She nodded to Meknikov. He dragged me out the door and frog-walked me down the path.

I craned my neck back toward the door and screamed, “You can’t do this!”

“Just think of the kids, Grace,” she said from the doorway. “All those kids you’ll be saving. Think of them.”

Oh.

Okay.

I see how it is.

I’m not some intrepid explorer who nobly sacrificed his life to save Earth. I’m a terrified man who had to be literally dragged kicking and screaming onto the mission.

I’m a coward.

All that came to me in a flash. I sit on the stool and stare at the lab table. I went from nearly hysterical to… this. This is worse. I’m numb.

I’m a coward.

I’ve known for a while that I’m not the best hope for saving mankind. I’m just a guy with the genes to survive a coma. I made my peace with that a while ago.

But I didn’t know I was a coward.

I remember the emotions. I remember that feeling of panic. I remember it all now. Sheer, unadulterated terror. Not for Earth or humanity or the children. For myself. Utter panic.

“God damn you, Stratt,” I mumble.

What ticks me off the most is that she was right. Her plan worked perfectly. I got my memory back, and now I’m so committed to the mission I’m still going to give it my all. Plus, come on, of course I was going to give it my all. What else would I do? Let 7 billion people die to spite Stratt?

At some point, Rocky came through his tunnel to the lab. I don’t know how long he’s been there. He didn’t have to come—he could “see” everything going on from the control room with his sonar sense. Still, there he is.

“You are very sad,” he says.

“Yeah.”

“I am sad also. But we not be sad for long. You are scientist. I am engineer. Together we solve.”

I throw up my arms in frustration. “How?!”

He clicked along the tunnel to the closest point above me. “Taumoeba eat all your fuel. Therefore Taumoeba survive and breed in fuel-tank environment.”

“So?”

“Most life no can live outside its air. I die if not in Erid air. You die if not in Earth air. But Taumoeba survive when not in Adrian air. Taumoeba stronger than Erid life—stronger than Earth life.”

I crane my neck to look up at him. “True. And Astrophage are also pretty tough. They can live in vacuum and on the surface of stars.”

He tapped two claws together. “Yes yes. Astrophage and Taumoeba from same biosphere. Probably evolve from common ancestor. Adrian life is very strong.”

I sit up. “Yeah. Okay.”

“You have idea already. Not question. I know you. You have idea already. Tell idea.”

I sigh. “Well… Venus, Threeworld, and Adrian all have a bunch of carbon dioxide. The Astrophage breeding zone in all three is where pressure is 0.02 atmospheres. So maybe I’ll start with a chamber full of pure carbon dioxide at 0.02 atmospheres and see if Taumoeba survives that. Then add in more gases one at a time to see what the problem is.”