are your dreams in panfocus now too?

in a far-flung future AU, the planets of earth and erid have already made first contact a long time ago, and tackle the issue of their stars dimming together — sending a complement of their combined best and brightest to Tau Ceti to find why it’s immune to Astrophage

pebble-teacher Grace used to be part of a very prestigious molecular biology thrum until her temper got the better of her (it was hard to defend a non-water-based life-form paper when every form of life discovered so far on two separate planets involved water) and has been teaching for 135 years… until Eva Stratt wanted her

she and her 🎶-mates Rocky and Adrian combine their smarts on Project Hail Mary, and despite the friendliness between humans and Eridians, they do still need a security contingent just based on the secrecy and sheer importance of their work

and Carl Stevens hasn’t been around too many Eridians, but he’s cool as a cucumber in almost any situation, up to and including direct involvement in inventive experiments performed by a rock-spider who wears tuning forks ‘cos she can’t hear well and throws things at the wall when she’s frustrated. not that it’s all that upsetting — grace also has a real good sense of humor and a tendency to get silly when she’s bored. it’s kinda cute…