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There were a lot of hypotheses on the matter.
1-. The life form eating the sun could be a non-water based microorganism.
That was incorrect. He had a little crash out after proving that wrong, but could someone blame him? Imagine being mocked all your career for an original idea only to be reminded of that in the middle of the apocalypse. It would make anyone have a crisis, that's for sure.
2-. This life form was feeding from the energy of the sun, causing it to die in the process.
That was correct. Very concerning, but correct. He didn't want the whole world to perish, so after Eva Stratt had explained that little fact, he was more than willing to keep investigating for a while more.
3-. The astrophage used Venus for reproduction. Ergo, with an equal environment, they could breed it.
That one was presumably correct. He and Carl had built a fake Venus to prove it. And said hypothesis had landed him here, at a militar grade boat in who knows where.
Ryland wasn't going to lie, he was kinda having fun at first. But he missed his family. His brother, his friends, his kids, and Tom. Oh Tom, he wished he had the chance to kiss him before all this. It was fine, though, Carl said that the Petrova Task Force had notified the people in his life about his participation in the project.
He didn't have a chance to say goodbye. A month ago, Stratt had entered his classroom with his investigation to convince him of analyzing some samples from the Petrova Line. They didn't give him too much of an option. It was supposed to be quick, a day at most. Then Stratt had talked about causalities, and Ryland couldn't bear the image of everyone he loved dying, hence the boat.
"... need to investigate why Tau Ceti it's the only star that it's not affected by the astrophage, so the plan it's to send a space ship to study that star, get samples and hopefully find the reason why it's not being affected" Stratt explained, her voice was stoic, no signs of fear but no confidence neither.
That was another thing, Project Hail Mary.
"What about the fuel for the return?" He asked, not using the microphone. It was embarrassing to be so far behind the rest of the scientists in the project.
"The ship is equipped with probes, for the astronauts to send their investigation back to Earth" Stratt stated, looking around the table to find the crew.
Their faces were resigned. Captain Yáo Li-Jie nodded calmly. Engineer Olesya Ilyukhina smiled knowingly. Scientist Martin DuBois squeezed Annie Shapiro's hand. The rest of the table had pity on their eyes. He swallowed, understanding washing over him.
"The astronauts... they die in space?" He questioned with a tremble in his voice.
It was unfathomable. The idea of dying alone in the endless space, light years away from home. Ryland couldn't imagine how much bravery it takes to a make sacrifice that big. He was barely handling being apart from his family.
"Yes, they do. It's what you americans would call a long shot" Stratt explained. Oh, he knew that one.
"A Hail Mary" He remembered Tom explaining that to him. Once when they were watching a football game.
It felt more like a prayer, his mom used to pray at night. Though he never believed in god, Ryland would like to believe that the plan was going to work. He just had to help a little bit more for the world to be safe. And in the end, he could spend the rest of his life with his family, with the satisfaction of knowing he did everything he could.
4-. The Hail Mary will save the sun.
—
He tried to think of a logical explanation.
There was none, whatsoever. Not a single reason why Ryland had vanished without a trace. It simply didn't make sense. But they managed to think about two highly unlikely scenarios in which this was logical.
1-. Ryland had been the victim of a crime such as robbery, kidnapping, and others that were too horrible to even think about.
During the first three months, that was their working theory. They waited exactly 72 hours as the protocol indicated. Then he and Colt went to the closest police station to report him as a missing person.
"What do you mean you can't?" He scoffed at the police officer in front of him.
"We can't waste time looking for a person that left on their own" Officer Collins stated, sipping his coffee without a worry in the world.
"He didn't leave on his own" Colt argued, clenching his fist.
The officer hummed, grabbing the report in his hands to read it. "Mr. Grace's apartment was found partially empty. He took clothes, shoes, and various things of emotional value. That sounds like he left willingly" The man said with finality.
Tom groaned, because this guy was not understanding. "Then why didn't he say anything, huh?" He demanded.
"He has no need to do that. Mr. Grace is a grown man with no family to respond to" Collins shrugged.
Colt hit the desk. "We are his family! I'm his brother, his twin!" He screamed, making everyone at the police station stare at them.
"Well, you are not listed as his family, Mr. Seavers?" The officer huffed. Tom was about to give him a piece of mind before Colt grabbed him by the arm roughly.
"C'mon, let's go" Colt muttered, dragging him outside the station. "We're finding proof that he didn't leave" And Tom almost believed him, but they didn't find anything, even when they spent a whole month at it.
Life, he discovered, was not as easy as mystery movies make it seem. Especially if the person you're looking for has no immediate family on paper. Because for every authority, since Ryland Grace was legally alone in the world, he had all the rights to take his shit and disappear.
"Sorry, I couldn't find anything" A private investigator apologized to Tom. "It's hard to track someone so... invisible" She described his boyfriend.
"I pay you to find him, not to judge him, witch!" He exploded at Amy, the best detective he could buy.
"As I said, I'm so sorry. But your boyfriend doesn't have social media, doesn't have friends, his coworkers barely know him" She defended herself.
"But what do you think that happened?" Colt pleaded for an answer.
"Mm, look. In normal circumstances, I'd say suicide" Amy started. The word made his heart throb in his chest. "But there's no suicide letter" She locked eyes with Tom before finishing. "So maybe cheating".
That couldn't be, it was impossible. Tom was a hundred percent sure that his sunshine wouldn't do that, much less disappear because he had an adventure with someone else.
At last, they lost another month with that. And while the detective gave them some weird details about the day his lover vanished, the image formed was even worse than the initial hypothesis they had.
For instance, Ryland asked the school something alike to a sabbatical year. Not a whole year, no. He sent them a document that said that he was working somewhere different for the next six months. It was signed by him, but the receptionist of the school received it from the mailman.
On the other hand, not a single credit card had transactions in the last two months. However, the cash Ryland had for emergencies at his apartment was gone, along with the important documents.
It was month three when those facts landed them in option two. The one Tom dreaded the most.
2-. He ran away from his relationship with Tom because he was anxious about the next step.
"I told you not to make him run!" Colt pushed him. "I told you not to hurt him!" He roared, yanking his arm from Jody's hand.
"I didn't! I didn't, I didn't, I didn't!" He repeated frantically.
"Then why isn't my brother here?!" Colt demanded, angry.
"Ha! Your brother?! You're not even related on paper!" He screamed, hiding behind his mask of rudeness.
That was the last drop for both.
"Oh, fuck you, Ryder!" Colt hit him.
Tom hit back. "Fuck you, Seavers!"
Then the two of them were on the floor. Colt kicked, standing above him and smashing his boot against his ribs. And Tom pushed him, making him crash with some cameras. After a while, the guards of the set forced them apart, bruised and pissed.
By month four, Tom was a mess. He locked himself in the apartment he shared with his lover –did Ryland loved him? He abandoned everything only to be away from him!– and watched tv until he fell sleep at nights.
"–all now to get the full set for onl–"
Click
"–this monday, on channel numb–"
Click
"–have to get to the bunker no–"
Click
"–stly I hate the way I don't hate you. Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all".
Fuck, a romance movie. That made him cry.
Fat tears fell from his eyes as he hugged Ryland's pillow close. The couch felt empty without the warmth that his sunshine provided when they had movie nights together. He sobbed thinking about it.
Click
"–Task Force is making huge discoveries under the leadership of Eva Stratt–"
He paused the tv. That name rang a bell.
Tom stood up from the coach and went up the stairs to their bedroom. He remembered an envelope that never made it to his boyfriend's hands because he accidentally forgot to give it to him.
Big red letters stared at him with the words 'Urgent' and 'Eva Stratt'. The document didn't say anything important, just something about that woman being interested in Ryland's thesis, a mention of the sun, and how it concerned the whole world.
"What would you do if the world was ending?"
Something didn't sit right with him.
He called Colt. "Hey. I get you hate me and all that, but let me ask you something. Do you know someone named Eva Stratt?"
Colt did not, in fact, know anyone with that name, but the world wide web did. And maybe Ryland too. So month five didn't just arrive with hope but also with a new hypothesis.
—
Everyone thinks they are in the right.
The worst part of working with scientists who think they're above you was that they were probably right. That didn't mean it hurt less to be aware that the people you're saving the world with don't care if you're dead or alive.
That being said, Ryland was very ready to be going home soon. The Hail Mary would launch in a month, so he could see his family in a month. He could go back to feel loved in a month.
Knock knock knock
Ilyukhina was knocking on the glass window of his lab. The engineer was really lively and often visited him in the lab to gossip. Ryland thought that perhaps she wanted everyone to feel included, even someone as awkward as him.
He fixed his glasses that were dangling from his ears and opened the door, expecting to hear Ilyukhina's happy voice with a new speculation about someone's life. Instead, in her face was a mournful look.
"W-what happened?" He asked.
"We're having a party next week. You know, to celebrate that the project is done" She smiled, but it seemed fake.
Ryland didn't know what to say. He was not good at making friends. The last five months had proven that. He was not close with the crew, he was not close to the scientists. At most, he was a little close to Carl, maybe even to Stratt.
"Dr. Ilyukhina. Do not disturb Dr. Grace when he's working on the astrophage" Stratt commanded from behind them. Ilyukhina pouted a little, but she left. That woman reminded him of Tom, she had spark.
"It's there something wrong?" He questioned.
"It's their goodbye party" She stated.
Oh, oh.
A lot of people had died in the past five months. It was a matter of the time. If they had more time, they could have been more careful. However, desperate times required desperate measures, as Stratt had explained. It was still sad when people died, because Project Hail Mary was about saving people from death.
But the astronauts had willingly volunteered to die. They were probably preparing already, saying goodbye to their families and having all the fun they could get. Ryland was grateful he didn't have to do that.
"I wish there was a different way" He confessed, sorrowful, knowing the answer.
In Stratt's place, he wouldn't have been able to send those people to die in space, but she was braver. And they had that talk lots of times before. The one that established that the world had around 60 years of decent life before things started to get ugly. Humanity couldn't afford to lose much time.
"There is not. If we want everyone to live, we can't stall" She declared.
On the bright side, soon enough, he would be with his family. Just one more thing, and he would tell Tom about the cool science stuff he did. Just one more thing, and Colt would hug him tenderly. Just one more thing, and he would assure his kids that the world was safe. Just one more thing, and he was going home.
Hypothetically, Ryland was going home.