Grace scrutinizes the ship’s systems and Astrophage panel: ~20,906 kg of fuel, ~6.045 g/s consumption, and a layout showing three fuel cylinders feeding “spin drives,” with fuel lines also along the hull. Numerous hull sensors read 96.415°C everywhere, suggesting the ship carries Astrophage in the hull.

The uniform temperature triggers a memory: in Stratt’s lab, Grace determines live Astrophage hold at exactly 96.415°C regardless of environment. After puncturing a cell with a nanosyringe, it becomes translucent, dies, and analysis reveals it is mostly water—upending his water-free-life theories. Stratt keeps the sample quarantined, wary of biohazards.

Back in the present, Grace opens the storage bay, finds uniforms, and recalls his crewmates: Commander Yáo and Olesya Ilyukhina. He dresses their desiccated bodies in mission suits and uses the airlock to jettison them, offering brief farewells. He is now truly alone.

A schoolroom flashback shows Grace explaining Astrophage’s looming climate impacts to worried students, which spurs him to rush to the lab. There, he finds Stratt dividing the scarce 173 living cells among global labs; after confrontation, she lets him keep three to continue research, recognizing both urgency and his experience.

Grace returns to the consoles, infers the mission seeks a solution in this star system, and opens a “Beetles” panel: four small probe craft—John, Paul, George, Ringo—each with 120 kg Astrophage and 5 TB of storage. Rechecking fuel (~20,862 kg now; ~6 g/s), he estimates ~40 days remaining and concludes Hail Mary cannot return. The Beetles are the data couriers; his mission is one-way, and he will likely die there after sending Earth what he learns.