Summary

Chapter 23 flashes back to Baikonur. Ryland attended a meeting with Project Hail Mary's scientists, astronauts, and Eva Stratt. Stratt explained the circumstances of the explosion that killed DuBois and Shapiro. They were meant to be testing a solution to a problem that might occur if the Hail Mary's generator failed. DuBois was planning to run a simulation in which he activated a nanogram of Astrophage; however, the research lab gave him one milligram of Astrophage instead. When he activated the Astrophage, it “vaporized the building and everyone in it” (384). Stratt told Ryland there was no time to train a new science expert so he must go on the space mission. Ryland said he would think about it.

In the present, the Hail Mary has stabilized and Ryland checks on the experiments testing Taumoeba in the simulated environments of Venus and Threeworld. The Taumoeba...