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Dr. Grace has joined us in the breakroom today: a rare occasion. The only member of the project more dedicated to their work than him is Director Stratt, even then it’s pretty close. The two of them are always either working or holed up in Stratt’s office. Yáo believes they are also working in there, though the rest of us think they’re having a little more fun. Either way it’s nice to have Dr. Grace here, the launch of the Hail Mary’s most vital components seemingly enough of a reason to draw him out.
I take a sip of my drink as the launch draws closer. The reporter on the TV mentions the ISS Astronauts who will be receiving and putting together what will be my final home and resting place.
“Do not fuck up my house, Roscosmos bastards!” I shout at the screen. Perhaps I am a little overprotective of the Hail Mary and all it’s constituent parts, but I will be dying in there, so I think I can be allowed that much. Going on a suicide mission to save Earth actually gets you a lot of allowances, and I intend to take full advantage of them before departing. One such allowance I am currently taking advantage of is a seat on the couch, with Yáo and Martin on either side of me.
Yáo leans forwards intently as the countdown beings and Martin offers him assurances. I can hardly sit still with anticipation.
“Will Ms. Stratt not be joining us?” Martin asks, directing his question towards Grace.
“I don’t think so. She doesn’t care about fun stuff like launches. She’s probably going over spreadsheets in her office or something. Always more to do when you’re saving the world, y’know?” I watch out of the corner of my eye as a disgustingly fond smile grows on his face as he speaks about her. I don’t know how Yáo doesn’t see what the rest of us do.
Martin nods. “Then it’s fortunate that we have you here. To represent her, in a way,” he says.
“Me? Represent her? I don’t… How did you get that idea?” He sounds genuinely baffled by the prospect.
I spin my head to face him. “You are number two, no? You are first officer of Project Hail Mary?” I feel like that comes as close to representing her as one could possibly get.
“What? No! I’m just one of the scientists. Like all these guys.” He gestures to the crowd of scientists behind him. Now it’s our turn to be baffled. I share a glance with Martin.
“You honestly think this?” I ask.
“You’re not like the rest of us, Grace,” Redell adds. I may not like the guy, but he’s certainly right here.
Grace shrugs, though his eyes as wide as saucers betray his shock. “Of course, I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“The point is,” Martin says, “you are somehow, special to Ms. Stratt. I had assumed you two were engaged in sexual congress.” I roll my eyes. Yes, all of us were thinking that, but we weren’t going to say it out loud. Grace’s face twists into a look of disgust. I feel offended on Stratt’s behalf. She is a very beautiful woman, and anyone would be lucky to be invited to her bedroom, or under her desk or wherever she chooses to obtain her sexual release. I certainly wouldn’t mind a roll on the hay with her. In fact, I had offered, only to be turned down, for what I had assumed until this point were reasons related to Grace.
“No! No way. There is nothing like that going on between us. How… how many people think that?” If it weren’t for the flash of disgust on his face in reaction to Martin word’s I would have thought his denial too passionate, an attempt at covering the truth, but he really does seem horrified by the thought of it.
“The two of you are close. She does not let anyone else on this ship close to her the way she does you,” I point out.
“Yeah well, we’ve been best friends since college, so obviously we’re close, but not… not like that.” His face scrunches up into disgust again, as he is oblivious to every eye in the room turning on him. How could none of us have known that? The way he says it so casually, as if it’s not a revelation for the rest of us. I need to know every detail.
Grace is saved from immediate questioning by the announcer on the TV beginning the three second countdown. As much of the news of Grace and Stratt’s prior relationship is perhaps the most exciting new piece of gossip on the ship yet, it does not take immediate precedence over the launch. All the faces that had snapped towards Grace turn back to the TV.
Flames and smoke surround the rocket as it launches, propelling it up into the sky. I sit frozen, my glass held up in my hand for a few seconds and then:
“Tower is clear! Launch is good!” I let out a cheer. Others follow as I take a large sip of my vodka.
“It’s only a hundred feet off the ground,” Grace says. “Maybe wait until it reaches orbit?”
“Astronauts celebrate when the tower is clear,” Martin replies. Yáo tips his beer in agreement then takes a sip.
“So… I begin. “Now that’s out of the way,” (though I will still be keeping an eye on the TV just in case) “shall we talk about the fact that you’ve known Stratt since college?” I stare pointedly at Grace. His face flushes crimson.
“Did none of you know that already?” We all shake our heads. If anyone did know, it certainly would have spread across the Vat by now. His eyes dart around the room, wide and nervous. “Look, she didn’t recruit me because we’re friends, right. Eva wouldn’t do that, not with the world at stake.” I can’t help the way my eyes widen at the use of her first name. No one calls her that, even when they deride her behind her back it’s always just ‘Stratt’ or my least favourite ‘bitch’.
“None of us were thinking that Dr. Grace, we are all well aware of your talents,” Martin assures. Grace’s blush deepens.
“Right well, I just wanted to make sure. And I’m not her number two by the way.”
“You are the number two,” Yáo responds, quiet enough that if it were anyone else, his words would be drowned out, but when Yáo speaks, everyone listens. Grace shakes his head minutely but does not try to argue.
“So, now you have to tell us what Stratt was like in college. I bet she was a wild party animal!” I laugh before taking another gulp of vodka.
“Uh, well she was actually pretty similar to she is now.”
“That is not true!” I look around, the sea of disbelief shows I am not the only one thinking so.
“It is!” Grace insists. “I mean we became friends because she sat down next to me the whole of orientation and listened to me rambled about all sorts of nonsense and then at the end of it all informed me that she would be having coffee every morning and that I would be joining her. She didn’t even ask, just told me. Not that I was complaining or anything, I was just happy to have made a friend so quickly.”
Ok, I’ll admit, that does sound a little like her, though I am beginning to suspect that Grace knows quite a different version of Eva Stratt to the rest of us.
“But still, she must have had fun… let herself loose a little.” I am still determined to dig up some sort of juicy gossip about her past.
“Of course she had fun! She still does. She’s not inhuman, she just has literally the most important job in the world, so it doesn’t leave a lot of time for breaks,” he defends.
“Of course,” Martin says smoothly, “and what kind of activities did the two of you partake in?” I smirk, glad to see he’s as invested in this as I am.
“Well, we’d usually take turns picking something we thought sounded interesting to take each other to. She took me to a graveyard tour once. I took her to trivia nights and stuff.” I’m glad the two of them found each other, because both of those sound far from my idea of fun. I mean a graveyard tour? I’m not sure what I expected of our esteemed director. “She liked doing practical things together too, like we’d go grocery shopping or get our flu shots together,” Grace adds into the silence following his earlier words.
“And you don’t have one embarrassing story to tell about her?” I probe. Everyone does stupid things in college, even Eva Stratt surely can’t be exempt. He at least seems to seriously consider it.
“I can’t think of anything. She’s always been so steady, you know? She’s always been there for me when I was a mess. Like when my grandmother died, I’d hardly moved from my bed, and she just showed up and sorted everything out for me: organised the funeral, fed me soup, got me out of bed without pushing me further than I could handle. She was just there for me the entire time, even though she was supposed to be doing something important in Vienna.” Grace’s eyes grow slightly damp as he speaks and as he finishes, he blinks rapidly, seemingly having forgotten where he started this tangent. “Yeah… so umm, Eva is like the most incredible person in the world.”
Their relationship is definitely still a little… odd, but it’s also sickeningly sweet. I am glad for it. All of the work they put into saving the world, they deserve someone who cares for them the way they clearly do each other.
Grace’s story seems to have killed any hunger for gossip. Even I can admit now isn’t the right time to go probing for more, but that certainly doesn’t mean I won’t do so in the future. Perhaps I will have more luck speaking to Director Stratt. Grace seems to sincerely believe nothing embarrassing exists about Eva Stratt, but I do not know if she feels the same about him. He admitted himself to being a mess, so I’m sure such stories do exist about him.
“It sounds like the two of you have a beautiful relationship,” Martin tells him. There are a few murmurs of agreement, mine among them.
“Oh, yeah thanks. She’s my best friend. I really couldn’t imagine my life without her.” I’m going to throw up if this goes on much longer. Thankfully no one seems to have any more questions or comments on their relationship for now, and Dr. Grace seems very happy to take the out from talking about it. The conversation in the room moves one, with Grace managing to sneak out of the room unnoticed at some point. I suspect he’s gone to find Stratt, do whatever little best friends hangout they do in her office.
I hope they have fun, even if it’s not the kind of fun we’d all been imagining. In my mind, I’m already hatching a plan to find out more.
---
It’s a few days later before I get a free moment (and most importantly a corresponding free moment of Stratt’s) to pop into her office.
“Olesya, how may I help?” she asks as soon as I step into the room.
I have finally got her to relent on calling me my first name in private. I have not yet asked to call her by hers, but now that I know Grace does, I am tempted. I am not above using ‘I am dying for you’ as an excuse.
“We all learned something very interesting the other day,” I tell her. Her eyebrows pinch slightly, and she tilts her head questioningly. “We learned that you and Dr. Grace met in college.”
Understanding floods over her face. “Ah.” She pushes her tablet aside. Wow, I’ve managed to get her full attention on this one. “I assure you, that my hiring of Dr. Grace was not influenced by our prior relationship. He is a molecular biologist who is not afraid-” I raise my hand, cutting her off.
“None of us think that. To be honest before we learned of your history most of us had assumed the two of you had a sexual relationship.” Her face pinches into the same disgust Grace’s had. I laugh.
“What?”
“Grace made the same face when we told him that.” A ghost of a smile flickers on her face, just the smallest twitch of her lips. It’s good to know they’re on the same page about that at least. It wouldn’t do to have one of them helplessly pining over the other.
“Is there anything else you wanted, or did you just wish to inform me of this?”
“We attempted to learn of embarrassing stories about you from Grace. He failed to provide any, so I come to try and learn some about him from you.” She stares at me for a long moment, a slight frown on her face.
“And what purpose to such stories serve?”
“I don’t know? Fun. Come on! I am dying for the world. Let me have some fun!” She doesn’t say no immediately, something I know she is perfectly capable of doing even against my guilt tripping that works wonders on everyone else.
“Dr. Grace is scared of elevators. One time I took him to get our flu jabs. The clinic was on the tenth floor. He gripped my hand so tightly I had bruises for weeks afterwards.” Oh, that’s good. Not only have I learned that Grace is afraid of elevators, but that Stratt was willing to hold his hand the entire way up, despite being painful for her. I grin, wide and cat-like.
“Thank you.” She gives me a nod of acknowledgement, already turning her attention back to her tablet. “And… I am happy, that the two of you have the relationship you do. You both deserve to have someone looking out for you.” Sincerity is hardly my remit, but I feel that it needs to be said and few others would have the daring to say it to her.
She swallows tightly, then spares one last glance up at me. She gives me a sharp nod before looking right back down at her tablet. I know I will not be getting any more from her out of this conversation. Still, I got what I came for.
“See you later!” I call as I head out of her office, already thinking about who will be best to distil this new gossip to first.