Project Hail Mary

by Andy Weir

Why is there 20,000 kilograms of Astrophage on this ship? I’ve got a strong suspicion. It’s the fuel.

“You want redundancy, safety, reliability, yes? So we don’t make just one big engine. We make thousand little ones. One thousand and nine, actually. Enough for all thrust needed and much to spare. Some malfunction during trip? Not a problem. More thrust from the others to compensate.”

They calculated their entire journey with Newtonian physics. They worked it all out by assuming they could just accelerate faster and faster and the speed of light wasn’t an issue. They don’t know about time dilation. Rocky doesn’t realize that Erid experienced a whole bunch more time than he did on that trip. They don’t know about length dilation. The distance to Tau Ceti will actually increase as you slow down relative to it—even if you’re still going toward it.

How could a panspermia event ever seed Earth and Erid—two nitrogen-riddled planets—if a tiny amount of nitrogen kills that life?

BOCOA (big ol’ container of Astrophage).

Then turn the Hail Mary around, find Rocky, and take him home to Erid. One problem: It means I die.