(warning, possible spoilers ahead) I'm replaying Floatpoint by Emily
Short, and just discovered that if you put the little man in the gift
box and show it to Liam, he says "I know who made the little man.  She
is experiment in making colonists pleasing to earth people.  If a deal
is not made, her line will be useless and she dies.  She would offer
anything to you as a bribe.  Even just for you to take her alone back
to earth."  This seems to hint at the possibility of a romantic ending
with the scientist, but how do you follow it through?  Any attempts to
communicate with Liam, other than showing him stuff, fails.  And I
can't get anything further out of him by showing him the man in the
box, he simply repeats the above statement.