Chapter Text
My alarm clock sounds, and I slowly begin to open my eyes as I roll over to check the time. 7:00AM. I let out a deep sigh.
“Time for work,” I say as I begin pulling the duvet off my bare legs.
I let my feet dangle off the side of my bed and sit there for a minute before finding the strength to stand. Whilst in silence, I begin thinking about the book I read last night, ‘Project Hail Mary.’
The story follows Ryland Grace, a former biologist whose scientific paper was rejected by the wider scientific community. After losing his research career, he became a school teacher, believing his days of making world changing discoveries were behind him. However, when Earth faces an extinction level crisis, Ryland is unexpectedly recruited for a desperate mission into space. Alone and millions of miles from home, Ryland embarks on a journey, unable to return to Earth. Along the way, he meets an alien named Rocky, an engineer from the planet Erid. Despite their differences in biology snd language the two quickly form an unlikely friendship built on trust, intelligence, and a shared determination to save their worlds.
Working together, Ryland and Rocky discover a solution that could save both Earth and Erid from disaster. Yet, when the mission nears its end, Ryland faces an impossible choice: return home using the precious fuel needed for his journey or turn back and save Rocky from a deadly radiation threat. Choosing friendship over his own chance to return to Earth, Ryland rescues Rocky and ultimately settles on Erid, where he begins a new life among his friend's people.
My mind often drifts off into thought about books I’ve recently read, especially when I don’t understand some parts.
“Why him of all people?” I say in an annoyed tone, searching for an answer in my head.
The sound hits me like a shockwave. I flinch hard. I leant over and grabbed my phone to silence the backup alarm I set that prevents me from being late to work. As I begin to catch my breath, I check the time once again. 7:10AM. Slowly, I begin getting ready for work. With time to spare, I decide to re-read parts of the book I didn’t fully understand the first time around. I slip on my shoes and make my way back to my bedroom where I thought the book would be sat. I glance around. It’s gone? It can’t have disappeared.
I looked everywhere. Where I thought it was. Where it could have been knocked off surfaces. Even under the bed. Nothing.
“Where is it.” I say whilst exhaling.
I stop for a moment, resting my hands on my hips as I stare at my empty desk. It’s probably on the sofa. Instead of going to check the living room, I decide to open my laptop and search for answers that way. I hit ‘enter,’ desperate to find something. My gaze stays locked on the screen, like blinking first meant losing.
‘No results found’
I try again, this time just searching ‘Project Hail Mary.’
‘No results found’
I continue glancing at the words on the screen as they echo back in my head.
‘No results found’
No trace of the book. No trace of the movie. Nothing. My third alarm blares, screaming at me not to be late for the third time this week. As I rush towards the front door, I look over my shoulder onto the sofa. No sign of the book. Nothing except pillows and an unfinished assignment. I try not to overthink, but I feel like I’m going crazy.
I clock in like I always do, tying my apron behind my back whilst the smell of coffee settles around me. The café is really loud, with the mix of milk steaming, dishes clattering, people laughing, but it all sounds distant somehow. My hands move on autopilot. Wipe the counter. Restock the lids. Smile at customers. But my mind keeps dragging me back to this morning. Back to the alarms. Back to the laptop screen. Back to them same three words.
I nearly mess up an order because I catch myself staring blankly at the coffee machine instead of the cup in my hand. Twenty minutes pass.
“Just grabbing a coffee on my break,” I hear a man say in the distance.
The same voice as Ryland Grace. I don’t look up as I still think I’m going crazy. Don’t be stupid. Footsteps began getting closer to the register.
“Hi, what can I get fo—,” I began to say.
We hold eye contact for about ten seconds before he steps in and breaks the silence.
“I’ll just get a latte please,” he says calmly.
My heart begins to race. That’s the same dirty blonde hair. The same glasses, and how they weirdly hang under his chin. The same yellow jacket. It’s Ryland Grace.
This is real, this is real, this is real. I begin to panic, but in a confused way. I try and stay calm.
“Of course,” I try to say in response, but my voice breaks up.
Whilst I make his drink, he begins making small talk, saying about how he’s a science teacher at the primary school next to the university.
“I feel like I recognise you,” he mentions.
I turn around with the drink in my hand.
“Uhm,” I reply, trying to think of words to say.
I ex-hale through my nose, trying to simulate a laugh as I hand over the latte. He thanks me and begins to walk off.
“I’m at student at the university,” I quickly say before he gets too far way. “You might have seen me around.”
He glances over his shoulder and smiles at me before finding a seat to sit alone. I watch as students walk past the café windows, waving at him, as he waves back. He doesn’t know who he is yet. But I do. He’s supposed to save the world. So tell me… Do I chance his future? Or let him become who he’s meant to be?
As I’m the last to leave, I lock the front door and tug on the handle twice, just to make sure. The café is finally quiet. No constant clattering of cutlery, no customers asking for extra syrup, no sound of children’s laughter from outside the windows. Just the low hum of the fridges and the faint smell of coffee that lingers on every surface. The street outside is damp from the evening rain. I zip up my jacket and start the walk home. Normally, this is the part of the day where my brain gets to switch off and just relax, but tonight’s different. I can’t stop thinking about Ryland Grace.
It’s strange knowing someone is standing at the edge of a story they haven’t stepped into yet. When I met him he was just… Ryland. Not a hero who saved the world. Not an astronaut who didn’t get the chance to come back home. Just a science teacher who has an endless supply of small talk. The kind of person who apologises for rambling, and then immediately starts rambling again. He has no idea what’s coming. No idea that he’ll face impossible choices. No idea that one day he’ll be asked to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. No idea that he’ll travel further than anyone ever has.
By the time I reach my flat, my feet ache from standing all day. I unlock the door, drop my keys into the bowl by the entrance, and take off my damp jacket. The silence feels heavy.
“Right,” I mutter to myself. “No more Ryland.”
I switch on the tv and start flicking through the different channels. A crime drama. Not in the mood. A reality show. Absolutely not. A cooking competition. I spend all day around food. Somewhere along the way I end up on a news channel.
At first, I’m not really paying attention, I’m just looking through my phone while the presenter talks in the background. Then I hear the word “Sun.” I glance up. Behind the presenter is a massive image of the sun, surrounded by charts and statistics which look uncertain. That gets my attention. I set my phone down and sink further into the sofa. Experts continue discussing the possibility that something bad could happen to the one star the entirety of earth depends on. And suddenly my thoughts drift back to Ryland.
For the first time since meeting him, I feel something colder than curiosity. I should have turned the tv off hours ago. I’d picked up the remote at least three times, but every time my thumb hovered over the power button. Every time, I hesitated. The news presenters were still talking about the sun. Not because there was anything new to report, there wasn’t. The same experts appeared. The same graphs and statistics were flashed across the screen. The same unanswered questions were repeated in slightly different ways. And yet I couldn’t stop watching.
The glow of the tv filled the flat whilst the rest of the room disappeared into shadow. At some point i’d stopped paying full attention. My eyes stayed on the screen, but my thoughts drifted somewhere else. To Ryland. Every mention of scientists made me think of him. Every mention of investigators made me think of him. Every discussion about finding answers made me wonder if someone would eventually walk in his classroom and change is life forever, just because of some paper he wrote out of pure scientific frustration. I hated that. Not because I thought he would fail, I know the story, I know he succeeded, but because of the fact he was forced into saving the world.
I sank even deeper into the sofa. My eyelids felt heavier with every passing minute. The presenter's voices began blending together until all I could hear was murmurs. Words drifting in and out of focus.
I picked up the remote for one last time. I was really gonna switch off the tv this time. I lifted my thumb towards the button. Then a scientist appeared on screen and began talking about a new theory, although still uncertain, something new. I lowered the remote again.
“Five more minutes,” I said, holding back a yawn.
Five minutes became ten. Ten minutes became thirty. The next thing I knew, the voices from the tv sounded very far away. The images on the screen became blurred, and the remote slid out my hand onto the cushion beside me. My eyes closed. Then darkness. The tv continued to flicker across the room whilst I slept on the sofa, completely unaware of how much time has passed. And somewhere out there, Ryland was sleeping too. Neither of us knowing just how much our lives were about to change.