writing is hard

🇲🇽🇨🇦• she/her • 23 I love writing I say, staring at my empty page. ao3 = kruspp • art blog = khiquii • Mostly yap about Star Wars/Batfam/Stranger Things

[blue-sunshine-mauve-morning]

One detail from the book that didn't make it into the movie that I think is neat is that Eva Stratt did not just stumble across Ryland Grace. He was not the 'potentially disposable' option. She went to the top microbiologists in some of the best research labs in the world and was told multiple times "you know what? I think Dr. Grace might be your guy." When discussing the Petrova Problem. And this several years after his ejection from academia.

[scarlct-vvitch]

project hail mary is insane bc the first half is like oh my god the world is dying and there's alien bacteria eating the sun and there's some guy alone on a ship and he's having a breakdown and the flashbacks are getting darker and this is a tragedy the likes of which i have never seen. then BAM andy weir says fuck you actually. here's this pokemon guy he's here to save the day with the power of friendship. and it's the best thing you've ever seen in your life

[msperfectsheep-posts]

being a comic fan feels like i'm constantly trying to play catch up. sure I may have read fifty runs but there are twenty more my mutuals are always blogging about that i've never even heard of. sure I can identify most of the members of the justice league from a double page spread but i can't name all of them and certainly not all their powers. as soon as i read another comic run a new one i've never heard of takes my attention before i can conquer the rest of my to-read list and the cycle repeats ad infinitum

[atimesfeeler]

'The Blood' in my Bloodymary fic 'Leftover Light' that I tried to scientifically explain because I thought Grace would definitely try to figure the freaky mutating blood out.

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

At first glance (through a miscroscope)

Explanation below:

Disclaimer: I am NOT a scientist and I'm just doing this for fun (but I don't mind suggestions and feedback!)

*also graphs are not to an accurate scale

I watched the movie Iron Lung and tried to work backward, figuring out how Blood would be able to do all... that.

It burns through Simon's skin, but it also grows Blood Eel teeth on his face, AND melds his arm to the Iron Lung.

Red blood cells by themselves can't really do all that, and I struggled to figure out why so much blood would be there, surviving outside a body in a liquid form, and doing all the mutating stuff.

So... Bacteria!

There's this plant bacteria, Agrobacterium, that docks on wounded plant cells (using T4SS: Type IV Secretion System) and gives its T-DNA or T-Strand to the cell, and the cell takes it into its nucleus and starts growing a tumor, basically that benefits Agrobacterium. Here's the youtube video I watched explaining it.

I'm sure there's a lot of other cool bacteria I could have done, but PLANTS. Simon mutated/melded with/ 'became the soil' for the Blood Tree, so I took Agrobacterium and ran with it.

Why blood?

Simon's universe is dying. There are moons with life on them, but most planets and stars have been 'Raptured'. Like most Bloodymary fans, it's a cool crossover to think that Simon's universe is one where the astrophage problem was never fixed. Planets can't really disappear, but they would definitely change. But if there was no sun or the sun was too dim, Venus and Threeworld would start to freeze. Carbon dioxide-rich environments would be hard to find in a dying universe. The Astrophage overeats and ruins its own environment. (I'll make another post about how the astrophage is different in Simon's world.)

Agroglobin started off not looking like a blood cell, but it needs heat to have enough energy to survive, so it figures out a way (by accident) to entice the Astrophage to come to the moon it's living on. Carbon Dioxide.

There are some creatures on the blood moon like eels, angler fish, and frogs and when the Agroglobin encountered these native species, they did two things: injected DNA and stole DNA. It encountered human blood and liked its blueprint. It also really likes BONE because that's where blood cells originate.

Blood cells can 'hold' oxygen- it's like fuel for the bacteria to produce as much carbon dioxide as possible. (I had to figure out how they get oxygen in the first place, but I won't get into that yet). Also, mitochondria produce a lot of CO2 so it's there as well. There are also the chemoreceptor arrays to allow it to 'sense' stuff using chemotaxis to help it figure out which items are the most beneficial things to steal.

There are these hairs on bacteria called Type IV Pili that can grab stuff and pull it back into itself. If the cell bursts when it injects its DNA, then it will use the pili to steal the DNA or proteins or other useful stuff. If it doesn't then it uses the T4SS to transfer stuff between the two cells.

Basically, it takes whatever helps it survive better, and blood cells happen to do that.

Astrophage was desperate enough to go far enough into the environment to linger in the blood- making it boiling hot. It traps some weaker astrophage that doesn't have enough energy to leave. So there's astrophage in the blood ocean. (Grace freaks out about this)

Agrobacterium needs a wound to get its DNA into the cell, astrophage solves that problem. It makes it hot enough to burn Simon's skin, and the Agroglobin can insert its DNA into the cells.

Weaker cells just burst, and the agroglobin takes any proteins or useful DNA it finds. If it's not useful, it will just spit it back out.

But the cells that are strong enough to host the Agrobacterium DNA are where we get the mutation part. Skeletal muscle cells and plant cells are strong enough to host, so the Agroglobin puts its DNA into those cells, and it begins to mutate.

When it finds a useful mutation, it will multiply very fast using binary fission (like E. Coli) but much faster because it's science fiction and that makes it scarier.

It will damage its host until it finds a good (survivable) mutation that keeps the host alive long enough to be useful to the agroglobin. It does this to the Blood Eel that started out a pretty regular fish that got mutated by the bacteria that basically took over. It keeps adding to the Blood Eel, its strongest host. Thus: the human body parts that are a part of the Blood Eel. (also how it somehow speaks to Simon- this is less scientifically explainable, but whatever happened- it's the bloods fault.)

I'll make another post about what this means specifically for Simon when I post chapter five! I don't want to spoil too much here.

My Extra notes

Extra Picture references

[nostalgic-teddyy]

Imagine the level of whimsy I could reach if I just had $5M in my bank account rn

[lordofchips]

It’s so important to me that he says “Dr. Captain Ryland Grace” when sending the Beatles back to Earth. Because the Hail Mary was made for a Captain, a Scientist, and an Engineer. And Grace only claims the Captain and Scientist parts. Because Rocky is the Engineer! Rocky is the Hail Mary’s Engineer!!!

[kruspp]

About to watch Project Hail Mary for the fifth time in theatres. It’s officially the most I’ve ever rewatched a movie in theatres. It’s taken over my entire brain. I feel insane

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

sorry to be a broken record every month but christ menstruation is a stupid concept. oooooh excuse me for not getting pregnant, why the fuck is there goo falling out of me about it? grow the fuck up and reabsorb that shit for nutrients.

[uwillneverknowwho]

Literally always take headphones with you. If you decide that you probably won't need them today, that's the devil talking. You will. You will

[aforlorngazeintoyesterday-deact]

YOU’RE NOT DEAD YET YOU’RE NOT DEAD YET GET THE FUCK UP YOU’RE NOT DEAD YET IT ISN’T FUCKING OVER DRAG YOUR CORPSE KICKING AND SCREAMING INTO TOMORROW ONE DAY YOU WILL STOP SURVIVING AND START LIVING YOU ARE NOT FUCKING DEAD YET.

[silmarienthequeen]

Just finished rereading Project Hail Mary again and it’s really interesting that Stratt is not a scientist. She’s an administrator, a politician, a leader. Not a scientist. She’s surrounded by some of the smartest people in the world, and they’re speaking in very science-y terms, and she has no idea what is going on. So what does she do? She turns to Grace and asks him to explain it to her. And he does, he explains the very complicated stuff in a way she, a non-scientist, can understand, because he’s a teacher. That’s what he does. It works very well from a narrative perspective because you, the reader, also don’t know what all this stuff means, so Grace explaining it to Stratt also explains it to you. But I also think maybe this is part of the reason Grace became so important to Project Hail Mary, why Stratt dragged him around everywhere- and she really does take him everywhere with her- not in spite of the fact that he’s a junior high school teacher, but because of it. 

[adrenaline-revolver]

“Eridians dislike earth because they abandoned Grace.” *Incorrect Buzzer Sound* ya missed the point of the story buddy! It’s not about someone being ‘bad’ it’s about the incredible power of love and that love being worth dying for!

Gimmie Eridians who are absolutely heartbroken to hear that humans where so desperate and so scared that they where willing to part with not just one Grace, there were three of them! Gimmie Eridians touched to find that the humans planned a way for their sacrifices to be as comfortable as possible. Gimmie Eridians who send earth a message saying “We know it must have hurt to send your heroes to die, but one made it and he’s safe here. We lost 22 good Eridians on the journey we would have lost 23 if not for your Grace.”

Give me humans sitting on Earth slowly coming to the conclusion that when we look up not only are we not alone, someone out there is alive because of one of us. That no matter what we think of ourselves a whole species thinks highly of us because we helped save the galaxy. Give me humans who figure out how to send a probe to Erid filled to the brim with messages for Grace and footage of a monument being raised that reads his name, his crews names, and then “in memory of the 22 Eridians who lost their lives on the journey to save the stars.”

[silly-blue-gosling]

finally noticed this on my fourth time watching it but oh my christmas eve you guys Grace's shoelaces are just pieces of rope at the end of the movie because his clothes have been worn down so much he had to use what he had available i am praying the project hail mary wins an Oscar for the costumes i love this

[owenhcrper]

grace's t-shirt collection

[bilover]

if i bring a book someplace it doesn't necessarily mean i want to read it mayb i just want to take her on a walk. Get her some fresh air and a change of scenery

[angeliquemaretti]

dear every cat ever

I love you

[merrilybloody]

I know it's a bit vague exactly how the timeline of Iron Lung compares to the timeline of PHM, especially given they're in different universes and such. But I kind of love the idea of Simon actually being from the distant future in an alternate timeline compared to Grace. Like, Grace is from 2023ish, and Simon is from like 2300s or something.

Mostly because that much time means that the languages humans speak would definitely have shifted. Probably to the point that whatever Simon speaks would be completely incomprehensible to Grace. Especially given that Simon was born on a whole other planet. Sure, they have a few words that are the same. Enough that they can tell that they're both speaking languages that are probably related to each other. But nothing close enough to be able to communicate easily.

(Except for the swear words. Those definitely haven't changed, there's just more of them now and Simon is more than happy to demonstrate that :D)

So Simon shows up, completely feral, and he and Grace can't even talk to each other. Grace is stuck pantomiming and drawing pictures and putting on puppet shows with Rocky's models to try to explain things to Simon, who is definitely freaking the fuck out. He's backed into a corner, shooting Armando looks like if the robot comes near him he'll try to bite its mechanical limbs off.

And then Grace has an idea. Music! Music is soothing, and tunes can stick around for centuries and still be recognizable. Maybe this will be how they communicate! So he quickly grabs one of his many laptops and starts frantically searching through the vast media library, trying to find a song that he thinks might still be around and recognizable in 300 years.

He starts off with "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star," because the tune has been around for centuries and is taught to ever child he's ever met. Simon goes still when the first notes echo out of the laptop speakers, his eyes going wide with recognition. Encouraged, Grace tries another song. And then another. And another. Some Simon reacts to like he recognizes them, others get a blank stare. Slowly Grace moves through music history, as Simon starts to relax.

And then, spotting one song in particular, Grace hesitates. It's definitely more modern, and it's in English, so there's a chance that this strange human that's somehow landed in their laps won't know it. But hey, it's a great song. Worth a shot, right?

The first strains of "Bohemian Rhapsody" fill the room, and Simon's jaw drops open. He listens to it for a moment, all the way to the first verse, his brow furrowing in concentration. And then, to Grace's shock, he starts to sing. Only, it's not in English. It's in whatever version of English Simon speaks.

(Holy Moly, he has a nice voice, Grace thinks absently)

Thinking quickly, Grace starts recording Simon. Simon makes it through about half of the song before he has a coughing fit, but it's enough for Grace to get started on his second language translation program. It's not hard. He mostly copies what he made for Rocky and duplicates it for Simon.

And that's how they learn to communicate. Grace finds songs that Simon knows, and Simon sings them. Sometimes Simon starts singing a song, and if Grace recognizes it, he sings along. From this, Grace can start to create their shared dictionary.

Through the power of music, two very different people from very different times and places slowly learn to understand each other and grow closer together.

How very human of them :)