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"Morning morning morning Grace. Wake up Grace. Much work to do, statement." Rocky bumbled through the Hail Mary's corridors. "Where Grace, question? Rocky only leave for 531 seconds to get food." He rolled into Grace's sleeping quarters. "Grace in here, question? Rocky impatient, want save stars!"
Amid the mess of jumpers, science pun shirts and slippers, something moved.
"Grace!" Rocky said, stamping his feet happily. "Want do calculations first or experiment first, question?"
The sound that came from the pile made Rocky tilt in his ball. It was unfamiliar. As unfamiliar as the red-brown furry head that suddenly snapped up out of the blankets.
"AAAH!" Rocky's translator barely did justice to the Eridians exclamations. "What this? Where Grace, question? Grace, Grace, Grace, come quick please, creature in Grace sleeping chambers!"
The furry thing scampered back in shock, ears pinned down, digging its head back under the blankets, its backside and shaggy, white-tipped tail still very much visible.
Rocky waited, frozen, having listened to the ship around him and not heard anything or anyone else. "Grace… question?"
The fox slowly lifted its head, a t shirt with the inscription: "you don't have electrons? Are you positive?" sliding down its ear. It tilted its head.
"Is animal," Rocky said. "Grace tell Rocky about animal. Is fox, Grace favorite animal." He rolled slowly closer. The fox didn't move. He rolled closer again. "Is fox… Grace, question?"
The fox lifted its snout and sniffed, inching closer. Closer and closer until it was sniffing around Rocky's ball, even giving it a small lick.
"Mary empty except for Rocky and fox," Rocky said. "Fox here, Grace gone. No Grace body. Fox must be Grace, statement."
The animal's tail flicked happily and it began jumping about, letting out squeaky barks and shaking t-shirts about in its teeth.
"Grace happy, Rocky happy!" Rocky said, doing what Grace had dubbed "Jazz hands" in joy, rocking about in his ball. "Grace happy! Rocky wait days for Grace to be happy again. Grace so leaky when sad. Leaky Grace make Rocky sad too. Fox loud when happy! How Grace make Grace into fox, question?"
He waited, watching the fox as it gnawed on a tangle of socks and sneezed. "Grace no talk as fox, question?" Fox-Grace dropped the socks and trotted happily past Rocky, sniffing as he went. "Want do calculations now, question? Still need save stars." Rocky clanked along as he followed in his ball. "Rocky have ideas. How much Astrophage need for big bomb, question? Uh-oh." Rocky knocked on his ball hastily. "No eat centrifuge! No eat centrifuge! Bad Grace, bad, bad, bad!"
He rolled up to the fox and knocked into him, making him jump but stop his attempts at sinking his teeth into their equipment. Fox-Grace growled for a moment, but quickly lost interest again, following his nose to another station.
"Oh, Grace want do experiment, question?" Rocky asked. "Rocky not know how Grace want do experiment without hands… Perhaps Grace turn back into Grace, question?" He twiddled his own hands in hope. "Rocky want ask Grace questions, but fox-Grace no talk! Human-Grace better. Change back, please!"
Instead of changing back, the fox yipped, jumping up onto the table, tail wagging excitedly.
"No, no, no. Bad, bad, bad," Rocky said. "Grace down. Human equipment stupid and break easy."
Sniffing and licking, the fox tapped about on the desk, knocking over stands and pads and trampling over keyboards.
"Grace acting strange, statement," Rocky muttered.
Bored again, Fox-Grace jumped back down. He nuzzled against Rocky's ball, squeaking and purring. "Hm, maybe not so bad," Rocky said. "Fox-Grace hair pretty, statement. Human-Grace should learn to make hair like Fox-Grace. Ooh, Rocky question, Rocky question! All humans able change into fox? Or Grace special, question? Grace mention other animals. Other humans change into other animals, question? Rocky want see other animals!"
Fox-Grace continued to ignore his questioning, instead testing his sharp canines on Rocky's enclosure.
"Bad, bad, bad," Rocky said, wagging a finger like he'd seen Human-Grace do. "Fox-Grace stupid! No break Rocky ball!" He bumped him, causing him to skitter away again, ears tilting and turning, tail swishing, nose sniffing until it caught something new once again and he took off down another corner of the ship. "Fox-Grace faster than human-Grace," Rocky grumbled, rumbling after him. He checked first in his own bedroom, then in Grace's food storage.
Sure enough, the red-brown furry nose was buried ears-deep in the food stores, snuffling and licking, crunching on whatever he could get his teeth on.
"Rocky know Grace hungry, but human-Grace say no eat much! Save food for long trip! No eat food now!" Seeing as the fox had jumped up onto the table, Rocky resorted to ramming the table legs. "Stop," he repeated. "Stop, stop, stop or human-Grace no have enough food left!"
The fox peered down at him, sharp, white teeth crunching on a pack of ramen, packaging and all. "Rocky say please now. Fox-Grace please give human-Grace back. Rocky want human-Grace. Human-Grace better, human-Grace smarter. Change back now please. Rocky no care about other animals anymore. Only care about human-Grace."
The fox did not seem to care. It did however take its stolen ramen back to Grace's sleeping chambers, curling around it as it tried to chew through the packaging.
"Rocky wait for human-Grace to come back," Rocky grumbled, bumping into the door controls until he hit them at the right angle, the hydraulics hissing as the hatch closed and sealed itself, locking the animal inside. Rocky listened and watched from the other side.
He sat for so long he decided to occupy himself with some of the calculations. Long enough apparently for the fox to fall asleep and Rocky to drift into concentrated meditation.
A bang echoed from the other side of the door, making Rocky jerk, listening. Then again, mixed with grumbling. The door opened and Grace yawned, stretching, his fur-less abdomen briefly sticking out between trousers and shirt. "Good morning Rocky. You know, I had the weirdest dream…" He glanced down as he stepped on something that crunched. "Why is there Ramen everywhere?"
Rocky forgot about his calculations and rolled right into Grace's legs, leaning against him. "Morning morning Grace. Rocky happy to see you, statement."
"Aw, I'm happy to see you too, bud. Something happen while I was asleep?"
Rocky tapped thoughtfully. "Rocky study Grace favorite earth animal. Rocky hate Grace favorite earth animal."
"Foxes? What a coincidence. I dreamed something about foxes."