Grace had to admit, for a microbiologist, he was a pretty lucky guy.

Not only was he one of the first people to learn about the existence of tiny, extraterrestrial beings eating at the sun, but he was also one of the first scientists to study them. One of the first scientists in the world to actually have those little black cells under a microscope, seeing them move around and eat and reproduce. Science, man...

On top of that, he could say with utmost certainty that he was the first human to interact with sentient, alien life. Life that, by the look of Rocky's body, contained not an ounce of water--take that, scientific community. They were even able to communicate and collaborate, goddamnit, on their common goal of saving their respective stars.

Yeah, Grace had to admit that he was pretty lucky. Interacting with one extraterrestrial life form was a once in a lifetime experience. Interacting with two? That was so much better, he didn't even have a word to describe it.

So when another ship--your ship--slowly made its advance towards the now connected Hail Mary and--whatever Rocky's ship was called--Grace had to admit that he definitely thought he was hallucinating. Because what were the chances that he was about to make third contact?

Turns out, they were pretty high.

Your ship, not unlike Rocky's, had stopped only a couple of hundred metres away. You had all engaged in the now familiar exchange of messages, send back and forth from one ship to the other. And finally, finally, once it seemed like you wouldn't kill then--and they wouldn't kill you--Grace connected your ship to the tunnel.

Now, to wait. Grace supposed that was all they could do, now that you were connected too. Just... Wait until you ventured over to them. For one brilliant moment, he realised how Rocky must have felt at his nervous stupidity.

But the wait didn't last long. Before they knew it, the tunnel--which had been reverted back to a neutral zone, cleansed of the oxygen and perfect earth atmosphere, much to Grace's dismay--was suddenly occupied by you. A third, alive, sentient being, there for the same reasons as them.

"Rocky excited. Amaze amaze amaze," the robotic voice from the translation terminal read out as the little alien rolled around in his hamster ball.

Grace was... Admittedly less excited. "Maybe... Maybe we should stay a bit composed about this."

"New word. Explain."

Always at the wrong time. Grace sighed. "It's, it's like calm, I guess--"

But he didn't have time to finish the thought. You were there, against the glass. Peering through at them. And what he supposed was a hand or a paw was coming up to tap the glass.