The Andromeda Evolution

by Michael Crichton

  Four minutes later, through eyes blurred with tears, Tupa was also the first to observe what looked like a small red-and-white cloud. The strange thing was falling slowly toward the earth, rotating lazily in the air.

  And hanging beneath it, Tupa saw the silhouette of a person.

  THE VOICE SEEMED to be coming from very far away.

  “Jahmays,” it said, the sound muted, barely audible.

  James Stone cracked open his eyes and saw his own face reflected faintly from the interior of his helmet. He winced at the sight of a nasty blister growing on his forehead. And then, incredibly, he smiled. Looking past his own reflection, he could now see the upside-down, grinning face of Tupa.

  Groaning in pain, Stone reached up and detached the charred helmet. The boy helped him wrench the equipment off his head, and he felt the familiar warm wash of humid jungle air on his skin. The red-and-white parachute lay twisted about him like a burial shroud, along with torn branches and shredded vines.

  Stone sucked in a breath of fresh air and held it in his aching lungs. He wiggled his fingers and toes. Finally, he exhaled and closed his eyes for a long moment.

  He felt a small hand take his.

  “Jahmays,” said Tupa, his voice clear and bright.

  “Tupa,” croaked Stone.

  On his knees, the boy leaned over and pressed his forehead to Stone’s briefly. Then the boy sat up and began pointing at the sky and speaking rapidly in his own language. His initial description of what had happened was punctuated with gestures, enthusiastic gymnastics, and an array of sound effects that would be familiar to just about any ten-year-old in the world.

  “Tupa,” repeated Stone. “Good to see you, buddy.”

  JAMES STONE HAD lived his entire life in the shadow of his famous father. He had never married and never had children. Instead, he had devoted himself single-mindedly to upholding the high expectations of his family legacy.

  Stone had believed that joining the Wildfire field team would be the definitive adventure of his lifetime. He couldn’t have been more wrong.

  The following partial document, shared with the permission of Dr. James Stone and Dr. Nidhi Vedala, says more than any historian could explain.

  * * *

  IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

  FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES

  FAMILY LAW DEPARTMENT

  In the Matter of the Adoption of:

  TUPA,

  A Minor Child.

  Case No. [Redacted]

  PETITION FOR ADOPTION

  Authority: P.L. 21.135(1),(2)(d),

  P.L. Ch. 109; P.L. 109.410(4)

  Petitioners, James Stone and Nidhi Vedala, married, respectfully petition to adopt this child as follows . . .

  * * *

  Epilogue

  ON THE OFFICIAL RECORD, THE HIGHLY IRREGULAR orbital path of the International Space Station was attributed to an emergency avoidance maneuver necessitated by a debris field, coupled with a training exercise exploring emergency preparedness in the event of an extreme shift in the Van Allen radiation belts.

  Soon after the incident, the National Indian Foundation of Brazil received a large grant from an unknown benefactor. As a result, a vast swath of the Amazon was marked for conservation and its perimeter effectively quarantined. An international coalition of researchers was approved to study the area.

  The North American Aerospace Defense Command, housed at Peterson Air Force Base, trained its ground- and satellite-based radar networks on the pair of cargo modules that had been decoupled from the International Space Station. Initial readings showed a nonreturn, nonthrusting escape trajectory out of the ecliptic plane. Telescopic measurements taken from the ISS (itself now on a return trajectory) indicated that the object was rapidly spinning on every axis—completely out of control.

  As expected, the modules had been flung away from the planet and were headed toward deep space, forever.

  Within minutes, however, total rotational deceleration was observed on all three axes—a maneuver normally possible only through a complex and fuel-hungry “de-spin” procedure. The trajectory of the debris began shifting back toward the ecliptic plane—as if it were being guided. Without onboard fuel, the only explanation was that a mass shift maneuver was taking place. By redistributing interior mass, it is possible to make course corrections without fuel.

  This behavior was officially attributed to an outgassing of atmosphere still contained in the module, via punctures caused by impact with a micrometeoroid swarm. Unofficially, it was clear that the infected debris was steering itself.

  In the last few images snapped before distance rendered visible light useless, only an amorphous shape was seen, markedly different in each snapshot. Etched hexagonal patterns were visible on the object surface. When it was last detected, the mass was predicted to be on an intercept trajectory with the gas giant Saturn.

  What exactly happened after the debris impacted Saturn is unknown.

  However, a cluster of news articles released soon after this event are worth noting. Both scientific journals and the popular press reported on a bizarre curiosity, without drawing conclusions. One such article is excerpted below:

  * * *

  SWIRLING HEXAGONAL STRUCTURE SPOTTED ON SATURN

  SOURCE: EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY

  The twenty-year Cassini space mission has culminated in the detection of a massive hexagonal storm front swirling around the north pole of the planet Saturn, scientists confirmed today.

  In a study based on imagery captured by the $4 billion USD Cassini space probe, which was intentionally crashed into the planetary surface soon after reporting its data, researchers hypothesize that the 32,000-kilometer-wide weather structure is generated by a jet stream of air moving through the dense clouds of Saturn’s upper atmosphere, and fueled by the rotation of the planet.

  “The hexagon is simply a byproduct of weather patterns,” Dennis Verulam, of the Cassini imaging team, said of the bizarre finding.

  Although researchers are certain of their findings, there is still one aspect of the hexagonal vortex that remains a mystery—it seems to be growing larger.

  * * *

  IN A SPARSELY attended classified closed session of Congress, key participants in the second Andromeda incident were called before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. General Rand Stern was questioned by Congresswoman Laura Perez on the outcome of the event. With a major disaster averted, the main focus was now on “getting back to normal.” This seemed a possibility, for the most part.

  A partial transcript of the conference follows:

  . . .

  Q: Stern, what’s the concrete outcome here? The threat is over. Are we back to a benign particle?

  A: It appears so, Congresswoman. But we don’t understand the last evolution of the Andromeda Strain. We recovered some research from our deceased scientist—

  Q: Terrorist, you mean. Let’s stay focused. You and your team rebuffed an attempted biological terrorist attack. We commend you for it. The Wildfire field team members who were killed will be posthumously medaled, classified of course. And now, having confirmed the airborne particle is harmless . . . all’s well that ends well.

  A: Thank you, but this incident may not be over.

  Q: How so?

  A: We still have the issue of the radio signals.

  Q: General Stern, are you going on record, telling this committee that we are now receiving signals from Saturn? From little green men?

  [laughter from the room]

  A: No, ma’am. That is not what I’m saying at all.

  [Stern stands to address the committee]

  A: What I am telling you is that there is a new structure on Saturn. It is hexagonal, like our microparticle. It is large, and growing bigger. And yes, ladies and gentlemen, it does appear to be transmitting radio signals. But not to us.

  Acknowledgments

  IN THESE PAGES YOU WILL FIND THE METICULOUS RECONSTRUCTION of a five-day
scientific crisis that culminated in the near extinction of our species.

  It is important to recognize up front that the advanced technology that is the hallmark of our modern world was not itself the cause of this crisis—though it exacerbated it. The response to the Andromeda Evolution was unprecedented in its coordination and scientific sophistication. Yet it was this same scientific mastery that enabled tragic errors resulting in terrible destruction and loss of life.

  Nevertheless, it is vital this story be told—now more than ever.

  A greater number of human beings walk the earth today than at any other point in the history of our species. We are able to survive in our billions thanks only to the technological infrastructure we have built to sustain ourselves. And every last one of us could be gone tomorrow, confronted with the failure of that same infrastructure.

  My hope is that this rigorous account of events will demonstrate both the capabilities and the limits of scientific progress—the good and the bad.

  An accurate and detailed reconstruction was only possible thanks to the generous contributions of those who were involved in the disaster, directly or indirectly, as well as a small army of domain experts and fact-checkers. I wish to thank them all, though I must take responsibility for any errors or omissions that have crept into this manuscript.

  For their chapter-by-chapter technical corrections, my sincere gratitude goes to Captain Jake B. Wilcox, US Air Force (Ret.); Liu Wang, PhD, China National Space Administration (CSNA); Deepayan Khan, PhD, Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute; David Baumann, Chicago Dynamics Incorporated; Ricardo Boas, Department for Isolated Indians, FUNAI; and Jane Hurst, PhD, NASA Johnson Space Center.

  The bulk of this work depended on the efforts of Dr. Pamela Sanders, a US Army colonel, professor, and head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the US Military Academy at West Point. With the help of her indefatigable students, Dr. Sanders was instrumental in securing, transcribing, and categorizing thousands of hours of video footage, audio recordings, and raw sensor data recovered from body-mounted cameras, the logs of the International Space Station, salvaged aerial drones, and satellite-based surveillance systems (in cooperation with the National Reconnaissance Office).

  I especially wish to thank the surviving members of the second-generation Project Wildfire, who were able to sit with me after their debriefings to verify even the most minute details. And for those members who did not survive, I offer my heartfelt thanks to the friends, coworkers, and family members who set aside their grief to share the intimate stories necessary to convey their loved ones’ unique constellations of personality, expertise, and motivation. It is thanks to their gracious efforts if these pages are able to breathe life and humanity into what could otherwise be a dry and technical treatment of events.

  By compiling a multitude of personal viewpoints along with hard facts, I have attempted to capture the fear and wonder that fueled the deadly events of these five days. In some cases, the reader must bear with practical reports based on little more than hard data, but when possible, this reportage has been bolstered with subjective opinions, thoughts, and emotions reported after the fact. By using both avenues of information, I have taken the liberty of reconstructing events to provide a more traditional narrative experience.

  Lastly and most importantly, this account would never have been possible without the groundbreaking work of the late Michael Crichton, MD—a visionary who shattered a code of silence and introduced a stunned world to the precursor events to this crisis. The original account of the Andromeda Strain, published fifty years ago, opened the eyes of millions of readers to the great potential and dire limitations of scientific progress. Along with countless others, I am forever in awe of and deeply indebted to Crichton’s contributions.

  It may seem disheartening that this new crisis unfolded along the same fault lines of human hubris, miscommunication, and plain bad luck as the first Andromeda incident. However, it is not my intent to vilify or blame any institution or individual. In the moment, each of us necessarily believes we are the hero of our own story—even those of us later judged to be villains.

  I will leave such judgments to you, the reader.

  The scientists, astronauts, and soldiers who lived through the events described in these chapters were human beings, with strengths and flaws. Some showed surprising heroism in the face of annihilation, while others failed at crucial moments. But none acted in vain—for at the very least, we all of us are still here, still alive to read and learn from this unlikely chronicle of human survival, a saga known now by its code name: the Andromeda Evolution.

  D.H.W.

  Portland, Oregon

  January 2019

  IT IS EXCITING TO BE SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON the world that Michael so brilliantly created over fifty years ago with his groundbreaking novel The Andromeda Strain, and to collaborate with Daniel H. Wilson on the sequel. The Andromeda Evolution is—first and foremost for Crichton fans—a celebration of Michael’s universe and a way to introduce him to those discovering his worlds for the first time.

  There are so many people to thank for this remarkable journey, starting with Laurent Bouzereau, Ernest Cline, and our incredible team at Harper: Jonathan Burnham, Jennifer Barth, Sarah Ried, Lucy Albanese, John Jusino, Leah Wasielewski, Katie O’Callaghan, Tina Andreadis, Leslie Cohen, and their entire publicity and marketing groups. I would also like to thank my agents at WME: Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, Jay Mandel, and Kimberly Bialek; as well as Will Staehle, Jennifer Fisher, Filmograph, the teams at HarperCollins Australia and UK, Michael S. Sherman, Megan Bailey, Laurie Reis, Laurie Fox, and Michael’s faithful fans. And the remarkable Daniel H. Wilson for his masterful storytelling and collaborative spirit.

  Last but not least, I am indebted to Michael’s daughter, Taylor, and to our son, John Michael, for their love, support, and encouragement in our shared mission to keep the Crichton legacy alive for many years to come.

  —SHERRI CRICHTON

  References

  Listed below is a selected bibliography of unclassified documents, reports, and references that formed the background to the book.

  DAY ZERO

  1.Crichton, Michael. The Andromeda Strain. New York: A. A. Knopf, 1969. Print.

  2.Cuvington, P. “Civilizational Self-Destruction: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.” Journal of Anthropological Philosophy 11, no. 4 (2007): 81–89.

  3.Diaz, K., et al. “Unmanned Aerial Mass Spectrometry for Sampling of Volcanic Plumes.” Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry 24, no. 2 (2015): 210–26.

  4.Herbert, N., R. Dejong, and J. Qin. “Marvin: A Vision-Based Rapid Aerial Terrain Mapping Algorithm.” GIScience & Remote Sensing 38, no. 1 (2013): 26–51.

  5.Holland, R. J., and B. Moore. “A Practical Experience of the Law of Large Numbers.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 31, no. 2 (1947): 25.

  6.Jax, Renaldo, and Martin C. Williams. Automated Logistics and Decision Analysis (ALDA). No. TR-87. MIT Operations Research Center, 1973.

  7.LeBlanc, Jerry. “The Strain of Michael Crichton.” Southwest Scene, May 1971, 18–23.

  8.Lee, R. S., B. Waldinger, W. Dorn, and U. Mitchell. “Ultra-Wideband Synthetic-Aperture Radar Interferometry.” Computer Graphics and Image Processing 14, no. 1 (1998): 22–30.

  9.McCallum, B. “Geo-Printing: Using Ultra High-Resolution Optical Imaging to 3-D-Print Highly Accurate Terrain Models.” Journal of Geoscience Education 42, no. 1 (2014): 156–78.

  10.Pavard, F. “Intergenerational Discounting and Inherited Inequity.” In Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Social Economics, 226–32. San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann, 1982.

  11.Singh, A. L., R. Bishop, and A. Nilsson. “Tactile Spatial Acuity: Discrimination Thresholds of the Human Lip, Tongue, and Fingers.” Journal of Neuroscience. 11, no. 8 (2016): 7014–37.

  DAY ONE

  1.Wise, Robert, dir. The Andromeda Strain, featuring
the documentaries “The Andromeda Strain: Making the Film” and “Portrait of Michael Crichton.” Universal City, CA: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, 2000. DVD.

  2.Chaloner, J. B. “Forensic Analysis of Skylab Initial Ascent: What Went Wrong.” In Proceedings of the Tenth Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, 143–57. Houston: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1979.

  3.Heitjan, U., et al. “Classifying Emotions using FCM and FKM.” International Journal of Computers and Communications 1, no. 2 (2007): 21–25.

  4.Koza, D. E., M. Teller, and T. Wright. “Hall Thrusters for High-Power Solar Electric Propulsion.” Physics of Plasmas 8, no. 5 (2001): 2347–54.

  5.Kroupa, B. and V. Williams. ISS Cupola Window TCS Analysis and Design. SAE Technical Paper No. 1999–01–2003, 1999.

  6.Liu, Bo, and P. Etzioni. “Adaptive Super-Resolution Imaging via Stochastic Optical Reconstruction.” Science 222, no. 4853 (2010): 610–13.

  7.Puri, M., A. Goldenberg, and N. Serban. “Advances in Treatment of Juvenile Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Review.” Acta neuropathologica 104, no. 3 (2012): 359–72.

  8.Smith, S. “Emergency Debris Avoidance Strategies.” AIP Conference Proceedings 595, no. 1 (2001): 480–92.

  9.Stender, K., and T. Reddy. “The Mental Prosthesis: Assessing Juvenile Adoption Success of the Kinetics-V Brain-Computer Interface.” IEEE Transactions on Rehabilitation Engineering 8, no. 2 (2000): 144–49.

  10.Vedala, Nidhi, et al. “Demonstration of a Metamaterial with Zero Optical Backscatter.” Nano Letters 11, no. 4 (2017): 1606–9.

  DAY TWO

  1.Bramose, R. O., et al. “Robonaut: NASA’s Humanoid Telepresence Platform.” IEEE Intelligent Systems and Their Applications 14, no. 5 (2000): 47–53.

  2.Odhiambo, H. An Introduction to Modern Xenogeology. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2014.