they took out the container holding the molten rock and placed it safely in its apparatus. They had already measured out what needed to be dissolved, and so they turned to collect them.
“Whoa!”
Bill jumped, turning around with the other Eridians. They were so concentrated on their task they had neglected to hear the human came in! Hopefully it didn’t think they were being rude, as it seemed like the others working on the Electron Microscope had been similarly engrossed. Bill tapped its leg in embarrassment.
The human stood at the barrier, looking in, not at the microscope but at Bill. “I didn’t even need to turn the lights on, it’s so bright over there already! What’s going on?” Lighting was a foreign concept to the Eridians, so when constructing the lab area, they had just given the human controls for both sets of lights on either side.
“Bright? What is bright?” Bill asked, confused. “We didn’t touch the lights?” The others trilled in agreement
“It’s a bright orange, is something really hot over there?”
Bill lowered their carapace in assent. “Yes! Use molten rock to melt chemicals. Is it bright? Not too bright, hopefully?”
“Ah, right, I had colleagues do similar stuff back in college. Yeah, if something's hot enough it gives off light but it's not too bright. I didn’t know you guys used lava to melt chemicals, I’d have thought its hot enough over there already.”
“Use molten rock for stubborn compounds only, in small and safe amounts,” Bill said, ignoring the heat gives off light? what? how? from their colleagues.
“How cool, you’ll have to explain to me how you guys do it,” the human said, pulling up a chair and sitting down.
Bill hummed. “Just about to start, watch and tell me about heat light!”
The human was more than excited to share its knowledge. It liked to give lectures to science and biology thrums, and happily answered questions to any visitor. But what it truly liked doing, and what it did even before its own planet had the Star Eater crisis, was teach children. It asked if this was something it could do again.
This was not a problem for Erid. Teachers and mentors were a highly respected field, and having an alien teach their youth was an honor. Or, it could be. Children were young and naive. Seeing such an odd creature, none the which they could even dare to imagine, for the first time could prove… tumultuous. And nobody wanted to disrespect the savior of their planet.
So the teaching plans stalled momentarily while the thrums discussed how to carefully and respectfully introduce children to an alien. Do they describe what to expect? Take a scan of the human to show? But taking a scan without the human knowing was rude, and showing a scan off the thinking device of another human seemed disingenuous.
It was solved when Rocky barreled in and confessed that they had told Grace why there were no updates. After a pause, the thrum respectfully and politely asked the other savior of their planet why they would risk disrespecting the human.
Thankfully, this was no big deal to the human. In fact, it had had similar experiences back on Earth and said that teachers and students often met before the start of a course to taper any uneasiness.. An event they called an ‘Open House’, where parents, students, and teachers could meet and tour the classroom.
Rocky assured the thrum Grace would not be offended by any rude children, and said it had met many rude children back on Earth.
With a plan in motion. the classroom finished construction, with feedback from Eridian teachers and the human itself. A raised seating area for the children surrounding the teaching podium, outfitted with an organ to talk and a larger writing board in the back. The human had called it perfect, and everybody was polite enough to ignore the leaking.
The open house took place a week later, with the human clearly eager to meet everybody. Parents and their children lined in, carefully selected from a large pool of applicants. These were to be future scientists, to be taught by such a master of science to give them the boost they needed for their careers. At this age, however, it was to be a broad overview of various fields to see what interested each student.
The human had even picked a teaching aide, Willow, to be on the Eridian side for any hands on demonstration or aid. They happily guided everybody around, allowing each to-be student to have a one on one meeting with their teacher, who had moved its organ to sit down lower on their level.
Any fears anybody had of awkward meetings or misunderstandings were rapidly assuaged. The human met each of its students at their own pace, allowing them to come as close as they wanted and ask whatever question. Despite meeting them separately, soon it had a crowd of curious children.
“And you only use those two hands? Really?”
The human nodded. “Only the upper two are for grabbing. The lower two are for walking,” it said, getting up and spinning in a circle. Everybody oohed.
“And you’re sure the fuzzy stuff on top of your head isn’t for sensing?”
The human nodded again. “It’s pretty much for fashion nowadays.”
The questions continued on for a while, until the last few minutes came upon them. The human stood up and grabbed its thinking machine. “Okay,” it said, humming through the list, “And we’ve met everybody, correct?”
“Ah, Dr. Grace,” Willow piped up, “There is still a parent and child outside.”
“Oh, really? We’re running out of time already, is everything alright?” it said, trying to peer into the hallway. “Let’s see…” Looking back down at the list, it exclaimed, “Oh! I work with the parent, they’re in the lab with me!”
“Pardon us, Dr. Grace,” the parent, whom Grace had called Blizzard after its shocking white carapace, leaned inside, “It’s just… they’re feeling shy…”
The human gently smiled. “I get it. It’s not every day you meet an alien, right? Take your time, I’ve nowhere to be after this. In fact, Willow, could you get everybody else set up with the paperwork?”
Willow chirped back and quickly herded everybody else out. The human had written out questionnaires for the parents, in case they had any lingering concerns or questions. Once everybody else was out of the room, the human leaned against the barrier and quietly played nonsense notes on its organ, practicing more complex sayings.
Blizzard softly placed a claw on their child and guided them into the classroom. “Come on now, you were so excited at home!” they whispered, trying to be encouraging.
The child tapped its feet anxiously, staying at their parents claws. Saying one thing and doing another were two completely different things! It didn’t help that it was so crowded earlier either!
Blizzard worried. Their child was so endlessly curious, and they knew this was an incredible opportunity for them. They were their own little scientist in the making, a copy of Blizzard when they were their age. But it was hard to get a child out of its shell. They were just so nervous!
“Be brave, think of Savior Rocky!” they whispered, walking awkwardly with an attached child around one of their limbs. Luckily, it seemed to work. Their child did love playing pretend with their cousins as Savior Rocky and Savior Grace.
The human paused its playing, hearing the quiet tip tapping, and slowly turned to face them. Or, face them as best as they could with the parent standing in between the two. “Ah, hello there! My name is Dr. Grace,” it carefully played out. “What is your name?”
A moment, and then a quiet trill of notes.
Dr. Grace smiled. “That’s a lovely name,” it said, “I hope I’m not too strange for you.” It played the equivalent of a laugh.
Another pause, and a sharp outburst. “No, no! Normal!”
Grace laughed in its human way this time. “Good, good. I am excited to teach. Are you excited to learn?”
Slowly, the child peeked over their parent’s claw and made a happy series of sounds.
“Good! There you are! Wow, I’ve never seen an Eridian look like you!”
Blizzard tilted its carapace in surprise. Their child, while lovely and perfect to them, displayed all the average and normal Eridian growing signs. Blizzard thought it took after its mate’s side of the family more so than them, rounder with longer limbs, as all that side had.
“Huh?” their child squeaked out.
Dr. Grace tapped its organ, thinking. “Did you know humans see and experience the world differently than you?”
Their child fully stepped out on its own and scuttled a bit closer. “Mhm,” they said. “Light!”
“That’s right. I can see light with my eyes." It paused to point at the gelatinous orbs in its head. "And did you know every Eridian I’ve met all looks differently when seen with light?”
“All different?”
“Yes! All different colors. Your parent is white and blue. Rocky is a light brown. But you, you are made of so many different colors!”
“I am?” they chirped, moving their limbs around as if to see their own colors.
“You are! White and blue, of course, but purple, green, silver, and even yellow too! They're all swirled together.”
“Wow wow wow! No idea!”
Grace laughed again. Blizzard felt relieved. Their child, the youngest in the cluster, had such a hard time expressing themselves in front of other people. They had been unsure if allowing their child into this classroom was a good idea, but their mate had convinced them. Blizzard was so glad they did.
“You know, I’m no good at Eridian names. I was going to go over that the first day class, giving you all human equivalent names, with your approval, of course. But there is a human term for an object as colorful as you are, if you’re interested? Maybe have a quick lesson, if you can keep it a secret,” it said, playing the notes quietly and leaning in. “And if your parent is okay with it, too.”
Their child nearly fell over themselves in excitement, tugging on their claw. And Blizzard had nowhere to go after this either, so both parent and child settled in to learn about rainbows.
“You know even if I can’t see without the lights, I can definitely still hear you all chattering around in there!” Grace called out as he stood in the entry hall of his house. It was suspiciously dark. He usually left the lights on when he left his home, in case he got home late.
The chattering stopped. Grace stood with his hands on his hips at the door. “Well?” he continued.
Rocky’s voice sheepishly called out, “Supposed to be surprise. Learn on thinking machine, human celebration…”
“You’re throwing a surprise party?”
This time, Adrian’s voice called out. “Yes! Leave and come back, get surprise better this time!”
Grace snorted and dutifully turned around.