Rescue of Rocky

Ryland Grace's decision to rescue Rocky is the moment that transforms a suicide mission into a shared act of salvation. Having discovered that the Taumoeba-82.5 strain he bred can penetrate xenonite and destroy Rocky's fuel, Grace turns the Hail Mary around and, using a novel radar technique, locates the derelict Blip-A. He then performs a risky EVA to reach the alien hull, re-establishes communication with Rocky, and convinces him to abandon his ship and come aboard the Hail Mary for a joint voyage to Erid.

Discovery and Decision

Grace had been watching Rocky's engine flare daily for a month when it vanished. He ran the numbers again and again, but the conclusion was inescapable: the Taumoeba-82.5 had escaped its xenonite enclosure, wormed into the Blip-A's fuel bays, and eaten millions of kilograms of Astrophage in a matter of days. Rocky was derelict somewhere outside the Tau Ceti system, his ship dead in space. Grace knew that if he continued toward Earth, he would return a hero, but Rocky and his entire species would die. If he turned around, he would save an alien civilization but starve to death shortly after reaching Erid, having no food for the return trip. He pulled on his hair and sobbed into his hands, but when he closed his eyes he saw only Rocky's dumb carapace and his little arms always fidgeting with something. Six weeks after making his decision, he stuck with it.

The Search

Finding a spaceship "somewhere just outside the Tau Ceti system" was no small task. Grace knew Rocky's course and knew he had followed it, but he did not know the exact time the engines died, leaving a margin of error of about 20 million kilometers. He realized he could use the Hail Mary's spin drives as a giant flashlight and the Petrovascope as a detector: he would throw 900 terawatts of IR light out the back of his ship and see if any of it bounced back. He took manual control, threw the throttle to full, and turned hard to port, doing donuts in space. After many sweeps at different angles, he finally saw a flash. He calculated the object was 14 light-seconds away, about 4 million kilometers. He set course and, after nine and a half hours of travel, confirmed the object was the Blip-A on an escape vector, not a normal asteroid. He matched velocities and crept closer until the Blip-A sat 50 meters off his starboard side.

The EVA and Reunion

Grace tried everything to communicate—radio, flashes of spin-drive light—but got no response. He climbed into the Orlan EVA suit, anchored a long tether to the airlock interior, and kicked off the Hail Mary's hull as hard as he could, aiming for the Blip-A. He hit the hull much harder than an EVA suit should, bounced, and started drifting away. He tied a quick slipknot in the tether and threw it at a jagged antenna, nailing it. He pulled himself along the tether to the hull, grabbed a robot rail, and then smacked the hull with his biggest wrench. He pushed one end of the wrench against the hull and crouched down to bring his helmet in contact with the other end, yelling, "Rocky! I don't know if you can hear me! But I'm here, buddy! I'm on your hull!" A crackle came through the radio. "Grace, question?" Rocky's voice was so high-pitched Grace could barely understand him. "Yes! I'm here!" Grace shouted. "You are here!" Rocky squeaked. Grace told him to set up the airlock tunnel, explaining that he knew about the Taumoeba-82.5 and had come to take him to Erid. Rocky, his clothes covered in Taumoeba residue and two of his arms badly burned, was sheer joy. "You save me and you save Erid!" he squeaked. Grace told him to get back in his ship unless he wanted to watch the tunnel from outside. Rocky set up the tunnel, and Grace floated into it, meeting him on the other side. Rocky put his claw against the divider. "Fist my bump." Grace laughed and put his knuckles against the xenonite. "Fist-bump. It's just 'fist-bump.'"