Written by Indigo-Lamppost (42timelordswalkintoabar)
Cover art by RayHawkArt on Instagram
For author's notes, please refer to Ao3. This fic is based on the book, so details may not exactly line up with the movie version.
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Fandom: Project Hail Mary (Andy Weir)
Full Word Count: 4,647
Chapters: 8/8
Published: 2025-05-03 Updated: 2026-04-05
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Project Hail Mary is a success. Sol returns to its proper luminosity. But what happened on Earth?
AKA
The ending of Project Hail Mary, POV: Earth
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Chapter Three: [Folder] Astrophage Taumeoba Research
Originally Posted: 2026-03-09
Project Hail Mary - Mission Logs > Astrophage Taumeoba Research
[Folder] Video Logs & Tests
[File] A. Taumeoba Info.docx
[File] A. Taumeoba Info.pdf
[File] Taumeoba Research Data.pdf
[File] Taumeoba Research Data.xlsx
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Project Hail Mary - Mission Logs > Astrophage Taumeoba Research > A. Taumeoba Info.pdf
Here it is! The key to our salvation!
It took a while, but eventually (with some help), we discovered that one of Tau Ceti's planets, Tau Ceti e (aka Adrian), was a breeding ground for Astrophage. (For more info on the planet, check my mission logs!) They were born in its atmosphere, traveled towards their sun to feed, then returned to Adrian t to breed again. It's an endless cycle that only ever results in more Astrophage. But the one thing that stops Tau Ceti from dimming like our sun? A predator. Taumeoba. It acts like the wolves of Yellowstone and keeps the Astrophage population in check.
I'll spare you the details of the elaborate process of collecting samples, but we did eventually manage to retrieve some to study, and, as said previously, that's what's in the box. The good news is that we found out that they can definitely keep up with the Astrophage population. The bad news (and something you may have to keep in mind) is that Taumeoba are not nitrogen resistant, so they won't survive in Venus's atmosphere. The other good news is that we managed to selectively breed it out of them. Win for evolution! This came with a cost though, as while we were acclimating the little guys to their new environment, some evolved to escape through the material of the box. (That's Xenonite — I'll explain later). Be aware of those two things, just in case you run into some issues with keeping them alive in their boxes.
Okay, now, how to save Earth:
Taumeoba need to eat. Feed them astrophage. Good thing is, the Sun should have plenty :)
Taumeoba need at least a little carbon dioxide to live. Venus air should be fine
Taumeoba are amoebas, so they should breed on their own just fine with enough Astrophage
Keep some with you, just in case. But be careful! They're tricky little guys that like to evolve to escape their boxes
Release them into Venus's atmosphere
Profit.
(The last one is just a joke. If you guys manage to turn this into a cost-based thing, know I am going to haunt you from across the stars, okay? I'm dying for this, you'd better listen to me.)
If you need specifics or anything, check my data sheets and video logs. They should have enough information to keep you informed. Plus, you guys are scientists, right? You're the ones who got me up here in the first place. I'm sure you can figure it out.
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When we first read this document, it was the greatest release of breath every scientist this side of the galaxy ever had. Of course we knew the purpose of the mission, but what was the guarantee they hadn't just sent us back a Beetle that said, "Whelp, we tried, sorry"? Or worse, one that was entirely empty? And when we read the first folder, as instructed, we had hope. Yet, once again, this was just digital words on a digital page. Grace's entire crew had died. Where was the evidence that he actually had a fix and hadn't gone insane from waking up to his dead compatriots in the void of space? But this document? This file was our proof. He had a solution; he gave us data. We had something to work with that wasn't just endless hopes and dreams.
The implementation of Project Hail Mary's Here Comes the Sun phase — a name that wasn't originally official but just kind of... stuck — happened almost faster than was advisable. We should have done more testing than we did, but time was not on our side, and Grace's research was. Taumeoba launched into orbit less than two weeks after we received our Beetles, which took more than a little harassment of political leaders and a slight hijacking of a preexisting rocket. Stratt was proud, for sure.
It would be inaccurate to say we saw an immediate change, but it was just barely noticeable through specific infrared data trends that we had been watching closely for decades. The sun was getting brighter. For the first time in over twenty-five years, the sun was getting brighter.
We waited to tell the world until we could see it through our visible wavelength cameras, and the journalists took it from there. We had more important work to focus on, namely a certain Beetle file:
Written by Indigo-Lamppost (42timelordswalkintoabar)
Cover art by RayHawkArt on Instagram
For author's notes, please refer to Ao3. This fic is based on the book, so details may not exactly line up with the movie version.
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Fandom: Project Hail Mary (Andy Weir)
Full Word Count: 4,647
Chapters: 8/8
Published: 2025-05-03 Updated: 2026-04-05
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Project Hail Mary is a success. Sol returns to its proper luminosity. But what happened on Earth?
AKA
The ending of Project Hail Mary, POV: Earth
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Chapter Two: [Folder] 1.READ THIS FIRST!!!
Originally Posted: 2025-07-24
Project Hail Mary - Mission Logs > 1.READ THIS FIRST!!!
[File] READ THIS PLS.docx
[File] READ THIS PLS.pdf
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Project Hail Mary - Mission Logs > 1.READ THIS FIRST!!! > READ THIS PLS.pdf
When I say read this first I mean please read this first because it summarizes everything in the rest of the folders please and thank you! Top priority at the moment: we solved the problem. It’s in the box. DON’T OPEN THE BOX YET. Yay, yippee, celebrations are in order! Okay now a quick note for whoever reads this.
This is Ryland Grace. I was the only survivor of the trip. This research was only conducted with my expertise (and some help, but I’ll get into that later). The most important files are under Astrophage Taumeoba Research. The rest can be read later. Save Earth first, get curious later.
File Summaries:
Astrophage Taumeoba Research:
Read this folder next! Astrophage has a natural predator we found at Tau Ceti: Taumeoba. That’s what’s in the box. It’s the key to killing Astrophage.
Daily (ish) Mission Logs:
The account of my time on the Hail Mary . It’s long as hell (like 455 pages or something). It might be useful if you get confused about the Taumeoba research.
Eridians:
So that help I was talking about? Yeah, there’s aliens. I met one. He helped me out (What did I say! Save Earth first, get curious later. You shouldn’t need this one yet)
FOR STRATT ONLY (I’m serious):
This is a folder for Stratt only. If she’s still alive, please get this to her. Do not watch unless given express permission by her (and if you want to look, take it as the last wish of a dead man not to).
Personal Notes and Final Message:
This is some personal stuff I’d like to say to Earth and whatnot.
Yeah, so those are the files. Get to reading! And good luck! Like I said, the priority right now is saving Earth. It can be done . It wasn’t for nothing. I hope you all remember that.
Written by Indigo-Lamppost (42timelordswalkintoabar)
Cover art by RayHawkArt on Instagram
For author's notes, please refer to Ao3. This fic is based on the book, so details may not exactly line up with the movie version.
-
Fandom: Project Hail Mary (Andy Weir)
Full Word Count: 4,647
Chapters: 8/8
Published: 2025-05-03 Updated: 2026-04-05
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Project Hail Mary is a success. Sol returns to its proper luminosity. But what happened on Earth?
AKA
The ending of Project Hail Mary, POV: Earth
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Chapter One: Twenty-Six Years, Two Months, and Three Days
Originally Posted: 2025-05-03
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Project Hail Mary was sent out without a hitch. With the ship built and the crew aboard, it set off towards Tau Ceti, and that was the last Earth saw of Yáo Li-Jie, Olesya Ilyukhina, and Ryland Grace.
It would be thirteen years before they even reached Tau Ceti. Weeks, if not months, before they completed their research, if they even could. Another thirteen years before the Beetles would (hopefully) return to our solar system.
Less than a week after our saving grace left the outskirts of the Oort Cloud (or so we estimated), Stratt was arrested. She knew this was coming. We all knew this was coming. Waltzing around giving orders to every single world leader like they were her personal assistants had certainly ticked them all off. It was worth it though, and she knew the risks.
The trial was secret. Turns out that a whole lot of powerful people don’t like the public knowing that they were someone else’s bitch. A lot of us tried to be put on the stand as witnesses of her necessary actions and how she was trying to save humanity. We were denied any access at all. She was found guilty for international terrorism, obstruction of justice, political malfeasance, worker’s endangerment, human rights violations, and who knows what else. They threw anything they could that would stick, and it stuck. We don’t know what her actual sentence was, just that she was sent back to the Netherlands under top security, permanently.
And we waited. Things got worse, as we expected. Countries started disputing small issues that turned into larger scale threats. Nothing puts people on edge like waiting.
And we waited. Things also stayed the same, which we hadn’t really expected. We went back to our previous lives. A select few of us continued our monitoring positions, keeping an eye out for Earth’s last resort. It was far too soon to know anything, but the only other thing we could do was wait.
And we waited. Things also got better, which was entirely unexpected. Despite the conflict, and the dread, and the awful feeling of the unknown, people banded together. Small groups of people upheld hope; religious organizations across the globe held prayers and vigils for our martyred crew. Rifts grew between nations as people grew closer across cultures, waiting for everything and nothing.
And we waited. Twenty-six years, two months and three days. Very few of the original crew were left by then, but the younger members took over from the older, and fresh, eager faces joined on. No sign for twenty-six years, two months and three days. And then we spotted it.
“We.” Royal we. Every day we checked our programs, our telescopes across the globe. It was like fate, almost. The young woman that first spotted our little Beetle had been a student of Ryland Grace when he left, and she had taken to completing his last work. It was she who had worked one of the Mauna Kea telescopes in Hawai’i, and it was she who spotted a glimpse of the signal designating a Beetle had reentered the solar system.
Never had Earth seen such a widespread celebration as that night (or day, depending on your hemisphere). An emergency broadcast had been sent out, fireworks erupted in every sky. Cities across the globe reported riots in the streets, not out of fear or anger but the explosive joy of a Philly fan after a Super Bowl win.
We hadn’t told the world that we didn’t know what was in the Beetles. Three had made it back (John, Paul, and George - Ringo was lost among the cosmos), but nobody had reviewed the files. We didn’t even know if our team had found a solution yet. The plan was to wait for the retrieval before telling the world, but someone hadn’t managed to keep the secret. Not that we could blame them.
It took a while, and the world waited with bated breath. Sure, Earth can wait two and a half decades, but once you know your savior is that close? They don’t even want to wait a day.
Eventually, we managed to collect all three Beetles and their information. Three were set up across the globe in Hawai’i, Russia, and Peru, in typical Stratt manner, each with a Beetle. They contained identical information, but we were spread out to avoid losing our only hope at saving humanity. Inside each was an identical clear box of an unfamiliar material and a file folder labeled “Project Hail Mary - Mission Logs.”
The content of the file was as follows:
[Folder] 1.READ THIS FIRST!!!
[Folder] Astrophage Taumeoba Research
[Folder] Daily (ish) Mission Logs
[Folder] Eridians
[Folder] FOR STRATT ONLY (I’m serious)
[Folder] Personal Notes and Final Message
[File] Let_It_Be.mp4
In honor of me watching the Artemis II launch and then immediately walking into the movie theater to watch Project Hail Mary, I will be posting my PHM fic on here this week for all the Tumblr fic enjoyers :)
Every day I get an email from Microsoft telling me that my 10GB school OneDrive storage is full. Brother I KNOW it's full, it has six hundred Rhino 8 files in it. You're the one who gave a design student 10GB of storage!
A mix of different Sonic the Hedgehog illustrations done over the years. I got really inspired when Sonic Frontiers came out. Also yes, Metal Sonic is my favourite character.
I just need everyone to know that I am a very serious college student and also that my architecture professor just assigned us to watch KPop Demon Hunters
Top 10 feelings: being in a crowded college dining hall as everyone gets the notification that classes are cancelled due to weather for the second day in a row
Budgeting apps always annoy me because of their limits without "subscribing" or whatever so instead I just. Made a spreadsheet. The most beautifully complex spreadsheet ever. With auto budgets. I learned so many fun functions to do this I'm so proud of it
