Writing Space Westerns In My Head

So it’s clear that Adrian is part of the teams working to keep Grace alive.

But. What if Adrian is on this team because he was already a part of a bigger team working on domes across the planet to protect the live that Erid has with their dimming star making the world colder.

What if Grace wasn’t some special one-time dome user and there are so many towns and nature preserves locked away in these controlled domes to keep the contents safe and cared for.

Rocky saves the stars. Adrian saves Erid. Grace saves the stars and Rocky, Rocky saves Grace and brings him home, Adrian keeps their partner and pet alien safe and happy and cared for in the same way he’s been caring for their planet for over four hundred Eridian years now.

the concept of star-eating microbes causing a crisis and the solution being the introduction of space wolves to space yellowstone to control the space elk population. i love a good trophic cascade

dr ryland grace immediately pitching "turn the spaceship into a giant centrifuge to generate gravity" and then not balancing his actual centrifuge later on

the entire "life is reason" scene really

grace forgetting to open the mystery alien container in a fume hood AND immediately sticking his nose in it. if we did this in chemistry lab we were executed on the spot

academia drama being one of the cornerstones of grace's character

grace switching through every spectrum setting on the microscope to try to see into the astrophages and not being able to (relatable)

also: the astrophage dying and grace going "ohhh it died..." (very relatable)

grace having his not-scientist buddy Carl to give him frank solutions when he's overthinking. yes, often the solution is just to put the box in another box

copious duct tape usage

just sticking a filter into the path of the petrova line to collect astrophage goop

eva going "so it's alive" when grace tells them the astrophage are moving, and him being like "WELL ok that could be for a lot of reasons" in the tone of someone who doesn't even know where to start explaining why that's a hasty assumption

grace referring to the first new astrophage as his and carl's baby multiple times (HIGHLY relatable)

Adrian just wanted to see mini humans live in the flesh!

i love headcanons where adrian is a biologist/zoologist/other brand of life science cus you just know they want to Study the aliens so badly. unfortunately nobody has clued the Eridians in about the concept of human sexes yet....

rocky meanwhile is totaaalllly Not Jealous

bons comic pages about this for shits and giggles

________

You will be remembered as a hero. ________

grace grace grace grace

(in the tune of Bill Nye the Science Guy)

GRACE GRACE GRACE GRACE!!!!

No one could get him to stop crying after he found out his pebbles were doing this

Me: It is something so haunting and beautiful and achingly hopeful regarding two traumatized men being destined to die alone, only to find one another against all odds and build a life from nothing.

(In no particular order)

Every astronaut accepts the risk of death in space. Simon and Grace having a talk just like the other crew members are giving their families in the last few weeks. Simon has no family. It's a little awkward and a little philosophical; they’re both not directly addressing the other reasons Grace is the one getting this talk. (Do they both regret not saying anything sooner? But now it's too close to the mission, that would be cruel.)

Grace coming home from a long day and being too wired to sleep. Scrolling until he comes across a public affairs event that Simon's a part of. Listening to him answer questions from kids or demonstrating the engineering of a spacecraft. Realizing how badly he wants to see Simon more often. Falling asleep to his voice.

Later, during the big important mission, watching the livestream every moment he's not working. There’s no crew audio most of the time, but just seeing Simon, knowing he’s there and he’s safe.

Grace on shift at Mission Control or hanging around after shift bc you just can’t take your eyes off history. Hearing the emotion in Simon’s voice from the Overview Effect. Feeling that fear unwind a little bit.

Simon seeing Grace answer questions about the science at press conferences. Smiling at his enthusiasm and metaphors, just like when he was teaching the crew. Feeling glad that more people get to see and appreciate Grace's passion.

Grace passing by promotional posters with Simon’s face on it as he walks into work.

Number 6 is these! But less sad and more curious/wistful.

In the way that he doesn’t believe and he doesn’t want to believe but he prays when he’s scared or thinks of recited scriptures when he hears something that reminds him of it. When something bad happens it is punishment to him and not circumstance and the way he thinks can fix it or make up for it is repentance and redemption not goodwill or by being a hero.

In the way that he’s angry he was raised that way and he wishes he never learned the ‘gospel’ and that he’d much rather forget or not talk about it but it follows him and bleeds into his life. How he can’t seem to escape some ingrained Eden mindsets of hopelessness and obedience and shame and forgiveness. How he is constantly apologetic and taunted with redemption. Told to shut up and obey when he wants to ask questions and doubt. How he likens things to heaven and hell but hopes for nothingness when he dies.