Grace resolves to find a way to stop Astrophage and transmit results to Earth via the beetles. He explores the control room seeking guidance but finds none, then samples the instrumentation suite: an External Collection Unit and a Petrovascope disabled while the spin drive runs. He calculates the engine’s 6 g/s mass-conversion output at 540 trillion watts and infers the Petrovascope must wait for engine cutoff. Navigation shows about five days to cutoff, speed ~7,595 km/s, and an eventual safe orbit between the third and fourth planets.

Recognizing the time-dilation gap and grieving for crewmates Yáo and Ilyukhina, Grace decides not to touch navigation and to wait for cutoff. He inventories the lab and discovers a vast onboard library, EVA support systems, and the beetles’ data drives (John, Paul, George, Ringo) plus a simple automated launch command.

Flashback: aboard the PLAN Gansu (“Stratt’s Vat”), Grace advances an Astrophage breeder prototype. Stratt presents a dilemma: long-duration crews in cramped space risk violence and suicide. A Thai study identifies rare “coma resistance” genes (~1 in 7,000) enabling safe long comas; the trade-off is a smaller talent pool and the need for fully automated medical care. Stratt chooses coma-based crews to avoid psychological collapse and reduce life-support burdens.

Back in the present, Grace waits anxiously for cutoff. When engines stop, he panics in zero g, vomits into his jumpsuit, then cleans up and changes into one of Yáo’s suits. He straps in and activates the Petrovascope.

The instrument masks Tau Ceti’s disk but reveals a dark-red Petrova line—evidence of local Astrophage. He notes an isolated brightening elsewhere that intensifies then vanishes. Returning to the Petrova line, half is abruptly missing. Switching to visible light, he discovers the cause: a nearby, triangular, gable-ridged constructed craft blocking the view. The design is unlike any human vessel and its flashes imply Astrophage propulsion. Grace realizes he is facing an alien spacecraft.