Blip-A

**The Blip-A** is the ship used by the Eridians to travel to Tau Ceti in search of a cure for Astrophage. The Blip-A is constructed mostly of Xenonite and uses Astrophage as fuel. The Blip-A is three times longer than the Hail Mary, at a length of 139 meters. After the Hail Mary enters the Tau Ceti solar system, the Blip-A heads over to investigate. The Blip-A's name comes from what the *Hail Mary's* radar labels the first object it encounters.

The Eridian’s ship is much larger than the Hail Mary, and it set out with 31 million kg of Astrophage fuel.

They were unaware of relativistic physics, and as a result, had far more fuel than they needed to get to Tau Ceti. They were also unaware of how high the radiation risk is when travelling in space. The entire crew died except one Eridian, who was in the engineering section and surrounded by Astrophage.

The ship is made of their advanced materials and holds their 28atm pressure.

Like the Hail Mary, it has fabrication capabilities, though they are based on milling and molding. They don’t have computers capable of 3D printing. They had a (now dead) craftsman aboard.

## Crew

Rocky is the only surviving crew member of the Blip-A, but at one time there were 23 Eridians aboard the ship. However, as their bodies were unaccustomed to the intense radiation of space, every one except for Rocky (who was unknowingly shielded by the Astrophage in the engines) eventually succumbed to some form of radiation sickness. Their exact positions and occupations were unknown, but some necessary ones can be safely assumed.

* Navigator. As Eridians have no advanced computer technology, all calculations would have to be done with the use of a substantial amount of brain power.
* Engineer. Any spacecraft would have need of a few engineers working in various positions around the ship. Rocky was the ship's engine mechanic, apparently the only member aboard who had the position.
* Captain. 23 sentient beings of any sort will likely require a leader to guide them and settle their disagreements.
* Scientist. Seeing as the ship's mission is to figure out why Tau Ceti remains unaffected by the astrophage plague, a large number of research scientists would be necessary.
* EVA Specialist. The Blip-A is known to have at least 1 external EVA bot, similar in design to an Eridian's body. Noticing the similarities, Ryland Grace remarks it might be controlled by "Some kind of Nintendo Power Glove thing."

## **Life support**

The ship provides 29 atmospheres of ammonia at a comfortable 210C. It also maintains a magnetic field oriented at the nose to provide an analog to Beemin’s natural magnetic field. Without a magnetic field present, Eridians get disoriented and confused.

Eridians have no need for artificial gravity. Their astronauts, like ours, are trained in how to deal with zero-g. Plus with five hands they are able to easily move around via handholds at all times in any direction. Their ships simply have a lot of places to grab hold of.

Like humans, Eridians left in zero-g for long periods of time can suffer physical problems. But their issues are far less severe than humans end up with. The bulk of their bodies are made of non-living tissue and are thus unaffected. The colony itself is basically a fluid-filled sac with monocellular organisms swimming around. And they evolved to be able to move around, turn upside down without dying, etc. So that works fine. The only issues they face are when excreting and eating. Both require gravity to work correctly. Most critically, the incision and healing of the fissure in the abdomen that accompanies digestion. That process does not work correctly in zero-g. So the ship has a centrifuge aboard specifically for sitting in while eating and excreting. If that also weren’t an option, they would end up with poorly-healed abdominal wounds and would be susceptible to infection—a very serious and potentially fatal problem.

## Artificial Gravity

The Blip-A has a centrifuge for the purpose of providing gravity for the crew for eating. The process of ingesting food for an Eridian makes gravity a necessity.

During the trip from Erid to Tau Ceti, the Blip-A maintained an internal gravity simply by accelerating for half of the trip, then turing the ship backwards and using the engines to decelerate for the second half of the trip.