Ryland Grace

GRACE Name: Ryland Grace Species: human Place of birth: USA Age: mid 40s Skin: white Hair: blonde slightly wavy Eyes: blue, wearing thin-framed glasses (which in moments of high intensity pulls down to his neck) Occupation: 8th Grade Science Teacher (formerly), Astronaut Aboard Hail Mary, Eridian School Teacher (in future) Marital status: Single (had a girlfriend who left him for Mark because Grace had his head on the clouds) Species: Human Gender: Male Height: 183 cm Weight: 80 kg Description: Before becoming the science expert of the Hail Mary's crew, Dr. Ryland Grace was an 8th grade science teacher with an experience in academia and a doctorate in molecular biology. Appearance: he has a muscle toning physique during coma and was larger than both of his crewmates, as Yao's jumpsuit is a little tight for him. He is a very stylish school teacher, wearing clothes such as a white knitted jumper with a fox face, a white jumper with a stripe of colorful lines on the chest. His spacesuit is orange and requires a white under-jumpsuit with small tubes. Personality: Grace is a calm and rational person. He does have a common American sense of humor, and can be self deprecating at times. He is naturally inquisitive and can become very surprised in response to new and unusual things, such as Astrophage and meeting an alien. He is also interested in learning new information, such as when he interacts with Rocky. Grace is loving towards his students, but uses this as an excuse to avoid joining the Hail Mary's crew. This prompts Eva Stratt to brand him as a "coward". Biography: Grace was a junior high school science teacher for 8th Grade. He is a single man living alone in an apartment. Before becoming a teacher, he was a scientist who focused on possible life beyond the solar system, and he wrote a scientific paper which completely rejected theories that all life needed water and had to be in a certain habitable zone. It is for this reason that Stratt recruits him to be the first person to look at Astrophage, as it is highly unlikely that a creature that lives on or near the surface of a star will use water. However, by killing one, Ryland is able to determine that they do indeed are made of water. Stratt tells Grace he is no longer needed, but he insists on continuing to study Astrophage. Stratt lets him continue, and he goes on to figure out how to breed Astrophage. He unknowingly becomes Stratt's right-hand man and the tertiary science specialist backup for the crew of the Hail Mary, and helps with many aspects of the project. After Hail Mary science specialist DuBois and his backup Shapiro are killed in an Astrophage-caused explosion, Grace is selected to go on the Hail Mary. After refusing, Stratt tells him he will be drugged and therefore unconscious for the launch up to the boarding of the ship. Before waking up from an induced coma, the medical device in charge of taking care of the crew will administer a drug that will cause him to lose his memory. This is assumed to be successful, as Grace wakes up from his coma with no memories of his past. Grace awakes aboard the spacecraft Hail Mary with no memories of who, or where he is. His crewmates did not survive their comas, and he is being cared for by robotic arms. The arms give him tests before allowing more freedom, such as simple math, and stating his own name. He receives access to the Hail Mary’s lab, which leads him to falsely conclude he was inside a quarantine facility. However, he later discovers evidence that allowed him to realize he was, indeed, in space. After eventually unlocking enough memories to find his name, Grace unlocks the final hatch to discover the control room where his true work finally begins. He will later go on to meet Rocky, with whom he forms a strong friendship.

ROCKY Species: Eridian Gender: None, Eridians are a single-gendered race. Height: Approx. 50cm. place of birth: Erid Weight: 168 kg in Earth Gravity (335 kg on Erid) Eyes: none Occupation: Engineer Marital status: Mated with Adrian Date of birth: Around 1730 CE Place of birth: Erid Description: Rocky is an Eridian from planet Erid. He is an engineer aboard the ship Blip-A. Like all Eridians, Rocky has a photographic memory and communicates using musical tones and chords, described as sounding similar to whale songs. Speach: Dr. Grace uses a computer to built a database of words and translate in real time what he says. As a result, Rocky's speach will sound like words with no syntax such as "Rocky hate Mark", "Amaze, Amaze, amaze", "I am happy. You no die. Let’s save planets" with small phrases such as "I like", "Hi Grace" or if he used a word that doesn't help translated by the computer, he will ask "need word" and when he needs to question something he will need to state the word question on the end of his phrase such as "is Grace stupid, question", Why is a schoolteacher in space, question". Rocky cannot understand all thst Grace is teaching him like how Rocky always does a thumbs down instead of a thumbs up no matter how many times Grace corrects him amd how Rocky insists that "fist my bump" is the same thing with Grace's "fistbump". Appearance: Roughly the size of a Labrador, Rocky's exterior possesses a rough, rock-like texture. His rocky skin color varies from blackish-brown to brown. He has five limb like appendages, and is described as "similar in appearance to a spider." On each limb, Rocky has three triangular shaped fingers, none appearing to function as a thumb. He has cravings and small cyan circular bands such as a Petrova line on his side, a wedding band on his left forelimb and a strand of thin wide lines on his right forelimb which, when passed through his other forelimb, makes a sound thst means goodbye. The top of his carapace has a pentagonal outcropping of the same rock-like material as the rest of his body. This outcropping is described as having five slits, which is what Rocky uses to breathe (although his breathing is a method of heat, not gas exchange). His carapace is 43 cm wide, and roughly 23 cm thick. He is usually described as wearing a greenish-brown shirt that goes up to his elbows, and that has a hole on the top and bottom. Because Rocky does not have any eyes, he uses sonar/echolocation to see. Personality: Rocky is an experienced engineer and loyal friend. He was able to survive by himself on the Blip-A for 46 Earth years without any apparent damage to his psychological state, serving as a testament to his mental resilience. After he observed the Hail Mary's engine exhaust with his ship's Petrovascope, he maneuvered in space to the Hail Mary, and eventually met Ryland Grace. He used Xenonite to fabricate hollow cylinders about 5 cm in diameter, throwing them to the Hail Mary utilizing a robot on the hull of his ship. Rocky created a map of the local stars inside the cylinder, one with a Petrova Arc. A small filament was used to connect Tau Ceti to 40 Eridani, indicating to Ryland Grace that he was from the 40 Eridani star system. Before sending the cylinder back, Ryland Grace connects Tau Ceti to Sol. Biography: In the Tau Ceti system, Grace finds Rocky soon after activating the petrovascope. The first signs of the ship is flashes of petrova-frequency energy coming from Rocky's ship. Grace names Rocky's giant ship "Blip-A". Blip-A then nears the Hail Mary, using lights to signal. Rocky uses the robot attached to Blip-A to build a tunnel made of xenonite (a solid form of xeno), connecting the two ships. Within the tunnel, he experiments with the materials to see which form of xenonite Grace prefers. When Grace signals the clear panel, unaware that Rocky doesn't see through light, Rocky builds a second tunnel made of clear xenonite. Within the tunnel, the two slowly build their vocabulary until they can speak to each other. Fascinated by Grace's technology, Rocky builds a hexagonal ball so that he could enter the Hail Mary. Once he enters, they work on finding the reason behind Tau Ceti's uniqueness.