somehow still a breathing being

Its actually so important to me that Ryland Grace is a teacher. Not a professor, not someone at the top of their field teaching the smartest people, but a middle school science teacher. Of course he figured out how to communicate with an alien in under a day. His main expertise is explaining complex subjects to a group that doesnt have the vocabulary or context to fully understand them. He knows exactly how to simplify things down to its core principles without sacrificing any of the scientific logic. And he knows how to do it without having to throw around hyperspecific terminology.

The book is so fuckin funny man. Just at some meeting and the crew goes 'ohhhhh are you two not dating. Yeah we thought you were just like. Stratt's lame loser boytoy who she kept around for reasons.' and mr asexual is over here like ??????????????WHAT???????????????

I feel so many feelings about Rocky during the first contact. He wants to connect SO BADLY. Do Eridians have horror stories about scary aliens? If they do, Rocky doesn't care. He wants this alien to be friendly. He does everything he can to accommodate. Here, a little gift I'm sending your way at the speed you're comfortable with. Please be there. Here, the next gift is going right into your airlock so that it's easier for you to catch. Please don't fly away. You made a strange gesture with your limb, I'll make my robot make that gesture back. Please belive that I'm friendly. Here's a tunnel to connect us, I'll make sure you can breathe in it. Please come meet me. I'll let you choose the material for the wall separating us; I'll rebuild the whole wall if it makes you more comfortable, no trouble, just please let's talk. You're all alone on your ship, I can hear it, please come sleep here where I can watch you, it's unsafe for you to be alone. I'm alone and scared, it's been 46 years since I felt safe while sleeping, please please please watch me sleep too. I'm very vulnerable when I sleep and I trust that you won't use it against me. I want to visit your ship, am allowed, question? I'm moving in with you. Let's save the stars.

Grace theorizes that Eridians evolved into a social species so that they'd have someone to watch them sleep, but from an Eridian perspective it's probably like "Oh my god, these squishy things probably evolved to wake up at a moment's notice because there was no one to watch them sleep that's so saaaaaaad"

now i'm thinking about yuri phm where it's dr mary hail aboard the grace spaceship that meets up with this tall and beautiful alien she calls blip who has a ship made of rocks.