PROJECT HAIL MARY

Hail Mary Science Specialists Dead in Apparent Accident, Project Hail Mary First Officer to Take Their Place

By WILL PRICE
Updated 8:44 PM EST, MARCH 28, 2023

“He’s going.”

When Stratt met Dimitri’s eyes and declared Grace’s ‘intentions,’ he wasn’t sure if she were trying to convince herself or if she truly intended to rewrite reality from this moment on.

Grace had been a good friend.

They’d spent the better part of four years together on that damn aircraft carrier. They could have been at each other’s throats, they could have hated one another, but instead, they found friendship. His fondest memories were the hours they’d spent on their dorm room floors, drinking and laughing like they were in college again.

They discussed Astrophage and its potential for the future for hours on that cold floor. Clean energy. Space travel. Maybe it even had medical applications? If this whole project worked, if this crazy mission brought them the Hail Mary they needed, then the future might be bright, indeed.

He couldn’t hold his liquor for shit, and Dimitri wouldn’t pretend that he and Ilyukhina hadn’t made a game of giving him the most pungent vodka and seeing exactly what he could tolerate. He would have never lasted in a Russian drinking game, and it’d brought both of them great amusement.

“Can I see him?” Dimitri asked, even as the tendrils of hope he held slipped through his fingers.

But it hadn’t been all business. Dimitri knew about Grace’s hope for his students and about the accident that’d sent him into a fervor that eventually ended his academic career. In exchange, Grace learned about Dimitri’s divorce and his strained relationship with his sister and nephews. Once this all ended, Dimitri was set to fly to San Francisco next September to give a lecture to some snot-nosed brats.

Stratt, who’d already turned back to her work, merely looked at him with a cold expression and said, “He’s taking the time to mentally prepare. I’m afraid he’s requested no guests.”

Dimitri drew his lips tight and walked away, a sad ache in his chest.

When he watched the launch, he drank the bottle.

The mood in the launch room was dour.

No one expected it to be a true celebration. Not when they were sending three people to their deaths, but they’d intended to open a few bottles in their honor and commiserate about the sadness of the inevitable future and pray for the shimmering hope that now prepared to sail to a far-off solar system

But that was before DuBois and Shapiro’s deaths.

Steve Hatch’s eyes wandered the room, which was emptier than any of them wanted it to be. Lamai’s hands were in a tight grip, her fingernails digging into her palms as she watched the live feed. She would stay for just a few more days while Yáo and Ilyukhina ran their final checks on the ship. She was to run interference on any unexpected issues that might arise with the coma system or the medical robot.

Mission Control babble flew from the television screen as they checked and confirmed all systems. Dimitri had with a deep frown upon his face and held a cup of pungent vodka. No one had the guts to tell him to drop it.

Yáo’s voice came through the speaker. “This is the Hail Mary, we are go.” Dimitri took a long drink.

Lokken tore her eyes away from the screen as the primary rockets fired. She’d been unusually quiet since Grace left. Hatch had made a point to get tea with her once a week, but she’d declined this week’s appointment, choosing to lock herself in her room while they prepared for this moment. She and Dimitri would be around for another few days to troubleshoot any last-minute issues aboard the ship.

They had liftoff.

Redell was long gone. He’d flown out that morning, not caring to stay for this. His role was done. He and Grace bred the Astrophage that made this whole thing possible and there was nothing else for him here.

The meter on the side of the television screen inched up as they gained altitude. Just a few minutes more, and they’d hit their second burn, and propel them away from this planet, never to return.

Stratt watched the launch with a tight expression. She clutched her tablet with white knuckles. For all of her planning, her management, her consultations, this was one thing that was fully out of her control. Either the crew of the Hail Mary would launch, or they would die a fiery death alongside the whole project.

The burn finished, and the crew of the Hail Mary was officially in orbit around the planet. They had a few hours before they would link up with the ship that would one day become their coffin. Around the world, people celebrated, but in this room no one spoke.

“We are in space!” Ilyukhina’s voice shouted, a laugh in her voice. “Earth is very pretty!” Steve quirked a smile at her enthusiasm. She always brought a bright joy to a project that could easily weigh you down.

Yáo, who was focused on the mission, said, “All three astronauts are well. I have rendezvous with the Hail Mary in 145 minutes. Please confirm.” The mission control team confirmed his estimate, and the feed went silent as the two awake astronauts took stock of the planet they were leaving behind. Dimitri turned off the TV and left. Stratt was already gone.

Steve was glad that Grace decided to go, in the end.

Steve, selfishly, did not envy Grace and the decision that fell on his shoulders. He wasn’t sure that if he were asked to sacrifice his life to save humanity if he would have the strength to say yes. He loved this planet, his wife and his children, and the idea of leaving it all behind made his heart ache. He sent a prayer up for the three astronauts. Then it hit.

Huh. Hail Mary, full of Grace.

Maybe there was some divine intervention there after all.

Lokken’s breath was unsteady as she watched the feed. Yáo and Ilyukhina were checking every last inch of the ship. There’d been a few last-minute fixes, including a feeding tube exchange for the coma system that Grace had apparently ordered before, well…

She’d nearly thrown her headphones off as she watched them float Grace’s body into the dormitory and set him in his bed for the next four years. They injected him with some sort of anxiety medication, which made no damn sense given that it’d be long gone from his system by the time they woke up Tau Ceti. It had Stratt’s signature all over it and she didn’t like it

It’d taken four years to design, engineer, and launch the Hail Mary. An amount of time that would have been inconceivable under normal circumstances. It’d been an engineering feat that they would study and analyze for years. If they pulled this off, if the Hail Mary made it to Tau Ceti—and, more importantly—Earth didn’t die first, then it would be the greatest example of human ingenuity in history.

And Ryland Grace was aboard.

Horrified disgust had curled through her when Stratt announced that he’d be taking DuBois and Shapiro’s place, when he’d ‘requested privacy before the launch,’ and he’d been shoved into the rocket propelling them out of the Earth’s atmosphere.

She didn’t buy it, not one bit. She’d seen the look on his face. He wasn’t going to do it. He wasn’t going to say yes.

And if he was truly going to go. He would’ve said good-bye. He was sappy enough for something like that. But no, he’d gone dark, and that unsettled Lokken more than anything.  

“We’re a go,” Yáo’s voice called. “We’ve gone through the checklist. We’re setting course to Tau Ceti.” Ilyukhina popped on the screen to give the watching world a thumbs up and a wide smile.

“We will save planet!”

The feed continued, but Lokken’s job was done. She shut her laptop off and let out a shuddering sigh.

She should be proud of her work here. She was relatively young, and she’d led the team that built the damn spaceship that would be man’s first venture into interstellar travel. She had dozens of job offers in her inbox from companies around the world. She could be an executive by her mid-40s if she played her cards right.

Yet, all she wanted to do right now was throw it all away and let this be a blip on her resume. If it was as she suspected, she was complicit in a murder, and she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to live with that.

She stood, hoping that a stiff cup of coffee would give her some empty comfort. Yet, when she turned the corner, she ran into the very person she’d rather avoid: Stratt.

Stratt’s expression was blank. In just a few hours, the incredible authority afforded to her would be stripped away, and the consequences of all that would rain upon her. Lokken met her eyes.

“Are you proud of yourself?” she hissed. Stratt turned to her. There was no confusion on her face, just a grim acceptance.

“I will be proud when we have the beetles back.” There was never the question of if, with her. They all knew that this was a long shot, that the crew would find the answer to their problems in Tau Ceti, that the beetles would return. Hell, there was some doubt that the crew members would even arrive to the new solar system alive. This coma system had never been tested like this before. But if Stratt showed doubt, then it clouded the whole project.

“You know what I mean,” Lokken said. “That Grace di—”

“I would think very carefully about what you are about to say, Lokken,” Stratt said sharply and Lokken’s jaw snapped shut. “In a few hours, I will be on a plane to Geneva to face the consequences of this Project. All the major intelligence agencies and Interpol will spend millions of dollars investigating every single action that took place here, and every single person involved, including you.”

Lokken stepped back.

“You have a promising future ahead of you,” Stratt said. “And what you want is plausible deniability.”

Stratt left, and Lokken stood there for a long time.

She took a flight back to Norway a few hours later and let the Project settle behind her.

If Eva Stratt spent the rest of her life in this jail cell, then it was all worth it.

She’d been given a job, perhaps one of the most important jobs in the world, and she’d done it. The Hail Mary’s spin drives fired, and her role was stripped away in handcuffs and the rough glares of the men and women whom she’d spent the better part of four years brushing off. All hope now lay in the hands of the three astronauts who would go down in history as heroes, and she would be villainized.

Why blow up the Antarctic? Why pave the Sahara? Why launch a spaceship when there were millions of scientists ready to study Astrophage? Scientists who had their own ideas on how to curb their power? Why spend trillions?

She’d made the right decision. If she let doubt creep in, then she just might shatter. The solution was in Tau Ceti, she knew it. She needed to believe it.

Her mind wandered to Grace.

He’d been on her mind a lot these past few days.

Who would have thought that a junior high teacher would have been so important for the mission? Who’d been the necessary piece of the Astrophage puzzle? Who’d been lucky enough to carry a rare gene that ensured that the mission could still move forward without DuBois and Shapiro. She only wished that he could have made it easy.

Discovery wouldn’t find any record of the memory suppressant. Neither her nor the French were keen to reveal that secret just yet. His forged signature on the documents consenting to the trip would pass inspection, Redell had been a great help in that regard. Her men had conveniently selective memories—they wouldn’t recall anything about shouting or protests that night.

She’d liked Grace. He’d been an unexpectedly hard worker, and he knew how to take orders (albeit with some lip). He’d supported the project unequivocally and made it known just how much he believed in it. On the days where the work crushed them, when the world’s expectations became too much to bear, he’d always been there with a laugh and an energizing spirit.

It was a shame how it all soured in the end.

In a fit of kindness, she’d taken control of his assets and set up a scholarship in his name. He’d like that.

A guard slipped in her lunch, a pathetic looking thing that was comparable to mush. She let out a sigh and picked up the banana. This was her life now.

“Stratt,” a voice said. She looked up to find a man in a fine suit.

“Good afternoon,” she said back. She settled back onto her bed. The tray of food cooled on the floor.

“We have your arraignment in 24 hours.” She tilted her head.

“I would like to speak with my lawyer.”

“He’s been contacted.” The man’s voice was short and irritated. “Stratt, you better get used to this. You’re going to be in here for a long, long time.”

Her lips quirked up.

“We’ll see about that.”