The story begins in a maintenance shaft on a spinning station in the dark.
It ends in the central compute room of the same station, which is no longer spinning, in the dark.
Installment Story Bibles¶
These documents cover the game structure of each chapter — rooms, actions, scoring, Inform mechanics, and scene-by-scene breakdowns.
| Installment | Summary |
|---|---|
| Prologue | The Veridion system, three factions, the Flicker, the state of things in 2847 |
| Before the Incident | Ana's discovery, Janus's arrival, Gebreysius's fatal report — told as flashbacks |
| Echos in the Cold | The research station, the kill team, the escape capsule |
| Drift | The capsule, oxygen failure, Kirk, the hangar |
| Anchor | The city, the search for Ana, the Allianz contact card |
| Return | Back to Hephaistos-9, Gebreysius's body, first contact, the Azimuth epilogue |
| Open Questions | Living continuity document — all unresolved threads |
Arc Structure¶
For a narrative overview of what each character arc does across the series — including the parallel Gelon/Yamar/Seren thread — see the Arc Overview.
The Parallel Arc¶
Running alongside the main Janus/Ana storyline from the Drift period onward, a separate thread follows Gelon, Yamar, and Seren Vael through the outer transit network. Their trajectories cross the main arc not because anyone planned it but because the system is smaller than it looks.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2847.211 | Gelon and Yamar: fireside in the outer-ring desert. Same evening Hephaistos-9 goes dark. |
| 2847.196 | Seren Vael crosses the inner-world threshold. Fifteen days before the incident. |
| 2847.218–220 | First crossing — Seren meets Gelon and Yamar at an outer transit waystation. |
| Middle installments | Second and third crossings. Seren asks Gelon about the Flicker. The document is recognised. |
| Return | All threads converge. Davan Vael confrontation. |
Canon gap — middle installments
Multiple installments sit between Anchor and Return — covering how Ana and Janus find each other, how the parallel arc converges, and what forces are in motion before anyone decides to go back. Those installments are not yet written. Return is the closing act of Book One.