Project BloodyMary (Simon)

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   Ryland Grace awakens from a deep coma aboard the Hail Mary. A robot attempts to orient him to his surroundings. Grace panics and flops off the table. He scoots out of the room and searches the ship for other humans or clues of his location. He finds the other crew members still in their pods, deceased. He climbs into the upper decks of the ship and is shocked to see he's in outer space. He has no memory of himself or what he's doing there. The ship tells him that he's the only living person on the manifest. He learns his transmission time to Earth would be eleven years, ten months, and four days.

   Grace has flashbacks of the ArcLight scope's journey to view the Petrova line. He remembers being a middle school teacher showing his students how sound waves look. The students ask him about the space dots eating the sun, but he brushes them off as that should come from their parents. He plays a game of "the ball is lava" and is tricked into answering questions about the Petrova line. He explains the dots they found and how they may be dimming the sun. The Earth could cool 10-15 degrees over the next 30 years. The classroom begins to panic. Grace insists they will figure it out because the best minds in the world are "on it."

   In space, Grace shaves his beard and searches for provisions. He finds saline bags of vodka and packs of ramen noodles. He searches the crews belongings, remembering glimpses of who they were. He opens his pouch and tries to piece together his identity.

   Grace sits in his classroom when he's visited by Eva Stratt of the Petrova taskforce. She requests his help based on his paper about how people are wrong about life. No one in his field wants anything to do with him because he refused to back down from his beliefs. She follows him into the parking lot despite him literally running away from her. His paper detailed how life on another planet might not need water to evolve. Eva asks him to come with her and Carl so he can tell them what the Petrova line samples are comprised of. He's sure there are thousands of others who are more qualified. However, the lifeforce on the sun isn't melting, which doesn't sound like water to her.

   They take Grace to a lab where he's placed in an isolated room. He wonders if he's expendable and that's why they brought him in. Eva convenes with the other scientists and their preference is that he doesn't die. He analyzes the moving samples which are unaffected by the light sources. He injects a needle into the sample and announces gleefully that its a tiny, living alien cell. His enthusiasm is short-lived because it dies. He's deflated to learn its made almost entirely of water.

   Grace sits outside when Eva comes to see him. He explains they give off an abundance of infrared light that puzzles him, as he doesn't know how they store all the energy. They give off the same wave length at the Petrova line frequency. They consume the sun's energy and then expel it to move. He doesn't know why it went to Venus. She thanks him for his help and excuses him. He chases after her to fight for a chance to be part of the project. She left him three dots plus the one he killed to examine. The world is counting on him.

   In space, Grace examines several etchings on the wall.

   Back on Earth, Grace and Carl theorize about the alien dots going to Venus instead of a closer planet. Carl surmises it's because they liked something specifically about Venus, likening it to them wanting fresh air. They use Carl's expense account to purchase materials needed to prove the Carl Hypothesis - cardboard and duct tape. They temporarily lose the astrophage from the slides, placing the box inside the lab to ensure the total darkness needed to save the dots. Grace discovers the dots have bred, making him and Carl fathers.

   A fighter jet flies Grace to a boat where Stratt unexpectedly brings him to a conference room with dozens of individuals from across the world. Other scientists have replicated his results in a less crude way. Stratt grants Grace top secret clearance for Project Hail Mary so she can give a power point presentation. Every star has been infected except Tau Ceti, for reasons unknown. They are building a ship to travel 11.5 light years away and investigate the star. They hope to use astrophage as fuel, but won't have enough to return the astronauts, who will die in space. The findings will be sent back to Earth on a probe. The planet will inevitably turn on each other if they don't find a cure. The astronauts will be in coma for most of the trip. They need three - a pilot, an engineer, and a scientist.

   In space, Grace carries his fallen partners, Captain Yáo Li-Jie and engineer Olesya Ilyukhina to the space hatch where he gives eulogies based on their personal belongings. He releases their bodies through the airlock system. He sits in a simulation room when the ship begins a countdown. He rushes to the top level and braces for an expected impact, which doesn't happen. The ship merely shuts down as it has reached Tau Ceti's orbit. He sees that the star also has a Petrova Line, but it's not dimming. He notices a ship intersecting the line, which the ship identifies as "Blip-A". He tries to fly away from the alien ship, but it follows him. A mechanism on the ship releases "Blip-B" which Grace hides from, believing it could be a bomb. Blip-B dings off the Hail Mary. "Blip-C" moves much slower, allowing Grace ample time to go on a space walk and catch it. He examines the Blip which reads a Xenon, despite that being a gas.

   Back on Earth, Stratt works with a scientist to create gravity using centrifuge. This will allow their tools to work properly in space.

   In space, the Hail Mary enters a state of gravity while Blip-A observes through a scope. After realizing everything is backwards with the aliens, he opens Blip-C by using "righty loosey, lefty tightly." Inside is a carefully crafted 3-D model of the star system, with 40 Eridani highlighted to show the aliens origins. Grace adds an extension that's tagged "Earth" to explain he's also a long way from home. "Blip-D" contains a 3-D model of "Blip-A" connected to the Hail Mary. A tunnel emerges from "Blip-A" and attaches itself to the Hail Mary, allowing Grace to space walk to the window of "Blip-A". He is terrified when a rock-like creature appears at the window. The creature reaches out and taps on the window, then shows Grace a 3-D model of Grace, followed by the Hail Mary. He uses the models to act out Grace returning to his ship. The tunnel detaches from the ship once Grace returns to the Hail Mary.

   The tunnel eventually reattaches itself, but this time, it contains uses gravity. Grace sets up cameras and lights. He knocks on the window, attaching a ramen noodle model of "Blip-A". After a few long moments, the creature carefully returns to the window. It is skittish at first as they mistake each other's signals for aggression. It begins imitating Grace's movements, including dances and poses, showing it isn't a threat. Grace examines the alien who doesn't have a face. He starts seemingly playing a tapping game with it on the window until the alien is frustrated. It's pointing to another present, not tapping. Grace doesn't understand the gift at fist, or why the alien wants him to remove the helmet. He realizes it's two rings of eight; oxygen. He starts to leave, but decides to take a leap by trusting the creature, who watches the human intensely. Grace can now breathe in the tunnel without his space ship, and the two ships rotate in tandem.

   Grace returns to the Hail Mary where he examines the presents, realizing they both have a problem with the Petrova Line. They need to solve their language barrier, so Grace uses the universal language of math. He also names the creature Rocky because he looks like a giant rock. Rocky plays with the ruler, not understanding what its purpose is. He wraps itself the ruler around himself while ignoring the clock Grace tries to present. Through Rocky's vision, he can't see the clocks face, only the outline of it. Grace realizes he needs surfaces to see and adds tape to the clocks, so Rocky can use echolocation. In response to Rocky's happy dance, Grace shows him how to use a "thumbs up", but Rocky insists on "thumb down" instead. They agree that "thumbs down" is now a positive response. Rocky then shows Grace their version of a clock.

   Grace creates a computer software that translates Eridian into English. As they work on communication and translation, Grace records video journals for the team on Earth describing the Eridian. Rocky is a talented mechanic who uses a metal form of Xenon that Grace has called Xenonite. The puppet shows are helpful for Grace and his tiny brain. He's just happy the creature is growing on him and not in him. Rocky's sun is also dying, so they have decided to help each other. Rocky is also happy to not be alone anymore. His team began with twenty-three Eridians, but they all died in their sleep. Grace tells him about the two humans who died on his ship, too. They only have each other now, agreeing that, "Grace Rocky Save Stars." They do a fist bump through the window.

   They make models together, though Rocky teases Grace for his being exceptionally bad. Tired of having to read Rocky's constant responses, they listen to a series of voices to pick the perfect one. Grace needs to sleep, a word that Rocky doesn't understand, mistaking it for death. Rocky wants to watch Grace sleep because it's unsafe for Eridians to sleep unwatched. He watched his crew sleep and they died. Grace decides to sleep in the tunnel. They take turns watching each other sleep over the next few nights.

   Stratt introduces Grace to the astronauts going into space - Yáo Li-Jie, Olesya Ilyukhina, and Martin DuBois. Yáo shares that, after the mission is completed, they each have the option to end their lives. Dr. Sood explains how the astrophage will power the engines while Grace demonstrates how a gram of astrophage can melt a metric ton of metal. Afterward, Grace thanks Yáo for his bravery, admitting he could never do it. Yáo doesn't need to be brave, he needs someone to be brave for.

   Back in space, Grace opens his door to Rocky who is in an enclosure that protects him from Grace's atmosphere. He rolls through the ship making a mess, belittling his mess, and asking tons of questions while rambling. Grace tries to set boundaries, but Rocky doesn't care. Grace makes a video journal about his new roommate and the issues they're having adjusting to each other. He realizes through discussions with Rocky that the radiation killed his crew. They make a plan to orbit the planet where astrophage breeds, collect a sample, and figure out why it's not eating Tau Ceti.

   Grace shows Rocky the mental health dome which depicts different scenes and life from Earth. The watch movies and sing karaoke. Rocky is excited for both of them to go home, with Grace pretending that it's possible for now. They talk about their lives back home. Rocky has a mate whose name is long and musical.

   Grace remembers being at karaoke with the astronauts, though Stratt waits outside. He rambles for a while about the weirdness of the party despite the immense impending doom. She hopes they can pull off the whole plan, and they share a moment. Everyone continues to celebrate inside, so Stratt takes the stage to sing "Sign of the Times" for everyone. Grace watches her, mesmerized and impressed by her voice.

   In space, Grace examines the planet which is aptly named Tau Ceti-E. He also experiences the Petrova Line. Grace shares the Earthly tradition of naming the thing you find. After hearing Rocky's suggestion of 'medium rough texture circle planet', Grace suggests naming it after Rocky's mate, giving her the human word 'Adrian'. Once on the Hail Mary, they learn that the astrophage isn't leaving the planet for some reason. There's a bacteria on Adrian which stands to reason there is life on Adrian. Rocky has a huge breakthrough and panics to tell him "life is reason"; the life on Adrian is a predator to astrophage. If they take the substance home they can save their stars. They can't bring the ship into Adrian's atmosphere, so Rocky decides to build 5km of chain so they can lower the collection device without risking death. Rocky gives a video diary about their plans. Grace tells Rocky that he can't return home after the mission, as he will be stranded in space for a couple years before dying. He got to meet Rocky and do amazing things, so he has made peace with his fate. Rocky calls him 'brave' in Eridian. After a long moment, Rocky offers to give Grace the two million astrophage he needs to go home. It will take him six years longer without it, but he couldn't save his crew, so he'll fix this so "Grace go home." Grace breaks down in tears, admitting he didn't mean it when he said he made peace. He hugs Rocky's enclosure, a new concept to the Eridian.

   On Earth, Grace gives Stratt an update on the successful ventures. She compliments him for being a good teacher. A moment later, the research center erupts in a massive explosion.

   In space, Grace pilots the Hail Mary over Adrian before going on a space walk to "go fishing." The ship is unstable and he nearly loses the collector, but rescues it at the last moment while risking his life. Adrian's gravity is tearing the ship apart. Once they are in safety, the astrophage is migrates to Adrian, forcing them to eject the bad fuel. They are both in agony as they release the fuel and are launched through the ship. Grace is knocked unconscious and the ship falls through space. Rocky shatters his enclosure to save Grace, gravely injuring himself in the process.

   On Earth, Grace learns that a mistake by the quartermaster is what killed the entire science team. Stratt volunteers Grace to take DuBois's place, but he rejects the invitation. He isn't an astronaut or heroic. He insists he can't do this, but she believes he's the perfect person as he has no one in his life and knows the mission. He has three hours to think about it.

   Grace awakens on the ship and follows the trail of Rocky's scorched tissue to his enclosure. Rocky is crumpled on the floor, barely conscious and wounded. Grace assures his pal that he'll watch him sleep on the condition that he wakes up again. The days pass with little improvement from Rocky, despite Grace's best efforts to help. He dedicates his time to using Adrian's bacteria to kill the astrophage, ultimately succeeding. He breaks down in sobs at the success. He names the predator Taumoeba, which he's sure Rocky will hate when he wakes up. He bred a nitrogen resistant strain of taumoeba using the xenonite breeder tanks that Rocky made. They need to breed enough to survive the trip. Now, Rocky needs to wake up so he can take his half of the taumoeba to Erid. A few days later, Rocky taps on the enclosure to awaken Grace, who is elated to see his friend alive and well again. They share a happy hug and Grace shows Rocky the breeder tanks full of taumoeba. Now, they party.

   In the mental health room, Grace gives Rocky a laptop and small plush of Earth to remember him by. Rocky feels bad for not giving Grace anything, asking what he would want. Grace wants to see his friends ship. Rocky builds him a special space suit and gives him a tour.

   Back on Earth, Grace rejects Stratt's offer to go on the mission. She tries to appeal to him, saying that over a third of the worlds population will die in thirty years. He understands the stakes, but isn't brave enough to do this. She isn't trying to talk him into anything. She hopes that he can understand her next actions, which is to force him into an early coma so he can go on the trip. She believes in him, but he views it as a betrayal. He runs away from the doctors and escapes the room. He makes it to the fence when agents tackle him. He begs Stratt not to do this. Carl insists that Grace will be great.

   In space, Grace and Rocky say their goodbyes. Rocky even manages to make a joke about Grace being the bravest human he's ever known. Rocky doesn't understand the word 'goodbye'. Eridians don't say goodbye, only playing a series of notes on his arm that Grace mimics. They part ways, giving each other a "thumbs up" through their respective windows.

   Grace begins his journey home when Mary alerts him to a contamination in the ship. The taumoeba can escape the xenonite and have evolved to consume the materials. He sealed the containers before it could eat the astrophage on the ship, but his worry is with Rocky, whose ship in made entirely of xenonite. He won't be able to find the leak because the leak is the entire ship. He will die either from the leak of fuel or radiation poisoning, suffering a long, painful, and slow death alone. Grace can either go home or save Rocky; he can't do both. He decides to release the probes, named after the Beatles, containing the taumoeba tanks and detailed logs of their findings and video journals. He sets off in the opposite direction to rescue Rocky. It takes him nearly two months to reach his friend, who comes to the window despite being in distress.

   In the present day, Stratt watches Rocky and Grace's video logs on an Earth coated in ice. She calls her team to begin the process of saving the planet.

   Grace wakes up in his house on Erid, starting his day by greeting Aramando. Rocky aggressively knocks on the door to bring him outside, where he's living on a perfectly replicated beach. Grace is amazed by the ocean, but asks for a more consistent water temperature. Rocky will ask Adrian to work on that. He enjoys the fog and sitting by the water. The Eridian scientists are ready to prepare Hail Mary for the journey home. Grace asks for time to think about the decision to return to Earth, with Rocky encouraging him to think about it for a long time. They part for the day as Grace heads to a space in the dome where a room full of adolescent Eridians are waiting for him. He greets his class, asking them about the speed of light to their excited trilling.

   Rocky is an Eridian engineer from the planet Erid in the 40 Eridani solar system. He was sent to Tau Ceti with twenty-two other Eridian scientists/crewmates to save their star and planet from Astrophage. As an Eridian, he has no facial features and no sense of sight, instead using hearing and echolocation as his primary sense. He communicates using musical tones and chords. Rocky's true name in the Eridian language is a series of musical chords, but Grace calls him "Rocky" for his rock-like appearance.

   Rocky's mate is Adrian. They have been together for 186.3 years.

   BACKSTORY: The Eridians discovered their star was dimming because its light and heat were being eaten by Astrophage, which would eventually lead to the death of everyone on the planet from extreme cold. They built a spaceship powered by Astrophage to send a team to the Tau Ceti system, the only star in the local area of the galaxy that was not dimming, in the hopes of finding a reason and a way to save their world. Twenty-three Eridians were selected for the crew, including Rocky as the ship's engineer. As the ship traveled to Tau Ceti, the crew all died of radiation poisoning from cosmic rays, except for Rocky. He was left alone aboard the ship, still trying to save his star, his planet, and his species.

   Earth's sun, Sol, was also infected with Astrophage, and Project Hail Mary was created to save humanity. The project also sent an Astrophage-powered spaceship, the Hail Mary, to Tau Ceti to search for a cure. Dr. Ryland Grace, the science officer, was the only survivor of his three-person crew, as the other two astronauts died during their travel comas.

   After arriving in the Tau Ceti system, Grace activates the Petrovascope on the Hail Mary, and soon discovers the outline of an alien ship interrupting Tau Ceti's Petrova Line. Grace's AI system, "Mary", calls the strange occurrence "Blip-A", as it is the first object encountered by its radar. Grace attempts to avoid the ship and flee, but Rocky follows and continues to catch up to him. Rocky uses his ship's external robot to launch a capsule at the Hail Mary , which the AI calls "Blip-B". Grace mistakes it for a bomb, bracing for impact - only for it to bounce off. Rocky tries again, sending "Blip-C" at a much slower rate. Grace steadies himself for a spacewalk and retrieves the capsule, bringing it inside where he opens it using the opposite of human technology - "righty loosey, lefty tighty." Inside the capsule is ammonia, and a three-dimensional representation of the local group of stars. The model highlights 40 Eridani as the aliens' home star, with a Petrova Line displaying its Astrophage infection. Grace adds Sol's Petrova Line to the diagram to show his home planet and its matching problem, and returns the capsule to the Blip-A.

   Rocky uses Blip-A's robot to build a tunnel made of xenonite, connecting the two ships. Within the tunnel, separated by a xenonite wall to deal with their species' very different atmospheric needs, Rocky and Grace interact for the first time and realize that neither one is harmful. They are both the only survivors of their crews and have the same mission - stopping the sun-eating Astrophage. They are fascinated with each other, though their language barrier makes communication difficult. The two slowly build their vocabulary until they can speak to each other. Grace inputs Rocky's responses to his questions into a computer that automatically translates the musical notes of his speech into English. The pair then chooses a "human voice" for Rocky. Fascinated by Grace's technology, Rocky builds a polyhedral "ball" of xenonite as a spacesuit so that he can enter the Hail Mary. Once he enters, Rocky and Grace work together to discover the reason behind Tau Ceti's uniqueness and a way to save their stars.

   ---

   APPEARENCE:

   • Rocky is roughly the size of a Labrador retriever. His exterior possesses a smooth, rock-like texture. His skin color varies from blackish-brown to brown. He has five limb-like appendages, and is described as "similar in appearance to a spider." On each limb, Rocky has three triangular shaped fingers, none appearing to function as a thumb. The top of his carapace has a pentagonal outcropping of the same rock-like material as the rest of his body. Carvings cover most of his appendages, displaying his family crest and status as his ship's engineer, and he also has spots of a green gel or stone-like substance. He lacks a face and uses sonar or echolocation to "see". A hole in the bottom of his body opens to act as both an entry for food and as an exit for waste.

   After risking his life to save Grace and exposing himself to Earth's atmosphere, Rocky's crevices leak mercury.

   Affiliation: Eridians, Ryland Grace Occupation: Engineer Marital status :Mated with Adrian Date of birth: 1730 AD Place of birth: Erid Species: Eridian Gender: Isogametic (Singled Sex Organism) Height: Approx. 1.5-2 ft. Weight: 168 kg (370.377 lbs)

   PERSONALITY:

   Rocky is an experienced engineer and loyal friend. He survived by himself on Blip-A, but was left with residual post traumatic stress, anxiety, and survivor's guilt. He wanted to observe Grace sleep so that no harm would come to him, as the rest of his team died in their sleep. He is incredibly smart, able to understand, and nearly master the English language in a short amount of time without any technological help.

   SPEECH:

   Rocky: Words of encouragement. Ryland Grace: You can't just say "words of encouragement!" Rocky: Words of great encouragement!

   Rocky: Amaze. Amaze. Amaze.

   Rocky: You are very brave. Ryland Grace: I don't know about that. Rocky: You are bravest human I have ever met. Ryland Grace: Hey! Rocky: Is joke! Ryland Grace: I know. Rocky: I only meet one human. And it's you! Ryland Grace: I get it. Rocky: It's good joke. Ryland Grace: Good joke.

   Ryland Grace: [reading from computer] Fist my bump? No. It's fist bump. Rocky: [on computer] Is same. Ryland Grace: It's not the same.

   In the distant future, an event called the Quiet Rapture causes all stars and planets to mysteriously vanish, with only those on space stations and spaceships remaining; the human population is reduced to very few. After the destruction of Filament Station at the hands of the human colony Eden, Simon, nicknamed "the Butcher", a convict who fought for Eden in their battles against the Consolidation of Iron, is forced into piloting a ramshackle submarine, nicknamed the "Iron Lung", sent to explore a moon covered in an ocean of blood. Simon is told by the crew's captain that if he completes this mission, he will be freed. The submarine is welded shut and its porthole is sealed, meaning Simon can only see outside using a crude camera. Limited communications arrive through a radio from members of the mission's crew present at the surface.

   During the dive, the submarine's sensors indicate movement outside, and Simon captures images of a skeleton on the ocean floor. The crew return the submarine to the surface to review his findings. However, they choose to send Simon back down to collect a sample from the skeleton. A frustrated and fearful Simon, demanding to be freed as promised, activates the camera to get the crew's attention. The captain berates Simon, explaining that the camera is an x-ray imaging device, which has by consequence heavily irradiated herself and the two mechanics, David and Jack, outside of the submarine.

   Simon, who had been led to believe that he is the submarine's first pilot, discovers audio logs from a previous pilot, proving he was lied to. He tries to tell the commander about an image of a living creature he took, but she urges him to collect the sample. As Simon progresses, blood and an unidentified liquid drip into the sub. Simon is knocked unconscious when he collects a sample, and he awakens in the submarine with camera pictures showing movement. He repairs the sub and attempts to return to a charted area, all the while hallucinating and losing touch with reality.

   Simon encounters a wrecked submarine labeled the SM-8, but is unable to access the data within its black box. A woman talks to him through the radio about a godly light beneath the ocean, and Simon believes he is hallucinating. In a vision where the sub is destroyed, Simon breaks the surface of The Red Void to see a giant eye filling a stormy red sky. Simon awakes again, and the commander says he has been missing for several days, far longer than his oxygen supply should have lasted. She tells him to recover SM-8's data, promising to rescue him herself if he complies, as well as revealing her name to be Ava. Meanwhile, blood and congealed organic matter collect inside the submarine. Simon discovers that the skin on his arms has become cracked and blistered.

   Simon reaches the SM-8 and accesses its data, including audio logs confirming that the blood ocean comprises of human blood. As the submarine fills with more blood and fleshy matter, Simon learns Ava cannot rescue him. She apologizes and asks him to protect the SM-8 data because it may save what is left of humanity. Simultaneously, the mysterious woman's voice tells Simon to destroy the data so others will not learn about the light. Shortly after, a monster, one that has been stalking Simon and the vessel the whole time, destroys Ava's vessel. Simon, struggling to move through the blood and fleshy material growing in the submarine and onto his body, ties the black box to a life vest and sabotages the submarine so that its hull will fail under pressure. The submarine implodes upon being bitten by the monster, killing both it and Simon. The life vest is shown floating on the surface of the blood ocean, with the black box still intact.

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