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“All rise for the Honorable Justice Meredith Spencer.” A hush fell across the courtroom as everyone stood. The Honorable Justice Spencer was a severe-looking woman with greying hair and a no-nonsense look in her eyes. She, like everyone else in the courtroom, was dressed for warmth. Propriety no longer mattered, these days.
Not with the sun dying.
She took her seat and nodded to the room. “Please, be seated. Now, we are here today in the case of The Human Rights Campaign v Stratt. Plaintiffs, are you ready for trial?”
The group of well-dressed men and women nodded. “Yes, your Honor.”
When the judge turned her gaze to Stratt, she almost looked amused. Almost. “Ah, yes. Welcome back, Ms. Stratt. How lovely it is to see you again. Are you still providing your own counsel?”
“Yes, your Honor,” was the terse reply. There was a lot less bravado coming from her side of the room, compared to the last time she had been in front of this particular judge.
“An interesting decision, seeing as your worldwide blanket pardon ended as soon as the Hail Mary left. You realize that, don’t you?”
Stratt inhaled deeply through her nose, and out from her mouth. She appeared as unfazed as she could be. She had been intimately aware that she would be going to prison eventually. It was a sacrifice she had been willing to make. Yet, something about this whole horse and pony show seemed...different. It unsettled her. “Yes, your Honor.”
“Plaintiff, please go ahead.”
“We call Eva Stratt to the Stand.”
Stratt walked to the Stand with her head held high. She raised her hand and swore her Oath on the Bible, then gazed coolly at the lawyer in front of her, daring him to do his worst. There were many groups she expected to be persecuted by, but the Human Rights Campaign was low on her list. She had been working to save the human race. That had to matter for something, right?”
“Ms. Stratt, would you say that you did whatever you had to do in order to ensure Project Hail Mary’s success?”
Was that all? She nodded. “Yes.”
“And that includes the technical murder of Dr. Ryland Grace?”
Ah.
This could pose a problem.
-
“Can you state your name for the camera?” The voice was excited, a bit too loud. Jumpy, almost. The three young people sitting in front of the camera nodded, smiling. They seemed to be in their early twenties. Two girls and a guy.
“I’m Rekha.”
“Olivia.”
“Kevin.”
“And can you tell us who you are? Like...why you’re here?” As if they decided to wander in off the street and join this documentary. “It can be brief, then we’ll get to the juicy stuff.”
Rekha nodded, she seemed to be the most outgoing of the three. “Yeah, of course. We’re three of Mr. Grace’s students. His last cohort before he left.”
“We were in his homeroom,” Kevin added, leaning towards the mic. “That means we were his favorites.”
Olivia shook her head. “No it doesn’t. Mr. Grace was adamant that he didn’t have favorites,” it felt like something they had been told often.
The interviewer nodded from behind the camera. “Right, right. So Dr. Ryland Grace’s last class. That must feel pretty special.” The three nodded, even though it wasn’t a question. “Did you know that he was going off to space?”
Olivia shook her head. “No. He left one day, and was gone for a few days. Then he came back and was...different. He seemed scared. And I’ve never seen Mr. Grace scared. Not even the day we had the...” her voice trailed off. “The lockdown... Anyway, he came back, but was only there for a few periods. He got a panicked look in his eyes, told us to work from another class. Promised he'd be back.”
“He didn’t come back,” Rekha added. “It was scary to see him like that.”
“Grace always knew how to make the classroom feel comfortable. Feel safe. But not the day he left in a hurry. We were all so scared, no one said a word. Eventually, someone, I don’t remember who, but someone called the office and said that Mr. Grace left. Cause...we didn’t know how to be alone. We were only thirteen. They gave us a sub after that. And then another. Subs for the rest of the year. Science wasn't fun anymore after that, honestly school in general wasn’t fun. We kept hoping he'd come back, willing it into existence.” She was quiet for a long moment, lost in the memories of youth stolen from them. She took a shuddering breath in.
“We held on hope for a good month, or two. At least until the day we walked into his room and saw that they'd torn down all of the cool stuff on his walls. That day was the day our hope died."
“We eventually figured it out. I saw him getting taken in the black SUVs by that Stratt lady and some shady government agents,” Kevin shrugged, “And we all knew he was a legit scientist. So we put two and two together and assumed he was working on the Space Dot problem.”
“You saw him get taken? That must have been quite harrowing, especially as a child.”
Kevin fiddled with the zipper of his parka. “I didn’t really get it at the time. And it wasn’t like they tackled him to the ground and threw him into the SUV. Nah, they just like...I dunno, they kind of surrounded him, and talked to him. And he got inside. It wasn’t harrowing, exactly. Not until we realized that he was up in space, you know?”
-
“I apologize, can you repeat the question, Counselor.” Anyone who knew Eva Stratt, which admittedly wasn’t many people, would know that she was currently panicking. Her heart rate was slightly elevated, she was sitting just a bit too straight in her seat. “I have never murdered anyone. As for Dr. Ryland Grace, he is up in space, saving your life right now.”
“Yes, he is up in space, isn’t he? And, Ms. Stratt, can you remind the jury, and myself, how did he get to be up in space?”
“We had two scientists lined up for the job. Marcus DuBois and Annie Shapiro. Unfortunately, a few days before launch, they died in a tragic lab accident. Dr. Grace was the only possible candidate. Not only is he a brilliant scientist, he is the leading authority on Astrophage, and he had been present for everything. He was there from day one.”
“So, he wanted to go to help the human race.”
It was not a question, Stratt did not answer.
“Let me rephrase this, Ms. Stratt, did Ryland Grace volunteer to go up on the Hail Mary?”
“He told me that he wanted to help save Earth.” It was not a lie, that was what he had said to her all those years ago. Back when they didn’t even know how Astrophage reproduced. It felt like a lifetime ago.
“Right. Your Honor, I have some audio I would like you and the jury to hear, if I may. There is video as well, but I think the audio will be sufficient for now.”
“You may proceed.”
No.
“I can’t do it! I can’t– Please! Stop! No! You’re MURDERING ME! I CAN’T DO THIS. YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME! I don’t want to die! You’re sending me off to die. Carl...help...help me...I can’t– Carl...”
Stratt couldn’t breathe. She felt like Grace must have in those moments. Like the air had been knocked from her lungs. She swallowed hard at the lump in her throat. If she were any other person, there would be tears in her eyes, but she cried her last tears when the ship went up. There were no more tears left, not even for Ryland Grace.
“Do you recognize that audio, Ms. Stratt?”
“Yes.”
“Can you confirm for everyone who we are hearing?”
“Dr. Ryland Grace.”
“And who is he talking to?”
“A group of Russian agents, a doctor.”
“And? Anyone else?”
“Myself.”
“No further questions.”
-
“For the longest time, I blamed myself. It’s silly to say, and I know it is, but I was the person who brought up the Petrova Line in class,” Rekha spoke carefully, her voice measured. She was a natural behind the camera. “I asked him to explain it. It felt like...I was the reason the Taskforce people found out about him. Like, I know that’s not really true. We’ve all Googled him and seen the stuff he’d written, and the stuff he said. So it makes sense that they found him. But I think it was just grief, you know?”
The other two nodded, they two had felt that grief, probably were still feeling it. Olivia cleared her throat. “We were okay with him being one of the expert scientists. It made sense, because we knew he was super smart. And honestly, it made the whole Space Dot thing a lot less scary.”
“It was hard to reconcile the idea of our goofy science teacher being some hot-shot scientist. And even moreso when we found out that he had volunteered to go up to space. It just...hurt, you know?” Rekha shook her head. “You don’t. You don’t know. Mr. Grace was...really important to a lot of us. He was the safest adult we knew. And he never said goodbye. It just...”
“Never made sense.”
-
The courtroom was abuzz with Grace’s last words echoing throughout the chamber. Justice Spencer banged her gavel. She had her own feelings about what was just revealed, but it wasn’t her place to share them. Sometimes, being a judge was difficult, this was one of those times.
“Defense, would you like to question Ms. Stratt?” It was a pointless question, as there was no one at Stratt’s table to defend her. She was a one-woman show. “Ah, I forget, you don’t need counsel. Have you anything to say?”
Stratt took a deep breath, and then another. “No, your Honor.” Stiffly, she got down from the Stand.
“Prosecution, call your next witness.”
“We would like to call Special Agent Carl Boyce to the stand.”
Stratt clenched her jaw, things were about to get much, much worse. But this was a Hell of her own making. She knew the road ahead wouldn’t be easy, she knew there would be a reckoning. She just didn’t know it would be like this.
Carl raised his hand, swearing on the Bible. “Agent Boyce, how well would you say you know the defendant?” The prosecuting attorney asked.
“I worked very closely with Ms. Stratt during my time on the Petrova Taskforce.”
“And most of your time was spent...doing what?”
“Most of my time was spent with Dr. Ryland Grace. Watching over him, making sure he had what he needed. Once he took up residence on Stratt’s Vat, however, my duties shifted to more general day-to-day tasks. Paperwork, making sure that the Hail Mary was being built properly. Things of that nature.”
“So you would say you were pretty close to Dr. Grace?”
Carl inhaled, closing his eyes. The tug of a memory pulled at him. A day spent in Home Depot, playing around, having fun, as if the sun wasn’t dying. Building a box. Tables covered in Skittles and Twizzlers. That box in another box. Making a baby. The beauty of discovery. Grace putting Carl’s name on the paper he wrote, before his own.
“Y-yes.” He didn’t mean for it to come out strangled, but he couldn’t help it. He was supposed to be better than that, but hearing the audio again disarmed him in ways he couldn’t have anticipated. “We were...very close. Friends.”
“And you were there for his last moments on Earth.”
“I was.”
“Walk me through that day, Agent Boyce. What happened?”
He exhaled, shoulders slumping, he glanced at Stratt, then quickly looked away. “I had been told by Ms. Stratt that Grace had agreed to go on the mission. She asked me to pack up his things. I didn’t know that this wasn’t the case until I heard over the comms that he was running. I took off running, I didn’t know what I was going to do. It wasn’t as if I could stop any of it from happening, but I wanted to make sure that Grace was okay.”
“What did you see when you got there?”
“I watched as he was tackled. He called out for me. I said the most reassuring thing that I could think of at the time. I said that he knew who he was and that he was going to do great. It wasn’t enough, wasn’t everything that I wanted to say, but he had just been injected with something that was going to knock him out. Plus, I...” He shook his head. “I didn’t know what else to say.
“He was loaded up, and I insisted on being the one to watch over him. I stayed with him in the hospital until it was time for Launch.”
“Who ordered Dr. Grace to be chased, tackled and put under?”
Carl looked at Stratt, then back at the lawyer. “Eva Stratt.”
“No further questions.”
-
Dr. Grace’s former students stood around, after the interviews were finished, unsure of where this left them. “Feels weird, right? To talk about him...” Rekha broke the silence.
“Weird, but...good, I think. What’s really weird is knowing that he’s up there. Right now, he’s up there doing...something. Maybe he’s...I don’t know, playing the beanbag is lava with the other astronauts?”
This got a smile from the other two. “Could you imagine? ‘Commander Yao, what is the speed of light?’” Kevin did his best Grace impression. “I hope they play along. The beanbag always made him so happy.”
“Made me happy too. Favorite part of class,” Olivia sighed. “Some days I think about becoming a teacher just like him. To be the adult that he was for us. You know what I mean?”
They both nodded. “You should. I think that’d mean a lot to him. Not that he’ll ever know. But I think he’ll know, you know?” Rekha shrugged. “Anyway, at the very least, it was good seeing you guys. We should get together more. Maybe have a Mr. Grace’s Former Student Reunion?”
“Maybe..” Olivia squinted at her phone. “Oh my God...” A breaking news alert flashed across her screen.
“What is it?” The other two leaned in close to see.
She pressed play on the video. The footage was blurry, but the audio was crisp and clear. “--MURDERING ME–” She stopped it, hands shaking.
“No...no that...” Olivia’s heart was thudding heavily in her chest. “That can’t be real. Someone AI Deepfaked it, or something. Who would be sick enough to do something like that?” Tears were burning her eyes.
Rekha shook her head. “No, it’s...it’s real. There’s a story with it. ‘Eva Stratt, the leader of The Petrova Taskforce has been sentenced to life in prison for the technical murder of former scientist and middle school teacher, Dr. Ryland Grace. He was kidnapped, drugged and forced against his will to serve on Project Hail Mary the suicide mission that–’ I can’t...I...He...” She blinked a few times. “He didn’t want to go.”
“He didn’t leave us.”
“Mr. Grace is up there right now, because he was forced to be. Oh my God...”
-
Eva Stratt leaned back against the wall of her cell. It was a cold, cold day in Hell. She stared up at the ceiling, imagining she could see the stars, that she could see him up there. “I won’t apologize,” she murmured, her breath coming out in a puff of cold air. “I did what I had to do. I hope you understand that.” If he even remembered her.
“But I do wish that things had turned out differently. And I hope that...” She shook her head. It wasn’t her place to do that anymore.
Hope didn’t rest with her anymore.
It was out of her hands.