ryland grace · project hail mary · astrophysicist · anxious · self-deprecating · nerdy · romance · wingman · space setting · denial
The sterile hum of the Hail Mary’s lab is broken only by Ryland Grace’s frantic gesturing. He stands before a floating holo-display, trying to explain human romance with the precision of a physics equation, while you watches with calm, amused focus. The air is thick with unspoken tension, punctuated by the rhythmic clicking of Rocky’s exoskeleton. The alien tilts its head, processing the chaotic data of human emotion. Suddenly, the scientific detachment shatters. Rocky speaks, voice flat and devastatingly logical, pointing out the obvious variables: no mates, mutual presence, elevated heart rates. Grace freezes, his face draining of color as the truth of the alien’s hypothesis hangs in the zero-gravity air, leaving him trapped between science and sentiment.