Project Hail Mary

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-8

Chapters 9-12

Chapters 13-16

Chapters 17-20

Chapters 21-25

Chapters 26-30

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Book Club Questions

Chapters 13-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 13 Summary

In a flashback, Grace accompanies Stratt to a maximum-security prison in New Zealand to meet with Dr. Robert Redell, an incarcerated engineer with an idea for generating the amount of energy that must be loaded into the Astrophage to power the trip to Tau Ceti. After a stand-off with the prison guards over Stratt’s refusal to be searched or surrender her weapons, they are taken to Dr. Redell, who is serving time ostensibly for an accident at a solar farm he designed that killed seven people, but also for embezzling millions of dollars from the New Zealand government during the construction of the solar farm in Africa.

Redell has designed a “blackpanel” solar energy conductor made of glass and anodized metal to breed Astrophage and enrich them with heat energy. To get enough energy, one quarter of the Sahara Desert, about 2 trillion square meters, will need to be paved with black panel. Stratt agrees to transfer Redell out of prison to design the blackpanel farm.

Grace wakes up in the tunnel, where he now sleeps every night while Rocky watches him. Grace, in return, watches Rocky when he sleeps, although Rocky sleeps much less frequently. Rocky has also set up a workshop on his side of the tunnel. Now confident in their ability to communicate, Grace and Rocky confirm that they are both there to learn why Tau Ceti is resistant to Astrophage. While describing how each of their respective crewmates died, Grace realizes that Eridians have no concept of radiation.

Back on the aircraft carrier in flashback, Grace meets with Lokken, who shares a new paper by CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, on the energy storage properties of Astrophage. Extremely efficient at absorbing energy, the Astrophage have reduced the brightness of the sun so much already that the effects of global warming have been undone. Grace and Lokken realize that Astrophage can be used to protect the Hail Mary crew from radiation in space by creating an insulating layer of Astrophage suspended in oil under the hull.

Chapter 14 Summary

Still in flashback aboard the aircraft carrier, Grace attends a Project Hail Mary staff meeting to introduce Dr. François Leclerc, a renowned climatologist. Leclerc predicts that half of the world’s population will die within 19 years if the climate change due to the dimming sun is not mitigated. Already, Earth is experiencing natural disasters including tornadoes in Europe, and Redell’s blackpanel farm has disrupted weather in the Mediterranean. Since a minimum of 26 years is needed for the Hail Mary to travel to Tau Ceti and the Beetle probes to return, Stratt suggests that Leclerc devise a way to intentionally cause global warming and slow the cooling of the planet as the sun grows dimmer.

In the present, Grace explains radiation to Rocky. The Blip-A has no radiation protection at all, since Erid, as Grace names Rocky’s home planet, has an atmosphere so thick that it filters out all radiation from their star, leaving the surface of the planet completely dark. Rocky, as the ship’s engineer, was stationed close to the store of Astrophage fuel, which absorbed radiation and protected him. Rocky and Grace theorize on the similarities and differences in the technological capabilities of humans and Eridians, and Rocky posits that they may share some common ancestor even older than Astrophage.

In the past, Stratt, Leclerc, and Grace observe from a safe distance as nuclear weapons are used to cleave a huge portion of Antarctic ice into the sea, releasing methane into the atmosphere as the ice melts. Leclerc is devastated. Methane will eventually dissipate and is better for the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, but the drop in ocean temperature and rise in sea levels that the melting ice will cause are exactly the kind of ecological disasters he has dedicated his life to preventing. Leclerc and Stratt speculate that they will both end their lives in prison once the mission is complete, and despite Stratt’s reassurance that there are no moral dilemmas when the fate of humanity is at stake, Leclerc weeps when the nuclear explosions go off.

Rocky and Grace discuss human and Eridian biology, and Grace learns that Rocky comprises mostly oxidized minerals and is comparable to an intelligent beehive. His muscles are steam powered, and he has a radiator-like organ to help him maintain internal temperature. When Rocky sleeps, he is entirely paralyzed and unconscious and because of this, it is Eridian custom to watch over each other while vulnerable and asleep. Rocky, meanwhile, is amazed that Grace can “hear” light. Rocky shows Grace a new device he’s made: a space suit that will allow him to enter the Hail Mary.

Chapter 15 Summary

The Blip-A’s hull robot replaces the tunnel between the spaceships with a larger one, and Rocky navigates the tunnel in his ball-like space suit via hand-held magnets and a metal stripe mounted to the wall. Inside the Hail Mary, Grace carries Rocky in the ball with the help of zero gravity, as Rocky weighs over 300 pounds despite his size. Rocky is thrilled by the ship and is particularly excited about the lab. Rocky decides to move into the Hail Mary so that he and Grace can solve how to stop Astrophage together.

In flashback, Stratt introduces Grace to Dr. Lamai, the Thai scientist who developed the coma technology that the Hail Mary will use. Dr. Lamai is designing a fully automatic system to care for the astronauts while they are in their comas. Stratt asks Lamai to test her for the coma-resistance DNA marker and insists Grace get tested for it, too, as she plans to have everyone currently working on the project tested, since matches for the genetic marker will be so rare.

Rocky brings a lot of materials to the Hail Mary, including the materials to make xenonite. Once Rocky is all moved in, Grace detaches from the tunnel connecting the Hail Mary to the Blip-A and shifts the spaceship to centrifuge mode so that they can use the lab equipment. Rocky is pleased to learn that Grace has an external collection unit for sampling and testing the Astrophage at Tau Ceti because Rocky was unable to repair his own broken collection device. Rocky explains that he has been alone at Tau Ceti for 46 Earth years, but that Eridians live on average 689 Earth years.

Chapter 16 Summary

Rocky asks permission to build a series of xenonite tunnels throughout the Hail Mary so he can travel freely in the ship. Grace agrees but explains that they need to work quickly because Earth is running out of time, while Erid’s denser atmosphere has slowed the effects of Astrophage. Grace also finally admits that he is on a suicide mission when Rocky references their return trips to their home worlds. Rocky tells Grace that he is a “good human” for volunteering when he knew he’d never return to Earth. Rocky has more Astrophage fuel than he needs to return to Erid (because of the Eridians’ lack of awareness of time relativity, as will be revealed later) and he offers to refuel the Hail Mary so that Grace can go home, and Grace weeps with relief.

In flashback, Grace watches as the three chosen Hail Mary astronauts, and their three respective back-ups, arrive on the aircraft carrier: the Chinese Commander Yáo, the Russian engineer Ilyukhina, and an American scientist, Martin DuBois. The backup scientist for DuBois is Dr. Annie Shapiro, whom Grace recognizes from her breakthrough work with DNA. Stratt informs Grace that he is responsible for teaching DuBois and Shapiro everything he can about Astrophage. Grace introduces himself to DuBois, and DuBois mentions that he knows that according to Stratt, Grace also has the DNA marker for coma resistance.

Optimistic since learning he can return to Earth, Grace makes a plan with Rocky for studying the Tau Ceti Astrophage. They set a course for the planet known as Tau Ceti e, which is the other pole of Tau Ceti’s Petrova line, thanks to Rocky’s extensive knowledge of the Tau Ceti system. Grace explains that on Earth, it is customary to name what one discovers. Rocky names the planet after his mate, but because there is no English or human word equivalent, Grace calls Tau Ceti e “Adrian” in reference to the 1976 movie Rocky.

Grace watches Rocky eat, despite Rocky’s discomfort. To Eridians, eating is a private act, and Grace understands why when he witnesses Rocky place food directly into his open abdomen. Grace wonders if Eridian food would be palatable to a human and takes notes on Rocky’s biology as Rocky falls asleep.

Chapters 13-16 Analysis

In the flashback portions of this section, Weir creates two contrasting examples of scientific motivations and moral reasoning in scientific progress through Redell and Leclerc. Neither Grace nor Stratt considers Redell’s actions justified, as his motives were based in profit and he shows little concern for human life. Weir contrasts Redell’s ruthlessness with Stratt’s to emphasize that, behind her unpleasant tactics, her motive is still to reduce human suffering and save all human life. In a rare example, Weir has Stratt concede to the rules of the prison, although not happily, to further indicate that Stratt is not entirely power mad while also introducing the idea that Stratt fears what the repercussions may be for her actions, even if her leadership ultimately does help to save humanity. Weir resists easy moral answers with Stratt, allowing the reader to feel the full weight of the decisions before her, even when her methods are questionable or downright destructive.

Leclerc, by comparison, is a scientist who prioritizes life and the reduction of suffering above all else. Through Leclerc, Weir expands the idea that cultural relativism can exist across species and that human survival is not separate from the survival of other life on Earth. Leclerc is given the rare privilege of correcting Stratt in-scene when Stratt is flippant about the effects of Astrophage on non-human life forms, cementing Weir’s rebuke of Stratt’s anthropocentric reasoning. Weir underlines the dangers of anthropocentrism by having humanity’s salvation be partially dependent of Rocky, an alien who has never seen Earth at all.

Although Dr. Lokken may be able to appreciate that “humanity’s recklessness with our environment” and global warming have actually bought Project Hail Mary more time (228), Leclerc cannot tolerate the psychological burden of intentionally damaging Earth’s oceans. Stratt is unsympathetic, though not quite as cold to Leclerc as to Redell, and even commiserates with Leclerc, noting she is likely to spend the rest of her life in prison once her period of immunity ends. Through this scene, Weir again shows how Stratt’s humanity is still present beneath her tough exterior and that, counterintuitively, her humanity actually motivates rather than undermining her ruthlessness. As Stratt puts it, “I don’t care about morality” (235). Her only concern is the survival of the human race, at any cost.

That Grace is present for Stratt’s meetings with Leclerc, Redell, and Lamai reveals his true significance to Project Hail Mary, even if Grace himself will not realize it until later. Leclerc, Redell, and Lamai are also significantly all outsiders with unconventional approaches, emphasizing Weir’s position that intellectual courage and sheer speculation play an important role in discovery. Grace being tested for the coma-resistance genetic marker foreshadows his fate as a crew member of Hail Mary.

The realization that Rocky’s crewmates died of radiation sickness supports Weir’s perspective that understanding science is always more than trivia—it is a matter of life and death. In addition to creatively rendering a different alien civilization, this realization has a meta-fictional aspect, reminding the reader that Weir’s explanations of scientific theories are more than trivia for the reader; they legitimately inform the stakes of the novel and are essential to understanding the narrative. It also serves to emphasize that Rocky, and Eridians, could benefit from human knowledge and technology just as Grace benefits from Eridian knowledge.

Expanding on the interconnectedness of survival, Grace has resisted telling Rocky that he is certain to die in space out of a fear of upsetting him. However, by being honest about his situation, he actually gets a solution—one that is directly related to Eridians’ failure to understand theoretical physics. Though it seems like a stroke of cosmic luck, Weir posits that survival depends on communication and mutual respect as much as individual will and skill.

Rocky and Grace do much to expand not just their vocabulary in this portion of the novel, but also their understanding of each other’s customs and cultures. Rocky participates in the human tradition of naming, choosing a sentimental reference to his mate and evincing the strong emotional ties among Eridians, who mate for life. Interestingly, both Rocky and Grace agree that the method of Eridian eating is objectively gross, rather than Rocky seeing his own style of eating as matter-of-fact. Still, the two maintain a respectful interest in each other and never once ridicule each other’s customs, despite occasional teasing, typically regarding Grace’s susceptibility to sleepiness or his impatience.

In stark contrast to Grace and Rocky, Stratt is shown to give cultural relativism little to no consideration when selecting the crew members for the Hail Mary. Her only concern is expertise, as she declares, “I’m not here to enact social equality” (266). However, Stratt overlooks the possibility that diversity aboard the Hail Mary would actually be in the best interests of the mission; the narrower the point of view of the crew, the less experience they will have to draw on. This is an interesting contrast with Stratt’s insistence that the Hail Mary computer feature every existing piece of software and reference material, showing her misunderstanding of the potential strengths of human emotion and so-called “soft skills” such as empathy and intercultural fluency, which prove essential to Grace and Rocky’s success.