AU where Ryland Grace has a few weeks left of breeding taumeoba when he gets his βI didnβt want to goβ memories back and when heβs deciding what videos to upload to the Beetles he realizes this is the perfect chance to get back at Stratt. Now that heβs, you know, had a crying jag and freaked out about the betrayal for a few days, his feelings kind of simmer against the necessity of it, you know? And it helps that heβs not actually gonna die.
So, after uploading all the science and posterity videos, Ryland adds one βFor Evaβ knowing full well that several governments and possibly the entirety of what is left of the world is gonna see it and he lays on a thick spiel about how he finally remembered that they were gonna get married, right before the accident that put him on this mission, that he remembered proming her the rest of his life and he remembered βhow hard it was for us to say goodbyeβ and βyou made the right decision. Of course you did. Of course it was the right decision, but Eva, I still miss you. I was missing you before I even fully remembered you. Golly, why didnβt we just β touch more? Talk more? You wouldnβt even let me hold your hand! But I understood. Your hands were full. You had the world in them, Eva.β And βI hope you kept the lights on love, because Iβm coming home!β and he gives the camera this goopy, sweet, broad smile, because heβs utterly tickled, knowing full well that Eva is gonna have to live with this for the months and or years between the Beetles arriving and Ryland making it back, and he even gets Rocky to make him a xenonite wedding band to tuck into a Beetle with his little spaceman, to really sell the whole thing, right, and heβs just freaking giddy about how mad thatβs gonna make Stratt β
And then the tauemoeba escape, and Ryland has to go back for Rocky, and he makes another video, explaining the science and the issue and the solution and then he trails off for a minute or so, expression conflicted, and when he looks back up itβs just with this breathless soft βEvaβ on his lips, and then he swallows, and then he smiles and itβs β sweet in a sad way, because for Ryland this is really goodbye, and his prank had sort of made him feel better about what sheβd done, and honestly β he did miss her. Even still. βEva, Iβve gotta go,β he says, his eyes wet and his voice quavering. βYou were right about me. Itβs gotta be me,β he shrugs, laughs, wipes away the wet line at the edge of his eyes. βThereβs nobody else and I mean, Iβm on a winning streak, right? Why not try 2 for 2 in saving an entire species, huh? So I justβ¦Iβm sorry. Iβm so sorry I made it so hard for β for us. And Iβll miss you. Just β do me a favor and in case I donβt make it β I know how you love back-up plans, yeah? β do me a favor and send an extra probe of taumoeba to 40-Eridani for me? You really canβt let me die in vain here, alright? So make sure β make sure to save both our worlds, alright? Yeahβ¦β¦. And justβ¦. if you care for me any bit at all still, do me one other favor, Eva Stratt. Live a good life for meβ He pleads, before he shudders a breath, looking off to the side for a quiet moment, and then he looks down, nods to himself, presses a kiss to his fingers and his fingers to the camera and turns it off.β
And Eva, right, watches these tapes in a room full of world leaders and aerospace representatives and sheβs just β fuming red and there is that stupid little ringbox from the Beetle in front of her with the most unique wedding band in the galaxy in it and it fits perfectly and sheβs just -seething, because that is not what happened. They were not β secret lovers, they did not secretly marry or promise to marry, none of that β
But the old Petrova Task Force, right, they take this and run with it β βOh yeah, it was obvious, I mean ,they denied it, but you could tell ββ
βGrace was so bad at hiding right, terrible liar ββ
βStratt was always slipping him these β sour skittles packets, and i mean, that was definitely favoritism, you have no idea how hard it was to get anything on the vat ββ
βAnd the sticky notes! Sheβd leave him these cute little notes, right, on his lab or on his coffee mug or, one time, I saw her just stick it to his forehead ββ
βAnd Grace never let her be alone, you know? I mean, he was always kind of following her around like a puppy, but no one else ever really approached her, so when we were all, you know, together, those two would wander off ββ
Evaβs getting bombarded with all this, and sheβs shaking with anger and like, maybe cried a tear or two of frustration, denying it because people are acting sympathetic, while she's insisting that; "I paved the Sahara and I bombed the Antarctic shelf and I sent Ryland Grace into space against his wishes ββ
And everyone is just like, oh Eva, we know you loved him. We know how hard that must have been β
And they remake the movie about the project, and the new one has this entire romantic sublot, and the theme of her loving him so much, and having to give him to the stars to save humanity, knowing sheβs never getting him back, and this really poignant ending about Stratt waking up in prison (because she did go to prison) and Ryland Grace, waking up in space, both of them on these narrow bunks with these tiny little windows, reflecting different suns, and theres this mutual red streak of cinematic glare in that sunlight, right, and they turn her into this doomed tragic heroine in the public eye, right, and Eva goes so far as to try and release the audio of Graceβs refusal to go up on the Hail Mary as proof that it was not what they were making it out to be, except someone (Carl) removed bits of it, and the rest can definitely be interpreted as having someβ¦ subtext, and Evaβs like βCarl, why?β
And Carlβs just β itβs what our man would have wanted.
And Eva actually wears the damn ring, right? Itβs a space ring, from outer space, from another intelligent species, and it she looks at it daily wanting to kill Ryland Grace and knowing she already has, and what to do, with that?
So thereβs one generation that knows her as Eva Stratt, World Dictator, and another generation who knows her as Eva Stratt, Ryland Graceβs Widow, and like, in every single public appearance, she has to continue to protest that they were not married, and everyone is just like βDamn, sheβs so broken-hearted sheβs in denialβ and Eva is like βNo, that is not what is happening.β
And anyways, she lives to an unreasonably old age and when sheβs like, one hundred and eight or so a ship arrives from Erid, bearing a delegation and Ryland Graceβs ashes, which one of the aliens absolutely insists on delivering to Eva Stratt, right, and this is Rocky and heβs carrying this most beautiful sort of crystal urn and itβs all very public and touching and Rocky asks βDid Eva live a good life?β
And Eva actually cries this time, for Ryland, and itβs stupid and they werenβt ever anything and this whole joke of his has tormented her for decades and now sheβs crying over him because heβs dead. She sent him into space to die and it took him a lifetime to do it and she still outlived him and it is β unfair, now. It has always been unfair.
βHe did not actually love me,β Eva tells Rocky, when they have been ushered somewhere private out of respect for her βmourningβ. βWe were not β that.β
βRocky knows,β the alien says. βBut Grace saidβ¦. maybe could have been.β
βIs that really his last message for me?β Eva asks, shaking her head.
The alien shifts on his feet a bit. βRocky hate hate hate you sent Grace to die. Grace scared scared scared. Butβ¦ if not, Rocky not meet Grace. Rocky Grace not save stars....Grace last message: Good job, Eva. Thank you, and - goodbye.β



















