At Auckland Prison (“Pare”), Stratt clashes with head guard Easton over security, ultimately surrendering her Taser to gain entry. She and Ryland Grace meet inmate Dr. Robert Redell, convicted for a fatal solar-thermal accident and embezzlement. Redell outlines his "blackpanel" concept: simple anodized black foil under glass that passively heats above 100°C to enrich and breed Astrophage using magnets, a CO2-band IR window, and a pinhole for gas exchange. Though inefficient, the design scales to trillions of units—envisioned across the Sahara—yielding massive daily production. Stratt commits to mobilizing global industry and recruits Redell.

Aboard Hail Mary in the present, Grace wakes in the xenonite tunnel near Rocky’s workspace and initiates a deeper exchange. Both confirm they came because Astrophage weakens their stars while Tau Ceti remains unaffected, and both are sole survivors. Rocky reports his crew suffered unexplained cell death; Grace probes for radiation, describing near–light-speed hydrogen ions in space. Rocky, unaware that space contains fast particles at all, reveals a critical Eridian knowledge gap.

In a flashback aboard the carrier, Dr. Lokken shares a CERN preprint: Astrophage stores energy as neutrinos created when internal protons collide at velocities set by 96.415°C; neutrinos (as Majorana particles) annihilate into Petrova-wavelength photons. Astrophage’s “super cross-sectionality” traps neutrinos and blocks matter and radiation. Leveraging this, Lokken proposes lining the Hail Mary’s dual hull with a millimeter of Astrophage–oil slurry, using fuel itself as omnidirectional radiation shielding and reserve. Solar particles won’t catch the accelerating ship; galactic cosmic rays will be stopped by the slurry. Grace deems the plan brilliant.