There are suspected alien life forms eating your sun's energy and the UN has elected a secret world dictator to lead the Petrova Project. You are a scientist on the project and you and your peers are waiting with bated breath as the probe returns from Venus.
The dictator takes the canister -- the only sample on Earth -- and doesn't give it to any of you. It's a quarantine precaution, she says. She won't tell any of you where it goes, although she does send back sparse reports that SOMEONE is putting together. The best brains on the planet have already been recruited, so you have no idea who it could be.
A few days and an eternity later, she tells the labs to prepare for live -- and they are alive, as proven by a microscope slide recording of an astrophage being stabbed with a nanosyringe -- samples. Except your lab's promised astrophage count comes up one short. The world dictator tells you and the two other labs raising issues not to complain.
You itch to get your hands on a sample -- alien life! -- but there are other avenues of research that need attention. Your star isnt the only star dimming. Tau Ceti stands apart, a tantalizing unreachable clue. A Russian scientist proposes the idea of a manned space flight, further than anything dreamed outside of science fiction. His group has run the calculations, thinks astrophage has the energy potential to get them there. They just need to unlock its potential in time.
The world dictator silences the naysayers and sets them to the problem. But there's only so much they can achieve amidst a sea of unknowns. Two million kilograms is the only answer they can calculate. Meeting after meeting dead ends while they wait for the labs to fill in the critical knowledge they need to breed and harness astrophage. She is not pleased with their progress.
At one of those meetings-to-nowhere, picking over a dozen reports received in the last day for something useful, the world dictator's phone rings and she's picking it up as soon as she sees the name on the screen. "Dr. Grace," she says, "Find something?" You don't know any scientist who would be calling her directly. The Chinese team share a significant look, but everyone else looks just as mystified as you are.
"You successfully bred astrophage?" The room quiets immediately after her harsh glare. "Nondestructively?" You sit with bated breath until she nods. "Stay there." She hangs up and calls someone else. "Bring him here," is all she says. Then she stands up from her seat. "Dr. Grace will give us a full report when he arrives. We'll reconvene tomorrow."
So! This is a perfect case study in situations where you should be wary of misinformation.
Take a moment and ask yourself, a project like this requires a lot of time, money and dedication of resources, why would scientists dedicate that time to something that could just be done by a tree?
The answer is they wouldn't. So that means this claim requires further investigation!
This project is called LIQUID 3, and it's not meant for cities with wide open spaces, it's meant for cities like Belgrade in Serbia. These cities are densely populated and heavily polluted, to the point where pollution actually chokes out current trees and makes creating green spaces difficult.
Liquid 3 was a PhD scientists answer to these problems. The microalgae tank is intended for spaces where you either:
Don't have enough space to plant full trees, or
Don't have enough time to plant trees and wait for them to grow up.
The tank is extremely efficient when you consider the amount of space needed compared to the amount of CO2 turned into oxygen. The tank can operate throughout the winter. And most importantly, it can be quickly set up in areas that desperately need relief from air pollution NOW not in 10 years when trees are done growing. Children currently suffocating on polluted air can't wait for trees to grow, they need to be taken care of now, and Liquid 3 is one of the ways to take care of them. Depending on the species of microalgea used, a number have shown a pretty amazing capacity to pull heavy metals out of the air which is something trees can get choked up by.
The tanks aren't just tanks either! Liquid 3 have solar panels placed on top, they have lighting and mobile phone charging, and they work as public benches. The designers of it want to encourage green spaces where there's room, but where there isn't room or time, Liquid 3 can step in. Realistically, this isn't a replacement for trees. It's replacing boring metal city benches with new, cooler benches that also clean the air (and have at least some heating during the winter).
Not only that, but the microalgea that grows is native to Serbia and all that microalgea has a ton of great uses! It makes for great fertilizer, compost, wastewater treatment, cleaner biofuels and even for helping create new tanks for further air purification. They only require a quick algae divide once a month, and the produced algae can be carted off to where ever it's needed. This makes them effective solutions for areas that can't sustain complex installations.
So yeah, there's actually quite a lot of places that would like these. Lots of people currently breathing in terrible quality air would much rather have their boring city benches replaced with really fucking cool algae tanks that clean the air and can be used to help create + sustain future green spaces in cities. I dunno about you, but I'd take that over a dumb metal bench any day. Put these at every bus stop and I'd be delighted.
Serbian here living in Belgrade! This is all true and I've actually seen some of these around the city a few times. They're amazing at what they do and really cool to watch up close because you can see pretty swirling inside them. It's not only functional but aesthetically pretty nice as well!
@your-mom-friend extended conversation Colt has with himself AND with Doone. God I love this scene. “Kevin?” “Yeah, you know K E V I —“ “I know Kevin!” “You know Kevin?” “No I don’t know Kevin” Colt should get to. He should get it sleep off those drugs and then deal with everything else. Never. Ever ever.
“Just Stratt. Not Director Stratt. Not Ms. Stratt. Not…”
“...Madam Administrator Stratt?”
“I hope not.”
“I’ve always called you Stratt. Why do you call me Dr. Grace?”
“It’s the appropriate title. You have a PhD.”
“Carl calls me Grace, and I think it's nice. We’re friends. We’re like friends, too, aren’t we? You and I?”
.
.
.
“Where is Carl, anyway?”
“I don’t know. Not here.”
“Hm. You don’t look good. Are you cold?”
“I’m always cold, Dr. Grace.”
“Have you been sleeping?”
“Do I ever?”
“Okay, fine. Have you had your two coffees?”
“Ha. No.”
.
.
.
“Does this mean you’ve given up?”
“...Excuse me, Dr. Grace?”
“Have you given up? The project. The mission. You think it won’t work?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“I didn’t ask if you said it.”
“I haven’t given up.”
“But you don’t think it’ll work.”
“I didn’t say that. I don’t know. It’s a long shot.”
“Hail Mary. I know. But you thought it would work, before.”
“Well, I’m older now. Do you think it’ll work?”
“Me?”
“You.”
“I don’t know! How am I supposed to know? There are so many factors. What if the coma technology goes wrong? What if the fuel interacts unexpectedly with the environment up there? What if Tau Ceti’s immunity isn’t replicable?”
“What if. And by the time I find out, it’ll be too late.”
“We.”
“What?”
“By the time we find out.”
“Right.”
.
.
.
“You really look cold. Maybe you should go get a sweater."
"I'm in this room right now, remember?"
"Maybe you can get someone to bring you a sweater.”
“...Sure. I’ll do that. In a few minutes.”
“Okay.”
.
.
.
“It has to work, Dr. Grace. You understand that, don’t you?”
“Of course.”
“It has to work. You have to understand.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes, I do! Geez, Stratt. Sometimes you scare me a little.”
“I don’t mean to.”
“I know. But you do, anyway.”
“I just want to know you’re taking this seriously.”
“C’mon. Have I ever failed you, when it mattered?”
@your-mom-friend honestly one of my favorite scenes, lmao! And then after all that he apologizes??? “I’m sorry to yell, I want the police” LIKE BRO IF ANYONE DESERVES A GOOD YELLING SESSION ITS YOU FKHDKFKS
OU MY GOSH OH MY GOSH WE RETURN AGAIN TO THE INCREDIBLE TRUMAN AND RYLAND PARALLELS OHHH I LOVE THIS I LOVE THIS!!!! The final show!!!! Oh he’s free! He’s saved the world and not only that, he’s free!!!!
On Grace’s relationship with DuBois and Shapiro in Project Hail Mary
***book spoilers ahead***
I want to do a quick dive into the infamous scene between Grace, DuBois, and Shapiro in chapter 17 (pp. 283–285 in my copy) because an idea occurred to me and I can’t rest until I dig into it. This is the scene in which DuBois informs Grace of the sexual nature of his relationship with Shapiro.
Something about the conversation didn’t sit quite right for me. Upon reflection, I wanted to take a step back from (or perhaps, as it happens, a step further into) my aroace reading of Grace and get to the bottom of what Weir’s intention was in writing it. While I do believe that the aroace reading is strongly supported by the text, I don’t believe that it was specifically intended, which brings us to these points:
The reader is meant to understand that Grace feels a general social disconnect from the Project Hail Mary team stemming from his poor self-confidence
The reader is meant to perceive his total lack of awareness with regard to how highly he ranks in the project’s hierarchy of power
These two points, having previously been established, are both cemented by the scene. Grace is uncomfortable being enlightened to the details of DuBois and Shapiro’s sex life, and he doesn’t seem to grasp the fact that both scientists view him as a superior. It’s heavily implied that DuBois initiates the conversation because he feels the need to report developments in his workplace relationships to a higher-up, and I firmly believe this to be the case—he comments on the prudence of informing Grace on the subject—but that motivation alone doesn’t account for all of what he says. The way I see it, just about anyone alive (regardless of their personal stance on romance or sex) would feel awkward in Grace’s shoes, which begs the question: Why did DuBois and Shapiro both overshare so brazenly?
The first possible interpretation: Knowing that their relationship is doomed, they’ve elected to completely set aside social decorum in the interest of enjoying their time together to the fullest.
The second possible interpretation: They wanted to test Grace’s receptivity to becoming their third.
Stay with me. We can infer that the conversation was premeditated—DuBois launches into it very suddenly, and the first thing he does when Shapiro returns from the restroom is update her on the basics of what’s been said. This is clearly something that they discussed sharing with Grace in advance. Furthermore:
DuBois gently counters Grace on the merits of entering a relationship under the otherwise bleak circumstances
He’s overly blunt and forthright about specifics, such as the lack of need for condoms and the fact that he and Shapiro have both undergone thorough medical examinations
When Grace demonstrates disinterest, DuBois drops one last hint, which is what really sealed the deal for me: “It’s quite pleasurable.” Grace still doesn’t take the bait, so DuBois begins to back off. After briefing Shapiro on the status of the conversation, he deftly changes the subject by pivoting into science talk, but Shapiro gives another independent push: She interrupts the beginning of Grace’s lecture to openly invite DuBois to sex after the lesson, and then they both look at Grace. Grace interprets this gesture as them being “ready for their lesson,” but I would argue that it’s really a classic case of unreliable narration. He misses the cue.
I imagine that at this point, Shapiro (like DuBois) is willing to give up the cause, but we get one more small tidbit of insight: Grace asks (out of what I can only assume is morbid curiosity) if DuBois sticks to his convention of using Shapiro’s professional title during sex, and they both answer affirmatively. Just prior, we hear Shapiro address DuBois by his first name, and prior to that (directly before introducing the topic of sex), DuBois encourages Grace to address him by his first name as well. Granted, that encouragement was prompted—Grace makes it known that he would prefer to drop the formalities in private settings, given that he views the three of them as equals—but DuBois is shown time and again to be someone who highly values professionalism in and out of the workplace. He politely declines Grace’s invitation to address him as Ryland.
Power dynamics seem to play a role in his sex life with Shapiro, as evidenced by her disclosing that she “kind of likes” his use of her title in the bedroom. With that in mind, I don’t think it’s a stretch to conclude that they would both be into the idea of incorporating (what they mutually perceive to be) actual power dynamics into the relationship through the inclusion of Grace.
Circling back to DuBois’s staunch professionalism, I would cite that as further evidence that he’s coming on to Grace in this scene—discussing the minute details of your sex life with your boss is about as far from professional as you can get. Much of what he says is superfluous and irrelevant to the goal of reporting on the existence of a sexual relationship under obligation, unless you factor in the possibility that an obligatory report wasn’t his only goal.
As a final note, I remember the DuBois-Shapiro scene in the movie sticking out to me even upon my first viewing, just because of how oddly it plays out: The two of them are cuddling up at the pre-launch party, and DuBois seems to intentionally make eye contact with Grace from across the bar—who, being caught off guard and slightly uncomfortable, nods in acknowledgement and looks away. I wasn’t sure what to make of that prior to reading the book, but now it stands to me as a reference to the existing undercurrent between the characters in the text. In both versions, DuBois and Shapiro make a bid for Grace’s attention, and Grace is unreceptive. Given that no pre-launch party scene occurs in the book, I have to conclude that the inclusion of this detail in the movie was intentional and carries subtextual significance.
Obviously, if we take this interpretation at face value, it’s more fuel to the fire that is the aroace reading of Grace. It can be used to argue that he rejects amatonormativity on all levels—not just in his scant experience pursuing longterm committed relationships, but in his failure to so much as entertain the idea of a fling or friends with benefits arrangement, even when an easy opportunity presents itself. Romantic affairs never seem to cross his mind. He’s oblivious to the way his relationship with Stratt is perceived until confronted on the subject by DuBois, and he’s quicker to accuse her of sexism upon learning that she sought an all-male team of astronauts than he is to put stock in her actual line of reasoning. If DuBois and Shapiro were indeed trying to make a move on him, it’s no wonder that it flew over his head.
Even beyond the aroace reading, though, this interpretation still contributes to the narrative: It showcases Grace’s emotional isolation on a broader scale and demonstrates how grossly he underestimates the regard his associates have for him. He’s woefully out of his depth in the rigid world of international negotiations that he gets thrust into, ignorant to the degree of sociopolitical power and authority he’s been granted through his close proximity to Stratt, and unaware of what makes his participation so crucial to the project’s success. It only follows that he would also be immune to flirtation, never recognizing his own assets or what might make him uniquely desirable. Thematically, this underlines his later growth in finding a purpose, building the courage and confidence needed to fulfill that purpose, and embracing love (however unconventional its form) as a driving force.
this post is inspired in part by this one by @cheshirepirouette and sponsored in part by convos w @asteriis and @indouscurse here’s to y’all!! this post also goes out to my brothers, who are pale as hell for reasons unbeknownst to all of us (this is a joke).
like any good headcanon, this started as a joke because i thought to myself: Ryland sounds like the type of name that somebody’s Black child would have and only use on church sundays. nobody actually has ever called him that in his whole entire life, except maybe his mama SOMETIMES and that’s why he doesn’t remember it right away. i feel like every Black person knows somebody who is called literally anything except their god given name. people call him lil r, lil grace, gracie, ry, ryry, riri, RG, lando, mr. grace, dr. grace, but nobody calls him Ryland, which is part of why he Can’t Remember for so long.
so of course i went back to the source material to see if he ever actually mentioned being white anywhere and unfortunately it is very much at the beginning of the book. so THEN i started to think about how i could get around that while remaining at least largely canon compliant (as a little treat for myself). what i came up with is what i have affectionately dubbed my “litebrite baby” headcanon.
grace was not particularly dark skinned to begin with, and then spent years in a coma with literally no sunlight. he is downright vampiric by the time that he wakes up, and upon seeing his white ass skin, assumes that he is in his own words, a Caucasian male.
unfortunately for him, this fits in really well with his theme of lack of identity and lack of connection. i think for most Black people it would be extremely hard to forget that we’re Black regardless of how light or dark our skin tone is. but throughout the book, even when Grace is thinking about his old, slowly resurfacing memories, he never thinks about family, he never thinks about friends. except for his students and Project Hail Mary, he is completely unmoored.
i’ve seen a few different headcanons for why this might be: he was an only child whose single parent died young, he was cut off by his parents for some reason or another, he just isn’t ever triggered to remember. but no matter the reason, grace is disconnected from crucial aspects of himself. i think that by making him Black, and his Blackness something he can’t remember, it add an extra heartbreaking layer to his characterization. Blackness is such a communal experience, and when it’s not, it leaves behind an ache. growing up Black in White Suburbia i know well both the experience of clinging to one’s own in a hostile world AND the hurt that comes with being severed from one’s community. grace loses so much of himself with the amnesia, unable to recall who he is at the deepest of levels, and i think if he could remember to grieve it, it would devastate him.
i do think he would remember eventually, either when his hair starts growing out (because in the book Armando shaves him iirc), or when he can finally catch a glimpse of his reflection clearly, or when he has a memory of someone in his family. my personal belief is he has a memory beamed directly into his brain of asking “Mama, am I white?” and his poor, long-suffering mom saying, “Now who the hell told you that?”
and then it still never becomes relevant because he has negative desire to explain the nuances of human racial categories to an alien who quite literally cannot see color.
Mini comic based on a scene from bloodymary fic "where nothing bleeds" by intrstellarisms, really enjoyed it and wanted to draw one of my favorite scenes from it (link for the fic).
