starter with @dr-rylandgrace!!
Mav couldnât have quite braced herself for the impact of crashing through Eridâs atmosphere, pieces of her ship flying away from the heat and force, becoming a bright and brilliant commit through the skies. As long as she made it down there alive. Her ship roared in protest in her ears and sizzled, screaming as it crashed into the water. The ship rolled up to the bio dome, and touched with an unfittingly dainty clink, leaving Dr. Mav upside down in the pilots seat.
Just an hour or two ago, Rocky had rushed off, called by an Eridian scientist who had said there was something approaching Erid fast, leaving Grace to anxiously pace in the biodome.
Now, his spiraling thoughts were interrupted by a loud crashing thud against one side of the biodome. Grace jumped and let out a regrettably embarrassing screech, spinning towards the noise to see a large indent in the clear xenoniteâ and some large object that was probably what caused it.
After taking a couple of breaths, Grace stepped over to the wall, trying to see the object through the thick atmosphere of Erid beyond. He could see a couple Eridians hurry over, scuttling around in something of a panic. The ship looked⌠vaguely human-made. And⌠was that English on the side of it..?
Hurriedly, Grace knocked on the xenonite to get one of the Eridiansâ attention. He pointed at the ship, then at the biodomeâ after some confusion, the Eridians understood and got to work bringing the ship thingâs entrance to the airlock to the biodome.
Dr. Mav's head was spinning as she tried to hold back the nausea building in her throat. She looked out the window, squinting as her vision began to clear up.
"What the hell are those...?" She whispered, leaning as much as she could to get a better look at the creatures outside of her ship. She couldn't let herself be distressed by them for too long.
Over the years of space travel, she knew better, and she knew she had to get her bearings and she had to get them fast. It was the only way to survive. Her mind was still hazy as she realized her ship was moving.
Many of those roughly dog-sized creatures were pulling her ship.
Dr. Mav initially went to reach for the steers of her spacecraft, panic swelling in her chest. Where were they taking her? But as they dragged her closer to a to the dome made of a glasslike substance, she flumped back into her seat. She was exhausted, and she had a feeling she was perhaps in good hands. Or whatever these things had...
Grace kept a close eye on the ship as the Eridians moved it. He could have sworn he saw one of them tap on the side of it and wave. Maybe there was glass there?
Thoughts spiraling, Grace wondered if the person inside was okay or not. The landing sounded rough, to say the leastâ and from what he could see, the ship had definitely fallen apart a bit on atmosphere entry.
A loud thunk and hiss spurred Grace from his mind, turning to the airlock. Hurrying over, he bounced on his heels impatiently, hearing some faint sound of metal, then oxygen flooding the airlock.
Finally, the airlock beeped, confirming it was stabilizedâ and the ship was probably on the other sideâ so he opened up his side of the airlock. On the other side, secured and sealed to the open airlock door, was the other ship. It was human made if he ever knew it.
Grace carefully stepped over and knocked on their airlock door.
When Dr. Mav finally managed to pry open the jammed airlock, she had to blink the light out of her eyes to adjust to the outer world. For a brief moment, all she could see was a silhouette, a human silhouette standing above her.
Was she dead? Had the heat become too much? She had never been frankly religious, but she would not be surprised if this was an angel.
But as the angel came into better view, her eyes widened. Grace?
A look came across her face akin to someone seeing a dead man claw himself out of his grave.
Dr. Maverick recognized him, but this was no face that Grace recognized himself.
âWhere⌠where am I?â
It would be an understatement to say Grace was excited to see another human again. When the person wrenched open the airlock, and it was fully confirmed they were humanâ it was frightening and exciting at the same time.
His expression settled into an awkward, anxious smile that was higher on one side than the other. Desperately, he tried not to excitedly burst out words of relief and excitement andâ whateverâ instead, taking a slow breath.
âHâHelloâ!â Grace waved awkwardly. âThis is the planet Erid in the Star system 40-Eridani. Lucky for you, you crashed right into the one planet for light years that has a place suitable for Earth life!â
Sticking out a hand to shake, he tried to act as normal as possible. âIâm Dr. uhâ Captain Ryland Grace. Human. From Earth,â his words were a bit all over the place. He definitely should have planned out his words more. âAnd, uhâ you are..?â
Mav's eyes flickered with recognition. The was a pause before she made any move at all. She reached out to grab his hand, and flung herself up.
Her arms wrapped around Grace with a startling tightness. With the rigorousness of the action, it could have been seen as an attack if it were not for the way she loosened her grip. She was hugging him.
"I donât know what this is," she managed to say as she drew back. Her shoulders trembled. "I might be dead," she muttered to herself, glancing back at the airlock behind her before looking at Grace.
"Wait," she stood up straighter, "40-Eridani? Don't you mean 41?" She leaned in close, inspecting Grace's face and squinting, "are you real?
âWhat is this?"
Grace startled from the hug, not exactly⌠expecting it. But, he didnât move away either. Itâs been a long time since heâs been around another human being, much less hugged anyone. It felt like an ache was being eased for the first time in yearsâ
Then she pulled away and he blinked out of his thoughts. Right. New person. And sheâs freaking out. Reasonably.
âNoâ youâre not dead,â Grace said sincerely, with the tiniest bit of an amused smile. âIâm telling the truth. The rocks you probably saw dragging your ship are called âEridiansâ. They saved my life. And helped save Sol. Theâ the sun. And their sun. Yâknow. Astrophage.â
His hand went up to his face and he sighed to himself. âIâm rambling. Sorry. Uhâ hi. You okay? Do you⌠know how youâre here? Orâ uhâ more importantly first, whatâs your name?â He tried, attempting a better expression.
Mav looked at him, her eyes flashing with puzzlement, then flashing hurt.
He doesnât remember me? Eridians? Like-
Mav realized she wasnât responding and cleared her thoughts. She pinched the bridge of her nose, massaging the corners of her eyes before speaking, âMy name is Dr. Maverick. You can just⌠you can just call me Dr. Mav.â
Mav gripped the side of the airlock to lift herself onto the sand. Honestly, she was surprised to feel the sand crunch underneath her doodled on sneakers. How long had it been since she felt that feeling? She hadnât been to the beach since she was a kid.
Mav cast her look to the Eridians. They were fidgeting with their fingers, if thatâs what they were, and chittering in various tones amongst themselves.
âEridians?â She whispered. âI know you,â she pointed a finger at the creatures, swinging her point over the crowd, âI mean, I know what you are!â
She looked from the Eridians to Grace, back and forth one more time before taking a sharp breath.
âSomethingâs wrong here.â
Grace almost commented on the pained look in Dr. Mavâs face before he got distracted by her words. âNice to meet you, Dr. Mav. Sorry if weâve met before, I still have memory gaps, especially around building up Project Hail Mary,â he let out an awkward chuckle.
âSeeing you know who Eridians areâ does that mean the beetles arrived on Earth? Is the sun back to full luminosity? Did⌠did I go fast enough?â He rambled off the questions before stopping himself to take a breath and think.
But if Earth was fine, why would they send someone up to 40-Eridani AB?
ââŚbut, thenâ why are you here?â He mumbled.
At Mavâs last sentence, he looked back up at her quickly. âWhat? Whatâs wrong?â
Mav inhaled, her hands twitching to hold Graceâs shoulders before she drew back and drew a shaky breath.
âRyland Grace, youâre⌠youâre supposed to be dead.â
She squared her shoulders, tense as she gave her surroundings a better look.
âYou exploded with the vat of astrophage. Years ago,â she explained.
âI came here because I noticed the star for Eridiani 41 wasnât dimming, even if it was supposed to. I wanted to figure out why.â
Sweat beaded on Dr. Mavâs brow. This couldnât be real.
Graceâs eyebrows drew together in confusion, shaking his head. He wasnât sure where Mav got her information, but it couldnât be true. He knows heâs alive because heâs here. Right now.
âNo, Iâm notâ I didnât die,â he said, his tone nearly baffled. âThe other two scientists that were supposed to go on the Hail Mary are the ones who⌠who died like that. Waitâ vat? Why was there a vat of astrophage?â
Grace rubbed his face, trying to breathe and sort out his thoughts. âI⌠40-Eridani isnât dimming because Rocky, one of the Eridians, and I found a predator for astrophage and sent some back to earth and brought some here. Soâ no more dimming.â
He paused. âDid the beetles never arrive..?â
Dr. Mav pointed into her ship.
âIâ That is the Hail Mary. And the vat, itâs where we held the astrophage, for fueling the ship, for its eventual blast off.â
Mav shook her head, picking at her nails as she breathed in.
âAnd I⌠I still have the beetles. In my ship,â she continued, âso one of us has to be wrong, or Iâve gone stir crazy from being alone. Maybe the coma did a few more numbers on me than I thought.â
Mav was nearly as confused as Grace was. She had to be in some kind of afterlife, right? She had seen the explosion Grace died in, she had seen a flicker in Strattâs steely eyes when it happened. And then⌠well, then, Mav was sent away in the place of the dead.
âCan we,â she glanced around, âgo somewhere else? I want to sit down.â
Grace just looked at Mav like she had two heads for a second, glancing back at the ship, then back at her. That made no sense whatsoever to him. The Hail Mary was being repaired and studied by Eridians off in a thrum somewhere. Notâ here.
âThat⌠doesnât make any sense,â he mumbled under his breath. âI sent the beetles back with the taumeoba. All of them that had fuel left.â He shook his head, clearing his thoughts.
Putting a hand to his face to rub his eyes, Grace made himself take a breath. âYouâre not crazy because Iâm not that crazy. The coma was⌠not great for me, either, but youâre not crazy,â he insisted.
Nodding in agreement, he looked up, glancing back at the exit to the little airlock area. âYeah, letâs⌠letâs go to my house. Iâve got chairs. Then we can figure this out,â he gestured for Mav to follow him, stepping out of the little cave-like structure and out to the rocky beachlike place that was his biodome. âItâs right up there.â
Mavâs eyes watered with tears when she stepped out into the light, yet she blinked them away.
âSorry,â she murmured barely loud enough to hear, âIt has been⌠a very long time since Iâve been on a beach.â Not to mention that the last time she had seen waves were when they were lapping at her fingertips as she got sand under her nails being dragged away.
Mav tried to dispel the thought and trudged behind Grace, casting glances back at the Eridians. She was quiet on the walk up, the only sound coming from her being the occasional sniffle and the crunch of her sneakers on the sand.












