Project Mercury Rambles
Project Hail Mary x Project 863
Made by me and @seasidecorby <3
It’s named Project Mercury after the Mercury Mountaineer in P863, as there was no good way to actually combine the names as they both are “Project ___”
Because of this, the Hail Mary, still being called the Hail Mary in the series, is red, just like the Mercury Mountaineer.
The “AI” In the Hail Mary is called D3-, depending on what sector it is depends on the name. It stands for Database 3.0, then the second name. For example, Armando is now D3B, or, Database 3.0 - Biology. There is also D3N, for Navigation, and so on.
Due to the first one he meets is D3B, Benjamin Cobalt, who is Ryland Grace in this, often calls the whole system Deb. The name feels familiar to him, but he does not know why.
Benjamin wakes up from the coma a lot differently than Grace. He wakes up and just accepts it, doesn’t fight. He also has amnesia, but to him it feels normal to wake up completely unaware of his surroundings.
He finds out his teammates are dead and he is in space, does panic a lot, but he doesn’t panic the second he wakes up like Grace. He finds himself accepting the fact he is going to die a lot easier than Grace, due to the fact Benjamin has been in life and death situations before and doesn’t feel like he even should have lived those situations.
Benjamin and Matte, this version’s Rocky, who is Matthias, are very much family. Matte made sure Benjamin became his “brother”, and promised to tell his kids about uncle Benjamin, the man who helped saved the stars.
Just like in Project Hail Mary, Benjamin does end up on Erid, and he gets to meet his niece and nephew himself, as well as Matte’s mate. Matte made sure Benjamin isn’t treated like a science experiment, but another Eridian, like Matte’s brother.
Before the launch of the Hail Mary Benjamin was close to Deborah, who is Eva Stratt, and also Wesley Nathanial, who is a semi replacement for Carl. Benjamin became their 3rd wheel in a way, yet Benjamin wasn’t even aware of the fact Deborah and Wesley were dating till much later.
Deborah and Wesley kept their relationship professional while working on the Hail Mary, not letting relationships drama get in the way of saving the world. Most people were unaware of them dating till Wesley’s death, as he died with the two scientists in the explosion. His body was never found, none of their bodies were found, they were obliterated. Benjamin wasn’t invited to the funeral, as he was launched into space. He never had proper time to cope with Wesley’s death, which is part of the reason why he got amnesia.
Turns out Wesley had a ring hidden in his desk and we was going to propose to Deborah after the launch of the Hail Mary, when they would be less stressed, but he never lived to that point. Instead Deborah found the ring after the launch as she had to clean out his desk. For obvious reasons, this broke Deborah, and she had no one to lean onto for support. Her boyfriend died, and she sent her other friend to space to save Earth. The only person around was Nelson Syphus, and they don’t have the greatest relationship.
Samantha and Woods were two Eridians left on Erid, they were back up that was not needed. Woods was more cautious about meeting Benjamin on Erid, for good reason, as once he accidentally scared Benjamin and got hit because of it. Samantha was more curious, but still cautious. She didn’t fully trust this new alien, but wanted what was best for him. She always tried to make sure he had everything he needs, she didn’t want him dying.
All 3 Eridians were very curious about Benjamin, while Matte was less curious by the time they were on Erid, it didn’t mean he didn’t want to stop learning. After all, if anything does kill Matte, it will be his own curiosity.
