Chapter Text
[R.G]
I tap my foot against my stool as I look at the spreadsheet on the screen in front of me. I copy and paste it into a separate document; the training and lesson reports from my classes with the scientists of the flight crew. My eyes feel heavy as I continue to type up the summaries – I didn't get much sleep last night, I was up in the lab with a few other biologists working on astrophage records, and didn’t get to sleep till the early hours of the morning.
I look at the time and realize today’s class is in fifteen minutes- shoot, time passed quickly, and I hardly have today's lesson plan prepared. Our class is almost always in lab B9 – a short walk from where I am, in lab A10. I can probably whip up the other half of a lesson plan in ten minutes, it’s not my first rodeo after all – I’ve made many last minute slideshows in my years of teaching. Shutting my laptop, I tuck it into the sleeve in my bag and sling it over my shoulder, before beginning to make my way to the other lab.
I walk through the long and busy hallways of the Vat- er- Gansu, “Stratt’s Vat” has become a nickname amongst the crew, and it seems to have slipped into my daily vocab. I approach the lab, peeking inside before I fully enter to see that there's nobody in yet.
Good, I can finish preparing today’s slides,
I think to myself as I settle at an empty table, checking the time; 9:52AM. Flipping open my laptop, I get straight back to making the presentation with a yawn.
- - -
A knock at the door jolts me up from my screen, and I look up to see DuBois and Shapiro standing in the doorway.
“Oh! Hey, come inside” I chime, noticing it’s exactly 10AM as I motion for them to sit at the seats across from me.
The two sit down, and I make some small talk while opening the presentation I had finished just in time. I’m glad to be teaching again, I’ve always loved it – even now, when I’m helping train astronauts going on an Earth-saving mission, instead of quizzing teenagers about the three types of rocks. The fundamental skills are all still the same, and it truly does feel familiar and almost nostalgic.
“A bit off topic,” Shapiro starts, “But are you able to authorize the spindrive failsafe test DuBois and I want to do once we get to Baikonur? We sent a permission form to Stratt but she hasn’t
got back to us on it yet.” She asks, as DuBois nods.
“Uhm I’m not sure… I don’t think I can. Wait- what experiment will you perform exactly?” I reply, pausing for a moment. Sure, I’m one of the leading researchers on astrophage, and I’ve got the responsibility to make sure the scientists on board know their stuff, but I don’t think I have the authority to authorize large-scale experiments.
“We’d like to test the failsafe in the spindrive. It’ll only require a microgram of astrophage.” DuBois specifies.
If I could, I’d authorize it – failsafes are important, especially on a vital mission like the Hail Mary, and we can easily spare a microgram of astrophage – but giving permissions and approval for large scale equipment use is more so Stratt’s stuff. I’m just a scientist.
“I mean, from what I’m hearing, it sounds reasonable, but I don’t think I’m qualified to give you guys permission for it.”
Shapiro frowns.
“You could ask Stratt in person if you need the authorization soon though, she’s probably not had time to look over the form properly.” I propose, recalling the time I had stolen a glance at her tablet screen and saw over two hundred thousand email notifications, quite a comparison against my measly sixteen thousand. (I mean, most of them are from things I subscribed to in college and never figured out how to unsubscribe, which is funnily enough one of the first ways I learned about the petrova line and started this whole… enchilada of events.)
“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I’ve been real busy just as the backup science officer – I can’t imagine how occupied the director of the entire project is.” Shapiro commented, tapping her nails on her table in a steady rhythm. Annie’s remark makes me remember just how exhausted Stratt had seemed this morning, with dark circles under her eyes and just… moving slower.
“Occupied” is an understatement.
“Alright, well if that's all, can we get back to the lesson?” I ask, turning on my laptop which had automatically blacked out again.
The rest of the class goes by uneventfully, and soon enough, I’m alone in the lab once more. I’ve got another hour or two before I’m supposed to meet with Hatch about the Beatles. No better time than now to write up today’s report! Nobody’s scheduled to use lab B9 until this evening anyway, so I stay in my spot and switch back to the overview and report documents, trying to blink away the hazy blur in my vision. I’m really starting to feel the two hours of sleep now, as I misspell the same word twice, and then repeat the same sentence multiple times in a paragraph. I yawn, closing my eyes for just a moment, when my head dips.
- - -
A prodding at my shoulder wakes me up
“Grace.”
I sit up with a jolt and see Stratt standing over me.
“Oh- Stratt- uh hi-” I stutter, trying to seem as awake as possible like she didn’t just find me asleep on my keyboard, the document now having a complimentary paragraph of the wise words; “aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa;aa;asasasaaaaaaa”
“Ahem- uhm I’ve almost got today’s training overview finished.” I scramble, deleting the keyboard smash I had unintentionally written in my sleep with my face.
Stratt doesn’t seem overly bothered.
“Dr. Grace, you’re going to Romania to attend a conference with the Romanian Space Agency about them joining the Task Force. In two days.” She declares.
I’m what?
“R-Romania? Uh alright..” I stammer, my still half asleep brain trying to comprehend the information I’d just been given.
“Come, we can discuss over coffee. You look like you need some.” Stratt nods to the door.
Darn. Guess I didn’t play off being wide awake pretty well, huh?
I quickly gather my things and pull my backpack on, following Stratt out of the lab towards the dining room.
“Not sleep well, then?” She asks as we walk down the corridor for the cafeteria.
Yeahhh I’m now positive I wasn't successful in appearing well rested and competent. Not like Stratt looks like she slept much last night either, her eyes are giving it away.
“Eh, I got a few hours in – I was in the lab pretty late. You?” I reply, rubbing the back of my neck.
She gives a hum in response, which tells me all I need to know.
“So er- Romania, huh?” I say, an awkward silence settling between us.
“Ah, right. The original plan was for me to go alone, but two or more representatives are required to show up in person, therefore, you will also attend.”
I nod. At this point, I’m sorta used to Stratt dragging me with her to different countries for meetings with little explanation.
“The ROSA is willing to join the Petrova Task Force and help fund further experiments, I had declined, but I had multiple on the phone telling me to attend the conference.” She sighs, “Their space program is far too young.”
“Y’know this is beginning to sound familiar… the same thing happened with Dr. Lokken in Geneva, and you said the Chinese space program is also too young, and yet you’ve got Commander Yao as the commander of the primary crew.” I point out, raising a brow at her.
“That was different.” Stratt states with a grunt. (It really wasn’t.)
We step into the cafeteria, a few people floating around with food and drinks as we walk over to the counter where the coffee machine is.
“We’ll have to attend a meeting with the ROSA heads, plus some others with various scientists to recruit, and then there’s the main conference on the second day, more meetings with specialists and researchers, and then a large investor event on the third day.” She explains the itinerary, raising her voice slightly to be heard over the coffee machine.
“Wow- sounds pretty packed! So, we’ll be there for four days?” I exclaim over the whirring.
“Yes, we will land on Thursday, then the first day of meetings is Friday, the conference itself on Saturday, and the investor event on Sunday.” Stratt clarifies, the noise from the coffee machine coming to a halt as it finishes brewing. She pours herself a cup of straight black, while I reach for the creamers and sweeteners beside the appliance.
“What’s the investor event about?” I ask, mixing my drink.
Stratt clicks the plastic lid onto her cup before speaking.
“Big gala-style gathering with drinks and food and a formal dress code. We try to convince people to invest in the Task Force or Project Hail Mary.” She explains,
“Though the project is underway and we have the funds for it already, we- or rather, you- will still have much to do afterwards. Astrophage has untapped potential as a power source, and the task force can still study it more for ways to possibly stall the sun dimming while the astronauts are travelling.”
I nod. Guess I'm not going back to the classroom anytime soon then, huh?
“The Petrova Task Force will need funding for further research and practices post-Hail Mary, therefore, we have these investor events. There was one at the beginning of the project, before you joined.” Stratt finishes, taking a sip from her coffee.
“So- I’ll have to attend too?” I question, knowing that formal events aren’t exactly my most favorite thing in the world.
Stratt huffs – I know she’s not particularly fond of them either.
“Unfortunately, yes. I’m no happier about it than you are,” she grumbles.
I sigh, “We’ll manage. Wait- does this mean I need a suit?” I say, realizing formal events mean formal attire.
“Yes, it’s part of the dress code. Not to worry if you don’t have one, just send me your measurements and I can have one made.” Stratt confirms as I drink my coffee.
“Now, do you have the training reports?” She asks, switching the topic.
I give a thumbs-up, “Yep, I’ve got them here.” I reply, motioning to my backpack.
“Oh, by the way, DuBois and Shapiro wanted to know if they could get their spindrive failsafe experiment authorized.” I add, recalling the earlier conversation.
Stratt pauses, clearly trying to remember what I’m referencing.
“Ah- right- I’ve got to look over that.” She says finally, taking another sip of her coffee. I can’t help but notice how much her hand trembles as she brings the cup up to her mouth.
She clears her throat.
“Can you show me the training reports, Dr. Grace?”