This one came a bit randomly, but felt like an interesting AU at least. Might do more of it, maybe not.
Enjoy and be gentle
---
For a while, the sample sat in its vial. Untouched by extreme centrifugal force and concentrated nitrogen. Surviving until finally remembered.
Grace had been spring cleaning. Well, reunion cleaning would be more accurate, but cleaning up regardless. Mostly for the sake of something to do that wasn't screen-based.
And found Sample A-1. Just right there in a test tube holder in the refrigeration unit.
"Huh. There you are," Grace muttered as he pulled it out.
"What Grace find, question?" Rocky leaned in from the tunnel above.
"One of the isolated microbial samples from the astrophage sampler."
In the rush of Rocky's realisation regarding what ended up being taumoeba, and then the leak and subsequent events, the sample had completely slipped his mind.
"Non predator life, question?"
"Non predator life," Grace confirmed, placing the vial back in the fridge for the time being. He still had some more cleaning to do. But there was a definite pep in his step as he tidied the cockpit.
An hour later, he was back in the lab. With restrained excitement, Grace prepped the slide and started the same round of tests he'd done on astrophage back on Earth. After all, if astrophage did origin on Adrian, the other samples could display similar qualities. One after another, taking breaks in between to note down each reaction before carrying on with the next. Then he noticed something unusual.
One of them had changed colour. Now being orange and blue with a green nucleus. Just that one.
Curiosity peaked, Grace carefully isolated the cell onto its own petri dish, labelling it A-1a before clearing up the previous sample. He hadn't turned away from it long. No more than a minute.
And yet, when he did turn back, the sample had become macroscopic.
Grace froze. Before his very eyes, the lump of flesh and crystal continued growing, even beginning to push up the petri dish lid. Heart pounding in his throat, Grace carefully edged out of the lab and around the corner. "Hey, Rocky? Could you come here?"
"Something happen, question?"
"...Yeah."
The tip tap of Rocky's claws on xenonite felt mildly soothing even as the rest of Grace's brain kept screaming about the literal horror movie scenario unfolding less than a metre away. Rocky stopped by Grace's side, not even attempting to enter the lab.
"...Grace. What growing in lab, question?"
"I was just running some basic tests," Grace frantically whispered, eyes flickering towards the open doorway, "and one cell reacted..." He didn't know what else to say, but Rocky seemed to follow.
"What-?"
A loud thump came from the lab.
"Rocky, what was that?" Grace wheezed, heart thundering against his ribs like it was trying to abandon ship.
"Stopped growing, statement," Rocky tapped the tube wall twice, "Laying on ground."
That was a very unfun statement. One Grace desperately hoped would be followed by "is joke!" It never came. Yet, in spite of the pop culture fueled fear currently pumping through his veins, a flicker of curiosity made itself known.
What does it now look like? How big was it? Was it now multicellular? Could it be conscious? Sentient? ...Sapient?
Grace began to inch back towards the doorway. Muffled sounds gradually became audible as he got closer and, with a deep breath, peeked his head around the corner.
It was humanoid. A torso with two legs at the base and a head on top. In terms of arms, two thin tendrils came out of the area where human arms would be on each side. An unmistakable groan issued from their head as they were sprawled face down on the floor.
It was rather difficult to be afraid of such a sight.
"Hey, buddy," Grace said cautiously as he stepped closer, Rocky at his heels, "You OK?" Another groan, and that head lifted up on newly formed muscles, turning carefully as to avoid scraping the large protrusions (horns?) on either side of their head on the floor.
Their face was fairly featureless. A blue oval split by a purple line. A pair of eyes cracked open to greet the Hail Mary with the air of a disgruntled cat woken from a nap. Only widen to full alertness with a look that said "woah, I'm having a thought."
Before Grace could say anything, the new lifeform started trying to push themselves up. Their limbs quickly buckled, sending them back to the floor with a grunt of frustration. Looking back up, their eyes fixed onto Grace's hands. And the tendrils shifted, coiling into each other, into a pair of human hands.
"Oh," Grace said weakly. Rocky just cooed wordlessly. This time, as the lifeform pushed themselves up, they managed to get on their knees. There they rested, eyes glittering as they took in each object that met their gaze. Eventually, they found the petri dish lid and reached for it.
As he watched them play with the lid, Grace's mind stalled on the very important question of what to do next. Because really, what on earth should he do?
"Grace," Rocky's voice, both actual and artificial, drew his attention.
"Yeah, bud?" Grace asked softly, still wary of startling the creature in front of him.
"New life like yesterday movie, question?"
That... wasn't an unreasonable comparison, Grace supposed. Although he'd like to think he was nothing like Victor Frankenstein.
"In a way," he replied simply.
"I understand. Grace doing very good."
"You think so?"
"Yes yes yes. Grace not deadbeat."
Before Grace could even begin to comprehend how Rocky had learned that word, there was movement from the creature, a sudden surge downward. Only, when Grace looked over, they hadn't fallen. Their whole body had changed.
Now, instead of a human-like shape, they had taken on an eridian one. Still mainly bright orange, the green crystal Grace had noticed in the centre of their chest had relocated to where Rocky's radiator vents were. Surrounding it were three blue dots arranged into a triangle. Thin purple lines in between led from the top of their "carapace" down to their dark grey underside. Each leg had a horizontal blue stripe resembling a bandaid on the elbow, and ended at a dulled point.
For about half a minute, there was near total silence. And then-
"Amaze amaze amaze!"
Either eridians can't experience the uncanny valley, or Rocky's scientific intrigue proved much stronger. Either way, Grace gave a sigh of relief. Carefully, the little guy stood up. After a brief wobble, they copied Rocky's excited jazz hands, the end of each limb splitting to show blue palms.
"Grace, look look look!"
"Yeah, I can see, buddy." The lingering traces of Grace's fear faded away. Smiling wide, he joined in with his own jazz hands.
"Grace not worry," Rocky continued as the little guy started tapping about happily, "Rocky not deadbeat either, statement."
"How do you know that word?!"
It didn't take that long to make a little booklet. Most of the time between reading its physical construction and sending it back out was spent considering what to put in it. Now, Grace was well aware he wasn't the best artist in the world. But he liked to think it was passable.
Granted, it was also under half the size of the scrapbook, but hopefully the pilot would understand why.
The box was sent off without issue. Not even removing his EVA suit, Grade climbed back into the cockpit and sat down.
"Blip-F detected. Blip-G detected."
"Oh, come on!" He complained. They were going to go through the whole alphabet before lunch at this rate. At least, one of the blips wasn't meant for him. Regardless, Grace floated back towards the airlock.
Evidently, the Blip-A had opted to take a note from the Starship's playbook. The new cylinder smoothly spun into his hands from within the airlock.
Back inside, the two ends didn't open into opposite compartments, instead loosening the sides. Once detached, the full model inside was visible. The Hail Mary, Blip-A, and the Starship linked together by a y shaped tunnel.
They wanted to meet them both. Face to face to face.
Grace didn't have to wait long. Five poles, scaffolding, stretched out and attached to the Hail Mary. After most of the tunnel had been manufactured, one of the robot arms from the Blip-A moved onto the tunnel and started applying the scaffolding for the Starship, which carefully tilted to allow the scaffolding to fit over the clear dome. A few minutes later, both sides were complete.
As the airlock cycled, Grace's heart pounded in his throat. The hatch swung open to near total darkness. Lightly pushing off before he could back out, he slowly drifted down the new corridor.
About halfway was a wall, divided into different coloured sections, angled in the perfect way to accommodate for the pilot. Who was already there, peering through the clear patch at the corner where both sides meet, a great big smile firmly in place. The sight of it soothed the roiling anxiety in Grace's gut: "Hi there."
The pilot seemed to hear him, or at least understood what he was likely saying. They tapped at the glasslike structure between them gently before turning to the Blip-A's side. Doing the same, Grace squinted and tapped on the wall.
One, two, three.
Something slammed into view. Instantly, Grace launched himself away, landing roughly against the xenonite behind. Clutching at it, he looked back, panting hard. The wall remained intact. Taking a few breathes, Grace pushed back up to the wall. From the corner of his eye, he could see the pilot similarly recovering.
Lit up by their combined helmet lights, a rocky limb came into view and knocked a digit against the wall on Grace's side three times. Hard enough to be clearly heard on both. The pilot responded first, their limb squishing against the surface without a sound to Grace's ears. His own reply was faint but audible.
The hand moved out of view before coming back with a small figurine. "Is that me?" Grace asked as he took in the replica of himself holding the first message. The arm retracted and returned with a recreation of the pilot who looked utterly delighted.
Gone again. Then two returned, each holding a different ship model before releasing them and letting them spin in zero g. And both figurines appeared again, their holder mimicking them walking back into their ships.
"You want us to go back to our ships?" Grace asked, pointing with his thumb back to the Hail Mary as the pilot did similar, "But we just got here." The movements got more insistent. "Okay, I'll talk to you guys later. Bye," he gave a thumbs up, the pilot nodded, and waved on his way back into the airlock.
Finally removing his EVA suit, Grace watched from a viewport as both sides of the tunnel were detached and pulled back slightly. Before the Blip-A started to spin. End over end like a turbine. Or a centrifuge.
Promptly, Grace headed up to the cockpit and started making adjustments.
"It is not advised to modify the centrifugal settings of the ship," Mary chimed in.
"Thank you, Mary," Grace said back on reflex as he pulled the lever and the Hail Mary soon synchronised with the Blip-A. Eventually, the Starship fired up its engines and started circling the tunnel.
Gravity returned and Grace got to work, ripping up wires and lights he could live without. By the time the tunnel reattached, he had plenty of lights ready. The sudden pressure that slammed him into the heavy door behind him once the airlock opened was unexpected but quickly discarded in favour of the tunnel itself. Lugging the cables behind him, Grace walked towards the wall.
"Oh wow, this is new."
The wall was different. Made fully of the clear xenonite. Grace shone his strip of lights down the other side. And then he realised something else.
It was flat, and further back.
A faint sound had Grace's head turn towards the open path to the Starship, and the pilot looked back. With an audible laugh, they padded over, stopping within arms reach of Grace.
"Hai!" The pilot called up, standing on their tiptoes and still only reaching just above his waist.
"Hi," Grace echoed, somewhat nervous about the lack of a barrier between them.
A sound from behind the clear wall reminded them both of the tunnel's creator. Between Grace's DIY lighting rigs and the faint blue light of the Pilot's helmet, their features came quickly into focus as they drew closer.
Five limbs, each tipped by three fingers, connected to a faceless body, all seemingly composed of rocks. Musical chirping gradually grew louder as they neared. Unconsciously, Grace took a step closer to the barrier.
"Hai!" The pilot suddenly hugged the wall, the glass of their visor making a loud thunk.
The Blip-A's occupant gave a high screech. Grace yelled, the pilot yelled. Panic gripping him tightly, Grace wound back the arm holding the heavy wrench and-
"Poyo! Poyo! Poyo!" The pilot waved frantically, rapidly turning on their heels to face each of them alternately. Then inflated like a balloon.
The sight startled Grace out of his blind panic, mostly due to how bizarre it looked. The pilot's helmet even had to flex to allow for it. A long loud exhale, and they deflated. Before inhaling and puffing up again.
The reason was clear.
For the next couple of minutes, the only sound in that tunnel was controlled breathing on all sides.
"OK," Grace carefully said as he put the wrench on the ground. The Blip-A's occupant similarly lowered their back leg from its scorpion-like pose. Relieved laughter rippled between the three of them.
And the Blip-A's occupant started tapping on the wall. Grace started tapping back. The tapping sped up, so did Grace. Then the pilot tapped on Grace's leg.
"Poyo," they pointed at part of the wall leading to the Hail Mary. There was something attached to the wall.
"Ah. Right," Grace winced as he finally noticed, "Sorry."
An irritated tune followed him to the capsule in the wall. Ingraved on the surface was the Hail Mary and the Starship. The top popped open to a pair of interlocked rings with eight gems studded around each. "Oh," he held them up and grinned, "I don't have one of these!"
Cooing in curiosity, the pilot wandered over. From their side of the wall, the Blip-A's occupant sang and made an odd gesture, bracing both front hands around their body and then an upward motion. Grace was confused. He glanced at the pilot and was met by an equally befuddled look.
Charades it is then. "You want me to put this on my head?" The response definitely sounded negative. "No? OK, what about them?" Another negative.
"Poyo?" the pilot muttered, copying the gesture. Only their limbs kept knocking their helmet. Then it hit.
Thankfully, it hit Grace at the same moment.
"You want us to take off our helmets?" he slowly stated, hands hovering over his head. Excitement, clearly correct.
Oh. Oh, he couldn't do that. Nope.
A light batting at his leg drew Grace's attention back down to the pilot. They reached for the handcuffs (god, he hoped that wasn't what they actually were). He handed them over. The Pilot held them out with rings laid as close to flat as possible. And Grace was suddenly struck by a realisation. "Two rings of eight. It's oxygen!"
That explained why the airlock blasted him backwards. But, it didn't mean it was automatically safe to take his helmet off. What about the concentration? Hypoxia and hyperoxia were both equally unfun, and both were things Grace definitely wanted to avoid experiencing. But, they were aware that he breathed oxygen. That both he and the Pilot did. Likely got samples from the return messages. Why wouldn't it be the right concentration?
If he's right, it would make things notably easier. But if he's wrong, he's really wrong.
The pilot's limbs were braced on the lower portion of their helmet. They didn't move, just looked up at Grace and waited. His hands inched towards the chest plate. For a moment, his fingers hovered over it. Then Grace held his breath and released the seal.
Two faint hisses of air filled the tunnel. Followed by silence. Then Grace dared to take a breath.
Relief practically radiated off of him. His head hadn't popped, he wasn't suffocating, he was fine. Another bout of laughter echoed off the tunnel walls.
There he was, an amnesiac science teacher, laughing away with two aliens like they were old friends. As his laughter faded, Grace's mind started working away.
Face to face contact went well, time for the tricky part.
So, here's the reason for yesterday's poll. Hopefully it makes sense. I think I'm going to call it "Starfaring Friends" on AO3, for now anyway.
Enjoy and be gentle
---
As soon as Grace had closed the inner airlock door, Mary spoke again.
"Blip-D detected."
That was fast. Too fast to be a response, he'd literally just sent it out. So what else could it be? The question grinded on Grace's nerves as he ascended into the cockpit and peered out the window.
Another ship had appeared. It was small, smaller than the Hail Mary considerably, with a single dome sticking out ontop of a five sided yellow star. Moments later, the dome retracted to show a clear one underneath. Inside this dome, the pink spherical pilot snoozed away without a care in the world.
Grace blinked at it.
A light started flashing on the control panel inside the dome. The pilot twitched, slowly inched open bright blue eyes, and patted the control panel with a nubby limb until the light turned back off. Stretching their whole body, the pilot yawned and looked around. First at the control panel, then at Tau Ceti, and finally at the Hail Mary. Directly at Grace.
Instantly, the little guy was wide awake. A big beaming smile as bright as the star they were orbiting broke free as they started excitedly waving. Grace couldn't help but smile too as he waved back. Then they spotted the Blip-A and waved its way with equal enthusiasm.
Such a brave little guy. To see two unknown ships, both very very big, and react with only joy.
"Blip-E detected," Mary's voice roused Grace from his thoughts. Another xenonite cylinder twirled through space at a different angle than B and C. He'd got his greeting, now it was the new guy's turn.
Light projected onto the dome, highlighting its path towards the Blip-D. The pilot looked at it then squinted at something else. A button was tapped and the former Blip-C's trajectory lit up the glass. An idea seemed to form in their eyes. Another button had the whole pilot seat retract into the ship itself. A minute later, they popped back up, now clad in a blue tinted helmet with two tanks on the back and an antenna on top. In their limbs was a wide container.
A lever was pulled, and the dome opened up. The little pilot gave another wave and gently pushed the container towards the Hail Mary's airlock before turning to intercept the cylinder.
As the pilot fired up their jetpack, Grace made his way back to the airlock. At least this one looked easy to catch.
---
The box sat inside the fume hood innocently. Lid secured by a ribbon tied into a five sided star shaped bow, the whole thing bore the same colours as the pilot. Carefully, Grace pinched an end of the ribbon and pulled. It unraveled smoothly. Setting it aside for the moment, he removed the lid.
There was no hiss of air. No resistance followed the lid as Grace peered at the contents. It was a scrapbook. Spiralbound with shockingly high quality covers and cream paper.
Somehow, the sight of something so familiar inside felt even stranger than the xenonite.
The fume hood opened to no additional scents, just the still lingering ammonia. Grace picked up the book and carried it over to the lab table.
"Okay," he said to himself as he sat down, "Alien book, here we go."
The first page held an illustration of their solar system. Mostly typical, Grace's eyes were drawn to one in particular: it appeared star shaped with two rings and a singular moon. Somewhat baffled by this detail, Grace turned the page to a closer look of that same planet.
Was their planet literally shaped like that? It explained the fondness for the shape, but how would a planet even form like that, let alone orbit without trouble?
Shaking his head, he moved on. The next few pages were dioramas of the planet's surface. Full of so much life and colour. Then came the Petrova Line. Only, there was something Grace wasn't expecting.
There were two. One from their sun to an CO2 heavy planet. And a second thinner one from that planet to the Pilot's home.
That made no sense. That shouldn't be possible. Quickly, Grace flicked through drawings depicting the discovery of the Petrova Line and its effects, eyes scanning for whatever difference could lead to such a thing. Until he flipped to a page that made his gut sink.
It was the interior of a house. Several of the orange aliens depicted previously were tending to an sick individual in bed. An individual depicted as a miniature sun, covered in black blotches.
Running his fingers through his hair, Grace breathed in deep. It was unprecedented. Astrophage can't infect humans nor any other Earth life, but clearly at least one form of life on that planet could be. The very concept had a shiver run down Grace's spine.
Wherever this planet was, they must have felt even more of a time crunch than Earth did. Turning to the next page, Grace saw them actively trying to mitigate Astrophage's effects on the poor guy, setting up a lightproof isolation ward and piling on blankets. Seemed like a good start. But that was only a fraction of the problem.
After that was a record of the starship's construction, the route to Tau Ceti, and a picture presumably meant for the pilot. Rows and rows of people, some waving, some posing, all staring back with hope in their eyes. With a long sigh, Grace closed the scrapbook.
Okay, time to think.
The Hail Mary was at Tau Ceti to find out why it wasn't dimming. According to the scrapbook, the pilot was there for the same reason. Was that also the Blip-A's mission? His mind drifted back to the first sculpture and Grace made his way over to it. "Yep, it's a Petrova Line," he stated aloud. Three ships, three stars, roughly the same situation.
Now that was sorted, what else does he know? As he thought, Grace started walking about the lab. His eyes rested on the scrapbook again. Right. The pilot was probably waiting for a reply.
"Guess it's time for some arts and crafts," Grace bounced on his heels, clapped and darted off in search of paper and a stapler.
Just a quick general question for something I've been toying about with in my head.
I've got a good starting point for a story and can see myself potentially writing more than just what I have so far, but currently I can't think up those other bits.
So, which would be the better way to handle it on AO3?
A oneshot for now, then a series once able to think up the rest
(Just a silly little thing, I have no experience writing musicals. Don't take this too seriously)
First things first, the opening number. Let's call it "Good Morning Dr Grace". Well, I say opening number because it technically isn't one. Because Grace doesn't sing. He doesn't even talk in tune. The song is just an instrumental with the Hail Mary's computer occasionally singing in response to Grace's panicked questions.
In fact, for most of the show, Grace doesn't sing. At least, not on his own. He'll sing with the ensemble but never in a way where his voice can be heard over anyone else.
The next song is Stratt's, "Sol's at Stake". It would likely cover the first meeting all the way up to Grace convincing her to let him keep some astrophage. Maybe the larger meeting on Stratt's Vat is its own song, I'm not too sure, but there is one song I am sure about.
"Understanding You". Given the standard musical runtime, this number would likely handle a good chunk of the language learning. As the song goes on, Rocky would go from maybe being "voiced" by an instrument to actual lyrics. And towards the end, Grace matches the rhythm.
The original Hail Mary crew would also get a song, "Brave for You All", showing how the ship works and giving a sense of their personalities. Maybe there's even a fake out at the beginning where it looks like Grace would be announced as the onboard scientist, only for Dubois to step into view.
After this, I'm a bit unsure about how many more songs there are. Rocky learning that the Hail Mary's a one way trip probably gets one, "Grace No Die" maybe? And maybe the Adrian Incident has its reprise.
The next song I am sure about is "Sol's at Stake (Reprise)". This is probably the closest thing to a villain song the show has, and also acts as a reprise of "Brave for You All". I can picture the song ending with Stratt trying to drag Grace into a spotlight centre-stage, before he rips himself out of her grip and shouts "No!" Then she gives him three hours to reconsider.
The final flashback, regardless of if it's closer to the book or the film, has no song. But as it becomes clear to Grace and the audience that his answer doesn't matter, the instrumental of "Sol's at Stake" grows louder and more aggressive. And, as Grace is sedated, the lights dim on stage to center on him before fading entirely to black with the beginning notes of "Good Morning Dr Grace".
Maybe there's another song after this. Maybe not. But the penultimate song is the most important.
It starts silent as if even the orchestra has given up on the idea of him singing solo. Grace talks about the taumoeba escaping, how Rocky would die alone without any astrophage to use as fuel or shield him from radiation, and how Grace can't save him and return to Earth.
He says this while fiddling with something offstage, hidden behind the curtains. He takes a deep breath and appears to press a button.
"Beetles dispatched."
Grace's first verse is quiet, shuddering, fearful. But growing in confidence towards the chorus as the instrumental finally joins in. Not too sure what the title of this song should be, but it ends with Grace and Rocky's reunion and their voice harmonising together.
"A Bright Future/Finale" is naturally something of a medley, starting on Earth then transitioning to Grace on Erid being told about Sol returning to full brightness. Rocky tells Grace about the Hail Mary being ready for the trip back, and Grace asks for time to think about it.
As Rocky walks offstage, Grace turns to look out at his biosphere, out at the audience. It's obvious what his answer is. He smiles and turns to face the background.
"Good morning class. Now, who can tell me the speed of light?"
Lights turn on to show rows full of eridian children with their claws in the air, and it ends.
Just a silly little idea that popped into my head while gazing longingly at the Hail Mary Lego set. Once again, everything's under Keep Reading due to spoilers.
Enjoy and be gentle
---
Another day dawned just the same as it had for the past year. Check trajectory and adjust if needed, check taumoeba breeding tanks, check the Hail Mary wasn't about to break apart on them, write some papers. Same old, same old. And oh boy was Grace bored of it.
He sat at the lab table, fingers tapping out a rapid beat. Every last inch of storage space had been scoured top to bottom and nothing new presented itself. Of course, practicality was the word of the day when it came to what was put on the Hail Mary. And Grace couldn't really call Stratt cheap when the literal entirety of the Internet and every piece of media ever made was onboard. But would a board game have been that hard to fit inside? They literally made travel versions for that exact reason?!
A frustrated sigh burst free from his chest.
"Why Grace sigh, question?" Rocky's voice inquired from the next room.
"I'm bored."
"Then go to screen room."
"I don't want to watch anything," Grace complained maturely, and definitely didn't whine.
Rocky rolled into the room.
"Then what Grace want, question?"
"Something that doesn't involve a screen," Grace groaned into his hands. Rocky chirped wordlessly and rolled back out.
Eventually, Grace settled for playing with the model Hail Mary again while listening to the Star Trek movie soundtrack. It helped. Kinda.
The next morning, Rocky seemed positively brimming with energy.
"Have something to show Grace but first do checks," was all he'd say before bounding off. Grace just shrugged it off and did the checks. They didn't take that long anyway.
Rocky had hunkered down in the Don't Go Crazy room, working away on something small as Grace walked in.
"Okay, everything's looking good. What'd you want to show me?"
"Found solution to yesterday problem!" Rocky said proudly, pointing with an unoccupied hand to a small pile of something beside his ball.
There was a series of small blocks, differing in both length and in the type of xenonite used. Picking up a clear one, Grace inspected it closer. If the overall shape and size wasn't familiar enough, the sudden appearance of circular studs on top made everything click into place.
"Are these Lego bricks?!" Grace asked.
"Yes yes yes. Found on thinking machine. Shapes seemed easy enough. Grace say different xenonite different colours, so Rocky make variety!" He happily explained, finishing up the thinner brick he'd been working on before promptly moving on to another.
Speechless, Grace picked up another brick and clicked them into place. Just the sound alone sent a wave of serotonin crashing over him. Swiftly followed by the realisation that he had just witnessed the first act of intergalactic copyright infringement. But then again, the Hail Mary might as well have been called the Digital Piracy with everything on the ship's servers. Besides, Lego is meant for all ages. Why shouldn't other species get in on the fun?
Rocky was definitely enjoying himself.
"Thanks, Rock," Grace replied genuinely before picking up another brick. It would be easier to transport them as one piece, and Grace definitely didn't want to discover the damage a xenonite Lego brick could do if stepped on.
I've been having a mental debate regarding when to post that pixel art piece I've prepared for TGWDLM:R proshot that I mentioned a while back, and I can't decide. So,
So, Project Hail Mary is incredible and hasn't left my brain since watching it. And one scene in particular is sticking quite firmly, so here's a little number inspired by it.
The whole thing's under the Read-More due to spoilers. Trust me, watch the film first.
Enjoy and be gentle
---
Gentle waves lapped along the shoreline, the temperature still unideal for swimming. And along that beach, strolling over perfectly crafted and selected stones, Ryland Grace walked to class.
He'd long since settled into his new routine. Enough to know the exact distance from his house to his classroom off by heart. And yet, the walk itself didn't feel mundane, even on the days where Rocky was too busy to walk with him. Everything was so calm, so peaceful.
Looking out along the coast, Ryland blinked. And stopped.
In the distance was something new. It was too far away to make out clearly, a blob of yellow against the more natural shades around it. Sitting with their face towards the artificial horizon.
He knew that shade of yellow.
A memory stirred, for once not from before the Hail Mary. Something discarded as fantasy or a hallucination. But there he stood, on the other side.
Ryland began walking again. Not too fast though. No, he matched the same leisurely pace as before.
As he got closer, smaller details jumped out, confirming his theory. Faintly, Ryland could see his head turn to face himself now. The waves washed over converses that would be dry as a bone seconds later. His head suddenly turns sharply, hearing the announcement. Then he was gone.
An impossibility. But, back on earth, many would have said the same about xenonite. He didn't know the reason why or even how. And honestly, it didn't matter.
Crossing the point his past self had been sitting moments ago, Ryland simply smiled. Why shouldn't he? Everything had turned out alright in the end. He was living proof of that.
My A03 invite finally arrived, and my account is now active!
There's nothing on there just yet, but I've already planning to put over one of my smaller one-shots, and will schedule a poll for tomorrow regarding my bigger fics. Everything on there will be locked (like hell I'm letting AI touch my writing), but it will be basically the same content on here. With a few minor touch-ups here and there. Any new fics/parts will still be posted here first. That, I promise.
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