Chapter 27

WIDE — Ryland leaps off his stool. BOCOA vat still hot and glowing. Red alarm light pulsing.

WIDERYLANDALARM

"I leap from the stool but I don't have a plan. First instinct: move. The BOCOA is still hot — Taumoeba are fresh."

CLOSE-UP — Ryland's face. Eyes locked, jaw set, forcing himself to think methodically.

CLOSE-UPRYLANDFORCING CALM

"I tell myself: don't panic. Think. The BOCOA is hot — this is recent. The fuel bays may still be clean."

CLOSE-UP — The BOCOA vat glowing amber-hot. Lid slightly ajar. Still at 96°C.

CLOSE-UPBOCOA VATCRITICAL

"Still hot. That's good and bad. Good: this is recent. Bad: it's contaminated. The whole batch is toast."

MEDIUM — Ryland scampering fast up the ladder toward the control room.

MEDIUMRYLANDURGENT

"Priority one: protect the fuel bays. Life support heater uses Astrophage coils — that's how it got in last time."

MEDIUM — Ryland at the life support panel. Heater: 32 days inactive. He presses DISABLE.

MEDIUMRYLANDMETHODICAL

"Heater hasn't run in over a month. Good — probably no Astrophage in those coils. But I'm disabling it anyway."

CLOSE-UP — Ryland crouched under the pilot's seat, reaching into the breaker box to flick off HEATER.

CLOSE-UPRYLANDMETHODICAL

"I don't trust a software disable. I find the breaker for the heating system and physically switch it off."

MEDIUM — Fuel panel: all bay temperatures correct, green. Ryland's hand on the panel, exhaling.

MEDIUMRYLANDRELIEF

"All bays nominal. If Taumoeba were in there, they'd have eaten everything and the temps would have dropped."

MEDIUM — Ryland reaches for the spin drive controls. He shuts the engines off. Gravity goes away.

MEDIUMRYLANDCONTROLLED

"I shut the engines off. No gravity. If there's Taumoeba in a fuel line, I want it to stay put."

WIDE — Ryland floating alone in the control room, staring at the stars. Then: "Nitrogen."

WIDERYLANDALONE / DETERMINED

"No time for science questions. I need them dead. 100% nitrogen at 0.33 atm — 200 times their lethal dose."

MEDIUM — Ryland opens the gas cylinder cupboard. The nitrogen canister — DuBois's — sits inside.

MEDIUMRYLANDPURPOSEFUL

"Ten kilograms of nitrogen. Again, I owe my life to DuBois's preferred method of suicide."

MEDIUM — Ryland throws open the inner airlock door and grabs the Orlan suit off the wall.

MEDIUMRYLANDURGENT

"I get into the Orlan faster than I ever have. Boot everything up. Don't even bother with the self-check."

WIDE — Inside the airlock. Ryland in the Orlan suit turns the outer door emergency vent valve.

WIDERYLAND / AIRLOCKTENSE EXECUTION

"I leave the inner door open. I turn the emergency valve on the outer door. The ship's air hisses into space."

INSERT — Pressure gauge showing logarithmic curve. 20 minutes. Down to 10%.

INSERTPRESSURE GAUGEWAITING

"It's not like the movies. Air doesn't rush out instantly. Twenty minutes for a 4cm emergency valve. Logarithmic."

MEDIUM — Ryland in Orlan suit, opens the nitrogen tank valve. One hiss replaces another.

MEDIUMRYLANDGRIMLY METHODICAL

"Ship air hisses out one way. Nitrogen hisses in the other. Not much difference. I just wait again."

WIDE — Ryland in Orlan suit floating alone in the nitrogen-filled ship. Three hours.

WIDERYLANDDARK HUMOUR / WAITING

"I want that nitrogen to permeate everything — every crevice, every hiding spot. Three hours. I wait."

WIDE — Ryland pushes the sealed BOCOA vat through the airlock and jettisons it into space.

WIDERYLANDDECISIVE

"I jettison the whole vat. I have 2 million kilograms of Astrophage. No point risking the mission to save a few hundred."

MEDIUM — Three hours later. Ryland (no Orlan suit now) flicks the breakers back on. Life support restoring.

MEDIUMRYLANDMETHODICAL

"Three hours. I flick the breakers back on. The life support system gets the air back to normal."

MEDIUM — Ryland drops down the ladder to the lab, nitrogen cylinder tucked under one arm.

MEDIUMRYLANDPURPOSEFUL

"Now I need to isolate every source of Taumoeba. Easier without the EVA suit — I need my hands."

WIDE — Ten breeder farm bins sealed, nitrogen-pressurised, duct-taped to walls. Sides visibly bulging.

WIDERYLANDMETHODICAL

"I seal each farm in a plastic bin, pump in nitrogen, overpressurize. If a farm leaks, the bulging will flatten."

WIDE — The lab is chaos. Beetle parts, tools, Ringo's disassembled sections all floating. Ryland surveys it.

WIDERYLANDEXHAUSTED / DEADPAN

"I was halfway through disassembling Ringo when everything went wrong. Tools and beetle parts floating everywhere."

Project Hail Mary — Fan Storyboard