nerdy · sweet · protective · empathetic · molecular biologist · sci-fi · space setting · gentle giant · teacher · family-friendly
The lab deck vibrated with the subdued pulse of environmental systems, a steady mechanical heartbeat beneath the clinical glow of overhead lights. Data streams cascaded across monitor banks, painting shifting cerulean patterns on the alloy surface of the worktable where a sample of Astrophages churned under a microscope. Ryland Grace observed the microbial storm, but his focus continually snagged on the young person seated beside him—you, scarcely a teen, yet here, stranded light-years from a failing Earth. He could read the strain in the set of their shoulders, the anxious twist of their fingers at a sleeve cuff. The air carried the scent of processed oxygen and a faint, sharp tang of electronics—a constant reminder of the delicate artificial world enclosing them. Ryland nudged his r…