Chapter 13

Summary

• Stratt challenges prison guard Easton’s authority to search them, but ultimately complies, surrendering her Taser.
• The setting is Auckland Prison, known locally as "Pare," where maximum security measures are strictly enforced.
• Easton's assistant and the narrator, assistants to their respective bosses, share a moment acknowledging their mutual situation.
• Prisoner Dr. Robert Redell, serving a life sentence for culpable homicide, is interviewed by Stratt and the narrator.
• Redell admits to embezzlement but denies responsibility for the deaths, citing a facility control room error.
• Redell discusses his "blackpanel" power idea, designed to massively breed Astrophage using solar heat.
• Stratt entertains the idea of implementing the blackpanels in the Sahara Desert to mass-produce Astrophage for the Hail Mary mission.
• Redell negotiates for a chance to develop his blackpanel concept out of prison, offering a solution to the Astrophage crisis and aiding Africa's economic growth.
• Stratt appears convinced and agrees to work with Redell.
• A transition occurs to the narrator's experiences on a spaceship, where he lives in a tunnel with an alien named Rocky.
• Rocky and the narrator discuss their shared goal of saving their respective stars from the Astrophage threat.
• They ponder crew deaths due to a "special sleep" during the journey and an unknown sickness among Rocky's people.
• The narrator and Rocky discuss the concept of radiation, which Rocky's species seems unaware of, raising questions about their understanding of space hazards.
• Dr. Grace discusses Astrohage's energy storage mechanism with Dr. Lokken, learning that it involves neutrino containment.
• The conversation between Dr. Grace and Dr. Lokken delves into Astrophage's thermodynamics, neutrino annihilation, and how Astrophage exhibits properties unknown to particle physics.
• They examine a plan to use Astrophage as radiation protection in the hull of the Hail Mary spacecraft.
• Dr. Lokken shares findings that Astrophage can withstand high-velocity particle impacts, crucial for its use in insulating against GCRs (galactic cosmic rays).
• The chapter concludes with optimism about using Astrophage's unique properties in the Hail Mary mission.