Project Hail Mary

by Andy Weir

“Are they alive?” Stratt asked. I glared at her. “I can’t just tell that at a glance. What do you expect to happen here?” “I want you to find out if they’re alive. And if so, find out how they work.” “That’s a tall order.” “Why? Biologists worked out how bacteria works. Just do the same thing they did.” “That took thousands of scientists two centuries to work out!” “Well…do it faster than that.”

I looked at Stratt and Leclerc standing side by side. Never in human history had so much raw authority and power been invested into so few people. These two people—just these two—were going to literally change the face of the world.