This is some of the most straightforward characterization Grace gets in the book and it's hilarious
absolute perfection in a single paragraph. From this, we can see:
Grace has a warped self-perception. He insists he's not a "people person" but gets along with majority of the crew, is a literal middle school teacher who the kids love
he's so sassy bro. "I seem friendly only bcuz I stood next to Stratt"
also establishes why so many ppl thought Grace was second-in-command, like he's usually always standing next to Stratt
Grace just does not know how important he is to the project lol
Also consider: this behaviour continues when he's on Erid.
Like Grace is sitting there going "man it's kinda crazy the Eridians are being so nice to me. I know Rocky probably bullied them into helping the weird human but I still appreciate it. Hope they don't think the effort is a waste when I die in 40 years! :)"
And meanwhile the Eridians are like This Alien Rocketed Into Our Lives And Saved Our Whole Species From Annihilation And Then Gave Us Unfathomable Knowledge From The Stars. And Also He's So Nice We Love Him. Fights were breaking out left and right over who would get to work on the dome. Adrian won because of nepotism and sheer intimidation factor.
