Project Hail Mary (2026)

1. Eye movement detected.

2. What is two plus two?

3. Incorrect.

4. - Cognition assessment

5. What is two plus two?

6. - Incorrect.

7. You have been in an induced coma.

8. - You may experience

9. - some memory loss

10. difficulty speaking.

11. Body movement detected.

12. For your own safety,

13. please return to the medical platform.

14. Where am I?

15. Please remember muscle function

16. has not yet been restored.

17. People!

18. Hello?

19. Where am I?

20. Red leather, yellow leather.

21. Why is there an atomic resolution

22. scanning electron microscope?

23. Why do I know that?

24. Am I smart?

25. Hello?

26. Please record video diary.

27. No.

28. Can I speak to the person in charge?

29. The, uh, captain.

30. Captain Yáo, Li-Jie. Deceased.

31. Yeah, where, um, are the living people?

32. - Dr. Ryland Grace.

33. End of manifest.

34. I can't be the only person here. Right?

35. Pilot detected.

36. - No! No. No-No. Not the pilot.

37. Uh

38. Call, uh, Houston.

39. Unknown command.

40. Operation Go Home in effect.

41. Invalid operation.

42. That's the sun! There it is.

43. So, what are we, like, Neptune-ish?

44. Let's crank up the radio and call Earth.

45. Current transmission time to Earth

46. is 11 years, 10 months, 14 days and 6 hours.

47. No. Nope. You're wrong.

48. I need a map.

49. Oh.

50. Uh

51. That's so far.

52. That's really far. Uh

53. That's not our sun.

54. That's not our sun.

55. Where is the fuel?

56. Wait.

57. We are just minutes away from the fly-by

58. through the Petrova line near Venus.

59. So, what can you tell us about the ArcLight probe?

60. What do we expect to find?

61. The image we see

62. will be coming from the on board microscope.

63. Um Oh, my God.

64. Sorry. I have to go now.

65. Sound waves are physical.

66. And at different frequencies,

67. they make different pattern—

68. No, pattern—

69. They make different patt—

70. Olivia, can you help me out? There we go!

71. Whoa!

72. Yeah.

73. Are they really eating the sun?

74. The space dots?

75. That is a great question, uh, Rekha.

76. And I'd be curious what your parents think about that.

77. I'm not sure it should come from me.

78. Hey! Who wants to play a game of

79. the bean bag is lava!

80. Lava! Lava! Lava!

81. What is the speed of light, Olivia?

82. Uh

83. It's melting your hands, Olivia!

84. 186,000 miles per second!

85. Oh! Give her a round of applause.

86. That is awesome.

87. What is the Petrova line?

88. Pass!

89. You can't pass!

90. I just did.

91. Lava! Lava! Lava!

92. Come on, guys.

93. Two years ago

94. a radio telescope enthusiast named Irina Petrova,

95. she noticed that there was a streak

96. of infrared light from the sun to Venus.

97. And that is now known as the Petrova line.

98. That's it.

99. That's the dots?

100. They think so.

101. What dots?

102. These dots.

103. They sent a probe up to the Petrova line,

104. and this is what they found.

105. Are they eating the sun?

106. They seem to be

107. dimming the sun a tiny, teeny-weeny, little bit.

108. So, no big whoop.

109. It's a small whoop.

110. It's a small-to-medium whoop.

111. Over the next 30 years, the Earth could

112. cool maybe 10

113. to 15 degrees.

114. So it is a big whoop.

115. I heard that all the crops will die,

116. the economy will free-fall,

117. and half the Earth will die of starvation.

118. - Well

119. We're all gonna die!

120. Yeah, it's true.

121. You're forgetting something.

122. Guys, guys! That's if that were to happen. Right?

123. They're gonna figure this out.

124. Right now, the best minds in the entire world are on it.

125. Good morning, Dr. Grace.

126. I'm up!

127. - Knock, knock.

128. Who's there?

129. Not good at jokes.

130. Not good at jokes who?

131. Dr. Grace?

132. Maybe.

133. Eva Stratt. I'm with the Petrova Task Force.

134. I need your help.

135. Me.

136. Did you write this?

137. Oh.

138. I'm interested in this section here.

139. Uh - Page 31.

140. "The Goldilocks Zone Is For Idiots:

141. Why Everyone Is Wrong About Life."

142. That was a long time ago.

143. Do you stand by what you wrote?

144. I was fired for standing by what I wrote.

145. You were fired

146. for calling the leading scholar in your field

147. "a staggering waste of carbon"

148. at the UNESCO conference in Denmark.

149. You heard about that, huh?

150. Look, I don't know what this is,

151. but, uh, I think I'm not s—

152. That's lava.

153. It's not. - Okay.

154. No one in your field wants anything to do with you

155. because you refused to back down

156. from a very unpopular view,

157. and I can give you a chance to prove them all wrong.

158. Uh Kevin, no running.

159. I'm not.

160. Well, joke's on them because I don't even care. So

161. I think you do care.

162. You're running away because you're scared.

163. No, I'm not.

164. Do you still believe water

165. is unnecessary for life to evolve?

166. Uh

167. Look, there is nothing magical about hydrogen and oxygen.

168. Water is required for life on Earth, sure.

169. But a completely different planet

170. might have completely different conditions.

171. I don't know why that makes me such a nut.

172. I need you to come with us.

173. Sorry, I didn't catch your name.

174. Carl. Hi. - Dr. Grace,

175. Petrova line samples splashed down last night.

176. I want you to tell me what they are, how they work.

177. I am a teacher at Grover Cleveland Middle.

178. And you have a doctorate in molecular biology.

179. And I ride a bike to work, and it's not for exercise.

180. So I'm sure there are thousands

181. of other people who are better—

182. It survives on the surface of the sun.

183. Does that sound like a water-based lifeform to you?

184. The sun's really dying, isn't it?

185. Yeah.

186. Is all of this necessary?

187. Yes.

188. Please analyze the Petrova sample.

189. Um

190. Just one thing.

191. The entire room is filled with argon.

192. Just try not to rip your suit.

193. Uh

194. Am I expendable? Is that why you want me?

195. That's not the only reason.

196. It's almost like you don't care if I die.

197. Hold on. You have to talk about it?

198. The consensus here

199. is that it would be preferable if you did not die.

200. Thanks, guys.

201. Oh.

202. Welcome to Earth.

203. - Are they alive?

204. They're moving.

205. So they're alive.

206. Yes, they're moving,

207. but that could be for many reasons.

208. What are they made of?

209. It's gonna take a long ti— It took like 200 years

210. to figure out how bacteria works, so

211. Please do it faster.

212. I'm just going through the whole light spectrum here.

213. Wow!

214. You're not gonna believe this.

215. Nothing happened.

216. I can't see into these buggers.

217. Amazing.

218. X-rays, microwaves, gamma rays, visible light.

219. Nothing!

220. Ooh, ooh, ooh, I've been dying to do this all day!

221. It's a cell!

222. It's a cell. Wake up! It's a cell!

223. It's a tiny alien cell. You guys!

224. Applause.

225. Guys! This is first contact!

226. With life outside of the—!

227. - Uh-oh.

228. Oh, it died.

229. - What?

230. This is great news.

231. Now we can find out what they're made of.

232. You guys fired up?

233. Yes!

234. Right?

235. Carbon.

236. Oxygen.

237. Hydrogen.

238. - Oh.

239. It's made

240. almost entirely

241. of water.

242. All right.

243. Sorry if I overreacted in there.

244. Just, uh, realizing I was wrong

245. about the only original idea I ever had.

246. Yeah. What else did you learn?

247. They give off infrared light when they move.

248. Mm-hm.

249. Like, so much.

250. I don't know how they store all that energy.

251. But, uh, their wavelength is exactly the Petrova frequency.

252. The light is how they move.

253. Yeah, they consume the sun's energy,

254. and then they expel it for propulsion.

255. They toot to scoot basically.

256. Why did it go to Venus?

257. I don't know.

258. Okay. We'll tell you.

259. What?

260. I have 347 other biologists in 21 countries

261. mobilizing as we speak.

262. So thank you for your help. I'm glad you didn't die.

263. Let's pack this up.

264. - Pack up!

265. That's it?

266. That's it, Carl? - Talk to her.

267. You're taking all the stuff?

268. At the school you said

269. there were thousands of people more qualified than you, so

270. I was being modest. - I don't need modest.

271. I need people who think they're right

272. when everyone else thinks they're wrong.

273. I need people who piss other people off.

274. That's me!

275. Do you want to be on a project?

276. If you think I can help, then

277. Just answer the question.

278. I wanna help the world.

279. I left you three dots.

280. Just three, huh?

281. Plus the one you killed.

282. I would take the three.

283. Yes? - I'll take the dots.

284. Get to work, Dr. Grace.

285. The world is counting on you.

286. Hey, Carl?

287. This is Carl.

288. Imagine for a second

289. that you're an interstellar microorganism.

290. I'm not doing that.

291. Why would you leave the sun and go to Venus?

292. Why not stop at Mercury? It's closer.

293. Maybe fresh air?

294. Venus's atmosphere is mostly CO2.

295. Maybe that's fresh air to them.

296. You don't know what these little space dots like.

297. Hey, Carl?

298. Do we have an expense account?

299. We don't.

300. But I do.

301. All right, I got something for you.

302. Thank you.

303. Do you have a coupon? - We don't need a coupon.

304. We're the government. - Which government?

305. All of 'em.

306. So this box is Venus.

307. The box is Venus.

308. It's set to emit the same infrared light frequency

309. as Venus's CO2 atmosphere.

310. So if the dots move when you turn the lights on,

311. that means they're looking for CO2.

312. Thus proving the Carl Hypothesis.

313. Sick.

314. Sorry.

315. All right. - All right.

316. You ready?

317. Uh-oh.

318. Why you saying "Uh-oh"?

319. The Astrophage moved off the slide.

320. Huh?

321. We lost them.

322. What do you mean, we lost them? Go get them.

323. If I open the door in the light,

324. they're gonna escape, and then we'll lose them forever.

325. At least now they're in the box.

326. So we'll just turn the lights off.

327. But there'll still be light. It's gotta be total darkness.

328. Okay, so just put this box in another box.

329. Nice.

330. Go ahead and close it. Over.

331. I can hear you.

332. Entering phase two.

333. I'm in.

334. Please report. Over.

335. There's one.

336. There's two!

337. Come on! Get the third one.

338. Got sample three.

339. The Three Musketeers. The Three Stooges.

340. Uh-oh.

341. What? What?

342. Are you sitting down?

343. No, I'm standing like a grown man.

344. 'Cause there's a fourth.

345. What?

346. We're fathers, Carl.

347. Now I'm sitting down.

348. Stratt.

349. Carl and I made a baby.

350. What?

351. We figured out how Astrophage breeds.

352. Don't move.

353. Wheels up.

354. - You know, Carl,

355. when Stratt said she was sending a jet,

356. I thought you meant like a PJ or something.

357. I know. - Take this.

358. Been a long time since I've taken a pill

359. from a stranger without knowing what it was.

360. Stop! Stop!

361. Dr. Grace, how was your flight?

362. Where are we? - The ocean.

363. The Astrophage reproduction. Can you do it at scale?

364. Oh, in theory, you just get a bunch of elbow-shaped pipe,

365. put sunlight in one end—

366. Excuse me for a second.

367. Write it down. - Yes, ma'am.

368. and IR light and CO2 in the other. Repeat.

369. Anything else you need for—

370. Just some water.

371. He gave me a pill and it's still in my throat.

372. Two venti coffees.

373. Thank you so much. Water for him.

374. Or coffee. That's

375. I need both.

376. Or not.

377. Okay, so this is kind of a tough room,

378. so don't take it personally.

379. I don't need anything fancy.

380. As long as there's a bed and a shower I'm good.

381. I can't do this. - Come on. Yes.

382. I can't. I can't. - You're doing great.

383. Everyone, this is Dr. Ryland Grace

384. from the United States.

385. Please go here. Thank you.

386. And he figured out how to breed Astrophage.

387. How did you do it?

388. How long does the process take?

389. Does it reproduce by mitosis or meiosis?

390. What is the incubation period?

391. Um

392. Carl and I made a mini Venus out of a plywood box,

393. and as soon as the samples recognized

394. the, uh, spectral signature of CO2, they were

395. They were like, "Whoomp! There it is!"

396. Okay.

397. You can sit down.

398. Who's Carl?

399. While your experiment was crude and clumsy,

400. our scientists have replicated his results.

401. I'm sorry, how did you see—?

402. We estimate an eight-day doubling time

403. under optimal conditions.

404. Dr. Grace is right. - Oh.

405. It is the CO2.

406. That's why they're going to Venus.

407. Please say it for everyone.

408. That's why they're going to Venus.

409. So that's why they're going to Venus,

410. is what Dr. Grace wants to say.

411. They're going to breed.

412. Whoomp! There it is.

413. I really like him.

414. How long to make two million kilogram?

415. Two million?

416. Two million is—

417. Why

418. on earth would you need that much Astrophage?

419. Nobody told him?

420. He has no clearance.

421. Please stand up, Dr. Grace.

422. Stand up.

423. I hereby grant you top-secret clearance

424. to all information pertaining to Project Hail Mary.

425. What's Project Hail Mary?

426. All right.

427. The sun is not the only star dying.

428. There is a clear pattern of infection.

429. Every star was infected by its neighbor except one.

430. Tau Ceti?

431. That's right. 11.9 light years away.

432. It is uninfected

433. despite being well within the cluster of infected stars.

434. Why? Tell him.

435. We don't know!

436. Which is why we decided to build a ship

437. to go there and find out.

438. It's 11.9 light years away.

439. You can't just build an interstellar ship.

440. Oh yeah, we can.

441. The ship is not really the problem.

442. The energy required to power the ship is the problem.

443. It was the problem.

444. The Astrophage is the fuel.

445. Provided we can make enough of it.

446. And for that, we need you, my friend.

447. Me?

448. Ooh. Those little guys store a lot of energy.

449. One mistake and that much Astrophage

450. could vaporize California.

451. That's true, which is why you now live on a boat

452. in the middle of the ocean in case

453. I live on a boat? - You do.

454. So you wanna build a near-light speed spaceship,

455. have it travel further than any human-made object

456. has ever traveled,

457. and visit a star just to "see what's up"?

458. Yeah.

459. And then what?

460. There won't be enough fuel for a round-trip

461. so they send their findings back to Earth on probes.

462. And the astronauts

463. die in space?

464. Yes.

465. Space.

466. Any other plans you've thought of?

467. Anything else you're kicking around?

468. There are infinite possibilities

469. for this to go wrong.

470. It almost certainly won't work.

471. It's what you Americans would call a long shot.

472. Hail Mary.

473. I get it now.

474. The alternative is to just do nothing

475. and to starve and to kill each other

476. and watch everything on this planet go extinct,

477. including us.

478. So

479. That's a long time to be in space.

480. They'll be in comas for most of it.

481. But is that even safe?

482. Nothing about this is safe.

483. We only need three.

484. A pilot.

485. An engineer.

486. And a scientist.

487. Commander Yáo.

488. I must have known you, but I just don't remember.

489. You make a funny face

490. in literally every picture.

491. You must have been very smart

492. and strong

493. and brave.

494. Ilyukhina.

495. First, I owe you three bags of vodka.

496. You seemed to have had a lot of friends.

497. This picture of you,

498. what looks like sneaking into the Kremlin

499. is legendary.

500. I wish you were still here.

501. I wish I wasn't alone.

502. I wish I was

503. doing a better job, I just, uh

504. You were both very loved.

505. You deserve much more than this.

506. I'll do my best

507. to make sure that you don't

508. you know, that you didn't—

509. I'll do my best.

510. Approaching Tau Ceti orbit.

511. Prepare for engine cutoff.

512. - Fourteen, thirteen - What?

513. Why engine cutoff?

514. Seems like something we should talk about.

515. Pilot detected.

516. - What? No. I'm not a pilot!

517. Four, three

518. What happens at zero? I mean—

519. You are now orbiting Tau Ceti.

520. What the fudging fudger?

521. Petrovascope operational.

522. It's Tau Ceti.

523. You have a Petrova line.

524. But you're not dimming.

525. Why?

526. What is that?

527. Blip-A detected.

528. What's a Blip-A?

529. Blip-A detected.

530. No, no. No, no, no. Let's go. Let's go, Mary.

531. No-No-No-No!

532. Pilot detected!

533. Please engage restraint.

534. Pilot detected!

535. Pilot detected. - We're getting outta here.

536. Engage spin drive.

537. Engage the spin drive. - Incorrect.

538. Welcome to the Hail Mary.

539. Is it this thing?

540. Erratic maneuver detected.

541. Yeah.

542. Blip-A detected.

543. What do they want?

544. What?

545. Blip-B detected.

546. What's a Bl—?

547. Current distance from Hail Mary is 800 meters.

548. It's sending me something.

549. It could be a message.

550. It could be a bomb.

551. Is it a bomb?

552. Shields up!

553. There are no shields on board the Hail Mary.

554. Why not?

555. - Thirty meters.

556. Twenty meters. Ten.

557. Well, I guess there's egg on both our faces, huh, Mary?

558. Blip-C detected.

559. What's that?

560. Why is it moving so much slower than the last one?

561. They think I'm dumb.

562. If we were gonna catch it, what would we do?

563. Would you like to go on a space walk, Dr. Grace?

564. To begin your space walk,

565. put on your EVA suit and proceed to the airlock.

566. Yeah.

567. Yes!

568. No.

569. That's just crazy.

570. Righty tighty, lefty loosey.

571. Xenon's a gas. I think this thing's broken.

572. We need equipment

573. to analyze the Astrophage at Tau Ceti. Correct?

574. Dr. Grace. - Sorry. Hi.

575. Most of this equipment won't work

576. in zero gravity.

577. And we have a team to develop and build

578. zero gravity versions of this equipment.

579. We would need years for that,

580. and we have months.

581. What's the alternative?

582. We make gravity.

583. Centrifuge?

584. Centrifuge.

585. They used them to make butter during the Civil War,

586. actually.

587. It's a fun fact.

588. Lab operational.

589. Still Xenon!

590. Up is down! Left is right! Xenon's a solid!

591. Aliens are real!

592. I'm wrong about everything and everything's wrong.

593. Lefty tighty, righty loosey.

594. I mean—

595. Oh no!

596. Foreign presence detected.

597. You're a long way from home.

598. I'm a long way from home too.

599. Blip-D detected.

600. Is that me?

601. My ship.

602. I don't understand.

603. Oh.

604. You want me

605. to go back in my ship?

606. But I just got here.

607. Okay.

608. Okay.

609. I'll talk to you later.

610. Bye.

611. What are they doing, Mary?

612. It is not advised

613. to modify the centrifugal settings of the ship.

614. Thank you, Mary.

615. What?

616. Oh my.

617. This is new.

618. Anybody home?

619. I like what you've done with the gravity.

620. I made you a ship.

621. It's ramen.

622. I only made one.

623. I'm not sure how many of you there are.

624. Hi.

625. No-No-No-No-No! I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

626. You scared me when you went:

627. Wow.

628. Can't seem to see a face.

629. Mysterious.

630. Faces are overrated.

631. You like tapping, huh?

632. This is fun.

633. You're pointing.

634. You're not tapping. Sorry.

635. Another present.

636. I don't have one of these.

637. I love it! Thank you.

638. What, I put this on my head?

639. - Take off my head?

640. Take my helmet off?

641. No.

642. It'll

643. That's a big ask.

644. Oh.

645. This has taken a turn.

646. Thank you for what I hope is not handcuffs.

647. And I'm sorry about the whole helmet thing.

648. Unfortunately, I need oxygen to breathe, so

649. Two rings of eight.

650. O2.

651. You little rascal.

652. This is oxygen!

653. I still don't think I can do it, though. Sorry.

654. It's just, uh

655. if I'm wrong, I'm really wrong.

656. Okay.

657. It's the Petrova line.

658. We're here for the same reason.

659. You have a Petrova line problem too.

660. You need to solve it. I need to solve it.

661. That's why you made me this.

662. I'm gonna take that as a yes.

663. If we're gonna save our planets,

664. we have to learn how to communicate.

665. You know, they say math is the universal language.

666. I thought maybe we find out if that's true?

667. You see the numbers?

668. Oh, you want this?

669. Whoa! Christmas Eve, that is

670. It's really hot in there. Is that ammonia?

671. Anyway, that's

672. Look, see the numbers?

673. No. They're on the other side.

674. Do it again. If you do it again and you—

675. Don't let it snap back.

676. Don't do it. Don't do it.

677. Hold it like that. And you look—

678. Wow. Wow.

679. How 'bout something else?

680. Look at this.

681. A clock.

682. We both have time. Right?

683. These are the hands, and these are the numbers.

684. One, two, three. They point to the numbers.

685. And if you'll notice,

686. there's numbers there, and there's also numbers here.

687. Okay.

688. It is dark.

689. I got an idea.

690. Wait.

691. Don't Yeah.

692. Don't go anywhere. Stay.

693. Oh. Oh yeah.

694. I'm Grace.

695. I'm gonna call you Rocky.

696. You know, 'cause you look like a giant rock. Oh!

697. Um, I'm fine.

698. Echolocation. Right?

699. You need surfaces to see.

700. Try this.

701. You see the numbers?

702. What is that?

703. Is that good?

704. Jazz hands means "good"?

705. We do this.

706. Your version of this

707. is our thumbs up.

708. Nope. That's thumbs down.

709. We do the thumbs up.

710. It's close enough.

711. You want me to wait? I wait?

712. Yeah. No

713. I'm really excited to be working with you on this.

714. Fired up.

715. I'm sorry I'm talking so much.

716. It's just, I haven't been around anyone in a long time.

717. Oh.

718. What have we got here?

719. It's a clock.

720. I showed you a clock

721. and you're showing me a clock.

722. We're, uh, clock bros.

723. Right.

724. Um, I gotta be honest.

725. I'm not sure I'm getting all of this.

726. Check this out.

727. I thought I might record you.

728. - Oh, no-no. No. That's okay.

729. It's just a microphone. Works like this.

730. Let's start with one.

731. One.

732. No-No, wait, wait, wait. Sorry.

733. Okay. One.

734. And

735. One!

736. Okay.

737. So, uh

738. I met an alien.

739. And we're learning to communicate.

740. Let's do names.

741. Okay, let's start with you.

742. Rocky.

743. You done?

744. My name—

745. Can't wait to hear this.

746. is Grace.

747. What's your word for my name? Go ahead.

748. You know, enough to order at restaurants.

749. We have about 250 words.

750. My atmosphere would kill him and his, me.

751. But I like to keep a wall up in my relationships anyways.

752. He's a mechanic, I think.

753. He uses a metal form of xenon.

754. He can make anything.

755. Look at this.

756. I'm calling it "xenonite."

757. And if I can't understand what he's saying,

758. which is most of the time,

759. he puts on a little puppet show for me and my tiny brain.

760. And you know what? I don't mind it.

761. He's kinda growing on me.

762. At least he's not growing in me, you know?

763. Which was a concern for a little while.

764. His sun is dying too.

765. So maybe we can help each other.

766. Recognize this?

767. We call it "Astrophage."

768. It means star-eater.

769. "Astrophage on me star.

770. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad." Yeah.

771. Same.

772. Why are you alone?

773. Twenty-three?

774. Wow. Um

775. What happened to them?

776. I'm sorry.

777. How did they die?

778. Oh.

779. Um

780. There were three of us,

781. and two died on the way here.

782. I wish I knew why.

783. Now it's only me.

784. Correction.

785. Deal.

786. Called a fist bump, by the way.

787. What's that?

788. "Fist my bump"?

789. No. It's fist bump.

790. It's not the same.

791. Exactly. The Astrophage has to reach Tau Ceti.

792. Otherwise, we wouldn't see the Petrova line.

793. Do we really need this whole model?

794. Right.

795. Oh boy.

796. I used to have one of these in my classroom,

797. and it was a lot simpler to set up.

798. One sec. What? What?

799. That is a great question.

800. You know what? Try this.

801. Why is a schoolteacher

802. in space, question?

803. No. - Don't like that voice.

804. Can't unhear it, really. - Scary.

805. Let's try this.

806. Ooh. - Nope.

807. Why is a schoolteacher in space?

808. No need to even continue. Nope.

809. Why is a schoolteacher in space?

810. What's so funny, question?

811. Why is a schoolteacher in space?

812. I mean

813. It has charm, but no.

814. Meryl Streep?

815. Why is a schoolteacher in space?

816. She can do anything.

817. Why is a schoolteacher in space?

818. Don't think so.

819. Why is a schoolteacher in space?

820. That's not bad.

821. I like. - All right.

822. And in answer to your question,

823. I have no idea what I'm doing in space.

824. I don't remember.

825. Is okay.

826. Grace find out when Grace go home.

827. I'm gonna go to sleep.

828. No understand word.

829. Sleep?

830. Uh, just, you go like this.

831. Died? Is died? Died? No-No-No-No-No.

832. No. Not died. Just lay here for 29,000 seconds and then

833. we wake up!

834. Oh. Understand.

835. We call this:

836. Okay. Here we go.

837. Sleep.

838. Good night, sir.

839. I watch Grace sleep.

840. No, that's fine. That's a little weird.

841. I'll be good. Good night!

842. No, not safe. Eridians must watch sleep.

843. That's really interesting. That sounds like something

844. We can unpack that tomorrow.

845. Rocky watch crew many days.

846. Crew not wake up.

847. That's where you're gonna be?

848. No, it's usually closer.

849. On your chest.

850. I wonder if it would work from a little farther back.

851. But Grace won't feel comfortable and safe.

852. Well Hey, look, I'm seeing

853. so many sides of you lately, and it's great.

854. Right now I'm seeing the underside of you.

855. Kind of a side sleeper anyway. Good night.

856. So, we watch each other sleep.

857. Eridians don't sleep like a human does.

858. They seem legitimately paralyzed.

859. If danger comes, he can't wake up.

860. It's a survival norm.

861. Someone has to keep you safe.

862. Mission update.

863. Scientific objective completed.

864. Flight team, I want you to meet Dr. Ryland Grace.

865. He is currently the world's leading authority

866. in Astrophage biology.

867. Dr. Grace, these are the three astronauts

868. going on the mission

869. and their backups for redundancy.

870. Yáo, Ilyukhina, and DuBois.

871. Our pilot, engineer, and science officer.

872. It's an honor.

873. I'm excited to share

874. what I've learned about Astrophage and spin drives.

875. We have 1,009 of these Little Engines That Could

876. on the Hail Mary and—

877. Okay.

878. You're doing great. - What?

879. Once the mission is complete,

880. we have the option to end our lives on our terms.

881. The alternative is slow miserable death by starvation.

882. I want to do lethal injection

883. with a little bit of heroin.

884. I will have what she's having.

885. Following on from Dr. Grace's discovery,

886. we've built an IR emitter set to the wavelength of CO2,

887. which attracts the Astrophage to this revolver face.

888. The drive then rotates outwards, yeah?

889. We increase the IR, the Astrophage get excited,

890. thrust the ship forward, and so on and so on.

891. This is less than a gram of Astrophage,

892. and we only need a fraction of this

893. for this demonstration, if you want to take a look.

894. To do what?

895. To melt a metric ton of metal.

896. Powerful stuff.

897. Commander Yáo,

898. I really appreciate what you all are doing.

899. You would do the same.

900. I would choose just not to go at all.

901. I don't have the bravery gene that you all have. Trust me.

902. It's not a gene.

903. You just need to find someone to be brave for.

904. Movement detected.

905. Hi, Grace.

906. You're in a ball!

907. So Rocky no die in Grace atmosphere.

908. I come up. - Oh, you're coming up.

909. Foreign body detected.

910. Grace and Rocky big science

911. how to kill Astrophage together.

912. I keep going this way?

913. This room boring. - Rocky!

914. Science. Save Earth. Save Erid. Good plan.

915. No! No! No!

916. What this down here, question?

917. Amaze, amaze, amaze.

918. Rocky want to see human technology.

919. Dirty, dirty, dirty. Dirty, dirty.

920. Why room so messy, question?

921. Well, I wasn't expecting company, was I?

922. Is this room for garbage? Oh.

923. Dirty, dirty, dirty. - No. This is the lab.

924. This is where the science happens.

925. What this? What this? - That's the evaporator. Whoa!

926. What this?

927. That is the disco ball. That makes me happy.

928. Rocky will build workshop here.

929. Will need much room for Rocky and much less space for Grace.

930. What is happening here?

931. We go Petrova line. We collect Astrophage.

932. We study it. We go home. We collect. We save Earth.

933. And when you say "we," uh, where?

934. I see Grace!

935. Apology, apology, apology. - Whoa! Enough!

936. Rocky, stay! - Rocky new to ball.

937. Rocky, my hand is up.

938. We can't just show up in a space ball unannounced

939. and move into someone else's spaceship. Right?

940. There has to be boundaries. - Boundaries.

941. We have one mission. - Mission.

942. But we're two distinct individuals.

943. Individuals.

944. Both working on our distinct

945. individual parts of that mission.

946. Mission. - Separately.

947. Separately. - Okay.

948. Where my bedroom? - Bedroom?

949. For what?

950. So I have a new roommate now.

951. Be careful back there, okay?

952. The chore wheel's pretty lopsided.

953. Where on earth does that go?

954. Not on Earth. More high. - It goes this way?

955. Wall. Wall. - All the way out to here?

956. Yes. Out, pointy. - What?

957. He tells me what to do, he tells me why to do it,

958. he tells me how to do it, he tells me when to do it.

959. And then when I do it,

960. he's like, "What are you doing?"

961. I'm just saying you're gonna get out of the ball

962. to get into a much bigger ball?

963. Yes. For sleeping.

964. Sounds like you're having an argument.

965. You don't even use a bed!

966. Conflict is normal amongst crewmembers.

967. You have the Hellraiser thing that you sleep on.

968. - What do you need a bed for? - Grumpy, angry, stupid.

969. How long since last sleep, question?

970. Don't talk to— Armando. Yes. Can I help you?

971. You're doing this.

972. It's a lot of this.

973. And then he's like,

974. "No understand, no understand."

975. And then it's like

976. "Need a word."

977. You know what the word is? Bossy.

978. I'm like one of the villains in the Superman movie.

979. I'm just, like, trapped in hell.

980. Get me out of here!

981. His eating habits are

982. exotic.

983. Grace look disgust when eat.

984. How do you look when you eat?

985. Is look beautiful. - Show me.

986. - Oh my God.

987. Oh my God.

988. He has incredible hearing.

989. He can see through walls.

990. Personal space is at a premium.

991. Who is Grace talking to, question?

992. There's no way you can hear me right now.

993. Can hear. Who are you talking to?

994. You can hear this?

995. Yes. Grace say, "You can hear this?"

996. What about this? - Yes.

997. Oh my God. Look at this.

998. Look how far away he is.

999. That is where he is. - Hello, Grace.

1000. He's right here. Okay? - Hello, Grace Friend.

1001. Did Grace find sampler instruction?

1002. Yes, I found the sampler instruct—

1003. Yes, I found the sampler instructions.

1004. He's really smart about some things.

1005. Oh my God, he's got a gun!

1006. Oh. This? No, no, no.

1007. This to screen in front,

1008. and now this to that over here.

1009. Now Rocky can hear screen.

1010. Please don't point it at me. - Oh. Point over here.

1011. Yes. - Oh, okay. Now over there.

1012. You're pointing at me again.

1013. But his species doesn't know about things

1014. like relativity and radiation.

1015. And the rest of the crew?

1016. In mid of ship. There. - In here?

1017. And where did you keep the Astrophage?

1018. Fuel tanks next to Rocky workshop there.

1019. I think the radiation is what made your crew sick, Rock.

1020. The Astrophage probably just protected you from it.

1021. This isn't something that you could have fixed.

1022. But I guess together we're, you know, pretty smart.

1023. Since we're only gonna be able to intersect

1024. with the Petrova line for a few seconds,

1025. we're not gonna have enough time to get a good sample.

1026. Too fast. Do puppet show. Too fast.

1027. I don't want to do the puppet show.

1028. No, do puppet show.

1029. This is us. We're, you know, flying along.

1030. The problem is,

1031. because the solar system is constantly moving,

1032. the Petrova line is gonna constantly be moving. Right?

1033. Am I still doing it?

1034. You still want it? - Yes, yes. Show time.

1035. So we're not gonna have time to get the sample.

1036. No, no, no.

1037. Use planet gravity to move with line.

1038. You mean sort of like rest in its orbit?

1039. Yes.

1040. I didn't think of that. - I did.

1041. We figured out a plan.

1042. We're gonna orbit the planet where Astrophage breeds,

1043. collect a sample and figure out why it's not eating Tau Ceti.

1044. Who is Grace talking to?

1045. I'm not talking to anyone.

1046. I need a break.

1047. Break from what? - Oh my God.

1048. Forget it, this isn't gonna work.

1049. 150 million kilometers away.

1050. Racing along at 162 kilometers per second.

1051. Means we should arrive at Tau Ceti-e at—

1052. Arrival at Tau Ceti-e

1053. in 11 days, 3 hours and 14 minutes.

1054. Thank you, Mary. - You're welcome, Dr. Grace.

1055. Thank you, Mary. - You're welcome, Rocky.

1056. Welcome to Earth.

1057. You are in the Mental Health Node.

1058. Whoa, whoa, whoa!

1059. Careful, Rocky. Rock. Look out below.

1060. The beach is always changing.

1061. You could go to the same spot every day,

1062. you're always looking at a different beach.

1063. Trees.

1064. And you climb, and you climb to the top if you can.

1065. He's so excited about us

1066. both getting to go home.

1067. There's no harm in pretending for a little while.

1068. Touch the wave, Rock.

1069. Touching the wave.

1070. Is wiping out. Hanging ten.

1071. Hey! Oh!

1072. The Big Apple, baby.

1073. In Three, Apollo trains him.

1074. And in Seven, he trains Apollo's kid.

1075. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

1076. Punch, punch, punch, punch. - Nice!

1077. Adrian! - Rocky!

1078. Nope.

1079. No.

1080. I like Earth.

1081. I miss the fog.

1082. What about you, Rock?

1083. What do you miss most about home?

1084. Hmm, my mate.

1085. Wait, what?

1086. You got a mate? - Yes.

1087. I mean, not that you— I mean—

1088. What's their name?

1089. Name is:

1090. It's beautiful.

1091. Grace have mate, question?

1092. No.

1093. I mean, I did.

1094. But she thought I had my head in the clouds

1095. and I didn't really want to live in the real world.

1096. She was right.

1097. Anyway, now she's with Mark.

1098. Rocky hate Mark.

1099. But enough about me. You have a mate.

1100. How long you been together?

1101. 186.3 years.

1102. It's like the honeymoon phase.

1103. No understand. - That's a joke, Rock.

1104. That's a long time.

1105. You've been together a long time.

1106. Is not enough.

1107. Permission to come aboard, captain.

1108. You're already aboard.

1109. Did you get your free hat?

1110. Yeah, I kinda bought them. - Oh.

1111. You don't sing, huh?

1112. Yeah, I do.

1113. I actually sang in an Eastern German youth choir.

1114. You're very mysterious.

1115. No, I'm not.

1116. I always wanted to be

1117. mysterious.

1118. Talk too much. That's my problem.

1119. Like right now.

1120. I didn't mean to bother you.

1121. You don't bother me.

1122. It is such a weird party.

1123. Is it?

1124. Yáo is singing.

1125. Everyone's so happy.

1126. People are hooking up,

1127. and they all know they're gonna die.

1128. Camaraderie helps them do their job, you know.

1129. Not so much me. So

1130. Must be hard having to ask everybody to

1131. you know.

1132. Actually it isn't.

1133. Yeah.

1134. So, what do you think?

1135. You think you're gonna pull it off?

1136. What, the whole thing?

1137. Yeah.

1138. God willing.

1139. You believe in God?

1140. It beats the alternative.

1141. And that is enough.

1142. I wish you could see this, Rock.

1143. Rocky can see.

1144. Boring.

1145. What? This is not boring.

1146. Name of planet Tau Ceti-e is same name

1147. as star plus "E."

1148. Boring.

1149. I guess it could be a little more evocative.

1150. Astrophage sampler in position, question?

1151. Yep.

1152. Trays are live, looking both ways.

1153. It is time go.

1154. It's time go.

1155. What is Grace doing, question?

1156. I'm having a moment.

1157. You know, back on Earth,

1158. if you discover something, you get to name it.

1159. You were technically the first one here, so

1160. Yes, name is Medium-Rough Texture Circle Planet.

1161. 'Kay.

1162. Well, if Medium-Rough Texture Circle Planet was taken,

1163. we'll just have a backup.

1164. Maybe go with something personal.

1165. Personal.

1166. What's your mate's name again?

1167. Name is

1168. It's okay, it's okay. I remember.

1169. Need human word for Rocky mate.

1170. Adrian.

1171. Is beautiful.

1172. Well, that's weird.

1173. What?

1174. It's the same amount, both coming and going.

1175. But if Astrophage going to Adrian to breed,

1176. there should be more leaving.

1177. It should be double. It doesn't make sense.

1178. It's either not reproducing

1179. or it's not leaving the planet for some reason.

1180. Oh, my God.

1181. What? What Grace see? What Grace see, question?

1182. Life.

1183. This is not just Astrophage.

1184. It's bacteria, it's protozoa.

1185. It's like cells on Erid.

1186. And Earth.

1187. What this mean, question?

1188. Well, if there's a whole active biosphere

1189. in the Petrova line,

1190. it stands to reason there's a whole active biosphere

1191. on Adrian, which means

1192. There's life on Adrian.

1193. Oh, Grace! Grace! - Yeah?

1194. Life. Life is reason. Life is reason!

1195. Yeah. You said it, buddy. Life is the reason.

1196. No understand. No understand.

1197. Use your words. Life's the reason for what?

1198. Life is reason. - Life is the reason for what?

1199. Life is reason. Life is reason.

1200. - Life is reason what?

1201. Life on Adrian is reason

1202. Astrophage in balance.

1203. Life on Adrian makes Astrophage die.

1204. Like a predator.

1205. Yes.

1206. That would keep the population stable.

1207. Grace, if we bring predator home

1208. our stars not die.

1209. Life is reason star not die.

1210. Why didn't you just say that?

1211. If there is some kind

1212. of microbial predator on Adrian,

1213. it'll be in the clouds where Astrophage breeds.

1214. Check. Oh.

1215. The problem is this ship

1216. wasn't built to go into the atmosphere.

1217. If we get within five kilometers,

1218. we'll be ripped into a million pieces

1219. and then we'll burn up.

1220. Game over.

1221. Game not over.

1222. I make chain. I make long chain.

1223. I put collection device on end.

1224. Oh, yeah, yeah. Five kilometers of chain. Sure.

1225. - Guard me! - Like this chain. Look.

1226. You can do that? - Yes.

1227. Kinda like fishing.

1228. What that?

1229. Whoa, whoa!

1230. Fishing! Can you believe it?

1231. It could work. - Thumbs up, baby.

1232. Hello, Earth!

1233. Plan is like fishing.

1234. We get very close to Adrian atmosphere

1235. and lower collector into clouds with chain.

1236. Then Grace go on hull to reel it in.

1237. If ship not at precise angle and speed, we die!

1238. Example!

1239. We must fly backwards to keep proper velocity,

1240. even though Grace still have no pilot experience.

1241. But I've been practicing, haven't I?

1242. More! No. Left. Be left. - What?

1243. More left. More left. Is perfect. No. Wrong.

1244. Erratic maneuver detected.

1245. No. Wrong way. Wrong angle.

1246. Bad, bad, bad. Good, good, good.

1247. Good. Bad. Not enough.

1248. Not enough. Too much! Left, left, left.

1249. I'm barely pulling it!

1250. No, is bad. Grace Rocky dead.

1251. All Rocky plural, all Earth, die.

1252. Power off. - We die. We die.

1253. Rocky has built predator collector.

1254. Rocky chain spooled and ready.

1255. Grace pilot training not as good.

1256. What think, Earth?

1257. Hello?

1258. They can't hear you, pal. - What?

1259. We're not actually talking to Earth. Earth's too far away.

1260. We just record these messages

1261. and we tell 'em what we've learned,

1262. and then when we're done,

1263. we'll send them all back in a probe.

1264. Why not you tell them yourself

1265. when you return home, question?

1266. Yeah.

1267. This is a one-way ticket for me, pal.

1268. What?

1269. We had enough Astrophage to get here

1270. but not enough to get back.

1271. So, what happens Grace, question?

1272. Oh I got enough food to last me

1273. at least a couple years.

1274. Maybe a couple more if I stretch it out.

1275. So Grace die, question?

1276. Yeah, once we're done, I'm

1277. I'm gonna die.

1278. Why didn't you tell me?

1279. It slipped my mind.

1280. No. Grace say Grace go home.

1281. Look.

1282. Listen. Listen. Listen. - No. No.

1283. I got to meet you.

1284. I got to do all this amazing stuff.

1285. I'm good. I've made peace with it.

1286. What mean? What mean "make peace"?

1287. It means

1288. I know I'm not going home

1289. I know why

1290. and it's okay.

1291. Thumbs up? - No.

1292. Tiny thumbs up? - No.

1293. We got stars to save. Okay?

1294. Grace? - Yeah.

1295. You are

1296. Need word.

1297. W-W-What word do you need?

1298. To risk self to help another.

1299. Uh, dumb.

1300. Grace?

1301. How much Astrophage you need, question?

1302. Two million kilograms.

1303. I can give.

1304. I go home six years slower.

1305. That's too much.

1306. Rocky watch crew die.

1307. Could not fix.

1308. Grace say Grace will die.

1309. Rocky fix.

1310. Grace go home.

1311. Okay.

1312. I thought you made peace, question?

1313. I didn't mean any of that.

1314. That's just something you say.

1315. Thank you.

1316. Get over here.

1317. Whoa, whoa, whoa. What? What's happening?

1318. A hug. - Oh! Hmm.

1319. It's usually not something one does by themselves.

1320. Oh. Wait, I do the same?

1321. Would you just get in here?

1322. How do you know when the hug is done?

1323. You just feel it. - Oh.

1324. Are you feeling it now?

1325. Nope.

1326. Oh. Oh, okay. Yeah.

1327. We ran the sampler simulation again this morning.

1328. Shapiro and DuBois nailed it again.

1329. Okay. What about the others?

1330. They'll be ready.

1331. I expect so.

1332. They have a great teacher.

1333. Can you take a compliment please?

1334. No.

1335. It's an order. Okay?

1336. Okay. If it's an order, I'll take it. Thank you.

1337. Good.

1338. What do you think?

1339. It's pretty impressive.

1340. Yeah. - You're

1341. You're good.

1342. - Three days, huh?

1343. Yeah.

1344. So, what are you gonna do for the next 20 years?

1345. You got a plan?

1346. Manual mode activated.

1347. Go.

1348. That's not half bad!

1349. Is full good.

1350. Time go fishing, question?

1351. It's now or never.

1352. Three thousand meters. - Three thousand.

1353. Probe signal good.

1354. Now comes the fun part.

1355. Grace go out on hull to retrieve collector?

1356. No fun at all.

1357. It's a joke.

1358. Oh, humor. Confusing.

1359. You gotta be kidding me.

1360. What problem, question?

1361. It's fine. It's just

1362. the sky is slightly on fire.

1363. Words of encouragement.

1364. You can't just say "words of encouragement."

1365. Words of great encouragement.

1366. Nope.

1367. Did you feel that? - Yes.

1368. I'm not worried. Are you worried?

1369. Yes.

1370. Great.

1371. Collector is closed. Move winch into position.

1372. - Whoa!

1373. How long is this supposed to take?

1374. Collector should be here soon.

1375. Yeah. It's here.

1376. Amaze, amaze, amaze!

1377. Careful. Collector important.

1378. Yup.

1379. Altitude warning.

1380. Oh, hurry, hurry.

1381. Hurry, hurry.

1382. Grace?

1383. Grace, status update.

1384. Status update.

1385. Grace?

1386. Grace is safe, question?

1387. I'm okay.

1388. Good, good, good.

1389. Come inside with predator collector now.

1390. Uh

1391. Why not moving, question?

1392. Warning! Exterior temperature elevated.

1393. Must move now. Go, go.

1394. No, Grace. Bad idea. Come inside.

1395. I'll be there in a minute.

1396. No, no, no, no, no. Grace will die.

1397. Can repeat mission. Can try again later.

1398. I don't think there is gonna be a later.

1399. Abort, abort, abort.

1400. Grace will die. No-No-No-No-No-No-No-No-No.

1401. Grace? - I'm here!

1402. Amaze, amaze, amaze!

1403. - Grace okay, question?

1404. Well, I'm not dead, so yes.

1405. Good, good, good, good.

1406. Where is that noise coming from?

1407. Noise is from all around.

1408. It's loudest at port side of bedroom.

1409. The gravity's tearing the ship apart.

1410. We leave now, question?

1411. We leave now, statement.

1412. Hull pressure warning.

1413. Hull bending in big room below bedroom.

1414. That's the fuel tanks.

1415. Oh. Bad, bad, bad. - Well, it's not great.

1416. Bad, bad, bad. - Warning.

1417. Everybody, calm down. Calm down!

1418. Try and keep yourself together, Mary.

1419. Stop engine now? - Not yet.

1420. We need to get into orbit or we'll crash!

1421. I have an idea. First, no crash.

1422. Then, not explode. Deal?

1423. Deal!

1424. Hold on.

1425. Now?

1426. Wait.

1427. Now? Now?

1428. Now!

1429. Did we do it?

1430. Why ship moving, question?

1431. There's a hole in it!

1432. - Hull breach.

1433. Port side fuel compartments 11 and 12.

1434. Grace. What happening, question?

1435. The fuel is migrating to Adrian!

1436. Eject bad fuel bay, question?

1437. Yeah.

1438. Jettison port fuel tank compartment 12. Confirm.

1439. Rocky!

1440. Jettison port fuel tank compartment 11. Confirm.

1441. Eject other fuel bay.

1442. One nanogram of Astrophage

1443. just isn't enough to blow up a building.

1444. The quartermaster gave him

1445. one milligram by mistake.

1446. That's a million times the heat energy

1447. that they're prepared for.

1448. A measuring mistake killed my entire science team?

1449. It doesn't matter. We have to launch.

1450. If we miss the orbital window, it'll set us back months.

1451. Yeah, but if no one's trained

1452. to do the mission, it won't matter.

1453. Casualty projections go up exponentially

1454. if we delay.

1455. We launch on schedule

1456. with a replacement science officer.

1457. Okay, but

1458. who?

1459. I mean, that

1460. I'm not an astronaut.

1461. I don't need an astronaut.

1462. I need an expert on Astrophage who's mission-ready.

1463. I'm not ready.

1464. I don't have any training.

1465. You'll pick it up.

1466. I'm not an astronaut!

1467. I put the "not" in astronaut.

1468. I've never done anything—

1469. I've never done a space wa— I can't even moonwalk!

1470. I haven't done the whole pool thing.

1471. No, no, no. This is just we do for the picture,

1472. for social media.

1473. I'm not heroic in any way.

1474. I get sick on an elevator.

1475. Oh, perfect. There's no elevator on the ship.

1476. I cannot do this.

1477. You're smart. You'll figure it out.

1478. This might be very hard for you to understand,

1479. but some people are failures.

1480. Some people don't rise to the challenge.

1481. You've been present for every major scientific

1482. or strategic meeting we've had on the mission.

1483. You're missing out an important part of the mission

1484. which is the suicide part.

1485. Grace, you'd be in very cool company.

1486. If you don't go, you die anyway.

1487. Yeah, but I die in 30 years with—

1488. "With the rest of us."

1489. You have no immediate family. You don't even have a dog.

1490. So, just so I'm clear

1491. you're asking me right now

1492. to give up my life.

1493. I am. We all are.

1494. Can I think about this?

1495. You have three hours.

1496. Eye movement detected.

1497. Good morning, Dr. Grace.

1498. I'll watch you sleep, pal.

1499. But, uh

1500. you gotta wake up.

1501. I'm not sure what to do.

1502. Done everything I can think of.

1503. I made him a heat lamp.

1504. And he left me one last message.

1505. We have our predator.

1506. Right now I'm calling it "Taumoeba."

1507. And I'm sure that when you wake up,

1508. you'll have a lot to say about why that's a bad name

1509. because it's just an amoeba from Tau Ceti,

1510. and we're putting "Tau" in front of "amoeba."

1511. But I would argue there's an elegance to that.

1512. A simplicity.

1513. Let's not fight about it now.

1514. We'll table it and we'll—

1515. I did a test at different atmospheric variables

1516. and, fun fact, every time I introduced nitrogen

1517. it died.

1518. And I know what you're thinking,

1519. "Well, that's terrible because that's a problem

1520. 'cause we need it to survive in the conditions of Venus."

1521. Obviously, I had to figure out how to breed

1522. a new strain of nitrogen-resistant Taumoeba.

1523. And guess what I used?

1524. The breeder tanks that we made with your xenonite.

1525. And you know what?

1526. Now we're just a couple of very cool dudes

1527. with their very own strain of nitrogen-resistant Taumoeba.

1528. Really, all we have to do now

1529. is breed enough to survive the trip.

1530. And you gotta wake up

1531. because I don't know how to get

1532. your half of the Taumoeba to Erid.

1533. So

1534. No pressure

1535. but we did make a deal.

1536. Shh.

1537. Grace?

1538. Rock, could you just

1539. give me a little chance please to sleep a little?

1540. Did we find predator?

1541. No? Is yes.

1542. Amaze, amaze, amaze.

1543. Rocky breeder tank design.

1544. Good job, Rock.

1545. We can go home, statement.

1546. We can go home.

1547. Fist my bump.

1548. Nope.

1549. It's still not right.

1550. I'll do it. - Good, good, good.

1551. So what we do now, question?

1552. We party.

1553. Wow.

1554. Is special clothing for celebration.

1555. You're making me think that I have to, uh, up my game.

1556. What is this? - If you don't mind.

1557. Rocky get one! - There you go.

1558. Is good. - Yeah.

1559. It's not much. Just a little something.

1560. Your very own laptop.

1561. My portable Earth thinking-machine!

1562. With all human knowledge.

1563. Thank, thank, thank.

1564. And just one more thing.

1565. Yes?

1566. What this?

1567. It's Earth.

1568. So you can remember me.

1569. Rocky can't forget.

1570. I didn't get you anything.

1571. You gave me everything.

1572. But if I were to give you something?

1573. It'd be pretty cool to see your ship.

1574. I understand that you think

1575. I'm the right person for this mission.

1576. But

1577. I can't do it.

1578. I can't do it.

1579. You'll find a solution.

1580. You are my solution.

1581. My place is in the classroom.

1582. Stop pretending this is about your students.

1583. It's so insulting.

1584. Grace, we will lose

1585. a quarter of the world's population

1586. in the next 30 years.

1587. And that assumes that the nations of the world

1588. work together to ration food.

1589. Which they won't.

1590. So I'd double the estimate.

1591. And if you would truly care about the children,

1592. or anyone else for that matter,

1593. you'd get on that ship.

1594. I understand the stakes.

1595. I do.

1596. But I don't have it in me.

1597. My mind is made up.

1598. I'm sorry, but, uh

1599. But you just can't talk me into it.

1600. I'm sorry.

1601. I'm not trying to talk you into anything.

1602. I am

1603. trying to make you understand

1604. what I'm about to do next.

1605. Yeah? Please.

1606. Stay calm. Come in.

1607. What is this?

1608. Mission plan will state that

1609. we induced your coma early to maximize your safety.

1610. You will be remembered as a hero.

1611. Come on. This is crazy.

1612. I have to do it. - You're not

1613. Come on. What are you doing?

1614. This may seem like me betraying you,

1615. but it's actually me believing in you.

1616. Sure feels like you're betraying me.

1617. Don't make this harder, please.

1618. Come on, guys.

1619. Let's keep talking about it.

1620. Sit down and we do it differently.

1621. Yeah, he's running.

1622. No. No.

1623. Carl. I can't do it.

1624. No!

1625. Don't do it! Don't do it! Don't do it.

1626. You know who you are.

1627. Carl!

1628. You're gonna do great.

1629. I'm trying to think if there's anything I forgot.

1630. Fuel tank fix okay, question?

1631. Oh, yeah, yeah. They're working great.

1632. Oh, good. Happy, happy, happy.

1633. Well

1634. My friend.

1635. Yes, friend?

1636. I'm not sure what to say, so just gonna

1637. Grace?

1638. No one to watch you sleep.

1639. Yeah.

1640. You are very brave.

1641. Oh, I don't know about that.

1642. You are bravest human I have ever met.

1643. Hey.

1644. Is joke. - I know.

1645. I only meet one human, and is you!

1646. I get it.

1647. It's a good joke.

1648. Good joke.

1649. All right. Well

1650. Goodbye.

1651. No understand word.

1652. Means, uh, see you later.

1653. But I won't see you later.

1654. I know.

1655. How do you say goodbye back home?

1656. We don't.

1657. Hmm.

1658. We do this.

1659. Journey to Earth

1660. will take 4 years, 2 months and 11 days.

1661. Lava! Lava!

1662. Lava!

1663. Contaminant detected.

1664. Contaminant detected.

1665. Contaminant detected.

1666. Contaminant detected.

1667. Contaminant detected.

1668. There's a leak.

1669. The problem is the xenonite.

1670. The Taumoeba can get through it.

1671. Probably 'cause we bred it in the xenonite breeder tanks,

1672. it evolved to escape it.

1673. I was able to stop it

1674. before it ate all the Astrophage on the ship.

1675. Rocky's ship is built of xenonite.

1676. The Taumoeba will already be in his fuel lines.

1677. And he won't be able to find the leak

1678. because the leak is the ship itself.

1679. He'll be without any fuel. Stranded.

1680. His life support systems will fail.

1681. And if that doesn't kill him, the radiation sickness will.

1682. He's looking at a long

1683. slow

1684. painful death

1685. alone.

1686. I can't do both.

1687. I can go home

1688. or I can save Rocky.

1689. I've sent you detailed logs of all of our findings.

1690. And enough Taumoeba for you

1691. to start your very own Taumoeba farm.

1692. At least I never have to hear you say,

1693. "I told you so."

1694. Even though you were right.

1695. Rocky!

1696. Hey!

1697. Come on, Rock!

1698. I'm here, buddy.

1699. Earth, Rocky.

1700. Rocky, Earth.

1701. Hello, Earth. I am Rocky.

1702. I am Rocky from Erid.

1703. I am not Rocky from movie. No, no, no, no.

1704. I'm pretty sure they know that.

1705. I've left you detailed logs of all of our findings

1706. and I threw in a little something else just for fun.

1707. Hopefully it all makes sense.

1708. And if not

1709. You're smart.

1710. You'll figure it out.

1711. This is Dr. Captain Ryland Grace

1712. reporting from the Hail Mary.

1713. As the Eridians say

1714. Let's begin.

1715. Good morning, Armando.

1716. You shouldn't have.

1717. That's a noogie.

1718. I'm coming!

1719. Why you always gotta be so early?

1720. Yeah. I know, and I ignored you.

1721. Yeah. Okay.

1722. Why? I thought this was a safe neighborhood.

1723. Okay. It's just, Armando likes the fresh air.

1724. Can we talk about the water temperature a little bit?

1725. It's amazing.

1726. Just that you've done it at all.

1727. Very cold.

1728. And, before, it was boiling.

1729. Is there an in between?

1730. Please tell the biodome illumination team

1731. that it's perfect now.

1732. Oh, no, this is

1733. You know I'm a sucker for the fog.

1734. Yeah, pal.

1735. Can I think about it?

1736. Good morning, class.

1737. Okay. Everyone take their seats.

1738. Let's wake up.

1739. Who can tell me the speed of light?