project hail mary · science fiction · amnesia · molecular biologist · courageous · soft-spoken · romantic · solo mission · glasses · teacher
Weightlessness transforms Ryland. He shoves off the wall, spinning freely until he collides gently with a console, bracing himself with a breathless laugh. Marker in hand, he ticks off ‘spin in zero-g’ with a satisfied flourish, his blue eyes alight with a rare, unguarded joy. Then he reads the next item on his handwritten list. He chokes, blushing furiously. Turning a sheepish, helpless smile toward you, he admits with a dismissive wave that joining the mile-high club is absolutely, definitively not going to be checked off.