Project Hail Mary

by Andy Weir

They say hunger is the greatest seasoning. When you’re starving, your brain rewards you handsomely for finally eating. Good job, it says, we get to not die for a while!

Cool thing about pendulums: The time it takes for one to swing forward and backward—the period—won’t change, no matter how wide it swings. If it’s got a lot of energy, it’ll swing farther and faster, but the period will still be the same. This is what mechanical clocks take advantage of to keep time. That period ends up being driven by two things, and two things only: the length of the pendulum and gravity.

All right. I’m well fed. I’m feeling a little better about things. Food will do that.

This star I’m looking at…it’s not the sun. I’m in a different solar system.

I even put a few Astrophage in a radiation-containment vessel and exposed it to the gamma rays emitted by Cesium-137 (this lab has everything). I called it the “Bruce Banner Test.”

Besides, if I had a nickel for every time I wanted to smack a kid’s parents for not teaching them even the most basic things…well…I’d have enough nickels to put in a sock and smack those parents with it.

Human suffering is often an abstract concept to kids. But animal suffering is something else entirely.

watched for any clues to their motivations, but Larry, Curly, and Moe offered no answer.

Light is a funny thing. Its wavelength defines what it can and can’t interact with. Anything smaller than the wavelength is functionally nonexistent to that photon. That’s why there’s a mesh over the window of a microwave. The holes in the mesh are too small for microwaves to pass through. But visible light, with a much shorter wavelength, can go through freely. So you get to watch your food cook without melting your face off.

When you get going near the speed of light, you experience time dilation. More time will have gone by on Earth than I have experienced since I left Earth. Relativity is weird.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend. If Astrophage is your enemy, I’m your friend.”

Human beings have a remarkable ability to accept the abnormal and make it normal.

In short, the human brain is a mess. Everything

Oh thank God. I can’t imagine explaining “sleep” to someone who had never heard of it. Hey, I’m going to fall unconscious and hallucinate for a while. By the way, I spend a third of my time doing this. And if I can’t do it for a while, I go insane and eventually die. No need for concern.

“We fell in poop and came out smelling like roses,”

I’m lucky to be alive. There’s no other way to put it. Anything I do beyond that moment is a gift from the universe to me.

Maybe I’m being emotional instead of rational. But so what?

At least being stupid isn’t permanent.

“This has been very awkward, thanks. I’m going to…go be somewhere else now.”

“Humans are stupid when we need sleep. And when we take medicine to stop pain. I’m tired and drugged right now.”

I’m smart enough now to know I’m stupid. That’s progress.

I spend a lot of time un-suiciding this suicide mission.

“Fist me!” I push my knuckles against the xenonite. “It’s ‘fist-bump,’ but yeah.”

Go forth, my N2 minions, and cause destruction!

I drift off to sleep. It feels wrong to sleep without someone watching.

I only know where the ship is because it blocks the background stars. I’m just…out in space and a big chunk of it has no pinpricks of light.

I love this visual