Project Hail Mary

In the present, total darkness swallows the Hail Mary, leaving Ryland scrambling to understand what’s gone wrong. Rocky, unfazed without eyes or reliance on human systems, listens as Ryland explains that all ship power has gone offline. Rocky’s own equipment still functions on his internal generator, but the human half of the ship is dead. Ryland manages to find a small emergency control panel and activates battery backup, bringing dim lights and a single monitor to life. The ship’s operating system boots up into a minimalist emergency interface. The readout confirms life support is limited, power is minimal, and the generators are offline. Rocky offers to help fix them, but Ryland needs to find the source of the problem first. With oxygen and time running out, he hurries to inspect the fuel system.

Ryland finds what he’s looking for in a crawlspace behind a hidden panel. Inside a small cubby lies the generator, connected to pipes for fuel and waste. As Ryland unhooks the fuel line, a foul-smelling sludge drips out. He runs a slide to the microscope and confirms his worst fear: Taumoeba have contaminated the fuel. They’ve devoured the Astrophage that powers the ship. With no fuel, the generators are dead. The contamination likely came through a tiny leak in the ship’s battered structure, a single microscopic breach that let a predator cell into the system.

Determined to salvage what they can, Ryland and Rocky brainstorm. The remaining Astrophage in Rocky’s sealed containers can power the ship’s electrical systems if the generator is restored. Rocky sterilizes and seals it, returning Ryland’s power but not his propulsion. That’s when Ryland remembers the beetles: four autonomous mini-ships onboard, each carrying their own sealed supply of Astrophage. After some much-needed sleep, he embarks on a risky EVA to retrieve them from the spinning nose of the ship. The work is perilous, but he recovers three of the four beetles. Rocky modifies their systems, bypassing damaged electronics to allow remote activation via sound.

With the beetles now acting as makeshift engines, Ryland mounts them around the ship’s hull. The goal is to use their thrust to stabilize the ship’s spin and navigate toward Rocky’s larger vessel, which still has a full Astrophage supply. Ryland performs another dangerous EVA to inspect damage from the earlier fuel tank rupture and then returns to the control room. They retract the cables separating the ship’s spinning halves, pulling it into a unified, spinning unit. The increased rotational speed knocks Ryland unconscious, but when he wakes, Rocky has brought the ship back to zero g and full control. Now that they have power and propulsion—however limited—they prepare for the next step: plotting a course to survival.