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Fabien, along with his classmates, was confused over what Kevin claims to have seen the day before after hours. Kevin claims that he saw Mr. Grace get approached by a woman who seemed very insistent on something, and Kevin claims that Mr. Grace had been forced to get on with her, but that seems like exaggeration. Though it made Fabien curious to hear Kevin say that, considering yesterday while on the bus home, Fabien had seen a lot of Government cars come and go from the direction of the school.
It would make sense that Mr. Grace had been taken because of talking about the Petrova line; he had seemed hesitant to do so, and he was smart, so maybe he was being called to help save the world.
Fabien did not know for sure, but he was curious to see what would happen as the time for science class arrived. Some of his classmates say that kids from other grades have said that Mr. Grace is absent from school, which is nuts; even when he has had a fever, Mr. Grace tries his best to come in and teach. Even if the Government had kidnap him he would be able to have at least send Ms. Laurie who was the only substitute teacher that Mr. Grace trusted, but if she was in school everyone would already be talking about her weird bright yellow car.
The facts didn't add up, and Fabien was an aspiring scientist, and if Mr. Grace had taught him anything, it was to not just guess but to find the whys and hows of a prediction, so Fabien did just that.
A week after Mr. Grace's strange disappearance he came back, he had looked off, hell he had not even finish the class, but everyone seem reassure at seeing him alive. Maybe things would go back to normal.
Fabien still didn't trust it, for the week that Mr. Grace had been away, Fabien had found as much as he possibly could of what the Petrova line problem was, and it didn't look pretty. From what his research showed, it seemed that the Petrova Problem—as many articles call it—was an immediate worry all around the world; there had even been a big meeting of all the countries to decide who would lead the mission of saving Earth.
When Fabien had shown Kevin the photo of the woman who had been announced as the global leader to keep Earth alive, Kevin had instantly said that she was the woman who had taken Mr. Grace. It had not been surprising, but Fabien was glad to have managed to figure out something and get confirmation for it.
Still, even when Fabien knew just who Eva Stratt was and started following all the official channels her team had to report on upgrades, for a while all new info Fabien had on Mr. Grace was the fact that he had come back to school and left just as soon.
The fact his bike was still in the parking lot and that he seems to be tired.
Fabien doesn't let that stop him; even when they get formally introduced to their new science teacher, he keeps tabs on what seems to be the classified project to save Earth, and does his best to scan the list of gratitude to their "volunteers" that they post every couple of weeks.
Around a month ever since this whole investigation started, Fabien finally sees it: "Ryland Grace, lead scientist."
He has never been happier.
It's been a year and a couple of months since Mr. Grace was forced to work on solving the Petrova Problem.
Fabien is fifteen, and the only reason he is still obsessed over Mr. Grace's whereabouts is how confusing the whole thing is.
Ever since Mr. Grace was announced as one of the lead scientists for the mission, it was as if he suddenly were the most loyal man to Eva Stratt. In all official press or photos updating the project, he was always alongside Stratt. He seemed as awkward as he always was in class, but it seemed he just was always near Stratt regardless of what, and there were even some videos where he even seemed less uncomfortable when with her! It was really strange!
Some people—aka Fabien's classmates—believed that Mr. Grace may have fallen in love with Stratt and for both the romance and the love of science he had willingly gone and that back to her, which is why he had come back only to leave again like the typical movie scene where the main characters realizes they can't live without one another.
And maybe that made more sense, but Fabien was sure that was not the truth; sure, as close as everyone had been to Mr. Grace, he still was an adult with a life that Fabien could not understand, but even then he truly believed that there had to be more as to why Mr. Grace was working so closely with Eva Stratt.
It had taken him a year to find anything but Fabein ended up finding something, he was not sure as to why and how, but there was a forum that seemed to be from someone working on the Project Hail Mary, as the anonymous writer call the mission to save Earth, and the person seem to be keeping a record of both any updates on resolving the issue as well as any off the clock shenanigans.
Whoever the person was, it had given Fabien a new purpose.
The forum seems to be mostly for scientists, though Fabian had been able to make an account without needing proof of being one, and the person writing the records appears to be very close to Stratt and Mr. Grace, considering they always write about them both.
He does get curious about the science that it's presented with, which just helps to make him want even more to try to learn as much as he can about any space or Astrophage-related information he can. He is not the only one, of course; a lot of his classmates also seem very inclined to science because of Mr. Grace's classes, but Fabien feels that actually knowing what is happening in the current science world is going to help him get ahead of everyone else.
Maybe he could even one day work alongside Stratt and Mr. Grace.
May 7th, 2019 - NASA updates
by Anonymous
NASA has not given any answer about who the main team they want to be is, but Stratt's selections are the final word, so it's expected for them to agree to have the requested team.
The fuel production seems to be on track with the expected timeline. Dr. Grace has been doing his best to try to figure out any way to accelerate the process, but as always, it is just better to stay with what we know is working and hope for launch to happen in 2021.
The main research is mostly done; even if certain teams have moved on to learn more about Astrophages to try to learn of ways that the Astrophages can be used for the post-launch plans, info is needed to get back to HQs.
Today is Dr. Grace's birthday. Stratt decided to get him out of the lab and have him and Dimitri do some "fun" stuff, like making sure the media that was stolen to be sent in space alongside the astronauts is complete. Dr. Grace seems pleased even if embarrassed by Stratt making such a fuss about his birthday.
Stratt hesitated for that reason only to give him the beanies that she had been planning to gift him; she still did, of course. She has a very soft spot for Ryland.
Fabien sighed; this time the anonymous writer had not added photos to their weekly updates. He had been checking their page in hopes of being able to see Dr. Grace, but well, he was still happy to see that he seemed to be doing well.
Though of course there also was Stratt, that woman…. Fabien had over the years tried his best to understand why that woman was doing what she was, but a childish part of him still held her at fault for having taken Dr. Grace from them, as stupid as that was.
She still seems like a close friend of Dr. Grace. Fabien isn't sure how he feels about that, but again, it's not his relationship to worry about; besides, he has joined some of the space camps he was allowed to be in while in high school and doesn't have as much time to obsess over Dr. Grace's mystery relationship with Eva Stratt.
He still saves the entry to his files; it doesn't hurt to have copies of all of this even if not necessarily because of Dr. Grace's involvement but to also know if Earth is really getting saved or if they really would all starve to death….
As much as he hates Eva Stratt, she seems to know what she is doing, and Fabien really hopes she holds to her word.
January 1st, 2020 – Not an update
by Anonymous
Yesterday at the New Year's party, Dr. Grace approached Stratt and spoke to her about the future of the mission. He made her feel like maybe he would be the one to save Earth, and made her feel as if he really understood her, which perhaps he always has.
Stratt sang in karaoke in front of everyone, Ryland seem pleased after having asked her about it. He was propositioned by some of the others to go with them, but he still decided to go back with Stratt to start working today on the next steps.
Stratt is delighted with him, and she seems to regret having chosen him for the mission, but he is the best man for this mission. She can't go back on her decision now.
She has put Ryland deep enough into this mission to try to do otherwise.
Fabien shouldn't be the first thing in the morning checking the damn forum, but it was tradition now; besides, he was rather invested in how Dr. Grace's and Eva Stratt's relationship was. What would he do to be able to see them in person? See Dr. Grace again…
He shook his head and moved to other tabs to see the photos one of the astronauts had kept on posting last night. She was never that close to what Dr. Grace was doing, but he appeared in enough of her stories for Fabien to follow her.
In a lot of the photos and videos, Dr. Grace seems to be having fun and enjoying the party that the team seemingly had the day before. What surprised Fabien the most was seeing Stratt sing; she had seemed really emotional while doing it. Also, was she a fan of Harry Styles? That rules. But well, considering what Anonymous had said, it seems she must have realized something about her relationship with Dr. Grace.
She seems human. If Anonymous were to be trusted, which they really seem to be, Stratt also seems to deeply regret having put Grace in line for this mission.
Maybe then Fabien could also try to understand her more.
March 26th, 2021 - Launch and preparations for waiting
[ 28 Comments ]
Fab-Clementine21:
I was one of Dr. Grace's students, and even if it seems unbelievable that he would have wanted to go to space, I think that if Eva Stratt allowed it to happen, it was because he truly was the best for the work and because she knows how important it is for him to do what he sets his mind to. Dr. Grace will be remembered as a hero, and Eva Stratt should be held in the same high regard, just as Dr. Grace was always talked about alongside her. So now it is more essential to remember she is as much of a hero as the one sacrificing their life. Because at the end of the day, Dr. Grace and Eva Stratt are a team, and without them both, we may not have managed to get this far.
So, thank you for documenting this journey and inspiring so many to want to help save the Earth one way or another. May the crew of Hail Mary make it out there, and may Eva Stratt keep helping Earth.
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