The Andromeda Evolution

by Michael Crichton

50 years after the first Andromeda incident, an anomaly is found deep in the Amazon rainforest. A large, black structure has appeared, killing off every lifeform in its path. “Project Eternal Vigilance”, a project dedicated to keeping an eye out for the Strain, suspects it to be a mutant strain of Andromeda. The anomaly is reported and another “Project Wildfire” takes off.

Nidhi Vedala, Harold Odhiambo, Peng Wu, Zachary Gordon, and Sophie Kline are selected as the field scientists by computer generation. However, overseer General Stone replaces Gordon with James Stone, the son of Jeremy Stone, based off of a hunch.

The field scientists are told about their positions and ushered to the spot in the rainforest right outside of the quarantine zone for the anomaly. Sophie Kline does not appear, noting that she is an American astronaut residing at the International Space Station, who also suffers from ALS. Stone arrives late because he was added at the last minute, sparking tension between him and the leader, Vedala (who also does not believe he is qualified to be there).

The group starts off towards the anomaly despite Kline’s constant disapproval, led by Sergeant Eduardo Brink and guided through the rainforest by natives. As Kline studies the anomaly from space, she confirms that it is a new strain of Andromeda: AS-3. After seeing many ominous signs from native tribes, the group decides to stop for the night. In the darkness, a tribe attacks in a strangely violent manner. All of the guides are killed and Brink kills off all of the tribe members. However, he is shot in the shoulder with an arrow contaminated with the AS-3, and dies overnight. Peng finds an Omega poison in his bag, and keeps it. She does not feel as if she can trust the others with her new knowledge due to an anxiety disorder.

The field scientists are alone, and begin studying the tribe members’ bodies. They figure out that they were infected with the AS-3, and had been mining the anomaly for weapons (such as Brink’s arrow). Meanwhile, Odhiambo points out a little tribal boy with war paint on who had been hiding. The kid does not appear to be sick. Stone uses a translation device to converse with the boy, who reveals his name to be Tupa. Tupa explains that he is the only surviving member of his tribe. He and James Stone become inseparable, much to Vedala’s uncomfort. Meanwhile, the team misses their rendezvous with Stern due to the circumstances. They are planning to resort to “Operation Zulu” to get rid of the anomaly, a plan which would wipe out the scientists as well. With this knowledge, Kline tries to reach Brink, not knowing of his death. She asks him to use the Omega, and Peng, knowing what that means, informs the others that for some reason Kline wants them dead. They set up a sign saying “ALIVE” to reveal that they are still working, and continue on. Once they get to the anomaly, the group realizes that it is constantly growing, and that it is extremely hot. Peng becomes increasingly anxious. They decide to entire the anomaly through its opening, much to her discomfort. Stone orders Tupa to stay back, but the boy secretly follows soon afterwards. Inside the anomaly, Stone uses drones to check ahead. They find the mangled body of a white man melted into the floor inside, raising questions as to where they are. They then come to the realization that they are in a capsule building. They enter a room to find many other bodies - construction workers, and the source of the Andromeda anomaly. Scientists had been messing with the Strain, and it had gotten out of control. The capsule had crashed as a result.

As they look around, they find a control hatch leading down under the Amazonian lake it had landed over. As they continue to explore and discover, a radio transmitter is stimulated and Sophie Kline’s voice comes over the radio. She explains that they have reached the control room, and that she warned them to stay away. Tupa is revealed and runs to Stone as Peng verges on a panic attack. Then, a broken propeller starts again and the Andromeda reactivates. As the floor becomes quicksand, they rush under to the hatch they found previously. Vedala ushers Peng along, but she is preparing to make a run for a different exit instead. Vedala watches as she runs and trips, and begins dying of infection. As she lies on her back in agony, she reveals to one of Stone’s drones in her dying breaths that the Andromeda is on every planetary body in the solar system. It was machinery, looking for other life forms. Meanwhile, Kline locks up her fellow astronauts and begins working against the Andromeda, a long awaited plan. She sees it as yet another threat, and she creates a “space elevator” from the anomaly and tries to create a new strain based on AS-1 and AS-2 to defeat AS-3 with the help of her robot, despite Stern’s begging for her to stop. She built the anomaly. The remaining team in the Amazon continue down the hatch, water from the river starts coming. The team rushes to escape it and to find a way out. Stone tries to help Odhiambo, who is older, but eventually it becomes worthless. Odhiambo begs Stone to save himself, drowning to death. Eventually out of the hatch, Stone is left with just Vedala and Tupa.

They realize that Kline has created a space elevator. Communicating with Stern, Vedala realizes that the only way that they can stop her is to do it directly, traveling to the ISS. Her and Stone go up to the ISS through the space elevator, and are forced to face Kline.

They find her dying from her own creation. They beg for her to stop, yet Kline resists and upsets Stone by calling him, “Jaime.” Eventually, she brings out her robot to fight them directly. It being much more powerful than either scientist, they are completely powerless to it. It breaks in Stone’s helmet, and he realizes that the only way to stop it is to stop Kline. So, he uses the Omega poison against her, stored in his pocket to keep away from Tupa. Kline is killed, along with the robot. Vedala, who now has major injuries from the robot, goes up to him and realizes that he is infected from breathing in the strain. He tells her to leave him to die, yet as she goes she tries to think of ways that he can live. They start admitting things to each other, and he eventually admits that Jeremy Stone adopted him, and that he was “Jaime Ritter”, the baby from the first incident. Vedala realizes that Stone has benign microparticles still in his lungs from his first infection, protecting him and making him immune from Andromeda. The two continue onwards.

The other two astronauts put Vedala on morphine, yet someone still needs to sever Kline’s ribbon to finally stop her plan. James Stone goes back down through orbit to do so, and as he is forced to speed up due to Kline’s creation’s acceleration, he briefly sees his dead mother from Piedmont who assures him that he needs to stay alive.

He continues and gets the deed done, eventually reuniting with Tupa who had found his way out of the anomaly. The two were both the sole survivors of their birthplace. Afterwards, Stone and Vedala hint at getting married and adopting Tupa. At the very end, Stern and a group of other scientists notice that Andromeda has reached Saturn and is directly connecting to an unknown extraterrestrial source.