Chapter Text
I squinted at the computer screen to check last night’s reading and nodded at the data output. It had only been six years, so it’s not like I ever got anything groundbreaking. But I still checked every day to keep a baseline reading from my telescopes.
Eridani was only visible from my home in Noordwijk for a few months of the year, so now that it was June, I relied on a telescope farm in Southern Brazil to take photos and readings from a unit I had purchased. It was a clear night there, so the numbers were exactly as expected.
Eridani was the same brightness as it’s been for decades.
The slight scent of burning got me to my feet quickly and I went into the kitchen and hit the cancel button on my toaster.
A bagel with charred ridges popped up, wisps of steam coming off them. I sighed and quickly dropped it on a plate.
It was terribly early, and the sun wasn’t even up yet, but today was a busy day. I would have preferred to be up even earlier, but I had been ushered home at a much too reasonable a time by Carl last night who said he wouldn't let me in the facilities before five AM. From my watch I brought up my digital display to check my messages while I finished getting together my breakfast—a bagel, a small nutrient bar, and frozen potatoes I’d tossed in the oven that I didn’t burn.
After the success of Project Saving Grace, Sol brightened even quicker than we expected, and it was still taking a little time for the Earth to warm back up and for life to acclimate. Taumoeba were truly some voracious predators, just as Grace had said.
Here in the Netherlands, June wasn’t yet as hot as it used to be thirty-five years ago, but there was no longer any snow or ice on the ground at this time of year. Many of my neighbors had started up their gardens in the last two years. I did still work with Dhazbog Industries and the St. Petersberg Community Library remotely when I had the time, helping approve where seeds could go as the world became more hospitable to life again.
Once finished with my breakfast, I pulled my hair back into a quick braid to keep it from my face, and I found my cane from wherever I’d left it the day before. After a rather nasty fall on some ice two years back, my hip protested whenever I ventured out of the house, which was unfortunate because I liked to walk to the ESA facility as it was only a few blocks away.
The metal had a fine, slightly rough texture to it and felt warm to the touch. But what I appreciated most about it was how incredibly light Dimitri made it with it's thin lattice structure. I needed to use it in my right hand, but my old shoulder injury had it’s own protests with over use. Xenonite was truly a marvelous material. It took Hatch and Dimitri along with several labs the better part of a year to crack its code. It wasn’t easy to make as it took all sorts of refined materials and quite a lot of Xenon, but its durability and light weight made it worth it.
I don’t exactly know how Dimitri heard about all my grumblings and mumbled curses at my standard issue cane from all the way in Russia, but I had some guesses of who was to blame.
With only a light jacket on, I headed outside. I could hear a lone robin calling for a mate, though there might not be another of its kind around to hear. I enjoyed its song as I hobbled my way down the sidewalk.
Making my way to the front door, I mentally went through the list of what I had to do first this morning as there were all manner of things to check off. When I left last night, everything was in order, so I expected things would go mostly smooth today.
“Good morning, Director Stratt.”
I looked up, snapping out of my thoughts. “Well, look who’s here early,” I hummed with a small smile as he held the door open for me just inside the facility. “Good morning Dr. Keller.” I glanced to the person already heading down the side hall. "And thank you, Ruben."
They flashed a grin over their shoulder. "I gotchu, boss!" they called with a two finger salute. "Happy launch day." And they continued on their way to meet up with the rest of the ground crew out back.
Ryland laughed and rolled his eyes. “They set three alarms and wouldn't let me walk on my own. No way I was going to be late on launch day.”
“Again," I amended with a nod.
“It was only five minutes past call last time,” he pouted.
“You hold onto that one,” I said, patting his back as we headed through the building together. “They make my life slightly more convenient.”
He snorted hard at that. “Very funny.”
I just chuckled and went into the elevator with him. “Oh, thank you for the bagels, by the way,” I said to him. “They are quite good.”
He brightened as we rode up a floor. “Oh good! I know they came out a little dry, but I’m going to try another batch this weekend. I want something a little softer and maybe with dried fruit. Do you have any requests?"
"I am quite satisfied with anything you wish to offer me," I said with a slight shrug. The doors opened.
"Might try a raisin cinnamon or something," he hummed, stepping out with me and standing to keep talking. "Or I might be able to swing some apples if I'm lucky. Or maybe--"
"Decide later, control room," I cut him off, pointing down the opposite hall I was headed.
"Right, right. See you at T-minus sixty minutes," he said with a wave and chuckle as he walked off.
I rounded a corner into my office and spent a brief amount of time going over some more of my messages, ensuring there was nothing urgent and making sure things had gone smoothly since I left last night. I then headed back through the building to the assembly facility in the back and looked down to the probe, marveling at it now that all support structures and tools had been pulled away. It had a slightly mottled brown and gray color to it as all critical structure points were made out of xenonite. It would be better if all of it was xenonite, but it wasn’t exactly an easy or cheap process, so we were selective about how to use it.
In fact, a few months ago, I was quite angry with Dimitri when he presented me with the new cane. It was made out of xenonite that should have gone to the probe.
Dimitri merely laughed with that big grin of his. “Steve owes me ten thousand rubles! I knew you would say those exact words, my friend.” And he foisted it onto me before taking the old aluminum cane. There was no reshaping the material once it had cured.
“Good morning, Director,” one of the technicians greeted. “The seeds and samples have received final sign-off and have been loaded up and sealed in. Just bay one and four are awaiting their packages."
“Understood, thank you."
The whole place was abuzz with energy as final procedures were in place and everyone wanted things to go as smoothly as possible.
I carefully headed down the steps the main floor, looking up at out creation. It had all sorts of compartments with Eridian numbers etched into them along with painted on English words stating what was inside each.
We never did learn much about written Eridian language beyond its numbers, and we only know about those thanks to Rocky’s clock he showed Grace.
In big, slightly raised letters was the name of the probe: Friendship.
The day that Saving Grace launched, I turned around and began building up the team for Project Bread Basket. Since then, we've been busy the last five years putting together this probe that would travel all the way to Erid, reaching it just one month over sixteen years. We had considered naming the probe Bread Basket as well, but knowing how Eridians felt about food, we didn’t want to knock on their door with something essentially called “toilet paper.”
“Mornin’ Stratt,” Hatch greeted. “Rise and shine, right?” he chuckled. “Been a while since I’ve gotten up so early and—”
“The probes, how are they?” I asked, cutting him off with a hand.
“Oh, yeah, they’re great. We resolved the issue with DuBois last night. A bolt cracked on the antennae array somehow, so once we replaced that, it worked just fine. No idea how something like that manages to happen, but you know there’s always some little hiccup that’ll getcha.”
I nodded. “Good. All are locked and loaded?”
“Yes, ma’am! All four Breadcrumbs are fully secure and reading beautifully,” he said.
Along Friendship’s journey, it would drop four “Breadcrumb” probes that would assist with long range communication that didn’t rely on sending something to one another’s systems.
“Good.” I brought up my digital display from my watch and went into my checklist, starting to mark items off.
“Hey Director, is it too late to burn those potatoes and give them something more worth while? We could trade them for probably a hundred seeds or something.”
“No, Dr. Watney, I think it might be too late for that," I said, glancing up at him.
“Damn,” he sighed, shaking his head. “Still can’t believe you made me pick out fucking potatoes to send them.”
“You don’t think Dr. Grace might feel differently about them?” I asked.
“Oh for sure, if he’s alive to get them, he’ll be ecstatic, but then they’ll turn on him one day. Just give them a few months,” he assured overly sincere.
I sighed and shook my head. “Everything checked off expectations?”
“Hm-hm, yes Ma’am,” he said with a nod. “Checked over and counted out all three hundred and thirty six seeds and eighteen little potatoes myself. Triple checked the airlock and they’re nice and comfy in their chilly ride loaded into bay number three along with the soil samples.”
I had put Dr. Watney in charge of determining what seeds we would be sending to Erid. While we knew none could possibly grow on Erid’s natural surface—both its atmosphere and lack of sunlight meant it was inhospitable for it—we were sure they would take great interest in studying them in a simulated Earth environment. We included all the information necessary for creating a grow room, including how to create the right lights, how to water them, and more. Not to mention, if Grace was alive, he’d be living somewhere with the right conditions artificially created for him, and he’d be able to plant his own garden.
Project Bread Basket was first and foremost focused on making contact with the Eridians to establish a way of future communication, my personal goal was to offer up a thank you to Grace and ensure he had something from his old home to eat, but I kept that part quiet as many people were skeptical on whether or not he could survive on Eridian-sourced diet.
“Good, thank you,” I said and continued on. “Dimitri, how are the engine and fuel bays?” I said, spotting him sitting and observing all the people buzzing about.
“Good morning, my friend,” he said, perking up. He grunted as he stood. “All is ship shape. Engines are looking quite beautiful, fuel is testing cleanly, and the team is conducting one final inspection on the primary spin drives. The spin drives on the Breadcrumbs all passed checks with flying colors yesterday.”
“Excellent.” I checked off a few line items on my list.
“The launch fuel containers have just reached the launch site and are being prepped for connection,” he added, looking over my list. “Oh, and communications test with the spin drive back up systems was done as well.”
I nodded, checking more things off. “Have you seen Helena?”
“No, not yet, but I suspect she is in the lab. I heard that Taumoeba farms are ready to go but not loaded yet,” he said.
“Understood, I’ll check in with her.” I then continued on my way again, heading through the hall doors and farther into the facility and to the lab.
I spotted Helena and her team through the window and gave the glass a knock.
The scientists looked over and Helena headed out of the door to meet me.
“Morning, Eva,” she greeted. “I just got in and was conducting final checks.”
“So am I. How are the farms?” I brought up my list.
“They will be ready to load in just five minutes. They’re running them through the sterilizer right now and will have one more swab.” She glanced through the window to those inside the lab.
We had no way of confirming if Grace and Rocky arrived actually made it to Erid and wouldn't know for ten to eleven more years. There was a chance that they did not make it or that there was an issue with the Taumoeba. So we took two of the mini farms Grace and Rocky created, and put them back together, this time with a simulated Threeworld atmosphere. I was wary of the general idea at first considering Friendship was Astrophage powered, but once we decided to re-use the mini farms Grace had made, and because they would be sealed away in a second box, I agreed. I also knew that I shouldn’t leave anything to chance, and if Grace wasn’t able to save Erid, we needed to do our part to repay the Eridians for Rocky’s help.
“Let me know when it’s been loaded into bay one,” I said and continued down the hall to a second lab. I grew concerned at seeing some tears from the lead zoologist. “Is everything alright, Dr. Dewulf?”
“Oh! Stratt!” the Belgian man said, surprised. “Yes, quite alright. It’s just hard to say goodbye, you know.” He hugged a xenonite capsule his chest.
“We’re all set, Director,” one of his assistants said. “The cryo chamber is functioning perfectly. We were just wishing them well before loading them.”
I nodded, relieved. “They will have a rather unique journey, and hopefully a loving home,” I said, checking off another item in my list.
We had selected a pair of painted turtle hatchlings, a few woolly bear caterpillars, and a large supply of tardigrade. All creatures who had passed the capabilities of being frozen for long periods of time and might be thawed out at Erid and still be alive.
“We’ll get them loaded up into bay four in the next ten minutes,” Dr. Dewulf said with a teary smile.
“Thank you.” I made my checkmarks and continued on.
Unfortunately, my hip’s constant needling grew too painful, so I stepped into an empty lab for a moment to sit. I simply went through more my messages; there were a few small snags being dealt with, but nothing that would push back our launch target this afternoon. I received confirmation that the greeting comms system was functioning perfectly along with subsequent and redundant systems.
Figuring out how to open communication with the Eridians was tricky and took a lot of refining. We knew they used audio communication and that they knew how to receive our radio signals if asked, but we didn’t have a lot of details from Rocky as he hadn't exactly explained how he set up his radio to talk with Grace while back on the Blip-A. The closest we had was some of Rocky’s explanations on his predator collector and how he creating the audio driven controls. So we created a greeting message that would play across various radio channels, hoping that we might catch their attention.
“Hello from planet Earth! This probe is named Friendship and has been sent to you in a gesture of gratitude and hopeful collaboration. We come bearing gifts and information for your people. The following instructions will guide you through accesses Friendship’s controls to allow you to collect it from space.”
It was read in Irina’s voice in English as well as simulated Eridian speech. Some people tried to get me to read all the messages, but I thought it better to let the woman who started us on this journey be the one to say hello to our neighbors.
The probe would instruct what signals to use to control the spin drives and radio functionalities. All of the important gifts inside the probe were in sealed xenonite chambers so that the Eridians would be able to collect the whole probe without worry for destroying its contents. It had taken a while to make sure all components of the probe could withstand Erid’s temperatures, but we needed to ensure they would have no troubles with it since they would need to physically access the probe to get more of our messages.
We created hundreds of recordings for them from across the globe. Nations and individuals all gave their thanks to the Eridians and to Grace, all in their own tongue with simulated Eridian speech overlapping it. They talked about their culture and their histories and their hopes for the future.
Each of the gifts we were giving also came with numerous and very detailed recordings of information and instructions. Each and every seed had full explanations of its biology and needs to grow, and we also included the cultural significance that came with them. Such as the importance of wheat and rice on the global diet, the meanings of peace with the olive branch, the sturdiness and utility of cotton, the story of survival with potatoes, and much more.
We had to staff a large team just to manage all the recordings, making sure the information was concise, necessary, and accurate before it was translated by a whole separate team of linguists.
The probe did also have means to communicate with the Hail Mary if her systems were still operating. While I might have my hopes for Grace being alive to help receive the probe, there was no way to guess what state the Hail Mary was in. She was already well past her intended life and the damage from Adrian that would further hasten her breakdown with time. It’s possible that she was decommissioned by the Eridians and studied. Or it’s possible they put her back together and improved upon her design, and those that bet on this theory guessed they might try to send Grace home, though I had my doubts he'd take his chance at interstellar travel again, and that he'd want to leave Rocky. The theory I quite liked was that they turned the Hail Mary into a proper home instead of a spaceship—maybe they gutted her to be little more than living quarters for Grace to remain in orbit, or maybe they took her down to the surface and user her to keep him alive there. There were countless possibilities, but it was quite possible that her radios could still be turned on.
Once the Eridians properly accessed Friendship through the instructions radioed over, it would play a more proper introductory message. It was a message I drafted that was edited by several teams to make sure the sentiments came across well. It took some convincing, but I was made to record it. Going through my messages, I confirmed that the files were indeed uploaded properly.
“Hello residents of Erid. My name is Eva Stratt from Earth, and I was the one in charge of sending Friendship to you, and I directed Project Hail Mary, which was responsible for sending the Hail Mary to Tau Ceti where a lone astronaut of ours met a lone astronaut of yours.
“Despite coming from completely different worlds, Ryland Grace and Rocky found a way to communicate. Their sheer determination to find an answer to the Astrophage crisis and desire to live bonded them instantly. It is only because of their friendship that a predator to Astrophage was collected and sent back to us.
“Grace sacrificed himself to ensure Rocky made it home with this Taumoeba and set back probes to us with our own samples. We were able to successfully implement a solution that has returned Sol to its full luminance. To say thank you, we have prepared several gifts for all of Erid that you will find in numbered bays on this ship. Rest assured that all sensitive contents are contained in xenonite to assist in your collection of each package.
“In bay one, our first gift to you is something we hope you do not need: Taumoeba capable of living on Threeworld. At this time, we cannot be certain if Grace and Rocky made it back to Erid, though we have confidence in the Hail Mary and their resourcefulness they did make it. Should something have disrupted their journey or were unable to keep the Taumoeba alive, we have sent you a small farm with detailed instructions on how Earth seeded the Astrophage breeding planet in our solar system.
“We launched Friendship with hopes that we can establish a line of communication with you, even though we know it will be slow. Along Friendship’s journey, it released four radio probes that will speak to one another across these sixteen light years. These probes, in order of deployment, are named DuBois, Shapiro, Yáo, and Ilyukhina. You will find all details surrounding the communication system we hope you can connect with in bay two along with camera technology suited for your environment to send us images and video in addition to radio communication.
“In bay three, our botanists have put together a package of seeds and plant samples for your scientists to study. Each plant selected has deep cultural roots spanning from use in clothing, engineering, sustenance, art, and symbology. We have also included some of our preliminary research on Earth plants in Erid-like environments as well as growing instructions for how you might create your own growing room to cultivate them.
“Additionally, we have sent you three animals from Earth that we hope survived their journey. Each of them have natural means to resist being completely frozen for long periods of time and are currently kept as such in bay four. These creatures can all survive on the plants we provided you, and we hope that they will be of scientific interest to you. One of these creatures, a microscopic organism called a tardigrade is considered the most resilient life form on Earth, and has survived our simulated-Eridian environments.
“If Grace and Rocky made it to Erid, you should have numerous computer devices that house all digital media at the time of the ship’s launch. In bay five, we have provided more advanced versions of computers along with new digital software and information from the last thirty-three years since the Hail Mary launched and today, June sixteen, twenty-fifty-four. Also on these devices, you can find messages from people all across Earth speaking in their own languages, offering words of thanks, greeting, and discussions of cultural customs.
“In bay six, you will find a variety of items that have significance to us on Earth. We supplied various natural substances, synthetic materials, fossils of creatures long extinct, pieces of art, and more, all with details of what they mean to us as a species and a people. One item you will find is a clock that has been set to match the time here back on Earth to assist with interstellar communication. Once set to your local time, it will automatically send a radio signal out to Ilyukhina and then the rest of the probes, assisting in our long distance communications.
“We hope you appreciate these gifts as a grand thank you from all of Eartch. We humans are resilient, but our dimmed sun took a toll on our people. Without help from the Eridian people, Sol may have never returned to full luminance.
“We do hope you were able to take care of Grace for us when he reached you. It is our sincere hope that no astronaut finds themself starving out among the stars again—human or Eridian. We have begun work on creating a large-scale Erid-like environment here on Earth that has the capability to sustain any Eridian that might find its way in our solar system. And while we have no natural means of sustenance for your people, we have some data on what you require to live thanks to Grace and Rocky, and have found ways to synthesize some of your nutrients.
“We hope that you might do the same for us. In four year’s time from the launch of Friendship, we plan to launch a manned ship: Unity. Four astronauts will embark on a journey to Erid for research and in good faith to foster a relationship with your people. This mission will spend a minimum of four years in orbit around Erid before returning home, but it has the capacity to spend up to ten should you be able and willing to offer up resources.
“Humans and Eridians have much in common as well as so many wonderful differences. Both our peoples were willing to venture far into the unknown and the dangerous in order to save our planets, and our astronauts both risked their lives in order to save one another so they might make it back home.
“So on behalf of Earth: Hello, we are very excited to meet you, and we thank you for your help. We look forward to speaking with you more.
“Oh, and Grace, if you’re still alive over there. I told you so. Thank you for your work and your sacrifices. We miss you.”
I closed out of the system. With my hip having calmed down, I got up, leaning heavily on my cane.
“There you are,” Irina called from down the hall with Sunan at her side.
“Good to see you,” I greeted Sunan, exchanging a brief hug. It’d been a few years since I last saw her in person. I thought the launch of Friendship might be a good excuse for her to come visit everyone.
“I’ve got you coffee,” Irina said, handing me a cup.
“Thank you.” I took it and immediately took a good drink from it.
“How is everything going?” Sunan asked with a warm smile.
“Everything is mostly on schedule. Katia said we have perfect weather all day, too, so launch should happen right at eleven thirty,” I said as I started back down the hall to continue my checks with the two of them chatting behind me.
Preparations continued for some time, and I slowly checked off every item on my list, ensuring every team was satisfied with their final inspections. Once ready, I headed to the control room.
Carl opened the door for us, and we headed inside where fifteen people were monitoring various screens, each ready for the show to begin.
“Sounds like everything's got the green light, hm?” Ryland asked me and held out an ear piece.
“Yes, all system go from my view.” I took it and fitted it into my ear.
Ryland pressed a button on his ear piece. “This is Dr. Keller with comms, I'll be leading communications between us today, Director Stratt is now plugged in. Ground crew, you look pretty good down there, but let's hear all your beautiful voices confirm what we're seeing."
I turned my ear piece on. "Ryland, what have I told you about flirting on the main comms channel?" I asked in a heavy sigh and a look at him.
"What, I said 'all,'" he defended with a grin as a few chuckles came through. "Ishwar's a beautiful tenor, I'll have you know."
"Thanks Ry!" the Indian man chirped over the radio.
"And we can all sing when Friendship is up in the air," came Ruben's voice with amusement. "To answer your actual question, Friendship finished its crawl out to the launch pad and we're finishing attaching the primary stage fuel tanks."
"Good, right on schedule," I replied, pleased. I took my seat at the back of the room where I could see everyone. From my pocket, I pulled out the xenonite astronaut that Rocky made, looking it over fondly as listened to my team over comms.
It didn’t matter how many launches I’d been a part of at this point, I still found my heart pounding hard in my chest. I had confidence all would go well, but there were always things we couldn’t predict that concerned me. And admittedly, this was an exciting launch. So I had several reasons for my aching chest and lively nerves.
The control room filled up with the members of our team while we waited for the last inspection to complete. Dimitri, Hatch, Helena, Watney, and even Dr. Gallent joined us, and out at the launch viewing site were the loved ones left behind by the original Hail Mary crew and hundreds of others. Of course, there were all manner of cameras and news crews broadcasting today's events to the world.
The minutes ached on, but when the time came, of course, the launch went perfectly. I had an amazing team I could count on that did everything in their power to make this as easy and successful as possible.
We watched the rocket lifted higher and higher into the air, the primary then secondary state boosters falling away, and I couldn’t hold back a tear that rolled down my cheek. They came easier these days, and I think I was finally okay with that. My thoughts could only think of Grace as I watched the white trail. I wondered what he would think of the probe. What he might do with the items inside. How much he would cry at the messages from those he knew. And about the life he would continue to live on an alien planet.
Off into the vastness of space, Friendship began her long journey through the stars, carrying humanity's hard work, hopes, wishes. She was off to meet our neighbors and propel both our species into a brand new age, where we were longer alone in the universe.
And unbeknownst to anyone at the time, just before Friendship reached the halfway point, she passed by another object in space. It wasn't too dissimilar from the beetles, though it was somewhat larger and made of mottled brown metal. It headed in the opposite direction of Friendship, and etched on its side read its name: Earth Probe ℓ: Hi Guys.