I can't get this thought out of my head, so here we go...
What if everything had gone according to plan after the launch? No aliens (aside from the astrophage), just three humans trying to save the stars, and succeeding. The beetles are sent, leaving only the promise of death, and the choice of how to greet it.
Now imagine the ship being found, maybe by some Eridians returning to Tau Ceti, and instead finding the Hail Mary in its orbit. Within there is no movement, no light, no sound, the ship has long ago run out of power.
Maybe they enter (it is an apparently alien spaceship after all). Going through, there are all sorts of objects, some complex and smooth, perhaps machines of some kind. Others are soft and comforting, perhaps the bedding or clothing of whatever created this ship. Perhaps these are sentimental keepsakes from their home world.
And if we were to return to a human's vision, right at the centre of the ship, three husks float in a huddle.
Their flesh has long since lost the appearance of skin. All three are near identical skeletal things, differentiated only by a patch on their jumpsuits, each embroidered with their names and mission, Ilyukhina, Yao and Grace aboard the Hail Mary.
Bodies left far too long, it's impossible to determine the true cause of death for each, but one thing is for certain, they cared deeply for each other, evident in the arms linking the three as one, and a quilt still wrapped around their shoulders.
The Eridians take this in, this lingering love and tragedy woven into the scene before them, and return to their ship, leaving everything as they had found it.
To leave them to sleep, forever.
dededos
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