Project Hail Mary

by Andy Weir

“The sea will melt it for us, but yes. Thing is, Antarctica used to be a jungle. For millions of years it was as lush as Africa. But continental drift and natural climate change froze it over. All those plants died and decomposed. The gases from that decomposition—most notably methane—got trapped in the ice.” “And methane’s a pretty powerful greenhouse gas,” I said. He nodded. “Far more powerful than carbon dioxide.” He checked his tablet again. “Two minutes!” he called out. “All ships: Condition Red,” Stratt radioed. “Repeat: Condition Red.” He turned back to me. “So here I am. Environmental activist. Climatologist. Antiwar crusader.” He looked out to sea. “And I’m ordering a nuclear strike on Antarctica. Two hundred and forty-one nuclear weapons, courtesy of the United States, buried fifty meters deep along a fissure at three-kilometer intervals. All going off at the same time.” I nodded slowly. “They tell me the radiation will be minimal,” he said. “Yeah. If it’s any consolation, they’re fusion bombs.” I pulled my jacket tighter. “There’s a small fission reaction with uranium and stuff that sets off the much larger fusion reaction. And the big explosion is just hydrogen and helium. No radiation from that.”