Project Hail Mary

by Andy Weir

but at least I’m not alone—aaaand they’re dead.

“Holy moly”? Is that my go-to expression of surprise? I mean, it’s okay, I guess. I would have expected something a little less 1950s. What kind of weirdo am I?

So I’m a single man in my thirties, who lives alone in a small apartment, I don’t have any kids, but I like kids a lot. I don’t like where this is going… A teacher! I’m a schoolteacher! I remember it now! Oh, thank God. I’m a teacher.

“No?” I ask “No,” he says in Eridian. “So, ‘yes’?” “No, yes.” “Yes?” “No. No.” “Yes, yes?” “No!” He balls a fist at me, clearly frustrated.

Hey, I’m going to fall unconscious and hallucinate for a while.

“No work. We die.”

life motto fr

“We’re dead in space. We’re stuck here forever.” “Not forever,” Rocky says. I perk up. “No?” “No. Orbit decay soon. Then we die.”

carbon-fiber hull

oceangate

I’d breathe without any problems. Right up until I died.