the coltland twins are my favorite thing in the world when you consider their interactions during the early parts of PHM. because let’s be honest, when it’s between action-movie stuntman and molecular biologist, colt definitely thinks he has the cooler job.
so the way it flips when Stratt finds Grace would be insane. like they’re on one of their weekly calls - which starts with colt calling grace about 3 times before he picks up bc he’s awful about keeping his phone on him - and it’s all like
Colt: So, that’s about as much of a summary for Metalstorm 2 that i can give without spoilers. anyway, how’s teaching going?
Grace: Yeah… about that. I actually work for the governments now.
Colt: The governments? like plural? which ones?
Grace: uhhhh all of them. sorry ive got to go blow up some aliens. -hangs up-
Colt: what
and he thinks it’s a prank and that’s the end of it but the next week colt calls and it’s pretty normal at first until he mentions that he and jody are stopping by san francisco and they wanted to stop by grace’s apartment to say hi and grace just goes
Grace: Oh, man, I mean i’d love to but i’m kind of living on a boat now.
Colt: Ry, what? where? why?
Grace: It’s cuz of the alien thing. also i think we’re in the indian ocean? idk ill go ask stratt. -hangs up-
and then on their last weekly call, colt wakes up to grace calling him - something he never does. he picks up immediately and grace is yelling over the phone like
Grace: THEY SENT ME TO SPACE
Colt: what??
Grace: THEY SENT ME TO SPACE TO THE TAU CETI SYSTEM AND I HAVE NO IDEA HOW I STILL HAVE CELL SERVICE RIGHT NOW
Colt: you’re- you’re in space?? like not just thinking about it? actually in it?
Grace: YES!!! I MET AN ALIEN
Rocky (garbled): Hello colt friend
Colt: what the hell.
Grace: OKAY UH I HAVE TO GO SAVE THE WORLD BUT ILL CALL YOU WHEN WE CAN! SEND MY LOVE TO JODY!!
it takes grace’s call for colt to realize that maybe molecular biology was a more colorful field than stuntman work. he goes back to sleep wondering whether grace will bring back space-souvenirs.
a month and a half later, colt receives a little xenonite man figure doing a thumbs-up in the mail - along with what looks like a distorted geometric walkie-talkie with a string of symbols downloaded onto its screen. it’s got the same number of digits as a phone number.
and this time, when he calls, grace picks up immediately.
