Chapter 22

Summary

• The chapter begins with a total blackout on the ship, with all electronic equipment and lighting having ceased to function.
• The protagonist, who is human and relies on vision, is disoriented, while his companion, Rocky, who does not rely on sight, is unaffected.
• Rocky's equipment is still functional due to being powered by his generator, unlike the protagonist's ship, which has lost power.
• The protagonist finds a single working LED indicator and activates the emergency power, booting up the emergency systems.
• A pane with information in multiple languages reveals that emergency power is online, life support is functioning in a limited and non-renewable capacity, but temperature control is offline.
• The protagonist expresses concern about fixing the generators and the potential issue of running out of oxygen.
• Rocky volunteers to help fix the machinery but recognizes that this may not resolve the more pressing issue of the ship losing orbital stability.
• The protagonist discovers that engines are not the primary issue; the problem is that the fuel supply, which consists of "Astrophage," has been contaminated by a parasite called Taumoeba.
• Rocky suggests using the remaining Astrophage on his side of the partition to power the ship, proposing a makeshift engine powered by methane resulting from Taumoeba digesting the Astrophage.
• The protagonist rejects salvaging the contaminated Astrophage fuel and focuses on calculations to use rotational energy as an alternative means of propulsion.
• Rocky offers to clean the contaminated generator and adapt it to use his uncontaminated Astrophage supply to restore ship power.
• After considering it, the protagonist agrees to Rocky's plan to sterilize the generator, as it is the most viable solution to regain power.
• The protagonist reflects on the insufficiency of using Taumoeba metabolism byproducts for meaningful propulsion due to insufficient velocity.
• He decides to carry out a risky extravehicular activity (EVA) in the ship's spinning environment to recover "beetles," which are mini-ships aboard their vessel.
• Rocky is able to disassemble and modify the beetles to be controlled remotely, bypassing their original computer controls in order to use them as makeshift thrusters.
• During another EVA, the protagonist mounts the modified beetles onto the hull of the ship, readying them to maneuver the ship toward Rocky's home ship for more fuel.
• During the final step of reorienting the ship by pulling the halves together, the protagonist momentarily loses consciousness due to extreme g-forces but is ultimately successful with Rocky's assistance.
• The chapter concludes with the ship stabilized in zero gravity, and the protagonist preparing to perform calculations for using the beetles to navigate back to Rocky's ship.