Work Text:
Document titled: Dear Earth
Greetings Earth,
Onboard the Beetles is a solution to the astrophage problem.
This is Dr. Ryland Grace, Science Specialist of Hail Mary. I am sending this message from the Tau Ceti system. I was the sole survivor of the journey to Tau Ceti. Commander Yao and Specialist Illukna died due to complications related to their induced comas. When I awoke I did not have my memory or even know my own name due to a drug administered to me to ensure my compliance with the mission. I did not willingly go on the mission to Tau Ceti. After the untimely deaths of primary science specialist Martin DuBois and secondary science specialist Annie Shapiro, I was given less than a day to make the decision. When I refused, Director Stratt had me arrested and jailed before I was given drugs so that I would not be conscious and voice my objections to commander Yao.
When I awoke at Tau Ceti, my memories started to return slowly and I recalled many details of my life and my work with Project Hail Mary. While much of the early days of Project Hail Mary are unknown to the general public, I was responsible for first investigating astrophage, I named it, discovered how it bred, and then designed the astrophage breeding system. Now, I can report that I have discovered a solution to the astrophage problem.
Onboard each of the Beatles is a colony of astrophage’s natural predator on the planet Adrian, which I have called Taumoeba. Taumoeba are an aggressive predator that need to be deployed in the astrophage breeding zone on Venus. Natural Taumoeba were vulnerable to nitrogen, so these Taumoeba were selectively bred to thrive in Venus’s atmosphere. Attached are preliminary plans to deploy Taumoeba as well as detailed notes on Taumoeba and the other life found on Adrian and in the petrova line of Tau Ceti.
While my crewmates on the Hail Mary passed during the voyage, I was not alone in finding a solution. Shortly after arriving at Tau Ceti, I met our galactic neighbors from Erid, the first planet in the 40 Eridani system. After sensing my astrophage engines another vessel approached the Hail Mary. The vessel, Blip A, as we came to call it due to how it was indicated on the onboard navigation, is three times the size of Hail Mary. My detailed notes on first contact are in a separate document. After exchanging greetings and solar systems, The Eridian vessel attached a tunnel to connect our ships.
Then I met Rocky. My friend Rocky is a pentagonally symmetrical intelligent being from the planet Erid. Eridians live in an atmosphere roughly 30 times that of earth with roughly double the gravity. Eridians breathe ammonia and have a thick rock like carapace. Detailed notes on Eridians biology and photographs of Rocky are included in the document titled Eridian Biology. Rocky's name was of course not Rocky, but is the name I gave him as his actual name is unpronounceable by human vocal chords. Eridians lack sight due to the lack of light that penetrates the thick atmosphere and thus rely on sound. Their sense of hearing is truly amazing. For example Rocky was able to sense my burned arms when it was covered by bandages. Conversely, Rocky was amazed to learn that humans “sense light.” Eridians communicate using chords and notes and we were quickly able to establish communication due to computer programs on my side and Rocky's perfect memory. The document Eridian-English dictionary has the working vocabulary that Rocky and I created and there are separate recordings of a few conversations between myself and Rocky.
Rocky was also the sole survivor of Erids mission to Tau Ceti. Like us, they noted the stability of Tau Ceti’s Petrova line. They left Erid with a crew of 43. However, the trip was hampered by a lack of knowledge on two important subjects for interstellar travel: relativity and radiation. While this was Erids first interstellar mission, they had experience in low Erid orbit due to a space elevator constructed from Xenonite. Eridians have no knowledge of radiation and it was the cause of death for all of Rockys crew. Rocky survived because his room on the ship was near the engines and where the astrophage was stored. Rocky managed to navigate to Tau Ceti through pure trial and error. Eridians scientists assumed that they would be able to constantly accelerate as they were unaware of relativity.
While Earth science is ahead of Erids in many ways, Erid has far superior materials technology. Xenonite is a material made of blending two liquids and is indeed a solid form of xenon. Unfortunately, Rocky did not know how specifically to create xenonite just as I could not tell him how a "thinking machine" is made, but I've included notes in a document titled Xenonite which will hopefully give our materials experts something to start with.
Eridian lack of knowledge on relativity proved to be a boon to me as their ship had enough reserve fuel to completely refuel the Hail Mary. Initially, the plan was to return to Earth. However, Taumeoba evolved another trait while it developed resistance to nitrogen, the ability to burrow into Xenonite. As a result, I will soon point my engines toward Earth to find Rocky, who is likely derelict in space as his ship is largely made of Xenonite. We had one Taumeoba outbreak on Hail Mary and I can testify to how fast it spreads.
I need to go save my friend.
Ryland Grace