“And assholes who get you kicked out of your university?” She raised an eyebrow. “And who got all your funding cut off and ensured you never got published again?”

“Yeah. That.”

She pulled a binder out of her briefcase.

She opened it and read the first page. “ ‘An Analysis of Water-Based Assumptions and Recalibration of Expectations for Evolutionary Models.’ ” She looked up at me. “You wrote this paper, yes?”

“I’m sorry, how did you get—”

“A dull title, but very exciting content, I have to say.”

I set my valise on my desk. “Look, I was in a bad place when I wrote that, okay? I’d had enough of the research world and that was sort of a ‘kiss-my-butt’ goodbye. I’m much happier now as a teacher.”

She flipped a few pages. “You spent years combating the assumption that life requires liquid water. You have an entire section here called ‘The Goldilocks Zone Is for Idiots.’ You call out dozens of eminent scientists by name and berate them for believing a temperature range is a requirement.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Your doctorate is in molecular biology, correct? Don’t most scientists agree that liquid water is necessary for life to evolve?”

“They’re wrong!” I crossed my arms. “There’s nothing magical about hydrogen and oxygen! They’re required for Earth life, sure. But another planet could have completely different conditions. All life needs is a chemical reaction that results in copies of the original catalyst. And you don’t need water for that!”

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out. “Anyway, I got mad, and I wrote that paper. Then I got a teaching credential, a new career, and started actually enjoying my life. So I’m glad no one believed me. I’m better off.”

“I believe you,” she said.

“Thanks,” I said. “But I have papers to grade. Can you tell me why you’re here?”

She put the binder back in her briefcase. “You are aware of the ArcLight probe and the Petrova line, I assume.”

“I’d be a pretty lame science teacher if I wasn’t.”

“Do you think those dots are alive?” she asked.

“I don’t know—they could just be dust bouncing around in magnetic fields. I guess we’ll find out when ArcLight gets back to Earth. That’s coming up, right? Just a few weeks from now?”

“It returns on the twenty-third,” she said. “Roscosmos will recover it from low-Earth orbit with a dedicated Soyuz mission.”

I nodded. “Then we’ll know soon enough. The most brilliant minds in the world will look at them and find out what they’re about. Who’s going to do that? Do you know?”

“You,” she said. “You’re going to do it.”

I stared blankly.

She waved her hand in front of my face. “Hello?”

“You want me to look at the dots?” I said.

“Yes.”

“The whole world put you in charge of solving this problem, and you came directly to a junior high school science teacher?”

“Yes.”

I turned and walked out the door. “You’re lying, insane, or a combination of the two. I have to get going now.”