Chapter Text
Ryland stumbled out of that meeting room with his head spinning. Two million Kilograms. That was how much Astrophage they had to breed. With a doubling time of eight days (for now, he’d have to see if additional factors could reduce that time, maybe a better source of heat energy?) it would take almost a year at absolute maximum capacity to generate enough. But that was in optimal conditions with a heating array powerful enough to feed them and there just- there wasn’t any source of energy that powerful on earth right now! Stratt said she had a plan and she sounded confident in it but the science didn’t add up-
“Grace my friend!” Ryland startled as a hand clapped him on the back. It was the russian engineer, the one who’s team figured out the Astrophage energy storage mechanism! Gosh he nearly forgot about the guy with the whole suicide mission Hail Mary (a prayer was an interesting naming convention for a super important mission but Ryland has named things after weirder references, he probably would have named it something like Megara if he’d been in charge, and then everyone would be confused) but if Dimitri was in the meeting he was probably important too, had Stratt also stuck him on the boat without warning? Oh wait he was talking.
“Couldn’t say earlier, too many politicians. It is good to see you well! Been too long, much too long!” The russian cheered. Ryland smiled awkwardly. What? They just met each other? It wasn’t like Dimitri would have been visiting teacher training seminars, being an accomplished engineer and all that. Unless they knew each other from his academia days? Although no one who knew him back then really liked him at all, he was a bit of a stuck up prick. So wait why was Dimitri acting like they knew each other if there was no conceivable way that was the case?
Fortunately - or unfortunately if you were an astronaut or a scientist with a particularly useful specialisation - Stratt exited the conference room and looked completely unsurprised to see the two of them talking just outside.
“I see you two are acquainted.” She nodded at them and Ryland nodded back and tried to hide his confusion. Stratt hadn’t seemed like the type for small talk the last couple times they’d met. “Dr Grace, Dr Komorov is the head of Engineering for Project Hail Mary.” There it is, right back to business. “As he is currently working on the Astrophage powered engines of the ship, you two will be collaborating until the design is finalised.”
Dimitri nodded as if used to Stratt’s no-nonsense attitude. Perhaps he already was, or maybe he’d just worked with enough people like her to not question it. “Will make more efficient than before. Reduce Astrophage fuel requirement, same tank, last much longer. Quarantine procedure included. Mission is much simpler this time, no разруше́ние of Beetle! Happy Steve, less stress for you friend.”
Ryland blinked. “What?” Why was he talking like this was his second draft? The Astrophage engines were yet to be invented for the first time. And “Who is…” is Steve another scientist on the project? Why would he be upset? And why would he be upset about something Ryland did? “huh?”
Dimitri just clapped him on the back again. “You will learn in time. Much freedom this go, second time much easier. Director has been happy with progress and there is much room for innovation.” Somehow that explanation left him with more questions than answers. Second… had he done something like this before? But what kind of project was anything like launching the world's first interstellar spaceship with technology never before seen and fuel that had been discovered not even two weeks ago! He would know, Ryland had named the fuel.
“Dr Komorov.” Stratt warned, giving the man an approximation of a glare.
Dimitri looked affronted “He is Grace! Surely scientist can know our little shortcut?” he asked with elaborate hand gestures to boot.
At this point Ryland was thoroughly befuddled. “What is happening?” he uttered mostly to himself, while gesturing between the two of them. There was a shortcut? On a project that was by name a long shot, that would apparently give them freedom and increase their progress on the work. One that someone as no-nonsense as Stratt decided to follow and was even more top-secret than top-secret? And somehow - and this might be the wildest part - it had something to do with Ryland, especially if he was allowed to know and concerned him and this Steve fellow.
Stratt turned away, seemingly deciding that this conversation no longer held any importance. Good for her, not so good for Ryland who was now dying for answers. “This will be discussed in tomorrow's meeting. For now, Dr Komorov, escort Dr Grace to his cabin. Room L3,” She said before striding down the corridor, fast enough that Ryland didn’t even have the chance to try and stop her. Not that he would, she looked really really busy especially with two cups of coffee but it was about the principal of the choice!
“Ah, remember that room. Good times, lots of vodka. Lots of fun.” Dimitri chuckled to himself beside him and Grace looked over to the russian. So ‘his’ cabin was a repurposed meeting room. More importantly, Dimitri had higher clearance than Grace (somehow) and had been on the ship for a while (even though Stratt had only been in power since Astrophage was first imaged though? That was barely two weeks ago. The Chinese work fast but Stratt works faster huh?) so if anyone had answers besides the boss herself, it was him.
“What was that?” he asked and cringed at how weary it came out.
Dimitri just grinned and clapped him on the back. “As Director said, talk later. Rest now, tomorrow will be very exciting.” he laughed, guiding Ryland gently down the hallway to who knows where.
“Ok but-” he still had questions!
Dimitri cut him off, because of course he did. “Have Astrophage to discuss on the way. Thinking of increasing hull panel strength, but Astrophage used to shield from radiation. How fluid can get Astrophage at pressure? More fluid, better circulation, less space for Astrophage, more space for shielding. Have materials with same strength, much lighter, no worries about weight. Thoughts?” the russian asked and Ryland considered the situation.
“I’ve barely worked with a sample of under two hundred cells. I couldn’t comment on what a sizable amount of pure astrophage would even be like in terms of viscosity, but the resin used by the arclight probe was highly viscous, I don't have enough experience and our studies into Astrophage are still in their infancy. The resin medium is our current best option for containing the buggers to work with. I couldn’t tell you what you don’t already know, sorry about that.” he replied and tried not to sound too sour about it. Even with Astrophage breeding it would take a couple weeks of doublings before they had samples that could be considered dense enough to start experiencing with suspension mediums.
Dimitri didn’t seem to care about the non-answer, and just chuckled. “Humor me, my friend. You must have some theories?” Ryland's mind immediately began to eat at the problem.
“You said it was for radiation shielding right? Because they absorb all incoming waves? Do you know how large the gaps between Astrophage cells can safely be to block all the harmful stuff?” he asked. He knew microwave screens had that film and pattern to block the more dangerous radio waves while allowing the visible light spectrum through. If they had the viable gap size they could try and reduce the amount of astrophage in the solution.
Dimitri shook his head. “Need solid layering. Ionizing particles create problems.”
If there were problematic particles then they’d need practically no gaps in the protective Astrophage barrier. Dilution was a no go then… “So the densest we can get it while ensuring complete coverage… how much pressure could you add to support increased flow from the engine?” he asked.
“Is not connected. Isolated system, stop room in tank from causing problems.” Wait what?
“Then why do you need circulation?”
Dimitri shrugged. “Would like to have still layer. Risk of air pocket forming during assembly. With Lokken’s system and gravity coming and going, creates unpredictable location. Air pocket moves at wrong place at wrong time, causes problems. Moving layer allows control of air pockets, also helps remove as much air as possible. More fluidity, less problems, Stratt approved.”
Ah human error.
Still, “This still sounds overly complicated. How much pressure could the hull withstand again? And isn’t there a way to remove all the air pockets?” he asked. If this was a common problem then surely humanity had already come up with a solution? Like sucking the air out maybe?
“With high viscosity is not so easy.” Dimitri shook his head.
“Why?” Ryland pressed. Come one there had to be-
“Uses heat.”
“…ah.” That… would explain it. Astrophage couldn’t be heated above it’s base temperature. Any heat based treatment was a no-go without rigorous testing and by that point it was practically a last resort, not the first avenue explored. “Right… do we have the Astrophage’s density yet?” If they had the density, then they could narrow down what other solutions they could use as a suspension medium.
“Eh, is about same as water.” Dimitri shrugged. Hey, that wasn’t too bad. Water was something fairly well studied by scientists as a suspension medium. In fact wasn’t there a study he’d read a couple years back about high concentration suspension with bacteria and water?
“Since Astrophage are spherical cells, they aren’t going to be affected by how much the solution is moved, which I suppose is unfortunate… If you are planning to suspend them in water the viscosity is still going to be high, the only thing I can think to change is the dilution - which we don’t want to do - or introducing movement around them, simulate swimming bacteria.
That got Dimitri interested. “Oh?”
Emboldened, Ryland continued explaining, in mostly laymans terms. “If you can add vibration and jostle the astrophage cells around you could maybe reduce the viscosity a bit and get it flowing better. It’s been a while since I read up on high density suspension, my work was more about theoretical survival rates and lifecycles, not so much human application, but I could forward you the papers some time.”
Dimitri snorted, “Bah, no need, get assistants to do so. You work on breeder, I work on plating, able to test sooner than later.”
Ryland startled. Wait what did he mean by “Assistants?”
Dimitri shrugged like it was no big deal. “Small army, grab whatever you want. Stratt spoil you.” It very much was a big deal!
Besides, “She doesn’t-” they hardly knew each other!
Unfortunately Dimitri cut him off with another clap on the back. “Now we’re here! Your room for next three years.” Wait what?! Indeed when Ryland looked up they were standing in front of a new door, marked with a simple nameplate ‘Dr Ryland Grace’. No mention of his position on the project but if they wrote ‘researcher’ on every scientist’s door it’d be a waste of resources anyway so that was understandable. Stratt didn’t seem like the kind of person to waste time and resources, which made the whole ‘army of assistants’ comment from Dimitri even more absurd!
The russian in question opened the door and gave him a small nudge inside, grinning cheerily. ”Rest, come back tomorrow for meeting,” he ordered before quickly turning away and walking back down the hallway.
By the time Ryland got himself to move and peer back through the doorway- “And he’s gone.” Wow he moved fast, it was like he’d disappeared.
Still, it was weird that the man had been so eager to discuss theories surrounding Astrophage integration into the Hail Mary’s finer design, only to run off moments later. Not that there really was anything more they could have talked about given the whole thing was wildly speculative without actual samples to verify with. Dimitri knew that, obviously, but it was a rather abrupt goodbye when they’d been talking pretty animatedly about the topic. They’d been so caught up in the theory that Ryland hadn’t even noticed they’d made it all the way to this room, wherever it was! It was as fascinating as it was distracting…
Ryland looked back down the corridor. Where the only other person he knew of on the ship, who had the answers to why there were so many nebulous details about the Project he had somehow still not yet heard, had vanished. Who had distracted Ryland from the questions he was going to ask with discussions of - still useful to develop! - science, Ryland’s well known specialty.
Fiddlesticks he tricked me!
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Dimitri chuckled as Grace stumbled into the usual meeting room, supported by Carl. The security man’s jacket was stuffed with snacks for their resident scientist and astronaut (Well, he wasn’t technically one yet, but details!).
Already inside, Stratt was seated at the head of the conference table, some old oak one that they’d gotten on the Vatt after Grace pointed it out during one of their many movie nights. Dimitri had taken the initiative in abusing their unlimited budget to secure it earlier this time.
He reclined back into his favourite chair with a self-satisfied grin, leaning his elbow against the wood. What could he say, it’s a damn good table.
Stratt was less impressed but notably didn’t comment on its familiar presence, instead gesturing to the open seats at the table. Carl opted to stand by the door - always so dedicated to his job that one! - while Grace eased himself down in the nearest chair with the energy of a skittish fox. Stratt ignored his mood and nodded, moving to pick up her tablet as she said, “If we are all here, let’s begin.”
Grace startled at that, “-Wait aren’t we waiting on more people?” he asked. It was a fair question, four is hardly the size of a regular team of their magnitude, but Astrophage was only bred three days ago. Now that the Hail Mary - Believe in her journey - was a proven success and the rest of Stratt’s power had been released via the co-operation of every other nation in the world, the rest of the team were getting picked up and brought over from all over the globe, but that still took time. Fighter jets, past or future, were a long way off Astrophage fuel.
Stratt was quick to explain it, of course. Always making sure Grace stayed in the loop, no matter how deep into his research he’d buried himself. “The rest of the leadership team are still actively being recruited as we speak. For now this will serve as your official onboarding. Usually there would be extensive background checks to prepare for potential sabotage but due to your unique situation they were foregone in favour of efficiency.”
“See that’s what I wanted to talk to you about! What unique situation of mine? Being a teacher? Having a teaching license isn’t the same as a background check for a top secret government operation! What if I had ties to the mob! What if I was a saboteur! You don’t know that!”
“Dr Grace, you are not capable of sabotage,” Stratt declared with a certainty that came from experience. From watching his panic as the lights of the Mary blared-red, yet still force himself against over six times the gravity of earth for a chance of success. From watching him climb over ten meters up a ladder with a scorching hot alien strapped to his back to give it a chance of survival. From watching those last moments as he waved goodbye to Earth for a chance to save his friend from their salvation. Even under threat of death, Ryland Grace never faltered in his determination to save the stars, and his friends who lived under them.
Of course, this much younger Grace, had yet to experience any of that. “I repeat, and I don’t think I can emphasise this enough, you don’t know that!”
Dimitri watched the two squabble with a smile. How refreshing it was, to have someone around who could get away with arguing with the Dictator of the World. “Милые бранятся,” he chuckled under his breath, thankful that Grace’s volume stopped Stratt from hearing his words. The price of working with multilingual comrades. They knew when you were laughing at them.
Still, it was better to give the poor scientist some comfort. He was clearly distressed from being left out of the loop - pun entirely intended. “Grace, to us you are already good friend,” Dimitri chimed in brightly.
“We met each other yesterday.” Grace responded flatly. Ah, perhaps that was too vague, and to this Grace, they really had just met twelve or so hours ago.
“For you perhaps. For us, is long-term friend.” He clarified. It was true! After many late nights with the rest of the core staff team, their friendship was as long standing as the project and held in just as high of a regard.
“I’m sorry were you stalking me!” Grace exclaimed, startled and a tad bit manic.
Ah, perhaps that gave the wrong impression.
“Dr Grace, do you believe that time travel is possible.” Stratt cut in before anything could escalate further. Dimitri blinked. Considering the fuss she kicked up yesterday about telling Grace about their shared experience, he thought outright admittance was off the table. She could have explained that before the meeting started, instead of just glancing every so often towards the corner.
“Huh?” It looked like Grace had been caught off guard too, his previous panic replaced with stunned silence.
Stratt continued on. “If someone had memories of their future, and thus knows what is going to happen in 5, ten, thirty years.”
The scientist’s immediate response was denial. “That is beyond insane,” he huffed, but anyone could see he hadn’t written it off entirely. He was far too curious and open minded for that, as seen in just how quickly he had accepted an entire sentient alien into his life, let alone just how close their friendship had become.
“You have a specific gene, classified as the Lamai Marker.” Stratt pressed on, merciless as always when she had a point to make. “It is found in approximately one in seven thousand people and provides a resistance to long-term coma death. It was only ever studied temporarily in Thailand in 2014 by a failed company and published in a single paper: ‘A Study of Long-Term Primate and Human Coma Patients and Detrimental Aftereffects—Srisuk et al.’ When the study was originally discovered, a month from now, you advised us to implement the long-term coma technology to aid the astronauts in reaching Tau-Ceti.” Dimitri hummed to himself. He didn't know that part, but it made sense that Grace was the one Stratt consulted on the matter. Even with the coma technology’s now preventable failure, it still managed to get Grace to Tau-ceti with minimal complications besides his strange bout of amnesia. Far more merciful than waiting for four years with the weight of the world on one’s shoulders.
She looked back down at the tablet in her hands, checking something no one else could see. “As part of that implementation, everyone on the Petrova Task Force was screened for the gene. You are one of three people currently on this ship who possess the marker, the other two being the line cook and one of the Chinese Navy’s navigators.”
Grace was still skeptical, his eyes darting around the room as he searched for an explanation that made sense besides literal time travel. Dimitri could relate, he had checked his apartment for drugs after waking up with memories from the distant future. “Ok so you had me tested for this genome behind my back without my consent,” he reasoned. His tone was shaky though, and the words faltered before they could land. Dimitri didn’t know enough about DNA and the like, so he didn’t know why that particular piece of information was so impactful, but perhaps it was enough to at least make the lot of them seem like they weren’t mad-
Stratt wasn’t done. “You were also considering performing a study on Astrophage. Regarding their energy storage mechanic. How exactly their cells create that ‘anti-matter’ that allows for their near perfect energy conversion. You were planning to start working on it in… two weeks? Once you had a working breeder design and enough downtime to decide where to proceed with your research, though you came up with the idea last night.”
Dimitri sat up. That was a lot more personal than he thought she would go. Pinning down the exact time an idea had come up decades ago…. Dimitri thought his memories of the years before the Hail Mary’s launch were detailed but Stratt’s eidetic memory put his own to shame. To then use that against their friendly scientist who was only trying to make sense of the reality around him… it did not rub him the right way.
Her words clearly had the intended impact.
Grace stood up, his eyes locked on Stratt and his hands shaking as he stepped back towards the door. His breathing was unsteady, Dimitri could hear it from across the room. He took a deep breath, and with a voice steadier than he looked, he demanded, “I want to test for the gene myself. And I’m going to do my research while I make the breeders.”
Stratt looked unbothered, simply nodding and flicking something on her tablet to the side. “You will find an updated breeder design on your desk as a starting point, alongside a list of medical staff able to walk you through the testing process. Anything you may need is already en-route as we speak.”
Grace swallowed and stepped back, eyes wide and jaw tense.
He looked by all means, like a fox caught in a trap.
Just like the лис caught by a predator’s sight, Grace turned around and fled through the door.
As soon as the metal slab closed behind him, Dimitri turned to Stratt. “That was harsh of you,” he stated. He did not expect that level of bluntness from her. Well, perhaps that was a bit strange to ask for, but at the very least she could have been more gentle with
“I should go after him.” Carl had a hand on the door handle even as he said it.
Stratt cut him off before he could commit to it. “Give him time.” She commanded him, before looking back to her work. “For him, a veritable stranger perfectly read his mind and told him information about his body he knew nothing of. He’ll come to terms with it soon, he’s always been remarkably resilient.”
“Тебе следует быть деликатнее.” Dimitri scolded, English was far too bland a language to convey the gravity of the situation.
His words caused Stratt to pause in her work. She looked up at him, stare as frigid as a snowstorm. “Мы не можем позволить себе роскошь быть деликатными, даже несмотря на то, что нам был дан второй шанс,” she replied, tone was heavy as she stared towards the side of the room where the dead haunted her soul.
He didn’t like it, but she had a point. Even with this extra time on their side, the Petrova Task Force would be just as if not more overworked than in the past - future? - as they prepared for the long winter ahead. There were crops to create, heating implements to reinvent, Xenonite to attempt to synthesize while they still had the resources to spend on it. The Director and their First Officer would be swamped with securing connections and protecting against wars and that was before the Mary launched and sent the latter back among the stars. It would be a rough three decades until she sent back the Taumeoba and the sun would start to warm again.
They couldn’t afford to waste time with niceties. Not then, and not now. Perhaps there was a sort of mercy in showing Grace the truth quickly, in answering his questions the same week he stepped foot on the Vatt. Three years was a long time to live in nebulous doubt.
That did not mean for the remaining years they had left with him, they couldn’t choose to be kind where it mattered.
For their Star Saviour, it was the least they could do.