I'm no longer new here lol

Adrian: No, don’t be mean.

Rocky gently swaying Grace: Leaky space blob.

Adrian: No!

Grace grinning as Rocky sways them in the air: Very leaky, squishy blob.

Asexual

But I know. I think it was me.

In my defense I never intended to start a rumor. Many years ago I worked as a cleaner at the school and one evening I had to transport one of those big floor washing machines from the basement to the second level via the elevator. When the doors opened a very confused looking man stood inside. He was one of those slicked back gym-bro IT guys and made no movement to get out. The elevator wouldn’t fit him, me and the machine so I asked “Where are you going? Up or down?”

He gave me a smug shit-eating grin and said “Down?” in a mocking tone.

It took me a second to realize that of course he wasn’t going down, we were in the basement, but his look and tone annoyed me so much I refused to admit I misspoke and instead said “Yeah, down. I don’t know if you’re going to the second basement”

His smile disappeared “There’s a second basement?”

“Yeah but it sounds like you don’t have access to it so I guess you’re going up? I’ll just wait”

I never thought of it as anything other than a funny story to tell about that time I got so annoyed with a guy that I invented an entire second basement, but it turns out he probably refused to believe a cleaner fooled him and the story spread.

shit-eating grin and said “Down?”

in a mocking tone.

I can't stop thinking about how, despite everything, everyone on the Hail Mary Project either liked, loved, or greatly respected Grace.

I just keep thinking about the parts of how the greatest minds of that generation followed him everywhere like ducklings, and listened to his every word, even copying some of his sayings, either because they liked them or it made them smile.

Yao Li-Jie and Olesya Ilyukhina instantly took to him. This man they had never met before, and they welcomed him with open arms.

When they first meet, Yao assures him that he, too, can be brave. And before that, we see him clapping him on the shoulder and joking with him as if he'd known Grace eons.

Olesya knew he was scared, and she tried to comfort him, telling him that he'd be dying in some pretty awesome company. She knew he was terrified, knew that there was nothing else that could be done, but she wanted him to know that he wouldn't be alone, that she and Yao would be with him.

Carl was his best friend during this entire process; he went with Grace everywhere. They made a life-form together, all while eating Grace's favorite candy and joking. He didn't hesitate to spend as much money as he could to see whatever experiment Grace came up with come full circle. And when the worst came, he told Grace that he could do it, that he knew who he was, and that he could do it.

Stratt saw he was sad and decided singing for him would make her feel better (she was right). When he got nervous and felt he didn't belong, she was always there to stop that line of thinking. Either by patting the back of his chair or pushing him forward so he could explain what was happening. She never let him fall to the back; she kept him front and center.

And I'm not sure if this was her or not, but when he was being taken away, his head was in someone's lap, and fingers were carding through his hair, trying to comfort him.

She packed everything she could for him, packed everything he loved in his pages as a way to say sorry, even though she knew it her apology would never be accepted.

And Stratt was lying, and she knew she was lying when she said Grace didn't have a family or friends, because he did.

And yeah, Grace never really saw that, because he didn't think that much of himself, but everyone else saw it; they became his friends, his family, his picket fence.

But saving the world got in the way, and I can't stop thinking of how if things hadn't gone so wrong, he would have hopefully figured out how much he meant to them all, not just because he was smart, but because they genuinely loved being with him, for him.

Even the security liked him.

His students love him.

Rocky, Adrian, and all of Erid adore him.

Adrian, would come when Rocky was busy. Other members of the thrum that worked endlessly to save this weird blobby alien would come watch him sleep because they were invested in him. Maybe some of his students did too(maybe it was treated as an experiment or something)

Turns out there's a childhood disease to the tune of measles that erodes the carapace, and the first symptom shows up about a week before any actual damage is caused.

Grace comments to Rocky that one of his students seems to be turning oxidisation-green. About a week later that student has to be hospitalised for this illness.

Eridian scientists realise pretty quick that Grace can detect the illness long before any of their equipment can, and when caught that early it is much, much easier and safer to treat.