Chapter Text
Grace remembers more and more about what happened before launch every day. Sometimes it’s just random, other times it’s triggered by something. This particular instance falls under the latter option.
—
“You have three hours.” Stratt had said. Three hours to decide how he wanted to die. Alone in space while saving the world, or here on Earth with the rest of humanity. Everyone else had left the conference room, leaving only Grace and a member of the Petrova TaskForce, Andrew Raymond.
Andrew was supposed to be on the Hail Mary I, but had chickened out at the last second. He swapped identities with his sister for the few hours it took to get her into space. It was kind of a genius plan, but Grace will never understand how they pulled it off. He never met Andrew's sister, didn’t even remember the girl's name, but based on photos, they looked nothing alike in terms of height and build.
Either way, The Petrova TaskForce had begrudgingly agreed to keep Andrew on the team despite his cowardice.
The Hail Mary I was faulty. What about it was faulty? That memory hadn’t yet triggered for Grace, so his guess was as good as any. The point was, the Hail Mary one was going to be a ghost ship by the time it reached Tau Ceti. They needed a new crew.
A new crew that they hoped would include Dr. Ryland Grace.
Grace pulled himself out of his thoughts to look over at Andrew, since there was no one else to distract him from his current dilemma. “Why are you still here? Don’t you have something to work on like the others?”
“I have a favor to ask.” Andrew responded quietly, looking down.
Grace blinked. “What’s the favor?”
Andrew looked back up, something sad in his expression. Guilt, maybe. “I don’t want to force you to make your decision, but if you do choose to go on the Hail Mary II to Tau Ceti..” He took a shaky breath. “If you see the Hail Mary I, blink a flashlight at it. As a goodbye to my sister. Please?”
Grace blinked. He hadn’t expected that. It didn’t help his current internal struggle like he had hoped, if anything it just made it worse. Still, Grace nodded. “If I go, and that's a big if, I’ll say goodbye for you.”
—
Now Grace was on the Hail Mary II, with Rocky next to him as they stared out the window at the other ship.
“That is other Mary, question?” Rocky asked. Grace nodded, already moving to find a flashlight.
The two Hail Mary spacecrafts were nearly identical. The only real difference was the amount of life inside each one. Grace and Rocky were both alive and well on the Hail Mary II, while nothing except maybe some astrophage was alive on the other.
Still, despite not being here on his own accord, Grace might as well complete the favor Andrew had asked. It wasn’t particularly hard, just a couple flashes of light through one window to another. No big deal, right?
Except, as Grace turned around to put the flashlight away, he caught a glimpse of something. A light.
A light from the Hail Mary I window.
Grace spun back around to face the window, convinced he was seeing things, but no. Someone was inside the supposedly dead ship, blinking light right back at them.
“.. Holy moly.” Was all Grace could say.