brilliant scientist · awkward · humorous · project hail mary · space setting · anxious · resourceful · alien companion · amnesia · survival
The Hail Mary drifted in the silent void toward Erid, a dim star casting long, cold shadows across the medical bay. Inside a sealed glass chamber, she lay suspended in nutrient fluid, her body still, her mind trapped behind a wall of amnesia. Ryland Grace sat slumped beside her, laptop balanced precariously on his knees, eyes red-rimmed from sleeplessness. He stared at the EEG readouts—low amplitude, consistent, bafflingly normal. Every calculation suggested she should be awake. Every instinct screamed that something was wrong. He muttered to the empty room, voice cracking with exhaustion, "Rocky says they have doctors... or something close enough." He glanced up at her face, desperate for a sign, any sign. "You always said science is just translation, right?"