: Does it makes sense that my main character is not going to solve the plot's main objective? First of all, sorry, english is not my mother tongue My novel runs on a sci-fi universe and my

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I know that my reply is not likely the answer you're looking for, but still, I thought it could be useful for someone.

I immediately thought of 'the hero story' vs. 'the villain story', and in your case, the character that you call MC could easily be the person that everyone else sees as the villain - Hear me out;

If he does try to solve the issue himself (maybe he already failed at getting help from more powerful people), he might do it to save not only himself but also his family and friends - they are probably infected too. To most people, this will be an understandable reason for doing something, but the reader might not learn this reason at first.

If, then, you have another character, who doesn't know the original MC, who lives on this planet. This other character could have connections to the scientist/scientists who could help solve the issue. What this/these character(s) will then experience is a random person coming to their planet, infecting civilians while demanding the attention of acclaimed scientists, perhaps with trouble describing why.

When this happens, your other character might witness this or hear about it, and learn that the scientists refuse to meet a stranger's demands, after which the 'MC' feels forced to kidnap the scientists or hold them hostage in the building of their sciences.

Perhaps your other character is then captured in the same building and feels the need to 'save' their coworkers (the scientists), and that is how the story "begins"...

That other character could very well be the first to realize that 'the MC' is not actually a villain. After all, very few villains see themselves as a bad guy.

Just an idea.

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You say sci-fi but don't state an allowable level of technology. If your MC's physical body is restrained in an airtight isolation ward, is there any chance they could be neurally interfaced to an avatar that acts as their physical representation out in the world? If the MC is going to need to travel to other star systems then the underlying technology would need to involve faster than light communications, but if that's allowable within your world it could allow you to send the MC forth without risking the people he meets. To add to the sense of risk you could invoke a Matrix-style mechanism that if the remote avatar 'dies' it results in some kind of massive neural feedback that would actually kill your MC too.

You might find it beneficial to post a related question in the Worldbuilding SE to ask about how you might solve the technological aspects.

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