Project Hail Mary Quotes
"Astrophage can propel itself with light and has absurd energy-storage capability."
"It means every scientific paper I ever wrote is wrong."
"I’m not falling! I’m not falling! This is just space! Everything is fine!"
"I’m going to die out here. And I’m going to die alone."
"Human brains are amazing things. We can get used to just about anything."
"I guess I’ll remember that part later. For now, I want to know what star that is."
"How can something that exists on the surface of the sun have water?"
"It’s not about my ego! It’s about my children!"
"There’s no way home. I’ll die out here too."
"The slight reduction of fear has a feedback effect. I know I will get less afraid now."
"The feeling of warm vomit squishing between my chest and jumpsuit is disgusting."
"‘Dummy,’ I say to myself. I really should have seen that coming."
"I mean, come on! I’m the first human to explore another star system! And I’m here!"
"I could spend a week just writing up a list of experiments I want to do!"
"Humanity isn’t alone in the universe. And I’ve just met our neighbors."
"Maybe they’ll board my ship and lay eggs in my brain. You can never be sure."
"I’m about 200 meters away from an honest-to-God alien!"
"It’s just a matter of how many square meters you make of it."
"Seven people died because the control room didn’t follow procedure."
"We’re just kind of constantly awash with GCRs in all directions."
"The Sahara Desert is just sitting there, waiting to give them everything they need."
"I don’t like little dictators in their little kingdoms."
"You can’t get it hotter than 96.415 degrees. Not for long, anyway."
"Humans spent thousands of years looking up at the stars and wondering what was out there."
"I’m going to fall unconscious and hallucinate for a while."
"All life on Earth evolved to deal with radiation. Our DNA has error-correction built in because we’re constantly bombarded with radiation from the sun and from space in general."
"Eridians are extremely susceptible to radiation, and they never even knew it existed."
"Eridians take that concept to the ultimate extreme."
"Eridians are, in effect, biological smelters."
"For Erid, it’s 100 percent. Radiation just doesn’t get to the ground."
"This panel was white when we started; now it’s black." - Narrator
"The sampler’s color changed to the color of Astrophage. We got a lot of Astrophage." - Narrator
"Both halves had approximately the same population." - Narrator
"Life! There’s a whole bunch of life in here! Not just Astrophage. A bunch of different species!" - Narrator
"Adrian isn’t just a planet. Adrian is a planet with life, like Earth or Erid!" - Narrator
"Life is also reason for population discrepancy! Life is reason!" - Rocky
"Oh my God! Astrophage has a predator!" - Narrator
"I have everything I need for the best radar ever!"
"I can't have the Petrovascope and engines on at the same time. But that's okay!"
"This is the astronavigational equivalent of doing donuts in the 7-Eleven parking lot."
"Space is three-dimensional. I've only searched one flat slice of the area."
"I rub my hands together, take a sip of water, and get to work."
"I fist-pump. 'Yes! I'm definitely going to die!'"
"I spend the next nine hours cleaning up. I'm going to have a guest again!"
"I try not to think about it. Keep hope alive and all that."
"It's been almost three months since we parted."
"I've tried everything to communicate. Radio. Flashes of spin-drive light. Nothing gets a response."
"Eridians don't wake up until their bodies are ready."
"I flail in surprise, which launches me out of the seat."
"You told me not to talk about that in polite company."
"I'm old. Give me a break. It takes me a while to get ready in the morning."
"Yes yes yes yes... I say. I kick the spin drives on and head toward the contact."
"I can't move. I can barely breathe. I start to tremble."
"This is a monumentally epic fist-bump situation."