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There were many things that Grace could accept had changed on Earth in the just-under 14 years since the launch of the Hail Mary. 14 years was a long time in terms of technological progression. Sure, the rate of development would probably be slowed a bit as people turned their focus to staying alive and not starving to death, but still. Technology was going to advance at crazy rates. That was just how it worked.
Not like this though. This was impossible.
"The Andromeda Galaxy is over 760 kiloparsecs away. That's over 2.5 million light years!" Grace sputtered. "We can't be going there. It took all of the astrophage Earth could produce and 13 years just to travel 12 light years." He waved his hands loosely in the air, unsure of what to do with them. How was he supposed to react to the claim that they were going to Andromeda? It was just, well, ridiculous.
Hal, however, just grimaced and tilted his head. "We aren't using astrophage."
"What?" Grace blinked.
"There's more forms of energy than we knew about when you left Earth," Hal continued. He leaned forward in his lab chair, resting his elbows on his knees as his ring began to glow softly. In the air above him appeared a small, three-dimensional model of the emblem on his own chest. "We just discovered this, but there's an emotional electromagnetic spectrum. The center of it is willpower, represented by green light." Hal gestured at the small emblem. "The corps' rings tap into that energy and use it to power our rings. The more willpower you have, the stronger you are."
Grace frowned. It just, frankly, didn't make any sense to him. How could there be a spectrum of emotions? How could an emotion power a ring? How could an emotion create an object like the model floating in front of Hal?
"Rocky hears sound from model," Rocky commented. At least someone was filling the silence. Rocky pressed the back of his ball into the front of Grace's legs, grounding him a bit. One clawed arm raised to point directly at the hovering green light in front of them. "Sounds like f-sharp bell from human music."
Hal chuckled softly, and another model appeared next to the emblem: an alien that almost reminded Grace of a bipedal fish with long arms. There was a large, rounded fin on their back that continued up, merging into a smooth, curved head. In place of eyes were two large, white orbs that didn't appear to have any form of pupils. Interestingly, while they wore a uniform similar to Hal's own, the symbol on their chest was a green bell instead of the now-familiar lantern emblem.
"You aren't the first to say that. Rot Lop Fan's entire species can't see. They use sound and echolocation to move around, just like you eridians." Hal nodded towards Rocky. "Rot Lop Fan said the green constructs sounded like an f-sharp bell. He is technically the only member of the F-Sharp Bell Corps."
"Other alien just like Rocky!" Rocky chimed happily, shaking his claws in the air.
Grace smiled and bent down to pat the top of Rocky's ball. At least his friend's species wasn't alone in the universe. Speaking of which though… "You haven't explained how this… willpower lets you travel at such high speeds yet," he prodded to get them back on track. "Or that model thing."
"You're right," Hal acquiesced with a small nod. He waved his hand gently, sending the model of the emblem soaring gently over to him. Grace reached out, pressing a finger to the side of the model. It was solid. "These are solid-light constructs, produced by our rings. Scientists are still trying to figure out exactly how they work, but it's a supersolid form of light using exciton-polaritons." Hal shrugged. "I'm not the best with the more specific scientific explanations, but you could speak with some of the sciencier lanterns or STAR Labs on Earth and learn from them."
He nodded slowly. Okay. Yeah. He was definitely going to have to do that the first chance he got. Because this? Running his hands over something made out of light and feeling it? This was something out of the science fiction stories he had loved as a child. It was unreal. It was insane. It was, for lack of a better word, impossible.
"And the travel is pretty simple," Hal continued. Grace looked up from the construct in his hands and refocused his attention on the other guy. "It's trans-luminal jumps, similar to warp drives work. By the way," Hal grinned, "warp drives are no longer theoretical. We have 'em."
Grace's mouth dropped. "Excuse me?"
"We can travel faster than the speed of light now. It'll only take us a little over an hour and a half to get to Oa from here."
Rocky said a series of phrases that Grace knew wasn't in his own programmed translator, but the ring translated anyway. He didn't want to repeat those words.
Faster than the speed of light. Faster than the speed of light. Faster than the speed of light.
"How–" Grace cut himself off, swallowing thickly. "How long would it take you to get to Earth from here?" His mouth trembled. He could feel his breathing speeding up.
Hal took a deep breath, and Grace could see the truth in his expression. It was obvious. He already knew it; he just wanted to hear the words. If Hal and presumably the rest of the members of this corps thing could cover the distance between Earth and a completely different galaxy in only an hour and a half, then the distance from Earth to Tau Ceti was nothing.
Grace already knew the answer. He just wanted to hear it.
"It's a bit slower because we can't accelerate as quickly or to as high of speeds in galaxies as we can between them," Hal looked at him sadly, "but I could get from here to Earth in fifteen minutes."
Fifteen minutes.
Fifteen minutes.
Fifteen minutes for 13 years.
Grace pushed himself to his feet and walked out of the lab.
Fifteen minutes. Earth was fifteen minutes away. It had taken Hal fifteen minutes to get from Earth to here, to Tau Ceti. Only fifteen minutes. That was only 900 seconds. Much more time than that had passed since Hal first knocked on the window of the Hail Mary.
Grace's hands shook, and his vision blurred. His feet carried him somewhere, anywhere. He wasn't sure where. He wasn't really in full control of his body right now.
Meanwhile, it had taken him 4 of his own lifespan, time-dilated, and 13 years compared to the people back on Earth for him to get here. His students were grownups by now. Colt was 9 years older than him. Earth had kept on spinning, living successfully based on the few mentions Hal had made so far, while Grace just wasted away on a spaceship. For no reason. While Yáo and Ilyukhina died.
Grace sank to the floor of wherever he was. His vision was too blurry to make out the details of the room, and he couldn't bring himself to wipe the tears away yet. But the ground underneath his hands was grated, his fingers poking through the small gaps.
He had survived the 4 year trip, but Yáo and Ilyukhina were dead for reasons that Grace still didn't know. They had died. They were gone, and he was here, still alive. Rocky was trapped up here for longer than he had been alive, surrounded by the corpses of his crewmates.
Grace's breath stuttered in his chest.
Was it all for nothing?
Had Project Hail Mary been a failure?
He swallowed thickly and blinked away the tears. Slowly, oh so slowly, the grating beneath his fingers came into focus. Through the thin metal bars, Grace could see the large screens of the 'Don't go Crazy' room. They were green. He sucked in a deep breath, trying to slow his racing chest, and lifted his head.
It was Earth. Grace had forgotten to turn off the screens after his last time sitting in here, mourning the views of the planet he had thought he'd never see again. They were still playing the same, long recording of the lush green Dunn Ranch Prairie in Missouri. Colorful wildflowers dotted the screen and a clear blue sky arced over Grace's head.
"Mary, play next video," Grace whispered as he carefully pushed himself off of his knees and into a more normal seated position. Mary faithfully obeyed and the green prairie faded into a view of middle of the redwood forest in the setting sun. An owl hooted in the distance, the noise played gently over the rooms speakers. Grace craned his head in the direction of the sound, his shoulders falling as he remembered it wasn't truly there.
Grace wasn't sure how long he sat there, staring up at the screens as Mary slowly cycled through some of his favorite views. There was a meadow nestled deep in the Himalayas between towering peaks of stone, an underwater view of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the Li River of China, and so many more. Mary played each video for as long as he wanted, giving him the chance to stare at the beauty of Earth. Eventually, she mixed in videos of people: towns, villages, and cities from all corners of the world with people smiling at the camera, waving, going about their daily business. He watched children running through streets, the elderly knitting beautiful pieces of artwork, and everyday folks just enjoying the community of their homes.
It was everything he desperately missed, and everything he thought he'd never see again.
It was also exactly what the Hail Mary had been launched in order to try, desperately, to save.
"Y'know, you didn't fail," a soft voice broke the silence that had settled around Grace. He whipped his head to the side, staring at the entrance to the room. Hal stood there, leaning casually against the archway. "Not really." There was a tired, sad look on his face. His green uniform had faded away, replaced by casual jeans and white t-shirt, layered under a faded brown bomber jacket.
Rocky, conspicuously, was absent. He was probably listening in though, wherever he was on the ship. He'd never leave Grace unwatched with a stranger on board. Rocky was protective like that.
"What do you mean?" Grace whispered.
Hal sighed heavily and made his way to sit down next to him on the walkway. His feet dangled over the edge as he leaned back on his hands and gazed out at the skyline of Belo Horizonte in Brazil. Hal did not look at him.
"Two and a half months after the Hail Mary launched, there was an accident in Metropolis. The US military was publicly testing an experimental plane powered by astrophage. There was a mistake in the astrophage fuel lines and the engines gave out."
Grace's eyes widened. An astrophage powered plane in the middle of a massive city like Metropolis? There would have been hundreds, thousands of deaths. It was exactly why Stratt had forced everyone involved in the project to live on a ship in the middle of the ocean: to prevent destructive explosions. Didn't exactly work out in the end, of course, but still. An accident like the one Hal was describing would have been horrific.
Interestingly though, Hal didn't look sad or remorseful as he recounted what would have surely been a huge tragedy. Instead, he looked awed? Hopeful? Inspired? Or some strange mix of the three?
"The plane didn't crash," Hal continued. "It was caught midair by a flying man. He held onto the plane and flew it to the airport, placing it safely on the landing strip." He smiled softly. "There wasn't even a single injury, aside from a couple of bruises from reporters who had been allowed onboard trying to brace themselves."
Hal's ring began to glow, and Grace stared as a small figure of a man appeared in front of them. He looked strong and capable, decked out in a suit reminiscent of those from the comic books he occasionally looked through or the old days of the JSA. A long red cape trailed down from his back, swaying gently in a non-existent breeze. His closed fists rested on his hips, highlighting the s-looking curve on his chest.
"He was eventually named Superman, the first of a new wave of superheroes: people who stood up and vowed to protect Earth and its inhabitants. Superman wasn't the only one." As Hal spoke, more tiny people shimmered into existence surrounding Superman in the middle. He pointed to each one as he continued. "Wonder Woman came next, then Flash, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, and myself," he pointed at the tiny construct of himself, "Green Lantern. Batman is an urban legend and a lot of the public isn't convinced he exists, but he's real too. And we were just the first seven, the founders of the Justice League."
As Hal uttered the last line, his constructs began to glow softly. Suddenly they were expanding outwards, multiplying at a rate that Grace couldn't properly keep track of. The entire air in front of them filled with tiny glowing people, most of them decked out in ridiculous costumes. There were dozens, hundreds of them.
"Superheroes used to be a thing of the past. The JSA was old, and had been disbanded decades ago," Hal explained. Grace's head spun from the sheer number of tiny people filling the room. "But not anymore. There's a new generation of us, protecting Earth. And Dr. Grace," Hal paused, finally turning to look at him.
Grace met his eyes. There was a light in them, a warm gaze that almost made him uncomfortable to look at. Hal was staring at him as if he had hung the stars himself.
"You're the reason for it. Superman did an interview a few months after his first appearance, and he was asked why he chose to put on a suit and save people." Hal smiled at him. "He said that he thought of Dr. Ryland Grace, the man who stepped up, and was inspired. A lot of heroes I've spoke to have said the same, about you or Commander Yáo and Engineer Ilyukhina."
Oh.
Oh.
Oh no.
Hal chuckled. "Even me. I got tested for the coma gene myself. I didn't have it, of course, but if I did then I would have volunteered. And," he shrugged his shoulders, "I used to be a really good US Air Force test pilot. There's a good chance I would have been seriously considered for the mission."
Grace was going to be sick.
Very unfortunately for him though, Hal kept talking. "Speaking of which, where are Commander Yáo and Engineer Ilyukhina? I didn't pick them up on my initial scan of the ship."
It was worse now. The churning in his stomach peaked, roiling as Grace swallowed thickly. "They, uh," he hesitated. He broke eye contact, forcing his gaze to the floor. "They didn't make it through the comas."
He could hear as Hal sucked in a sharp breath, and Grace closed his eyes. The pair let the silence stretch in the room for a long moment as they quietly mourned. Their bodies had been released to the void months ago now, but Grace could still picture the frozen, blank look on their faces. It was what he saw now, etched into the backside of his eyelids.
They were gone, and now their deaths were obsolete.
"They inspired a generation," Hal finally whispered. Grace looked back at him and found the other man with his eyes turned to the ceiling, fingers pressed against his forehead in a salute. "Their sacrifice will be remembered."
"Yeah," Grace murmured. "Yeah they will."
Nothing else was said. They just sat there, Grace carefully wiping away his tears as Hal stared out at Mary's shifting array of landscapes and cities. But eventually, everything must end. Hal finally pushed himself to his feet, before holding out a hand for Grace to take.
"Are you ready to head to Oa?" Hal asked, as Grace grabbed ahold of his open palm. He pulled Grace to his feet, steadying him as Grace planted his feet firmly.
"But we found the predator of astrophage," Grace pointed out as he dropped Hal's hand. "It's a microbe living in the atmosphere of Tau Ceti's third planet. We named the planet Adrian, and the microbe Taumoeba. It'll save Earth and Rocky's home planet." He pointed a thumb over his shoulder and towards the lab, missing the way Hal winced. Grace's speech sped up. "Rocky and I already bred the nitrogen-resistant Taumoeba and sent some to Earth in the beetles but if you can get there, or to Erid, in 15 minutes instead of years, we'll save so many lives!"
Hal held up his hands. "Dr. Grace. Dr. Grace," he interrupted him. Grace's words slowed to a halt. "We already found Taumoeba, four years after the launch of the Hail Mary. It took a few years, but I and a couple of other space-capable heroes were able to bring a few scientists over here and collect it with them." Hal's voice was soft and kind, but it didn't help ease the rising turmoil in Grace's brain. "The sun is already back to its full luminosity, and so are all of the stars in the 40 Eridani system. And the rest of the infected stars in the local stellar neighborhood."
Grace slowly lowered his hand. Yeah. Yeah, that made sense. If they could get from Earth to Tau Ceti in 15 minutes, why wouldn't they just solve the whole astrophage problem early instead of waiting for the Hail Mary to even arrive? Why would they risk those additional lives? Stratt certainly wouldn't. She'd have jumped on the opportunity that Hal, and whoever else he was talking about, provided.
Of course they had. It was the smart decision.
That knowledge didn't change the way his heart clenched in his chest.
"Right, okay," he found himself murmuring. Hal raised one hand, as if to try to comfort him, but he let it fall. Good. Grace didn't think there was anything he could say to make this better. Instead, Grace just brushed past him, exiting the room and heading back towards the hall. "Let's get ready to go to Oa then."
Thankfully, as it turned out, going to Oa did not mean that Grace had to fly out in the void of space like Hal had. Not yet at least. Not until he had properly begun his training, according to Hal. Instead, Hal could surround the entire Hail Mary in the same force shield he had used himself, and just bring them there.
'Them' apparently included Rocky.
"And you should go home to Erid!" Grace repeated for the tenth time, throwing his hands in the air. "You can see Adrian again! Have more of your 'not enough' time with them."
Rocky, however, refused to back down. Grace was starting to get really flipping annoyed. "Grace being stupid still. Rocky not go back to Erid because Grace go to planet Oa."
Grace groaned loudly. He gripped onto his hair, breathing slowly as he spun in a circle. The lab blurred in his vision, before refocusing on the stony form of his stupid, idiotic best friend. "Rocky. You haven't been home in 46 years. You can go home. Home! To Erid!"
"No, Grace not listening! Grace stupid!" Rocky chimed. He gently rammed his ball into Grace's legs, forcing him to rest one hand on top of the ball to maintain his balance. Rocky immediately raised his carapace to press it against the xenonite underneath his fingers. "Rocky not leave Grace until know Grace safe. Other human say visit won't take long. Can go home after, when know Grace safe. Don't know Oa yet." Rocky trilled a series of notes that he vaguely recognized as indicating deep affection.
Oh. Grace's lip wobbled, and tears filled his eyes for what felt like the dozenth time in the last few hours. This was starting to get ridiculous. In his defense, today was apparently a very trying day. He knelt down and wrapped his arms around Rocky's ball, holding onto it tightly. Rocky leaned up against him, his heat seeping through the xenonite and warming Grace's skin.
What had he ever done to deserve such a great friend?
"Grace thought gave up Earth for Rocky," he continued, pulling out of the hug. Grace let his arms drop, but not without some resistance. "Was never going to return. Rocky not giving up Erid, just wait. Already wait 46 years," he chimed. Rocky adjusted his carapace to face the side he was normally more affectionate with towards him. "Can wait little longer. Adrian will understand."
"Thanks buddy," Grace managed to murmur. His voice was a bit scratchy from the constant overloads of emotion today, but he could get through it. He would, if it meant properly thanking Rocky. He always would. "We'll go to Erid as soon as we're done on Oa."
Rocky chittered gently, and Grace smiled back at him.
Hal cleared his throat softly, interrupting the moment. Grace startled and whipped around to look at the man, who he had honestly kinda forgotten was still in the room. Apparently Hal had plopped himself down in the same chair as earlier, awkwardly waiting as the pair argued.
It was a little embarrassing.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I do need to tell you some things before we get to Oa," Hal began. "And I have a feeling the next thing is going to take up a good chunk of the remaining time. Rocky," he directed his attention to the eridian, "that ball is to protect yourself from the human atmosphere, right?"
"Yes! Rocky design and make to keep Rocky and Grace safe from conflicting atmospheres!" If sentient, walking rocks could preen, it would definitely be what Rocky was doing. He widened his stance, lifting his center proudly and turned his legs to openly display his etchings. Grace couldn't fault him. The atmospheric systems were really impressive.
Hal hummed. "That's what I thought. Do you want out of there?"
"But, that's not possible?" Grace interrupted, frowning as he dropped to sit on the ground next to Rocky's ball. He crossed his arms and lightly rubbed at the scar on his forearm from Rocky's claws. "We'd die in each others' atmospheres. They're incompatible."
"You remember that force field I had around me when I was in space?" Hal began with a raised eyebrow.
Grace sucked in a sharp breath. He wasn't stupid. He was a genius, frankly. Hal didn't need to say anything else, not when his brain had already made the necessary connections and leaps in logic. Rocky, apparently, was even faster though. By the time Grace managed to turn his head to look at his best friend, Rocky's claws were already moving towards the small control panel in his ball.
A light green outline shimmered into existence over his best friend's carapace as Rocky slammed down on the open door button. Grace's breath caught in his throat.
Five seconds later, a 168 kilogram eridian slammed into him and knocked the wind out of him. Grace's arms came up to wrap around Rocky's carapace as he fell backwards. A stony claw wrapped around the back of his skull, protecting it as he fell against the floor of the lab. Four other arms tightened as much as Rocky dared around the rest of his body. Rocky clearly held himself above the floor, putting most of his weight on his own limbs to protect him, but a delightfully perfect pressure still rested on his chest.
He was so warm. Rocky was so warm and gentle and his carapace felt rough and there was a clear difference in the textures of the different stones that made up his body and–
It was perfect.
It was everything that he never thought he'd get to experience.
Grace squeezed tighter and turned his face, pressing it into the glowing green of one of Rocky's arms, and sobbed.
Hal had been right. There wasn't much time left for him to brief Grace and Rocky once they finished falling to pieces. He felt that their reaction was justified, of course it was, but still. At least Hal had had the kindness to slip out of the lab after a few minutes and spend the rest of their breakdown exploring the cockpit instead. It was the little things sometimes.
In the end, Hal had only had about twenty minutes to explain everything he needed to to Grace. And it, frankly, still wasn't enough time.
Space was divided into 3600 sectors, each with two green lanterns who were residents of said sectors assigned to patrol them. The corps were led by beings called the 'Guardians of the Universe,' which Grace thought was a bit of a ridiculous name. How could you be a guardian of an infinite thing? You couldn't guard all of infinity.
Even Hal had admitted that the sectors just… ended eventually. There were regions even beyond the sectors that they just either hadn't fully explored yet, or were so far away that they didn't want to spend the energy assigning lanterns there. Did the guardians still consider themselves to be guardians of those parts? Apparently not according to Hal, despite the fact that they were still part of the universe. That was why it was a silly name. Rocky had agreed with him, of course.
But regardless, Hal had explained that they were in charge. 'Pompous and self-righteous, like any superiors on Earth,' he had called them specifically, which Grace wouldn't be saying himself. He believed it though. People with that much power tended to be hard to deal with.
Grace had tried very hard to not think about Stratt in that moment. He had failed. She didn't sound the same as these guardians Hal described, but it seemed like she had possessed a comparable level of power to them. There were a lot of people who hadn't liked her, and had certainly called her similar things to what Hal was saying. He wasn't one of them, but he had definitely heard it.
Oa was the central base of the corps, as Hal had told him, and served as a place for the members of the corps to come and meet with each other, rest, and get support and backup. It was also where the guardians resided, in their citadel that was generally off-limits except by special invitation.
How encouraging.
And, Hal explained, Oa was designed to meet as many different species of lanterns' needs as possible. The corps was filled with thousands of different alien species and each one of them had their own unique atmospheres, foods, body structures, even communication methods. Oa was supposed to be able to accommodate all of them.
It had all sounded like a complicated mess to Grace as Hal was explaining it, but the lantern had been smiling the entire conversation.
And, Grace thought to himself as the Hail Mary pulled into orbit around Oa, Hal's explanations didn't really do the place justice. The first thing he noticed was the massive, massive, massive suit of armor shaped like a lantern around the entire planet. Hal guided the Hail Mary through one of the entrances, straight down the side of the lantern, as Grace just stared dumbfounded out the window of the ship.
How do you even make a structure big enough to surround a whole planet?
Rocky chittered next to him, his light-converter pointed at the view. His noises didn't translate directly, but Grace could hear the awe in the soft chimes. Grace didn't answer. He just rested his palm against the top of Rocky's green carapace.
There really weren't any words that could properly describe the sight.
The Hail Mary passed through the entrance and emerged into Oa's immediate orbit. Perhaps very fittingly, a good portion of the planet appeared to be green from orbit. But large swaths of it also appeared reddish-yellowish, as if it were covered in massive patches of abandoned, desert wastelands. There was a handful of blue, a few large bodies of water, but certainly not as many as there were sprawled across the surface of Earth. What was intriguing though, was the apparent utter lack of any signs of weather. No clouds, hurricanes, rain, nothing. Perhaps it had something to do with the presence of the guardians?
Regardless though, it was a real alien planet. It looked so incredibly different from Adrian, the only other planet he had truly seen from orbit with his own eyes.
And he was going to go down there.
"I've brought the ship into a stable orbit, but we'll have to fly down from here," Hal explained as he floated up behind them. The centrifuge had been turned off before they arrived at Oa to prevent any potential accidents, and Grace was already sorely missing the feeling of gravity. He pushed himself off the wall, floating in a circular spin to look at Hal. "I can't safely land the Hail Mary on Oa. It doesn't have the right heat shields or infrastructure, and I could protect it with my ring, but I'd rather not risk any damage." Hal patted the side of Mary's window. "It's a historical artifact."
Ah, fantastic. Yet another reminder that he, and everything he did, was considered a huge part of history. Exactly what he needed right now.
"I can fly all of us down there in a bubble for now, but you do need this." Hal held out his hand. In the middle of his palm rested the small green ring that had started all of this insanity just a few days ago. "Your training is going to begin pretty soon after we arrive. And you're going to need to have your ring on hand."
Grace squared his shoulders and reached out to gingerly take the ring from Hal's hand. He slipped it onto his right hand. As it slid over his second knuckle, the band seemingly adjusted in size to fit his finger perfectly. Strange.
"What Rocky do while Grace train, question?" Rocky asked, tapping one glowing arm lightly twice against Grace's back. "Rocky not have training to do. Have no ring."
Hal chuckled. "You can watch. I think you'll enjoy the sight." The smirk on his face was almost enough to make Grace doubt all of this for a moment, but he shook his head. No. He just needed to get through this thing so he could go back to Earth. Back home.
If that meant Rocky laughing at him while he did something stupid like army crawl under a rope net like in the movies, then so be it.
Grace squared his shoulders as Hal led them through Mary and to the airlock. He pressed his palm into the top of Rocky's carapace as a green bubble appeared around the and Mary's door slid open. The hand remained where it was for their entire descent through Oa's atmosphere.
Somehow, their descent was slow and controlled enough that flames didn't appear around the sphere like they would in a normal atmospheric entry. Interesting. The lanterns could normally go faster, right? Hal had said that? Then, did that mean Hal was taking the entry slowly to prevent them from freaking out?
Huh. Okay.
Regardless of their slow entry, it still didn't take long for them to reach the surface of the planet. Hal's bubble faded, leaving only a thin layer of green light around each of the trio. Grace's feet touched the planet's surface and he sucked in a sharp breath.
This was real. He was really standing on another planet.
He was a long way away from Earth, wasn't he?
"Welcome to Oa," Hal said as he spun around to face Grace. He threw his arms up wide, gesturing at the veritable city around them. "Home of the Green Lantern Corps."
It was… alien. There was no other word he could use to describe the city they had landed in the middle of. There were towering skyscrapers that curved over streets filled with all manner of beings that he could have never imagined. Some of the buildings appeared to be floating, suspended over the pavement by glowing green light.
Hundreds of different architectural styles meshed together, from wood and metal to stone and materials he didn't recognize. Jagged roofs butted up against curved domes, buildings mostly made of glass stood next to giant, windowless blocks, and thin pillars accompanied giant blocks. It should have been a horrific, disgusting mess of clashing methods that only served to hurt his eyes. But instead, Grace just stared with wide, awe-filled eyes.
The universe was so much fuller, richer and more populated than he had ever imagined. And it all merged together here in a dizzying array where pieces of each species' homes made a much bigger, awe-inspiring puzzle of life.
It was beautiful.
"Woah," Rocky said, his music barely audible to Grace's ears.
"Yeah," he breathed out in response. There wasn't much else he could say. He was a scientist after all, not a poet. Grace just didn't know the words necessary to even begin to explain Oa. "Yeah buddy."
Hal clapped his hand on Grace's shoulder. "Everyone reacts like this at first," he reassured Grace with a couple pats before pulling his hand away. "I heard John cried the first time. You can get the tour later, after you begin training."
Grace nodded slightly. "Well, where do I go then?" The city looked complicated and hard to navigate, something he certainly didn't want to try doing without help the first time. Besides, what was 'training'? Hal still hadn't fully explained what that even meant. Was he going to have to memorize whatever rules the corps lived by? Learn how to create constructs to help people?
Instead of answering him though, Hal just nodded behind him. Grace raised an eyebrow but, after a moment, spun around. Right behind him was a giant green lantern. Giant. The size of a small tower big. It was at least ten stories tall and glowing bright green. Other green lanterns circled the thing, flying up to it and hovering for a few minutes before flying away.
"That's the central power battery," Hal explained quietly, stepping up next to his right arm. Rocky placed himself on Grace's other side, resting one still-green claw softly on his foot with just enough pressure to remind Grace that he was here. He had the best friend in the universe. "Before you can start training, you'll have to charge your ring for the first time."
"Charge? How charge?" Rocky interrupted before Hal could, probably, explain exactly that.
The lantern just chuckled. "By pointing your ring at the battery and repeating the oath of the corps. Dr. Grace," Hal paused, turning his head to look at him, "repeat after me."
Grace generally wasn't a person who just listened and followed orders. It was a trait that had gotten him into trouble, repeatedly over the years. Both back when he was still in academia, and during arguments with Stratt. He liked to know what the plan was, and what was going to happen, before doing something. Or at least a guess normally, in the case of an experiment.
It was simple: he was a learner, a questioner, not just a doer.
But there was something in the way that Hal looked at him, the steady set to his jaw and the light in his eyes, that stopped him from demanding a rundown of exactly what 'oath' and 'charging your ring' meant. So, for once, Grace sighed. He squared his shoulder and raised the green ring on his finger to point directly at the giant lantern.
"In brightest day, in blackest night" Hal began.
"In brightest day, in blackest night" Grace echoed.
His ring began to glow.
"No evil shall escape my sight."
"No evil shall escape my sight."
Tendrils of green light swirled around the ring. They raced over his fingers and curved up his arms, bathing him in bright emerald hues.
"Let those who worship evil's might beware my power,"
"Let those who worship evil's might beware my power,"
The light increased in brightness, forcing him to squint his eyes to avoid blinding himself. Rocky trilled, reaching one arm up to his empty left hand to grasp onto Grace's balling fist. He closed his claws around Grace's shaking fingers.
"Green lantern's light!"
"Green lantern's light!"
As Grace spoke the final words the streaks of green flared, before fading away into nothing. He blinked rapidly to try and clear the dots dancing in front of his vision. They were stubborn but, eventually, Grace managed to look down at the ring on his finger. It's soft green glow was a touch brighter now, as if some of its power had been restored.
Power level: 100% the ring whispered in his mind.
So the rings almost worked like electronic devices then? With power stored in cells that you slowly deplete, until you have to recharge them? Huh. Interesting.
"It gets less overwhelming as you practice," Hal interrupted Grace's train of thought. The other lantern brushed his fingers over his own ring absently, before grinning up at him. "Looks like we were just in time though. Your drill sergeant's here. He's behind you."
Drill sergeant? Who–
Grace looked over his shoulder.
A giant pink alien, built like a pink, bipedal bulldog who had never missed a single day at the gym stood directly behind him. His arms were crossed over his bulging chest, and Grace could practically imagine steam coming out of his nostrils.
"Hello, poozers."