Chapter Text
Ryland is realizing that he’s never seen Eva Stratt angry. He had seen her frustrated, and annoyed, and once, briefly, saddened. All of those things had been shown in her small way of emoting, a pinched eyebrow, a twitch of the mouth.
Now? She was absolutely still, her hands steepled in front of her as she stared down the U.S. Army General in front of her. Her face was icily blank, and Ryland had to almost physically restrain himself from pressing up against the wall to keep out of that murderous gaze.
The general, for his part, was properly flustered.
“I have… no idea how that happened Stratt, you have to believe me.”
“You have no idea how my trained astronauts, some of the only people in the world that could possibly save our world from the sun going out, were all in the same facility as one another.” Her words were smooth, monotone if clipped. Ryland swore he saw a muscle jump in her jaw.
“I- no I do not.”
“You were under very specific instructions general,” she practically sneered, “that my astronauts were to be protected with every available resource.”
“And they were,” the general stood, his posture ramrod straight. Stratt’s eyes followed him, even though her head didn’t move. “This was a freak accident, and you know it. I don’t much appreciate being blamed for acts of God.”
“God had nothing to do with it. That was carelessness, plain and simple, and the blame falls squarely at the top.” Stratt said, folding her arms on the desk and finally leaning back.
The general, who Ryland had entirely missed the name of, scoffed and turned. He met Ryland’s eyes with a flash of recognition. He had definitely seen this man in some of the astrophage meetings, what was his name again?
“Dr. Grace.” He said, his eyes pinching as he looked him up and down. Ryland looked down at his clothes, and picked at the cardigan his brother had given him last Christmas. Why was this guy giving him elevator eyes all the sudden? “Thank you. Good luck.”
He patted him on the arm on the way out. Ryland was too stunned to even say anything before the door was closing with a final quiet click.
Shaking his head, Ryland let out a nervous chuckle. “What was that all about?” He turned to look at Stratt, who had her head in her hands, and suddenly a stab of icy panic shot through him. “Stratt?”
“Grace are you familiar with the term ‘designated survivor’?” She said from within her hands.
“Uhm, yeah, great TV series.” His mind was starting to numb with panic, so his mouth just kept going. “I think my brother’s girlfriend worked on a couple of those episodes while she was getting her start in Hollywood. That was before they met though so he didn’t get pulled in to do stunts or anything-”
“Your brother, the pilot, right?” Stratt still wasn’t looking at him. Ryland didn’t like where this was going. She never asked questions unless they were relevant to something about the mission. She knew perfectly well who Colt was.
“Stratt-”
“Look, Grace. Ryland.” His feet were rooted to the spot, and the world started to dim as he shoved the possibility of what she was about to say deep into the back of his mind. No, no she couldn’t- he wouldn’t- “we’re out of options.” She continued, finally pulling up her head to look at him, and he hated what he saw there. Resolve.
“No,” he whispered, his feet finally unrooting to take a step back.
“It was never supposed to come down to you.” She said apologetically, and Ryland almost believed her, but he was finding it hard to believe anything right now. The door clicked open again, and his breath caught at the sight of five men in black suits staring at him from beyond. One more familiar than the rest.
“Carl?” Ryland whispered, he stumbled away from the door, looking frantically to the window. Maybe he could break out, run for the fences and get beyond that. And go where? They would find him, he was already briefed on everything the astronauts knew. Realization hit him like a bat over the head. “I was always third in line, wasn’t I?”
“Of course you were!” Stratt spread her hands imploringly, “You’re the world’s leading scientist on astrophage biology, you’ve been in every meeting from the time I roped you in. Why did you think I was keeping you by my side?”
“For my winning science puns, I don’t know!” Ryland laughed, panic making it come out high pitched. He really had thought, for a moment there, that they were becoming friends. Joke’s on him he supposed.
“You live alone, you have no parents, you don’t even have a dog.” She stood, and Ryland backed himself into the corner of the room as the agents filed in. There was a buzzing starting to take over his mind.
“But…I have a brother.” His whisper started as a plea but turned sharply to realization. Stratt looked at him for a long moment, then closed her eyes briefly and sighed.
“You have a brother.” She confirmed.
“No. Not him. Please Stratt.” He pleaded, coming up to her desk. He looked into her eyes desperately, hoping to find a way out hidden somewhere within there.
He saw what he knew he would find, the determination of a woman that was going to save her planet.
Ryland isn’t a proud man. He wishes he had resigned himself in that moment, had bargained for one last call with Colt, had asked more questions about the mission, or even enjoyed his last day on Earth.
Instead, he bolted.
He ran as fast as his feet would carry him, heart thundering loud in his ears. He lost his glasses somewhere, he didn’t care. His phone was in his hand as he left the building, fumbling for the top name in his favorited calls.
Colt picked up just as Ryland’s chest hit the dirt.
~~~
“Convict, you have a visitor,” the warden called in, banging on the side of Simon’s cell. He pushed his hair out of his face before looking up at Ava. She glared through the grate that passed for a window in the door.
“Who?” He stood, just barely at eye level with the woman. Not one person had visited him in the months he’d been locked up.
“Eva Stratt” She shrugged, “some higher up in the government, looks like she might be your lucky break.”
The door creaked open, the warden stepping aside to let Simon through. They walked down through well-lit hallways winding through the monotonous facility, until they got to a conference room.
Simon immediately stood a little straighter as they passed by two people in black suits standing outside the door. Guards, he thought, but not the ones from the prison.
Ava poked him in the small of his back with her baton as he slowed, and he shot her a look.
“I’m going, I’m going,” he muttered.
They passed through the door to find a middle aged woman sitting at the head of the conference table. She had been typing something out on a small laptop, but closed it when he entered. She looked tired.
“Simon Fleisher, your reputation precedes you.” She said with a slight accent. She gestured to a chair next to her. He noticed that all the others had been taken out.
“And I don’t know who the fuck you are.” He stayed standing, shifting under the multiple sets of eyes on him. He didn’t like feeling put under a damn microscope.
“Eva Stratt. Please, take a seat. I have an opportunity you might be interested in.” When he remained standing, assessing her for a moment, she sighed. “It involves a way you wouldn’t die in this prison.”
The chair squeaked as he sat. She nodded, before crossing her arms on the table.
“Have you heard of Project Hail Mary?” She started.
“Who hasn’t heard of it?” Simon scoffed in response “The brave astronauts going out to save the Sun and all that.”
Stratt’s lips thinned into a frown. “That is a succinct way of putting it, yes.” She sighed. “ I will cut to the chase because you don’t seem like one for platitudes, which I respect.”
Simon huffed a laugh in response. She had him there.
“I am the leader of Project Hail Mary, and we have quite suddenly found ourselves in need of an engineer.”
The world stopped around Simon, and suddenly this lady that was seeming a bit boring and stuffy had his undivided attention.
“What?”
“It has to be someone familiar with astrophage and engineering, hits a certain genetic marker for the induced coma, and would be willing.” She cocked her head at him. “And I believe you hit all three.”
“Who said I was willing?” Simon asked. He didn’t like where this was going, but some caged, hopeful part of him already knew that if it was between dying in this cell and dying among the stars, with a purpose, which one he would take.
“I believe we can work out a pardon arrangement for the savior of the solar system, regardless of how much damage they’ve done.” Stratt leaned over to her bag, and Simon tracked her movements carefully.
“I didn’t blow up Fillament.” He ground out. How dare she speak to him like she knew a damn thing about him.
She fixed him with a look as she rummaged through her duffle. “Perhaps, but you built the astrophage bomb that did.” She held such contempt in her voice that Simon faltered, any arguments of coercion dying on his lips, no matter how true they were.
She shook her head and continued, “you go out, you do this, you come back, you’re free.” She put a piece of paper on the table in front of him, but Simon didn’t care about anything else other than the word free free free echoing around in his skull.
“I’m in.” He breathed, cutting her off halfway through whatever she was saying next. Her teeth clacked with how fast the shut her jaw, and she studied him for a moment.
“Welcome to the team.” She finally said, “we’ll be in touch.”
~~~
“Let him through!” An unfamiliar voice called to the guards Colt was currently trying to verbally tear into. They stood aside immediately, and he couldn’t help but feel a little put off, going straight from screaming in their faces to walking past them. Like a door he was pushing against suddenly gave, he strode forward, looking for the source of the voice.
His eyes found a middle aged woman, slightly shorter than him, but with a gaze that seemed to peer straight into his soul.
Well this must be Stratt. He thought, jogging up to cover the distance between the two.
“Stratt! It is Stratt right?” He put on his most charming I’m-definitely-not-trying-to-get-something-from-you smile and stuck out a hand. She reached past it and took his elbow, starting to lead him towards a building. “I know I’m probably not supposed to know who you are but you know Ryland, bit of a blabbermouth between you and me.” He forced a chuckle, turning himself to a stop in front of her before they got into the building.
“Speaking of!” He continued cheerfully, and then quieter, “care to tell me why my baby brother called me screaming about someone trying to kill him in the middle of the day with his last location showing as here?”
Stratt held eye contact with him for a moment with an unreadable expression before pushing past him to the building again. Colt let her go, pressing his lips together in an effort not to snap at the one person currently able to give him answers.
“Your bother is alive,” she called over her shoulder. “Please come with me.”
Well, she should have lead with that.
They walked into a small office, not one that fit the station Stratt supposedly had. She sat down at the small desk, and when she motioned to the chair across from her, he sat. She took a deep breath.
“There was an explosion at one of our astrophage testing facilities that took out our entire astronaut crew, both primary and backup.” She began, never taking her eyes off of Colt. “There are precious few people on the planet qualified to make the trip, with the right genetic markers and the right skills. Dr. Grace was our third astrophage biologist in line.”
Colt’s stomach was in his throat, mind racing to put the pieces of this all together. “Wait,” he held up a hand, “are you trying to tell me you forced him into that death trap?”
She looked up to the ceiling “He told you?”
“That the astronauts aren’t coming back? Yeah. Honestly solid effort keeping it under wraps.” Colt got up from his chair and started to pace, the anxious energy coursing through him needed an outlet. Ryland didn’t go willingly, his phone call indicated that much.
The thought of his younger twin waking up scared and panicking in space made his stomach tie in knots. He was the best option, obviously he was, his brother was the smartest person in the world.
But a death mission against his will was too much.
“Who else.” He ground out.
“We’ve found a willing engineer who fits the bill, but…” Stratt trailed off, splaying her hands out in front of her.
“But you need a pilot.” He finished. She nodded. Goddamn it, of course they wanted Ryland. Not only was he blisteringly smart, but his twin brother had spent all of his twenties flying F-16s for the Air Force.
Stratt was thorough, or evil, he hadn’t really decided yet.
They had his brother doped up, about to be shot into space on a one way trip. He would wake up years later alone with strangers and scared out of his mind. He would die up there.
He thought for an embarrassingly short amount of time before coming to a resolution. Ryland wasn’t going to die up there, and neither was he.
“I’ll go.” He whispered.
Stratt regarded him quietly for a moment. “You have a partner.”
His hands curled to fists at his side. Like he could possibly forget.
“I left once and she managed, she’ll do it again.” He said, his voice cracking. God damn it, no one should have to make this choice.
But it wasn’t really a choice, was it.
“Can I say goodbye?” He whispered, the world itself seeming to bear down on him. Pressing into his shoulders and making them slump until his elbows were digging into his knees.
“Of course.” She said, “you’ll be remembered as a hero.”
Colt stood, turning his back on the woman. “Fuck that. I’m figuring out a way to get us both home.” He ground, already pulling his phone out of his pocket.
“I wish you the best, Sergeant, I really do.”