Project Hail Mary

 

by Pa Rock

Reader

Dr. Ryland Grace awakens in a strange environment with a mechanical voice asking him "What's two plus two?"  The voice is also making comments about what appears to be Grace's medical condition.  As Dr. Grace struggles to open his eyes, he realizes that he does not know where he is at - or even who he is.    He does, however, know what two plus two equals, though he is unable to articulate the answer clearly enough to satisfy the mechanical inquisitor.

One of the first things Ryland Grace comes to realize is that, whoever he is, he possesses an extensive knowledge of math and science.  As he exits the sling contraption in which he has been sleeping, he realizes that the gravity of his new surroundings feels different,  He devises a simple experiment that leads him to the knowledge that he is in an altered gravity and likely in deep space in some sort of a space ship.

The room in which Dr. Grace awakened has two other occupied sleeping slings and is obviously some type of sleeping bay or dormitory.  When Grace examines them, he discovers that his two traveling companions, a man and a woman, have died and their bodies are mummified and desiccated.  A little more exploring leads Ryland Grace to realize that he is all alone in space, several light years from Earth.

As the endless days wear on the lone space traveler slowly begins remembering who he is and why he is hurtling further and further into deep space.  Dr. Grace, when he was back on Earth, had been a highly popular junior high science teacher who had been inexplicably drafted to serve with a group of scientists who were tasked with defeating a strange microbe that was slowly consuming the Earth's sun, something that if it went unchecked would develop into an extinction event for life on Earth.

Ryland Grace is the lone survivor on a mission to find an answer that would save mankind.  If he fails, life on Earth will end within the next few decades..

And then he meets the alien!

This clever and intriguing science fiction tale is from the mind and pen of Andy Weir, a retired software engineer and relatively new novelist who has had a lifetime interest in science and space flight - and many professional connections across a variety of scientific fields.  The result is that this work by Andy Weir, "The Hail Mary Project," is a fascinating exploration into space travel that is highly realistic and plausible.  So many scientific concepts are presented in such an understandable manner, that this book could easily be used to inspire discussion in high school and college physics courses.  One reviewer described it as taking a trip into space with your favorite science teacher - and that is exactly what it felt like to me.

I became curious about this book after reading a blurb about it in a newsletter by American oligarch Bill Gates - who had read it and liked it.  Bill probably has a better grasp of all things scientific than I do, but I still found the novel to be accessible, understandable, and highly readable and enjoyable. 

Those pages almost turned themselves!

Great work, Mr. Weir.  I look forward to reading more of your work.