CHAPTER 15

MEDIUM — Ryland at airlock porthole, ear almost pressed to it. Clanks from the other side. This time he's going to find out what's happening.

POV through porthole — hull robot on Blip-A's exterior removing the old tunnel. Old tunnel drifts off into space, its job done.

POV — robot placing new tunnel against Blip-A's hull and running xenonite glue along the seam. Precise, mechanical, autonomous.

MEDIUM — New tunnel installed. Ryland peers in: the entire divider wall is now one large cabinet-sized airlock — big enough for Rocky with room to spare. A metal stripe runs the full length of the floor.

INSERT — Two new features run the full length of the tunnel: the metal stripe along the floor (iron — magnetic) and a square xenonite pipe along the ceiling (atmosphere delivery).

ABSTRACT — The tunnel fills with atmosphere from both sides simultaneously. Left: human-breathable air (cool blue-grey). Right: Eridian ammonia mix (amber-warm). A quiet whoosh.

MEDIUM — Blip-A door opens. Rocky emerges inside his xenonite geodesic sphere — the spaceball. One limb is raised in a wave. He's wearing something like overalls and a bandolier.

CLOSE — Spaceball bottom face pressed against the metal stripe. The pentagon face touching the stripe is held by magnets Rocky is gripping from inside. He rolls himself along the iron rail.

MEDIUM — Rocky navigates the large cabinet-airlock using his magnets on the metal stripe. The airlock cycles: hissing of pumps, pressure equalisation. Ryland waits on the other side.

MEDIUM — Ryland opens the Hail Mary airlock door. The spaceball floats through into the ship. Rocky is inside his alien sphere, inside Ryland's spaceship. They are roommates.

MEDIUM — Ryland clutches the spaceball. It barely moves. His arms are out, face straining. The thing has the inertia of a motorcycle. Mercury blood. Metal bones. Of course it's heavy.

MEDIUM — Ryland hauling the spaceball down the Hail Mary's internal tunnel toward the control room. It skids and skitters. Zero gravity means mass but no weight — still like pushing a motorcycle.

CLOSE — Rocky inside the spaceball, body tilted at an angle. He's constantly shifting position to get a better sonar 'view' of new surroundings — like a dog tilting its head at a sound.

MEDIUM — Control room. Ryland at the consoles. Rocky's spaceball is magnetically attached to the wall, observing everything. The first alien in a human spacecraft watches Ryland operate.

MEDIUM — Lab doorway. Rocky's spaceball at the threshold. Instruments everywhere. Ryland gestures around the room with a sweeping arm. This is where the science happens.

MEDIUM — Rocky rolling the spaceball across the steel lab table using magnets. Face by face, rolling forward and back. Not graceful, but effective. He explores every centimetre.

MEDIUM — Rocky's spaceball in the lab with limbs pointing in four different directions simultaneously — then stopping — then pointing elsewhere. Like a kid in a candy shop, overwhelmed.

MEDIUM — Rocky's indecision resolves: one limb points firmly at the 3D printer. That one. What is that? The most advanced piece of human tech in the room, and the alien has chosen correctly.

MEDIUM — Ryland at the centre, sketching a rotation gesture. A rotating ship in his mind, next to the tunnel — crossed out. The tunnel prevents rotation. Rocky already understood this.

CLOSE — Ryland grinning. He went from sole-surviving space explorer to guy with a wacky new roommate. He can see exactly how this is going to go. He doesn't mind.

MEDIUM — Three figures in the medical bay. Stratt (left), Ryland (centre), Dr. Lamai (right) bowing her head slightly, hands pressed together. A quiet, graceful introduction.

MEDIUM — A medical bay: unconscious monkey on a cot, robotic arm apparatus above monitoring and maintaining it. Vitals display. Eerie, quiet automation. Ryland has looked away.

CLOSE — Stratt rolling up her sleeve without being asked. She doesn't wait to be tested last. She goes first. Lamai gets the needle in on the first try. Blood flows into the tube.

MEDIUM — Lamai inserting the needle into Ryland's extended arm. Ryland's head is turned hard the other way. He gets queasy watching his own blood drawn. Stratt nearby, unmoved.

MEDIUM — Stratt flat and certain. Ryland genuinely stunned. Tens of thousands of volunteers — all knowing it's a one-way trip. That many people are willing to die for humanity.

MEDIUM — Dormitory crammed floor to ceiling with duffel bags in muddy Eridian colours, taped to everything. One pristine bunk preserved: Ryland's. Rocky's sleeping spot is a patch of floor.

MEDIUM — The tunnel drifts free. Two ships finally separate — Hail Mary left, Blip-A right, a gap growing between them. First time they've been physically apart since docking.

MEDIUM — Rocky's spaceball navigating the pile of bags using magnets to grip metal pads on each duffel. Clambering, rearranging. Surprisingly adept for something that looks like a disco ball.

CLOSE — Rocky's spaceball. Inside, his carapace is slumped lower than Ryland has ever seen it. Elbows above the level of his breathing holes. The posture of profound failure and grief.

MEDIUM — Ryland pulling himself across the dormitory toward Rocky's position. No words yet. Just moving closer. The scientist trying to figure out how to comfort an alien engineer in grief.

MEDIUM — Rocky's carapace has risen slightly. A degree, but visible. Ryland's hand rests against the sphere. This is what recovery looks like for an alien who has been alone for 46 years.

MEDIUM — Laptop with frequency analyser waveform and dictionary spreadsheet open. Ryland at keys, Rocky's spaceball nearby. Building new vocabulary in real time. This is how they communicate.

CLOSE — Rocky's spaceball. Portrait. Below him: a timeline showing his 291-year lifespan, with a human lifespan (~80 years) shown in comparison. Rocky is older than the United States.

CLOSE — Ryland. Jaw dropped. Cannot speak for a moment. The alien being he's been talking to is older than his country. There are Eridians alive who remember Columbus.

DIAGRAM — Eridian lifespan: 689 year average. Rocky at 291 years — not even middle-aged. Human lifespan shown to scale below. Rocky is young by the standards of his species.

CLOSE — The External Collection Unit. A device designed to capture Astrophage from space as the ship moves through infected regions. Rocky's ship had one. It fell off. Ryland's still works.

CLOSE — Rocky's carapace raised high — all five limbs active and expressive. This is relief. Forty-six years of trying to collect Astrophage and failing. And now: a working collector.