Page 39 of Project Hail Mary

Next thing I knew, I was on the flight deck looking like an idiot. They gave me earmuffs and a coat and shuffled me over to a helipad. A navy chopper was waiting for me.

“Will this trip…end? Like…ever?!” I asked.

They ignored me and got me strapped in. The chopper took off immediately. This time, the flight wasn’t nearly so long. Just an hour or so.

“This should be interesting,” said the pilot. It was the only thing he’d said the whole flight.

We descended and the landing gear deployed. Below us was another aircraft carrier. I squinted at it. Something looked different. What was it…oh, right. It had a big Chinese flag flying over it.

“Is that a Chinese aircraft carrier?!” I asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“Are we, a U.S. Navy helicopter, going to land on that Chinese aircraft carrier?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I see.”

We landed on the carrier’s helipad and a bunch of Chinese Navy guys watched us with interest. There would be no post-flight servicing of this chopper. My pilot leered through the windows at them and they leered right back.

As soon as I stepped out, he took off again. I was in China’s hands now.

A navy man came forward and gestured for me to follow him. I don’t think anyone spoke English, but I got the general idea. He led me to a door in the tower structure and we went inside. We wound through passageways, stairwells, and rooms I didn’t even understand the purpose of. All the while, Chinese sailors watched me with curiosity.

Finally, he stopped at a door with Chinese characters on it. He opened the door and pointed inside. I walked in and he slammed the door behind me. So much for my guide.

I think it was an officer’s conference room. At least, that was my assumption based on the big table with fifteen people sitting at it. They all turned their heads to look up at me. Some were white, some were black, some were Asian. Some wore lab coats. Others wore suits.

Stratt, of course, sat at the head of the table. “Dr. Grace. How was your trip?”

“How was my trip?” I said. “I got dragged across the gosh-darned world without any notice—”

She held up her hand. “It was just a pleasantry, Dr. Grace. I don’t actually care how your trip was.” She stood and addressed the room. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Dr. Ryland Grace from the United States. He figured out how to breed Astrophage.”

Gasps came from around the table. One man shot to his feet and spoke with a thick German accent. “Are you serious?Stratt, warum haben sie—?”

“Nur Englisch,” Stratt interrupted.

“Why are we only hearing of this now?” the German demanded.

“I wanted to confirm it first. While Dr. Grace was en route, I had technicians pack up his lab. They collected four live Astrophage from his lab. I only left him three.”

An elderly man in a lab coat spoke Japanese in a calm, soothing voice. Next to him, a younger Japanese man in a charcoal suit translated. “Dr. Matsuka would like to respectfully request a detailed description of the process.”

Stratt stepped aside and gestured to her chair. “Doctor, have a seat and lay it out for us.”

“Hold on,” I said. “Who are these people? Why am I on a Chinese aircraft carrier? And have you ever heard of Skype?!”

“This is an international body of high-level scientists and political operatives that I have assembled to spearhead Project Hail Mary.”

“What’s that?”

“That would take a while to explain. Everyone here is eager to hear about your Astrophage findings. Let’s start with that.”

I shuffled to the front of the room and sat awkwardly at the head of the table. All eyes turned to me.

So I told them. I told them all about the wooden closet experiments. I explained all my tests, what I did for each one, and how I did them. Then I explained my conclusions: I told them my hypothesis about the Astrophage life-cycle, how it works, and why. There were a few questions from the assembled scientists and politicos, but mostly they just listened and took notes. Several had translators whispering in their ear during the process.