for my space horror story which I'm kinda spinning in my head rn the protag is an autistic faceblind person (i'm trying to keep the reader guessing on their gender) who actually finds comfort in the strict bizarre routine of their weird space program. dystopian regime to YOU? comforting routine to ME. they are kinda sexually obsessed w this guy Mat but in a "only other person your own age in the airport is suddenly a 10/10" way. (even though Mat is actually quite a bit older lol) Mat has a bit more genre awareness & thinks they should escape the scary space program but he also is terrified of having to go back to earth finish his PhD and pick up the tatters of his personal relationships etc. & there is also an ambiguously gendered military person (i am trying to make a point about gender in this story lol) who gives them cigarettes for a bit but then lowkey rats them out to the leaders of space program #problematic

basically the concept of the space program is that they're sending students (and student-adjacent people I guess) out to a different (unspecified) planet to teach the aliens english, but it becomes immediately clear the aliens are already highly proficient in english, but there's no sign of when the students on the program can actually go home. the aliens are making up their own nefarious plots too ofc. my main alien throuple (who the protag partly lives with) are called corridor, flute & boeing atm (but i keep changing their names...)