AU where Ryland Grace has a few weeks left of breeding taumeoba when he gets his âI didnât want to goâ memories back and when heâs deciding what videos to upload to the Beetles he realizes this is the perfect chance to get back at Stratt. Now that heâs, you know, had a crying jag and freaked out about the betrayal for a few days, his feelings kind of simmer against the necessity of it, you know? And it helps that heâs not actually gonna die.
So, after uploading all the science and posterity videos, Ryland adds one âFor Evaâ knowing full well that several governments and possibly the entirety of what is left of the world is gonna see it and he lays on a thick spiel about how he finally remembered that they were gonna get married, right before the accident that put him on this mission, that he remembered proming her the rest of his life and he remembered âhow hard it was for us to say goodbyeâ and âyou made the right decision. Of course you did. Of course it was the right decision, but Eva, I still miss you. I was missing you before I even fully remembered you. Golly, why didnât we just â touch more? Talk more? You wouldnât even let me hold your hand! But I understood. Your hands were full. You had the world in them, Eva.â And âI hope you kept the lights on love, because Iâm coming home!â and he gives the camera this goopy, sweet, broad smile, because heâs utterly tickled, knowing full well that Eva is gonna have to live with this for the months and or years between the Beetles arriving and Ryland making it back, and he even gets Rocky to make him a xenonite wedding band to tuck into a Beetle with his little spaceman, to really sell the whole thing, right, and heâs just freaking giddy about how mad thatâs gonna make Stratt â
And then the tauemoeba escape, and Ryland has to go back for Rocky, and he makes another video, explaining the science and the issue and the solution and then he trails off for a minute or so, expression conflicted, and when he looks back up itâs just with this breathless soft âEvaâ on his lips, and then he swallows, and then he smiles and itâs â sweet in a sad way, because for Ryland this is really goodbye, and his prank had sort of made him feel better about what sheâd done, and honestly â he did miss her. Even still. âEva, Iâve gotta go,â he says, his eyes wet and his voice quavering. âYou were right about me. Itâs gotta be me,â he shrugs, laughs, wipes away the wet line at the edge of his eyes. âThereâs nobody else and I mean, Iâm on a winning streak, right? Why not try 2 for 2 in saving an entire species, huh? So I justâŠIâm sorry. Iâm so sorry I made it so hard for â for us. And Iâll miss you. Just â do me a favor and in case I donât make it â I know how you love back-up plans, yeah? â do me a favor and send an extra probe of taumoeba to 40-Eridani for me? You really canât let me die in vain here, alright? So make sure â make sure to save both our worlds, alright? YeahâŠâŠ. And justâŠ. if you care for me any bit at all still, do me one other favor, Eva Stratt. Live a good life for meâ He pleads, before he shudders a breath, looking off to the side for a quiet moment, and then he looks down, nods to himself, presses a kiss to his fingers and his fingers to the camera and turns it off.â
And Eva, right, watches these tapes in a room full of world leaders and aerospace representatives and sheâs just â fuming red and there is that stupid little ringbox from the Beetle in front of her with the most unique wedding band in the galaxy in it and it fits perfectly and sheâs just -seething, because that is not what happened. They were not â secret lovers, they did not secretly marry or promise to marry, none of that â
But the old Petrova Task Force, right, they take this and run with it â âOh yeah, it was obvious, I mean ,they denied it, but you could tell ââ
âGrace was so bad at hiding right, terrible liar ââ
âStratt was always slipping him these â sour skittles packets, and i mean, that was definitely favoritism, you have no idea how hard it was to get anything on the vat ââ
âAnd the sticky notes! Sheâd leave him these cute little notes, right, on his lab or on his coffee mug or, one time, I saw her just stick it to his forehead ââ
âAnd Grace never let her be alone, you know? I mean, he was always kind of following her around like a puppy, but no one else ever really approached her, so when we were all, you know, together, those two would wander off ââ
Evaâs getting bombarded with all this, and sheâs shaking with anger and like, maybe cried a tear or two of frustration, denying it because people are acting sympathetic, while she's insisting that; "I paved the Sahara and I bombed the Antarctic shelf and I sent Ryland Grace into space against his wishes ââ
And everyone is just like, oh Eva, we know you loved him. We know how hard that must have been â
And they remake the movie about the project, and the new one has this entire romantic sublot, and the theme of her loving him so much, and having to give him to the stars to save humanity, knowing sheâs never getting him back, and this really poignant ending about Stratt waking up in prison (because she did go to prison) and Ryland Grace, waking up in space, both of them on these narrow bunks with these tiny little windows, reflecting different suns, and theres this mutual red streak of cinematic glare in that sunlight, right, and they turn her into this doomed tragic heroine in the public eye, right, and Eva goes so far as to try and release the audio of Graceâs refusal to go up on the Hail Mary as proof that it was not what they were making it out to be, except someone (Carl) removed bits of it, and the rest can definitely be interpreted as having some⊠subtext, and Evaâs like âCarl, why?â
And Carlâs just â itâs what our man would have wanted.
And Eva actually wears the damn ring, right? Itâs a space ring, from outer space, from another intelligent species, and it she looks at it daily wanting to kill Ryland Grace and knowing she already has, and what to do, with that?
So thereâs one generation that knows her as Eva Stratt, World Dictator, and another generation who knows her as Eva Stratt, Ryland Graceâs Widow, and like, in every single public appearance, she has to continue to protest that they were not married, and everyone is just like âDamn, sheâs so broken-hearted sheâs in denialâ and Eva is like âNo, that is not what is happening.â
And anyways, she lives to an unreasonably old age and when sheâs like, one hundred and eight or so a ship arrives from Erid, bearing a delegation and Ryland Graceâs ashes, which one of the aliens absolutely insists on delivering to Eva Stratt, right, and this is Rocky and heâs carrying this most beautiful sort of crystal urn and itâs all very public and touching and Rocky asks âDid Eva live a good life?â
And Eva actually cries this time, for Ryland, and itâs stupid and they werenât ever anything and this whole joke of his has tormented her for decades and now sheâs crying over him because heâs dead. She sent him into space to die and it took him a lifetime to do it and she still outlived him and it is â unfair, now. It has always been unfair.
âHe did not actually love me,â Eva tells Rocky, when they have been ushered somewhere private out of respect for her âmourningâ. âWe were not â that.â
âRocky knows,â the alien says. âBut Grace saidâŠ. maybe could have been.â
âIs that really his last message for me?â Eva asks, shaking her head.
The alien shifts on his feet a bit. âRocky hate hate hate you sent Grace to die. Grace scared scared scared. But⊠if not, Rocky not meet Grace. Rocky Grace not save stars....Grace last message: Good job, Eva. Thank you, and - goodbye.â