The Awakening
Induced coma, gravity, and the infrared spectrum
Spoiler warning: this page discusses the novel's plot up to this chapter. It doesn't quote passages from the book.
Grace wakes up with no memory in an unknown place. Through homemade experiments, he discovers that gravity is not Earth's. Meanwhile, in flashbacks, a Russian astronomer detects something impossible: an infrared emission line connecting the Sun to Venus.
Waking from a coma: why Grace has muscles
Grace wakes up connected to tubes, attended by robotic arms. He's been in a coma for a long time, but his muscles are toned.
The science behind it
When a person is in a prolonged coma, their muscles atrophy because they're not used. On the International Space Station, astronauts do over 2 hours of daily exercise to combat this effect.
The novel's solution: robotic arms applying Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS). This technology is real and used in hospitals for immobilized patients. Electrodes send small electric currents that cause muscles to contract, simulating exercise.
Grace was also fed through a nasogastric tube, which goes from the nose to the stomach. This keeps the digestive system active and provides nutrients. It's standard medicine in real ICUs.
Key terms
The Petrova line: an impossible infrared emission
Grace remembers an email from Dr. Irina Petrova of the Pulkovo Observatory. She detected an infrared emission at 25.984 micrometers forming an arc from the Sun to Venus.
The science behind it
Visible light is only a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Beyond red lies infrared: invisible light we associate with heat. Every hot object emits infrared.
Wavelength measures the distance between "crests" of a light wave. It's measured in micrometers (μm). 25.984 μm is in the mid-infrared, far from what our eyes can see (0.4 to 0.7 μm).
Every substance emits and absorbs light at specific wavelengths, like a "fingerprint." Petrova detected an emission that doesn't match any known substance.
The arc goes from the Sun's north pole to Venus. Petrova ruled out magnetic fields because Venus has no magnetosphere. Without a magnetic field, charged particles can't form such an arc.
The Atacama observatory (Chile) is one of the world's best for infrared observation because it's in a high-altitude desert: the dry air doesn't absorb the infrared signal.
Key terms
Try it yourself
How to use the simulator
The viewer sweeps the whole electromagnetic spectrum on a logarithmic scale, from X-rays (nanometers) to radio waves (kilometers). It's all light; only the wavelength changes. The readout tells you which region you're in and what that radiation is used for or does.
Controls
- Wavelength slider: each step along the track multiplies the wavelength by ten.
- "Petrova frequency" button: jumps to 25.984 μm, the wavelength the novel ties to astrophages.
Things to try
- Slide through the visible band (0.4–0.7 μm) and notice how narrow it is: our eyes see only a sliver of the spectrum.
- Press the Petrova button and confirm that it lands in the thermal infrared, invisible to us but easy for instruments to pick up.
- Compare 10 μm, where a room-temperature object glows brightest, with 0.5 μm, the Sun's peak. Wavelength reveals the temperature of the source.
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Grace calculates gravity: not on Earth
Grace notices objects fall "wrong." He drops a test tube 20 times from 91 cm, times each drop, and calculates the acceleration.
The science behind it
Grace uses the free-fall formula: d = ½ · a · t², where d is the distance (0.91 m), t is the measured time (0.348 s average), and a is the acceleration he wants to find.
Solving: a = 2d / t² = 2 × 0.91 / 0.348² ≈ 15 m/s². On Earth, gravity is 9.8 m/s². Grace measures almost double.
He repeats the experiment 20 times to minimize human error. When you click a stopwatch by hand, your reaction time (about 0.2 seconds) adds error. By averaging many measurements, the error is reduced.
Conclusion: "I'm not on Earth." That extra gravity could come from a centrifuge (like on a space station) or from being on an accelerating ship.
Key terms
Try it yourself
How to use the simulator
This calculator recreates the simplest way to measure gravity: drop an object from a known height and time how long it takes to hit the floor. Since it starts at rest, the distance covered is d = ½·a·t², which rearranges to a = 2d / t². The bar compares your result with Earth, the Moon, Jupiter and the gravity Grace measures on board.
Controls
- Drop height (m): how far the object falls.
- Fall time (s): what the stopwatch reads at impact.
Things to try
- Enter Grace's numbers (0.91 m and 0.348 s) and check that you get about 15 m/s², roughly 1.5 times Earth's gravity.
- Keep the height at 0.91 m and find the time that gives 9.8 m/s² (about 0.43 s). It differs from 0.348 s by less than a tenth of a second, which is why a reliable timer matters.
- Nudge the time by just 0.01 s and watch the result move. Because time is squared, small timing errors have a big effect.
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Open “Free-fall gravity calculator” on its own page, with an explanation and a worked example →