43 pages • 1 hour read
Michael CrichtonThe Andromeda Strain
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1969A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 4: “Day 4—Spread”
Chapter 22 Summary: “The Analysis”
The scientists race against time to analyze the Andromeda Strain. They review the computer’s spectrometry and the amino acid data. The results suggest that the Andromeda Strain is “an entirely alien organism” unlike any lifeform on Earth (141).
Stone studies a sample of the green patch using an electron microscope. He notices a perfect hexagonal arrangement, noting that the precision and accuracy of its structure seems too perfect for a living organism. He tells Leavitt that he believes the Andromeda Strain to be a kind of living crystal. Leavitt suddenly remembers his dream. He explains his idea to Stone, wondering whether they are only seeing a small part of a larger, more complicated organism. They talk about the Messenger Theory, a hypothesis that argues a sufficiently advanced alien culture might wish to announce its existence to the world using biological means like a self-replicating organism. Billions of these organisms could be sent out into the universe, and they would then grow into a fully communicable being on contact with another species. The scientists wonder whether their sample is developing into “some kind of organ of communication” (145).
Hall talks to Peter Jackson again. He encourages Jackson to talk about the night of the incident, but the old man is reluctant to do so. Eventually, he reveals that the baby—named Jamie Ritter—cried all night when the satellite was recovered. The townspeople saw it crash and went to investigate. They left the capsule with the doctor and, an hour later, people started to die. Jackson assumed that he was dreaming and went home. Later, he was woken by the arrival of Shawn and Crane. Jackson explains that they were the second vehicle to pass through Piedmont that night. The other was a highway patrolman named Willis. Jackson ends his story and falls asleep again.
Chapter 23 Summary: “Topeka”
Manchek watches as a crew arranges the wreckage of the crashed plane on the floor of a gigantic empty warehouse. He learns that something tore apart the advanced polymer that lined the inside of the plane. Manchek sends a message to the Wildfire team, explaining this finding.
Hall talks to Burton about the strange suicides among the Piedmont residents. The men wonder whether severe brain hemorrhages could explain why some people are driven insane by the organism. Burton autopsies the rats he failed to examine the day before. Results confirm that the Andromeda Strain attacks the brain in instances where blood does not clot, whether due to anticlotting medicine or existing medical conditions. Burton and Hall wonder what Peter Jackson and the baby share in common that prevented both clotting and brain hemorrhaging.
Chapter 24 Summary: “Evaluation”
The Wildfire scientists make several severe misjudgments, “despite the individual brilliance of team members” (154). Small, innocuous errors pile up. The computer analyzes thousands of samples taken from the capsule. Stone and Leavitt study the computer’s results and decide that the Andromeda Strain can thrive in any environment, including a nuclear blast. They worry that a nuclear bomb would feed the organism and help it grow, so they try to halt the implementation of Directive 7-12. They also learn more about the crashed plane. The recovery team found human bones on the site that were stripped of any skin or flesh. The bones almost seem polished clean. There are no deaths among the soldiers yet. Stone decides that the plane is “a fluke” (157).
Stone and Leavitt test the organism samples that have shown the most growth to see whether they have mutated. Doctors from the facility interrupt with news that Leavitt’s brain scans show strange activity. Leavitt refuses to report back for an additional scan because he is “rather busy” (157). Before they can return to their tests, the computer reveals that another set of results is ready. The men pause their experiment, which is described as “a most unfortunate decision” because they are already pursing a flawed theory (158).
Chapter 25 Summary: “Willis”
A crystallography analysis reveals the unique composition of the Andromeda Strain, which seemingly built entirely out of hexagonal, self-replicating shapes. Leavitt and Stone cannot explain how such a simple organism can reproduce so quickly and efficiently.
Hall drinks coffee alone in the cafeteria. He reads a message on the computer and learns about the deaths of five people involving a highway patrolman in Arizona. The patrolman entered a diner and complained of a headache. He became paranoid and shot the other customers before turning the gun on himself. Only the waitress was spared. Hall connects the deaths to Peter Jackson’s recollection of a patrolman passing through Piedmont. He calls the doctor who investigated the incident and, after some difficulty, learns that the patrolman had diabetes but rarely took his prescribed insulin. Hall requests the temporary detainment of the doctor to stop rumors spreading. Hall believes that the patrolman, Peter Jackson, and the baby may hold the key to stopping the Andromeda Strain. His thoughts are interrupted by a sudden alarm.
Chapter 26 Summary: “The Seal”
Hall runs into the corridor, where a sign flashes the word “AUTOPSY” (164). He understands that a contamination has occurred in the room where Burton was working. Hall and Leavitt investigate the emergency, but Leavitt freezes and then suffers a seizure. Hall gives instructions to a technician and then returns to the emergency. The autopsy lab is sealed shut, but Hall and Stone can see inside through a system of cameras. Burton is terrified, sealed inside his lab with the contamination. Stone tries to calm Burton and adjusts the conditions of the room based on recent experiment results. Hall tells Stone that Levitt has epilepsy; Stone is shocked. Hall realizes that Burton has survived much longer than expected after possible exposure to the Andromeda Strain. Burton begs Stone for a special top-secret drug, but Stone refuses. Stone mentions that Burton is “scared to death” (168), and the phrase inspires an idea in Hall’s mind.
Chapter 27 Summary: “Scared to Death”
Hall returns to his lab, still thinking about the phrase “scared to death” (169). He considers the people he knows survived exposure to the Andromeda Strain and tries to deduce what they have in common. The stress is overwhelming, so he decides to visit Leavitt in the infirmary. Leavitt is asleep after his seizure. Hall talks to the technicians and performs a physical examination of his colleague. As he works, an idea comes to him. He immediately turns to a computer and runs an analysis. The results please him. Hall believes that the Andromeda Strain will only grow within a narrow range in the human body, depending on the host body’s acid levels. Hall believes he has found the solution, but the narration reveals that he could not be more wrong.
Chapter 28 Summary: “The Test”
Hall returns to the room where Stone is watching Burton. He explains his recent findings to Burton, telling him to breathe as fast as he can to deliberately shift the level of acidity in his body. Burton obeys and breathes rapidly. He searches the lab to find anything that might alter the acidity of his blood. Hall notices there is a live rat in the lab, but he does not have time to investigate because the computer flashes a warning. The core gaskets in the lab have begun to fail. Suddenly, the entire facility is at risk of contamination. Hall realizes that the Andromeda Strain has mutated, evolving to attack rubber gaskets rather than humans. The final gasket fails and an alarm blares. Hall tries to run to the nearest key station so he can prevent the nuclear bomb from destroying the Wildfire facility and disbursing the organism. A metal door seals him in the lab. The bomb will detonate in three minutes, spreading the organism all over the world.
Chapter 29 Summary: “Three Minutes”
A siren blares as a timer ticks down the minutes until the bomb detonates. A mechanical voice announces that three minutes remain until the base self-destructs. Hall is the only person who can avert the detonation, so he plots a way to break through the lab’s tight security measures, which include gas clouds and sedative darts designed to stop the escape of lab animals. Stone is pessimistic about his chances of success. Still, Hall cuts his way through the plastic separating the labs, exposing himself to the Andromeda Strain, but nothing happens. With two-and-a-half minutes remaining, he breaks through the laboratory seals into the service area. Gas is released as Hall climbs a ladder to the next level. He is shot with darts designed to bring down small monkeys. Hall feels himself become drowsy, but he continues to climb. He reaches a door, passes through, and finally finds a key station. A technician helps him enter the key and avert the detonation with seconds to spare. Hall passes out.
Part 4 Analysis
Part 4 of The Andromeda Strain begins Hall’s redemption. He is a figure of ridicule in the early stages of the story, and though they never mention the idea to one another, the scientists wish they had selected someone else for the project. Despite being unsuited for the Wildfire Project as the start of the story—chosen for his single status rather than any professional or intellectual merits—Hall quickly earns his place. His experiments are just as successful as those conducted by the other team members, if not more so. Stone, Burton, and Leavitt all make damaging errors. Hall is different because his information does not come solely from experiments. He is seen as a more sociable and flippant figure among the rigorous scientists, but it is his conversation with Peter Jackson that provides vital information about the Andromeda Strain. Hall succeeds because of his personality and his bedside manner, the exact qualities that made the others doubt his inclusion. He remembers the human cost of the crisis and chooses to focus on people, while his colleagues study data and experiments. Hall earns his place by playing to his strengths, while the other scientists are distracted by error-strewn intellectual pursuits.
The mistakes made by the rest of the team are costly. Perhaps the most damaging is the failure to read the messages sent from above ground, revealed in Part 3. Because of this failure, the team did not know that Piedmont was not bombed. In Part 4 this lack of understanding turns into a stroke of fortune when the scientists learn that the bomb might actually help the Andromeda Strain to propagate rather than kill it. The fortunate resolution of the missed messages problem demonstrates that the scientists are not in control of the crisis. Their desired outcomes would have proved damaging, and they are only saved by their mistakes. By contrasting Hall’s success with the other scientists’ mistakes, the novel challenges the veneration of intellect, showing that even the most intelligent humans cannot deal with crises that exist beyond the realm of comprehension. The Andromeda Strain explores the limits of human intellectualism by showing how little control the world’s best scientists have over potentially life-threatening events.
The danger of the situation becomes more concrete at the end of Part 4. The threat of the Andromeda Strain turns into a threat from the nuclear bomb planted under the facility, and Hall must the detonation to save the other characters. This is a crisis of man’s own making; the alien organism did not plant the bomb, did not arm the bomb, and was not responsible for the lack of key stations that enable Hall to avert the detonation. The humans’ arrogance becomes their own worst enemy. The bomb represents their belief that they have covered every possible eventuality while, but they have barely scratched the surface of what is possible. The nuclear bomb becomes a potent symbol of why humans are a bigger threat to life on Earth than the Andromeda Strain.
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By Michael Crichton
