Chapter Text
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Tense. He was pacing and mumbling to himself again.
Switching between writing on the whiteboard and chewing on the cap of the marker.
“Hey, you're the Astrophage guy, right?"
Strange way to start up a conversation. Ryland was hunched over his laptop when he heard your voice from the door to the lab.
At first, he thought it would be Carl but no, it was someone he hasn't seen on the Stratt Vat before. That wasn't uncommon of course, new recruits and unknown faces felt like they emerged every day at this point.
“Oh uh- yes I- yes. Can I, help you?”
You were leaning on the doorframe, blue and black jumpsuit, lots of pockets, an embroidered name tag on the left, just above where your heart would be. You weren't military, that was for sure. Hair away from the face, practical. Engineer? Why-
"Huh, neat. So, you have a favourite colour?"
"I'm sorry- what?"
"Favourite colour"
No, he heard correctly. What is this person doing here? Were you curious? Mocking him?
Nobody just comes here to talk. Except Carl. Carl's a nice guy.
"Mine's green, if you're gonna take your time"
"This uh- isn't mission relevant and I'm kind of-"
He stopped himself; you gave him some sort of look he couldn't explain away.
Eyebrow raised, expectant.
It made him stop. Ah, what the heck.
"I, uhm. I dunno, blue I guess."
"Solid choice"
He stammered "I- I like yellow too. Primary colours, good. Yea"
Lifting both of his thumbs up. Why the heck did he say it like that??
A quick chuckle escaped you.
"You're a funny science man"
"I'm what?"
"I'll leave you to your numbers”
And then you just… Turned away and walked out.
Like that wasn't a conversation with a straight up ghost.
He moved before he knew why, almost running after you before you disappeared into the hallway.
"Wait um-"
You looked back, tilting your head to the side just slightly.
"Uh"
Suddenly his mind was drawing a blank, why had he stopped you?
"Wah- What's your name?" Aaand he was stammering again.
He leaned on the lab table, trying to appear as professional as he could.
The sweat on his palms wasn't helping.
He was very professionally and slowly sliding on the table.
You covered your mouth, attempting to hide the fact that you were clearly refraining from laughing.
You took a breath before introducing yourself.
He repeated your name slowly.
"It's uh- nice to meet you"
Wait... Why did he ask your name? It was clearly written on your jumpsuit.
"See you later, Science man"
And there you go again, leaving him over there with a whiplash of emotions.
"Green, huh"
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The Stratt Vat was haunted, had to be.
He had managed to convince himself that your encounter was a one-time thing.
It was pretty late at the time, and he had been running on fumes and caffeinated willpower for a few days now.
Green's a nice colour, reminded him of chlorophyll.
Plants have chlorophyll. Maybe you liked plants? Wait, why was he thinking about this?
Focus damn it!
What time is it? Why is he so distracted?
He looked over at the laptop.
23:03
He sighed. Welp that's the sleep schedule out the window.
He looked over at the door where you stood just a few days ago, he did that often now, almost like he was waiting for another apparition.
He turned back to the whiteboard. Focus damn it-
"You're here late science man, even the guys in the other bay ended like two hours ago"
He jumped at the sudden voice, turning immediately to the doorway.
"Ah! It's uh- it's you again! Hey- hi! What are you uh-"
He motioned towards you vaguely, leaning in the doorway again.
"Could ask you the same"
"I uh- work here?"
You tilted your head. "Are you asking me or telling me?"
Did you just pull a teaching strategy on him?
"What-"
"I was walking down the hall, saw the light in here, decided to check it out"
You walked forward, leaning on the metal lab table.
He stared at you for a moment, clutching the marker in his hand, to his chest like they were pearls.
"That's... Thoughtful um"
His eyes shifted from you to the side a few times. Wait did he introduce himself to you before? No, wait, he did, didn't he?
Damn you genius brain.
"I'm, uh- Dr. Ryland Grace"
He lifted his hand up, debating if he should shake your hand or-
"I know"
Huh?
"You… know?"
"Says it on your name tag"
You nod towards him.
He looked down on the plastic name tag hanging from his neck. Hands still up as if expecting a handshake.
"And I would be ignorant if I didn't know who you were, wouldn't I?"
You chuckled to yourself then-
You walked around the table, firmly gripping his hand to shake it.
"Still, a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Grace"
You nodded, smiling.
"A pleasure to meet you too uh- properly I mean, not that it wasn't a pleasure before I- that came out wrong um-"
You laughed lightly.
He wasn't that funny, was that just a thing you did?
Very beautifully laughing at other people's stupid ramblings?
You stepped back.
"I think you should finish up your microbiology for today, science man. As much as Stratt may like results, I think she would like most of us alive and less sleep deprived"
He huffed, shaking his head, mumbling to himself more than to you.
"Yea, she doesn't care that much about me"
He looked over at you again.
Your head was tilted to the side, paused, thinking, wearing an expression of confusion rather than that smile you had before.
You hummed.
"Tell you what, how about I come here tomorrow, and you tell me all about this here science, yea?"
You leaned on the table again, folding your arms.
"I- what?"
"I'll bring coffee too, so you won't have to run on sheer willpower"
"Uh- huh?"
That... Wasn't meant to be an agreement but-
"Great, see you later science man"
"What?"
He said to himself finally, done staring dumb founded after you, just as you disappeared down the hall.
What did he just agree to again?
Yeah, the Stratt vat was definitely haunted.
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It was around twelve in the afternoon.
Grace was staring into his laptop as he was comparing temperature fluctuations of Astrophage under different circumstances.
He was completely engrossed in his task that he absolutely didn't notice you enter the lab, only when you placed the paper coffee cup next to his laptop, did be notice you from his periphery.
He quite noticeably jumped back, rolling away from the table.
He was unsure what to say at first, mouth opening and closing again like a fish out of water.
'I didn't think you were actually real and actually going to be here today?'
Yes that would be very smooth Ryland, he thought.
"I didn't know how you like it, although you do look like a latte guy"
You placed two creams and sugar packets next to the coffee cup.
"I didn't want to risk it, so I just got you a black coffee and these"
You took a sip from your own coffee, or, what he through was coffee.
"I- uhm. Thank you. What um" he shook his head a little.
"What do I owe you for this?"
He adjusted his glasses to hang from one of his ears, looking up at you.
Not quite daring to look into your eyes but looking at the bridge of your nose, close enough.
You tilted your head to the side.
"Science. Who else am I going to ask about Astrophage than the guy who made first contact with it"
"Well, that wasn't... I didn't decide to make first contact- not really, I mean"
Yes, it was Mrs. Stratt that forced him into that position, honestly like with everything.
She had a way with words.
"Point is, you know your stuff, Science man. And I'd be lying if I wasn't interested"
Your posture was relaxed, you didn't stand on business, you were just here.
Like a PhD graduate coming back to listen to a lecture from their favourite teacher.
Were you really this interested about Astrophage?
"Well, I guess it's the least I can do, but uh- are you sure you don't want anything for the coffee though?"
You smiled, shaking your head.
"The coffee's the least I can do"
"I- if, you're sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure"
"Mm... Okay, uh- where to start then, well here uh-"
He turned to his laptop, fumbling with the search bar for a moment before pulling up the "first picture" taken of Astrophage after it was brought to Earth.
"Okay so, Astrophage"
He leaned back, turning the laptop towards you a bit so you could have the full view.
He looked back at you, now leaning on the table, looking between him and the image.
"Is well, pretty awesome, except for the fact that they are eating the sun away"
"How tho? I hear that a lot and all the explanation I get from Dimitri is 'they like to eat good'"
You raised the coffee cup to your lips, taking a sip from it.
"Well, that's partially true uh" get grabbed a marker from the table, flipping over the whiteboard on to its slightly cleaner side, that was not in fact covered with numbers as much as the previous one, drawing up a small diagram. One circle labelled "sun" the other "Venus".
"They store the energy from the sun to propel themselves from the sun towards Venus, where they um... Reproduce"
You nodded a small 'ahh' escaped your lips in understanding.
"They keep going back and forth, between them, hence... "
He grabbed a red marker, connecting the two planets with a thin red line.
"The Petrova line"
The coffee you brought in for him was cold now.
He did start drinking it anyway, halfway through his lecture about Astrophage, but still.
It was like he was presenting it again in front of the board of people when he first came on board the Stratt vat, after figuring out how to breed Astrophage. Though this time he felt more at ease.
You were sitting on the table now, slightly leaning forward quite focused, eating up every last bit of information.
It was rather refreshing to talk about this to someone that had some form of understanding but wasn't an expert.
Reminded him of teaching the kids in school again.
Then, just as he was getting into the Astrophage mitochondria-
You perked up, looking down at your phone.
"Ah, sorry, seems like I overstayed my welcome" You slid off the table.
"You're leaving?"
Grace stopped in front of the white board that was now in fact covered in diagrams.
"Have to. Seems like Dimitri has been looking for me, and Ilyukhina is giving me a head's up." You tapped the plastic top of your empty coffee cup.
"Well, this was lovely" you looked up from your phone.
"I'd love to hear more, lunch break tomorrow again?"
Grace looked over at the time.
13:27
Wow he had been talking for over an hour.
"Uh- Sure yea, that sounds, great actually"
He wasn’t sure why he said that. Both exited and at the same time, kind of unsure what to do with his hands.
"Sweet, I'll be sure to bring more coffee then"
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Grace had gotten too used to you coming in at lunch time to listen to him ramble.
The coffee was welcome and it wasn't like you were disturbing his work directly, just coming in for an hour, staying longer than you should have, and then excusing yourself to get back to work.
Astrophage was not all that you would discuss of course.
The daily lunchbreak visits quickly morphed into you simply listening to the microbiologist ramble about the current experiment or at times, very minor personal stuff.
Him missing teaching mostly.
Glasses half off, miraculously and very awkwardly hanging from his ear.
(How they stayed up was a gravitational mystery.)
Grace was tapping his foot nervously, which was not uncommon to see.
What was different was that he was not fidgeting with a marker, which was very specifically, something he did when he was thinking 'science' thoughts.
You didn't show up at lunch break today.
'It's just the caffeine' he thought.
He got used to drinking the coffee you brought him at this hour, and now, since you were late, his brain was basically giving him withdrawals because of the lack of caffeine.
Or so he tried to convince himself.
He pushed away from the table, leaning back into his chair with a deep sigh, eyes shifting towards the door.
Where were you?
He took off his glasses, looking up at the ceiling before making decision with another exhale.
"Oooh-kay, break time"
Yes, that's what he needed. A break from work and a coffee.
He yanked off his lab coat and threw it over the chair, taking his jacket instead.
It was a mystery to him where you and Stratt got your hands on that coffee.
It's not like there was a Starbucks on the Vat, though, with what kind of person Stratt was, it wouldn't surprise him if there was one somewhere on the ship.
Nevertheless, the automat had good coffee, not the same, but close enough.
This was weird, drinking coffee in the hallway, alone, at this hour...
'Oh to hell with it'
He slammed down the rest of the coffee and punched in another one into the automat.
What did you drink again?
It wasn't like the paper coffee cup had your exact order on it.
But he did remember how it smelled when you would accidentally leave it in the Lab.
Grace clutched the paper cup in his hand as he walked down the hall, looking left and right for a sign of you.
Where would you be?
You're an engineer, definitely working with Dimitri, so... The Engineering Bay on a level lower than his lab? Welp, it's the best guess he had.
Jeez was the bay loud today, and hot very hot.
One would have thought that they were the ones assembling the rocket, but no.
All this was just adjacent research into processing Astrophage into fuel, and that required a lot of amazing engineers to figure this out.
Lots of swearing too.
Mainly in Russian and other Slavic languages he could barely tell apart, especially when they were swearing.
"Dr. Grace! You need something?"
His stomach dropped as someone grabbed his shoulder; oh it's just Dimitri.
"No- uh, just wanted to uh- take a look at the engines, wanted to check the output"
Smooth, very believable lie.
"Ah, Sasha can tell you, Sasha!"
Someone bent over a disassembled spin-drive responded, at first in a language he didn't recognize.
"Coje Dimitri?! I'm doing something" The person had their jumpsuit half off, tied around the waist.
Dimitri laughed. "You have to learn! Come explain something"
The person straightened up, holy mot- It was you! Albeit, uh, a little dirtied up, among other things.
"Oh, hey science man" You wiped your hands on your jumpsuit, walking towards them, stopping just in front of them, and folding your arms in a way that your er- very specific way.
Enough said.
"Sasha, Dr. Grace wanted to know about the spin-drive output, can you tell him?"
Dimitri smiled.
"Are you testing if I was listening to your daily lectures, Dimitri?"
"Not at all! Just want to hear how you word it"
You shake your head, beginning to explain basically word for word what Grace already heard a hundred times from Dimitri as well. Though he found himself listening both more and less at the same time. There was a very strong smell of metal in the air.
"Happy, Dimitri?"
"That’s why you’re my favourite engineer" He patted your arm, finally using your name instead of that strange nickname.
"Don’t let Ilyukhina hear you say that Dimitri"
He laughed "Go take a break, Ilyukhina should be back in a little bit"
"Roger that" You nodded at him, as he walked past.
Grace was gripping the coffee cup a little too tightly.
"Sorry I didn't come on time, Ilyukhina got held up and then had a later lunch, so I took over. Anyway, doesn't matter" You shook your head slightly, waving your hand as if dismissing the thought.
Grace was looking at the cup in his hands, extending it to you.
"Here I- didn't know where you get the other coffee so I-"
"Oh! thanks Science man!" You took the cup from his hands, very briefly brushing his fingers. Although you didn't seem to notice that.
His hand jerked back. "Yeah no- no problem. Just repaying what I owe"
"You don't owe me anything" you said, your eyebrows knitting together slightly.
"Uh anyways" Grace looked towards where Dimitri was.
"Sasha?"
You looked back towards where Grace was looking.
"Oh, don't mind that. He worked with a relative of mine who’s named Sasha, so he calls me little Sasha as a joke"
You waved it off, sweat clung to your exposed arms.
You're an engineer!
Of course you were built, but he didn't think-
Grace just became aware of how hot it was in the bay. "Is it hot in here?"
Your eyes shifted from around the room to him. "Yea?"
"Great! Uh- I could go for lunch, uh if you wanna-"
"Yes, I'm starving!"
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