☘️🧶

One day we had Mr Grace and then the next, we didn't.

It was as if he just poof-ed from existence.

Which could have happened if Kevin was to believed that he saw Mr. Grace enter a government owned blacked out SUV after school. The government was always pulling things. But so was Kevin…

Each day we waited. A sub or a teacher that was available rotated out of the room, shaking their head in gentle disappointment each time we asked where he was. And as time ticked on, our 'hope to see him' turned to 'hope hes okay.' We drew pictures, wrote him notes, left him trinkets; anything that made us think if him. Eventually the pile turned to a shrine in the back of the room, as the year started coming to a close as summer vacation was two months away. The summer robotics program would be different this year too… The day the rocket launched, we were watching. We chattered excitedly, wishing that Mr Grace was there to see it to. We theorized and joked about what he would have said, making up what ifs. We had pizza, played a fee rounds of the bean bags is lava. We wrote in our 'Mr Grace' journals that we started since the pile of notes seemed to had disappeared one day. And then the timer started. We watched as the Hail Mary was loaded, being fulled and checked. We watched in amazement and with half understanding of what the scientist the newscaster was interviewing was saying.

Then the news reporter said the names of the astronauts, the people who volunteered to be the Earth's saviors.

"Astronauts: Pilot Yao Li-Jie, Engineer Oleysa Ilyukhina, and Scientist Dr. Ryland Grace are set to launch towards the Tau Ceti System-"

The chatter died down to shock before we cheered, blending with various cheers from other classrooms. He was going to space! Our favorite teacher. In. SPACE. That's why he was gone! He was helping save the Earth! Stop those space dots from eating our sun! He didn't hate us after all!

But as we continued to watch, the realization that we may never see him again settled in our hearts.

No more lunch time gossip. No more voting him in the Teacher of the Year award, despite him being banned. No note in our year book at the end of the year…No more Mr Grace.

And some of us cried and feeling guilty that we were.

We were kids. We're his kids.

A few tears was understandable.

And as time went on, us kids turning adults, the pain eased but definitely still stirred at each new year that passed.

Many quoted him at high school graduation. Many were inspired to going into the science field, sourcing him for their interest. Many of us went to his various memorials around town just to pray to him for aid in their thesis or their latest research project at their work. Even those who didn't go into science but teaching, asking for advice or hoping for a better year. Wishing his sacrifice wasn't in vain as the populations started to dwindle just enough each year.

It was bleak.

Antarctica was gone, The Sahara paved and the sun still being eaten.

This year was set and predicted to be another grim year. That's what they said the last 11 years. And each time the record was beat. But many of us, his students, still gave out hope.

We had to.

We knew the time dilation was something that we were up against. It definitely had to have been only 4 maybe 5 years for the astronauts. We had no idea where they were at in their travel, the ship having left our radar some years back now.

So a lot of us prayed. Hoped. Wished. and Researched in between.

Our hopes and prayers were answered one fall day.

Our alarms at NASA sounded throughout the facility. Something had entered our radar. 3 somethings. We didn't know what they could be, our telescopes around the world actively trying to capture any images of the moving objects.

Then a call out,

"Its the Beatles!"

The Beatles? like…the Band? Why was that important…

Oh dear lord…

The Project Hail Mary.

Dr Graces sacrifice.

The news outlets roared to life, spitting out everything and everything they could about the probes: George Ringo and John. All flying in safely towards us.

Paul was the only missing.

Three out of possibly four was such good odds and it caused many of us to party throughout the world. 3 out of 4!

There was hope again!

Things sped by fast after that. It was months before the beetles made it to us, the news filming their touchdown and their subsequent lock up. Eva Stratt had taken over the probes and only had the project under strict security and only on her boat out who knows where. No clearance for low on the totem pole in NASA employees, only select scientists from here or around the world once more. Hopefully the loss of two of the worlds largest biomes and billions of people was worth the wait.

And apparently it was.

It was so worth the 12 almost 13 year wait. While details were limited, the solution was simple. Some far off microscopic life was the answer to over a decade of dying sun. Astrophage, count your days. Taumoeba coming in hot.

The scientists came up with a way to apply solution thanks to Mr Graces research. The ship and the plans were constructed, the astronauts picked and the date set. Everything was set to start being better so so soon.

Then the interviews and the public story.

Dr Ryland Grace had been the sole survivor of the trip, Yao and Ilyukhina both dying in their sleep, a complication that had a chance to happen. The weight if the fact that, if Mr Grace had died too- that would have been the worst possible news. While we could have sent another ship out, the possibility of the Earth being destroyed before a solution would be found was too great to ignore.

We were damn lucky.

The Hail Mary worked.

The launch happened and soon after, reports started confirming a noticeable change in the Petrova Line.

It happened, we're safe.

Alive.

Life started to go back to normal, parties and parades, more memorials propping up around the world. Resources started to flow, the damage control turning repair mode. And little by little, the world came alive again.

And it was all because our middle school teacher sacrificed himself.

It hit hard, knowing that the vast never traveled to until recently universe - was now his coffin. It shouldn't have been a surprise, they did say that this was going to happen. But no one prepares you fully to feel the pain that had been dormant for years, come up once more.

No one got to say good bye to him.

The school, the diner, the park he would visit. All being left behind to save them.

And not one good bye.

And we knew it was not his fault but it didn't make it hurt any less.

We all continued our lives. Researching. Teaching. Striving for the best because Mr Grace gave us the chance.

He gave us everything.

If only we could say hello and goodbye once more…

———

Subject: Invitation

Dear Student of Dr. Captain Ryland Grace,

On the behalf of the world nations and NASA; It is my pleasure to extend an invite to you, to a secure NASA location to receive special and sensitive information pertaining to Dr. Ryland Grace. Should you accept the invitation, down below is the information about who to call to arrange a pick up date and location. All expenses will be provided, however please prepare for a cold and long trip. If you wish to attend and cannot make it, please call this number to arrange a make up trip: XXX-XXX-XXXX.

Attached you will find a non disclosure agreement that must be signed and brought with you. Please read the attachment closely and if you have any questions please call this number (XXX-XXX-XXXX) to speak to a representative.

We hope to see you soon.

Regards,

Eva Stratt

Project Hail Mary Director

_______

No return address, no other information besides the name Eva Stratt.Besides the large amount of press coverage about her trial for blowing up Antarctica and apparently something as dumb as media rights aboard the Hail Mary, no one knew who she was. Was she the safe choice for this?

And whats this information about our beloved teacher?

What was found that couldn't be told until now?The man had been gone for over 12 years now. What could it possibly be that only us students of his could know?

'Hope hes okay'

He probably wasn't.

But we all went. Any news was good news. Closure and all that. Memories that hopefully would be tied off with a happy little bow. And as each of us, one by one, got dropped off on a boat in the middle of nowhere ocean - the uncertainty grew. The nerves came out exasperated by the cold. Our chatter growing loud as we all caught up, many of us loosing contact with each other as time grew on.

It felt like we were back in that classroom, watching with rapt eyes and bated breaths as our teacher launched into space. Our hearts thudding in our chest. Our grips on each other hands or on the hands rests, tight. Watching the last time we'll ever see him. Now we only watched the door in anticipation.

What was going to happen? When was it going to?How long must we wait?

Not long apparently.

At the turn of the hour, the door opened and a silence fell over the room. A line of people walked in, led by Eva Stratt herself - followed by an old black man and the leading people on the Project. Eva adjusted the mic on the stand before speaking in that calm tone that many of us remember from her trial.

"Good Evening, I'm Eva Stratt- welcome to the Project Hail Mary facility."

She spoke on introducing the staff behind her, all leading one team or another that had hands in the project.

"As you may all know, our probes from the Hail Mary landed back on Earth early last year. Among them the solution to the Patrova Line and the dimming of our sun. A solution, along side videos of said solution, that was founded by your very own middle school science teacher, Dr Ryland Grace."

She gave us a moment to cheer, though she looked pained just a tad in the eyes.

"Last week, we had one last probe make its way to us. On this probe were more videos spanning what looks like years before what our understanding of present time is. All these videos are of Dr Graces time aboard the Hail Mary. Among these videos were one made for all of you and then, unsurprisingly, a custom private one for each individual person in this room."

Videos? Made for us?

Mr. Grace…

"Please remember about your non disclosure agreement after watching these videos here today. To get your personal video, we will guide you to your rooms for the night where a laptop ready to play your video will be. Thank You."

The lights dimmed, our breaths were caught in our throats. Tears were already being shed and the video hadn't even begun.

"Is this thing on?"

His voice came over the speakers and then his form entered the frame. He looked exactly the same, save for a new tired look in his eyes. And the smile, the smile that lit up our classroom. It shone just as bright. He sat down in front of the camera, on a couch. We could see a cream colored wall and plants surrounding the corners of the room. Was…was he inside a house?

He looked into the camera just like he looked at us all those years ago.

"Hey kids…"

Some of us started sobbing.

"Long time, uh, no see." he weakly laughed. "I've tried recording this thing five times now, 'cause I keep getting choked up thinking about you all and how much I miss teaching you guys."

"God all of you are adults now, I'm just realizing. Its only been like 5 maybe 6 years for me out here in space. In my mind all of you are still in school doing awesome things and being a kid during such rough times. I can't imagine what you all have been through…" He paused.

He was tearing up. Someone in the back went "God damn it Mr Grace."

We softly laughed and wiped at our own teary eyes.

"Man sorry," he cleared his throat, drying his eyes on his shirt sleeve. "You know I don't cry much," he joked, our laughs breaking through our tears.

"Now," he straightened up, "I wanted to make this message for you all. I wanted to say so many things over the years to you all as memories cropped up from the coma fog. And don't worry, each of you all will get your own video, Eva owes me, I promise. But this video is for you all share together. One last time as a class."

More sobs echoed in the room.

"I wanted to say, I'm Proud to have been your teacher. Each day spent teaching in that dingy little classroom we called ours, was the best time of my life. And I mean it. Like I know I'm literally currently sitting in space but no, this pales in comparison to being your teacher. Each one of you made the day just that special." he smiled, sniffling just a tad.

"Oh! Not just inside the classroom either. Uh- hold on-" he raises his finger and gets off camera. We all laugh in confusion. Same old Mr. Grace.

He returns quickly with a board. The board spanned his wing span and half his height. But what was on the board made all of us gasp.

"I found these letters you all wrote me,"

The board wasn't just covered in letters but photos. Our art work, photos of us or the trinkets we put on the shrine. Key chains hung on the corners, jewelry spread from the top to decorate. Stickers, tape, report cards even. Each one of us shown some way or another.

"-sometime on the ship during my travel to Erid. I read, every. single. one. at least ten times in the first month alone. These letters all right here, kept me going. When I thought that this was it, this where i could loose it- one of these letters would pop into my mind. And my resolve would harden." He audibly swallowed,

"Listen, I'm not going to lie, you're adults now, it got…grim here. I know Eva might edit this out but in case she doesn't,"

We all wait with baited breaths.

Nothing. She didn't touch it.

"I was all set to come home. We had found the solution me and Rocky needed to save our planets. We had made our plans to return home. We said our good byes to each other, gifting each other something to remember us by. I gave him a laptop, he was thrilled. I got to see this amazing alien ship, made of something out of a Sci-FY movie. But of course things took a turn a month into my trip home. Our solution ended up causing issues in the breeder tanks me and Rocky put together. I was able to fix it on my own but because of the materials Rocky's ship was made of, he would have died a slow and painful death - no where near his home. No chance to save them. My best friend was in trouble…"

The way he said best friend sounded a lot more fond than it would be for just a deep friendship…

"And well…I couldn't have that. So I turned around and made my way to him, finding him just in time. Even with the fuel he gave me to return home, I didn't have any fuel left for two trips. So i had to make the easy decision of going to Rocky's home to help him save his planet, in spite of missing my own. Despite craving a sandwich from my favorite diner. Despite missing the fog over the city…Despite missing you guys so much. All this to say, you guys helped me be brave for Rocky,"

Our hearts ached.

But we understood.

"Even when I started running out of food. Even when I lost a tooth to one of the various diseases I contracted due to poor diet. Even when I closed my eyes for a second too long. You guys kept me going for him. For Erid." A tune echoed from behind the camera sounding soft and sweet, and Grace look towards it with a loving smile on his face. "Rocky says Thanks, by the way."

He cleared his throat and sniffed,

"And now these," he jingles the board a little, "keep me company, here on Erid. Each day I'm reminded about my class and my hopes for their future- your future. And I just hope that everything worked out for each one of you."

He sits and places the board against the couch next to him.

"I know, I didn't say good bye. Believe me, I wish I could have."

He looks haunted right then.

"But now I don't want to say it. Life is full of many, many unknowns. Five years ago we didn't know aliens existed, but here I am- on their planet light years away, living a life I didn't know I'd have after the mission. So just maybe, this goodbye really truly means, 'see you later'."

He smiles softly one last time, tears welling up in his eyes once more.

He clears his throat and sits up, putting on his teacher voice.

"So as the Eridian's say…"

He brings his knuckles, two rings being shown off, to his forearm that was covered with some sort of metal plate with and a soft metal tune sang. It played for a few more seconds before fading out to words: "Our Last Goodbye, Our Thousandth Hello." with s date that was dated about the same time we were watching.

This was current…

He was alive.

This wasn't a video to play in his memory, his final words to Earth, no. This was contact, this was intergalactic communication. This was huge…

The room was silent before claps and cheers rang out. Our joy mixed with our tears, the pain that had made its home in our chest disappeared- being replaced with that same love of a teacher that blossomed all those years ago.

Together as a class, we made our ways to our rooms, some of us doubling up for space. And just like Miss Stratt said, laptops awaited our arrival. Food and Drink provided, next to a bunch of tissues and self care items.

And once more, joy and laughter bubbled in our chests. Tears flowed freely down our cheeks. Tissues surrounded us, as we watched our own personalized video. It was as if we stopped time and had one last conversation with our teacher.

This was better than a year book note.

But we knew this wasn't the end. No. This was the beginning of a new age in science.

Mr Grace.

We cant wait to see you again.