Blip-A
The Blip-A is the alien spacecraft that appears in the Tau Ceti system alongside the Hail Mary, piloted by the Eridian Rocky. It is a massive, flat-paneled vessel made of xenonite, three times the size of the Hail Mary, and powered by Astrophage. Its arrival marks the first contact between humanity and an intelligent alien species, and its subsequent dereliction after a Taumoeba infection forces Ryland Grace to abandon his return to Earth to rescue its sole survivor.
Design and Appearance
The Blip-A is a radically different spacecraft from anything built on Earth. Its hull is composed entirely of huge, flat surfaces—the worst possible shape for a pressure vessel—and is made of xenonite, a mottled gray and tan compound that is nearly indestructible. The ship is roughly 139 meters long, about three times the length of the Hail Mary. Its central structure is a diamond-shaped octahedron, connected by three thick rods to a wide trapezoidal base at the rear. A narrow stalk extends forward from the diamond, supporting four flat panels that resemble solar panels, and ends in a pyramid-shaped nose cone. The entire hull is crisscrossed with tracks for a multi-armed robot that performs external maintenance. The ship's interior is kept at 29 atmospheres of pressure and 210 degrees Celsius, an environment of pure ammonia that is lethal to humans. The Blip-A has no windows; its crew perceives the world through sound, not light.
Arrival and First Contact
The Blip-A is first detected by Ryland Grace when it appears as a steady flash of Petrova-frequency light on his Petrovascope. It then becomes a solid, nonstop light source that grows brighter before disappearing. Grace soon discovers the object is a ship, positioned just 217 meters from the Hail Mary, having matched its velocity exactly. The Blip-A's engines, which emit the same Petrova-frequency light as the Hail Mary's, are used to communicate. Grace flashes his own engines in a pattern, and the Blip-A immediately repeats it, proving an intelligent being is aboard. The alien ship then sends a small cylinder across the void, which Grace retrieves during an EVA. This cylinder, smelling strongly of ammonia, contains a star map model that reveals the aliens are from the 40 Eridani system and are also at Tau Ceti to investigate why that star is immune to Astrophage.
The Tunnel and Shared Operations
After the initial exchange, the Blip-A's hull robot attaches a xenonite tunnel to the Hail Mary's airlock, creating a physical connection between the two ships. The tunnel includes a divider wall with a clear hexagon through which Rocky, the sole Eridian survivor, first makes direct contact. Rocky later builds a larger airlock in the tunnel, allowing him to pass objects back and forth. He also constructs a life-support sphere—a geodesic dome of xenonite—that allows him to enter the Hail Mary's environment. Once inside, Rocky moves his equipment and supplies into the Hail Mary, and the two ships are linked for weeks of collaborative science. The Blip-A's hull robot is used to detach the tunnel when the ships separate, and later to reattach it when Grace returns to rescue Rocky.
Dereliction and Rescue
After the two ships part ways, the Blip-A's fuel is consumed by a Taumoeba infection that Rocky unknowingly carried from the Hail Mary. The Taumoeba-82.5 strain, which Grace had bred for nitrogen resistance, can also worm its way through xenonite, the material of the Blip-A's fuel tanks. The ship becomes derelict, drifting on an escape trajectory out of the Tau Ceti system. Grace, having launched his beetles to Earth, turns the Hail Mary around and spends weeks searching for the Blip-A. He eventually locates it by using his spin drives as a radar beacon and detecting the reflected Petrova-frequency light with his Petrovascope. He matches velocities, performs an EVA to the Blip-A's hull, and bangs on it with a wrench until Rocky responds. The two reconnect the tunnel, and Rocky moves his remaining belongings into the Hail Mary, abandoning the Blip-A to drift forever in interstellar space.
