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The crowd outside was bigger than the one within when they were through with court. Or when Stratt was through with court. Ryland didn’t end up in court, with a bit of ingenuity and a maybe legal certificate that gives him immunity, he got to watch from the stands as Stratt suddenly, succinctly, brazenly brought the Petrova Taskforce into global limelight.
It was…the most Grace laughed since he and Carl made a baby. The ‘I told you so’ look that Stratt sent towards Ryland before exiting solidified that she was maybe the funniest person he knew.
It was also terrifying, because the Petrova Taskforce was about to become a household name. An international Taskforce that had power to overthrow a court room and steal all the intellectual property in the world but also had nothing yet to prove besides knowing that the line coming from the sun (Grace wondered if astrophage was publicly released as an alien?).
In the days after the arraignment, PR increased tenfold and it wasn’t the kind that Stratt dealt with. Human interest pieces could barely be seen behind the absolute wave of entertainment magazines and major news outlets that stepped into their sphere. They didn’t have much to grasp besides what they could get out of the court documents, but those only brought questions that they were dying to answer.
What is the Petrova Taskforce?
An Answer to the Sun Problem?
Who is Eva Stratt?
Can a non-citizen overrule American court?
Why is the Taskforce so quiet?
A week after landing back onto the Vat, Stratt called Grace into her office unprompted, which was unusual. Their schedules were linked and it’s already modified for him to have time before meetings to already be in her office because he once got too distracted playing with the astrophage with Dimitri and Stratt had to fetch Grace herself.
That’s what Pre-meeting Meeting stood for.
But there was no pre-meeting because he did not have any meetings with her. Grace planned for a full day in the lab work but he knew better than to delay whatever she called him for. He walked to her office door and stood in silence for a few moments, listening to see if anyone else was inside before deciding to knock out an old rhythm.
”Stratt, it’s me.”
”Come in.”
Grace opened the door and poked his head in first, hoping he could gauge why he was called before in case he was in trouble. Stratt sat at her desk, head cast down with both hands rubbing at her temples. Her eyes were laser focused on him and Grace couldn’t hide the wince that played over his face.
”Uh, you okay there?”
She waved him to get through the door before resting both hands flat on each side of her laptop, “We had a leak.”
Grace sat in the chair opposite her desk and frowned, “A leak?”
”A member of the Taskforce disclosed top-secret information to the press.”
”What?!”
Stratt waved a hand, “It has been handled. It was a military personnel who made multiple wrong assumptions. The bigger problem is that they did mention Project Hail Mary by name.”
Grace let out a long breath, “How much of it do they know?”
”Just the name and it is the main goal for the Taskforce. News outlets are already making correlations between what is happening in Africa and us. The plan to disperse Antarctica is only going to increase the already bad publicity.”
”Is it already that bad?”
Stratt tilted her head with an exasperated look and turned the laptop towards Grace. Adjusting his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose and began reading down the news page.
The Petrova Taskforce - Saving the Sun or Dooming Earth?
Ecoterrorism: The Sahara Destroyed for Alien Reproduction - What’s Next?
Eva Stratt - Global Dictator
Secret Taskforce Ship Hosting Illegal Experiments
Greatest Minds in the World Kidnapped by Eva Stratt
Disgraced Scientist Leading Alien Contact?
”Moses, how did they find out about the UNESCO thing?” Grace whined, raking his hands down his face.
”Save your dignity another day Dr. Grace.”
”This one thinks you’re going to turn Australia into a giant freshwater lake.”
Stratt scoffed, “The sailor was one of the guards, which is why he seemed to know so much. He was stationed outside the weekly astrophage meetings, which means he only had so much information. The bad news is that we have to start polishing our public image much earlier than I anticipated.” She pulled the computer back towards her and began typing with fervor, “We already had a PR person but I have hired a whole team to start scrubbing.”
Grace rested his elbows onto the desk. “This is so freaking bad. We’ve barely bad it to half a ton of astrophage.”
”Don’t worry Doctor Grace, we will still be moving as scheduled. I will not let vultures disrupt the work.”
He shook his head, “I know you had the court thing situated but you can’t control the whole world’s outlook. The news outlets are one thing, but look at this! It called you a dictator, they could take you to The Hague!”
”If I am not mistaken, some people on the ship also call me a dictator.”
”This isn’t a joke,” Grace deadpanned.
Stratt peered up from her screen, meeting him with the same nonplussed look. “That will be a problem for after the Hail Mary launches. I believe that there will be other problems that are more volatile than lawsuits.”
Grace paused for a moment, waiting for Stratt to finish but she only continued to tap away at her keyboard. He straightened up, wriggling in his seat before clearing his throat. “So…” He trailed, “Did you mean to leave on the world’s most ominous cliffhanger?”
The keyboard clicks continued as Grace ducked, trying to catch her eyesight again. Stratt sighed, “As someone that is being named in the news pieces and as the scientist that has the most public facing position, I wanted to make sure you would be prepared for the next inland visit that happens.”
Usually it would take a whole day packed full of meetings for him to be this done with Stratt. This time, it only took about twenty minutes. The mysteriousness, while Ryland thought made an excellent persona for the current Commander of Earth, also made it hard to understand why she did anything. Most of the time, she told him to do things that made sense, like putting him in charge of designing the set up for the lab on the Hail Mary and creating a more space resistant astrophage container. But Stratt also brought him to public affairs like visiting the Baikonur Cosmodrome and JFK Center to find the best launch site, made him test his blood for the coma resistance gene and also follow the astronauts to their specialized survival and emergency procedures for being in space.
As a scientist, Grace is driven by curiosity, doing anything new was always thrilling but he always wondered why there wasn’t an aide or assistant doing some of these things. Stratt made him take extensive notes that she would quiz him on when she did not go with him. Maybe that’s why she made him do it, because she liked seeing him exasperated and one step away from throwing himself off the flight deck.
You are one of the most important, if not the most important person tied to the Petrova Taskforce.
Or maybe it’s because…
I trust you.
Stratt had stopped typing at one point as Grace stared at her with a furrowed brow. It took Grace another handful of seconds to notice they were both just staring at each other with quizzical looks.
He shook his head and shrugged, anything else?.
Stratt shrugged back, do you need to ask?
Grace threw his hands up, “Great, good meeting. Thank you!” He stood and stomped towards the door. “Hope your paparazzi don’t have pilot licenses.” He called out behind him as he opened the door.
”Speaking of licenses,” Stratt said conversationally, “They will probably find the marriage license within the next few days as well.” Grace staggered halfway out the door and reeled his head back to look at his boss but Stratt just waved a hand at him, “That will be all, dear”.
The door closed with more force than necessary for being more than halfway closed. Muffled through the metal, she heard Dr. Grace let out a high pitched giggle. Stratt gave herself a second to indulge the humor.