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  1. Public Bookmark *

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    Two days after their first contact—and more importantly, their first words—Grace sets up his thinking machine to speak.

    Rocky does not need the assistance of a machine for Grace’s language. It is ugly and harsh to listen to, but it’s relatively simple to learn. That, and, well—Rocky was alone for a very, very long time before he met Grace. He maybe hangs on to each word a little more than strictly necessary. Grace only needs to tell him each word once for Rocky to know it forever.

    Grace, though…

    Well, he’s lucky Rocky is patient. Let’s leave it at that.

    Language:
    English
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    15 Aug 2026

  2. Public Bookmark *

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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.

    Series
    Language:
    English
    Words:
    55,422
    Chapters:
    4/4
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    10 Aug 2026

  3. Public Bookmark 40

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    “Kilocalorie number today, question?” Rocky checked.

    “Don’t.”

    “Say number,” Rocky demanded.

    “I don’t know, okay? Six hundred, eight?” Grace managed to drink some liquid and lied back down. “I know that I need about four thousand and before you ask, there is nothing you or me can do about it now. We can talk about something else or I can watch you sleep.”

    I watch you sleep.”

    “You have not slept for the past day and a half, buddy. You need it more than I do,” Grace said and raised his sound limb, making a motion at Rocky with one of his fingers. “I’ll watch you sleep, so go sleep.”

    Language:
    English
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    240
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    09 Aug 2026

  4. Public Bookmark *

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    “Need word,” Rocky says in baby-talk Eridian for me. The translator dutifully repeats “need word” in English a second later.

    After fifteen minutes of bewildering back and forth between the three of us, we determine the word he needs is “declension.”

    A year into the journey to Erid, Grace faces down his most formidable academic gauntlet since astrophage: the five-part polyphonic Eridian language. It’s only fair after Rocky mastered English, human mannerisms, Grace mannerisms- without so much as one complaint. And if learning Eridian might temper some of Grace’s desperate, near-complete dependence on Rocky in the future… well. That’s his own business.

    Eridian breaks Grace’s brain, heart, and soul- and puts it back together.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    15,047
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    1/1
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    162
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    31 Jul 2026

  5. Public Bookmark *

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    Grace, question?

    His tone is patient, the chords of his words simplified so that I can definitely understand him without my laptop-translator-rig. See, he’s just considerate like that.

    No one in all the Earth Sci-Fi stories and movies tells you that the aliens will be kind.

    Another tap of his arm. Sad thoughts?

    “Sad thoughts.” I concede. No point lying to someone who can hear your heartbeat.

    Hm.

    I’m proud of myself for identifying the note as a thinking sound, a filler word. I gotta say, my foray into exolinguistics has been an excellent distraction from the general misery that is my now-mostly-remembered-life.

    Do you want to talk about it?

    ----

    Some overdue conversations . Time spent together on the way back to Erid re-opens some old (and some fresh) wounds.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    16,884
    Chapters:
    3/3
    Comments:
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    31 Jul 2026