Hyperspace: The Cosmic Gospel/Part I

―Official description

***Part I: Darkened Heaven*** is the first instalment of *Hyperspace: The Cosmic Gospel* and began release in August 2021. It consists of eight episodes and was followed by *Part II: The Battle of Borealis* in February 2022.

Set 2501 years after *Hyperion: A Space Adventure*, the series follows student Elijah as he leads a ragtag crew on a quest to discover the true power behind an ancient evil attacking his home galaxy.

## Synopsis

*In an age where technology is now near-indistinguishable from magic, a group of various species, motives and backgrounds are forced to band together on a wild journey through the cosmos as a primordial evil returns to threaten modern civilization.*

## Plot

### 'In the Beginning...'

In 2904, Erron Rayes pilots the CS *Olympus* into the Final Breach; the ship's overloading lightfold engine is activated, detonating it. The combination of foldspace, breach energy and Leviathan itself coalesces into the Nexus, a planet-sized body of element-C. Pip Boyle, the loyal student of Weldom Krieger, releases his research that element-C is the physical manifestation of a dimensionless plane known as the "Continuum". Explorers eventually discover that the Nexus can be used to amplify lightfold engines and use the Nexus to explore other galaxies. Over the centuries, the nations of the Universe split into three factions: the Intergalactic Commonwealth, the Confederacy of the Great Attractor, and the Alliance of the Great Wall, each of which consists of various member-nations. The three alliances are separated by a vast structure known as the Great Hydrogen Wall. The Commonwealth and the Confederacy form an intergovernmental organization, the Intergalactic Council, headquartered in a ringworld around the Nexus. The history of the Settled Systems is slowly collected into the Codex, personified by a visual intelligence named V.I.C.T.O.R modelled after Pip Boyle. Over the centuries, the races of the Local Group spread across the stars. Humanity surges forward to become the most populous species; as humanity's numbers grow and their influence widens, a human separatist group known as the Rising Tide begins a series of terror campaigns within Council Space.

In deep space, a giant starship slowly activates itself, awakening a large part-synthetic, part-organic creature from suspended animation. The creature begins activating other systems before taking control of the vessel, the *Darkened Heaven*.

In 5405, 2501 years after the Battle of Keystone, humanity has settled the planet of Haven in the Ambrosia Galaxy. In his dorm, New London University student Elijah finishes his latest assignment and sends it into the extranet; within seconds, he receives a top score, giving him another point towards his degree in exotic physics. He calls up his friend Dorall, a gekoid mathematician, who congratulates him, but their call is interrupted by Alyx Pyrandol, Elijah's roommate, who invites them both to a gig that evening. Alyx is revealed to be "Blackhand", a musician renowned throughout the entire Ambrosia Galaxy. After the gig, the trio make their way through the streets of New London into an underground dive bar, where Alyx signs Elijah up for a VR fight. Elijah handles the stress of the VR neural interface far better than his opponent, and ultimately wins the bout and a C1000 prize. On the walk back to the dorms, Elijah is accosted by a blind homeless man, who cryptically warns Elijah to prepare himself and that "the Final Cycle...is coming".

The next morning, Elijah is summoned to his class, where he is told by his professor that he is wasting his genius-level intellect on VR fighting. Elijah responds by saying he isn't sure what he wants to be yet, while his professor says that he can go anywhere. As their conversation ends, a loud siren rings out above New London; Elijah steps outside into a gathered crowd as an enormous starship, the *Darkened Heaven*, descends into Haven's atmosphere and hovers above the city. Without warning, the vessel unleashes gigantic swarms of microscopic creatures that surges across the city, infecting every living organic it comes across, including plants; those infected cry out in agony as their organic tissue is rewritten from the inside out, driving them mad. The infected proceed to attack the city, and within minutes chaos breaks out.

A swarm envelops the campus; Elijah is rescued from the crowd by a synthetic, who leads Elijah through the crumbling streets as the other students are transformed into yet more monsters. As Elijah panically asks what is happened, the synthetic reveals his name to be "Hendrix". Meanwhile, Alyx leaves his dorm and saves a mavnian woman, Alia, from crumbling debris.

The *Darkened Heaven* fires beams of energy into New London, blocking Elijah and Hendrix's escape paths. In the chaos, they come across Alyx and Alia, his new companion. Hendrix instructs the survivors to head for a nearby spaceport; en route, a beam of energy erupts down to the surface, which extinguishes to reveal the Forerunner itself. The Forerunner takes direct telepathic control of nearby Scourged, which proceed to attack the group. Elijah is separated and finds himself fully at the Forerunner's mercy; as he raises his hands in an attempt to defend himself from the Forerunner's blade, he is surprised to discover that he has generated a bioenergenic barrier, blocking the Forerunner's blade. Elijah repels the Forerunner backwards, trapping it beneath rubble, and tries to make his escape. The Forerunner, however, picks itself up and grabs Elijah; as he makes direct contact with the Forerunner, Elijah captures climpses of its mind and sees a vision of a lonely planet orbiting a green star. The Forerunner appears disrupted and drops Elijah, who manages to escape into the streets. With his powers unlocked, Elijah repels several Scourged with telekinetic blasts before he is finally reunited with his friends.

At the spaceport, they find a single vessel remaining. They are joined by Hendrix's partner, HIEdi, as they switch on the ship's fuel drives and lift-off. The group escapes the planet as the Scourge spreads across the surface and the *Darkened Heaven* finally leaves. The group lightfolds into safe space, where they greet one another and come to realize what has happened. They find two more survivors in the cargo hold, mother and daughter pair Verandar and Kera, before they ultimately decide to head to the planet Amaranthine and warn the galactic government about the Fall of Haven and the threat of the Scourge. They name the damaged, malfunctioning ship the "*Unreliable*" and head off among the stars.

### 'The Piece of Junk'

The *Unreliable* thunders through several star systems, only to find more backwater planets that have been overrun by the Scourge, causing civilians to flee in their thousands. The ship's new crew takes a look at its systems, only to find them in disarray: the ship's illegal stealth drive is drawing most of the power away, putting the *Unreliable*'s shields in great danger of failure and completely shutting down its weapons. As Elijah and Alyx fail to reboot the turrets, Alyx comments that they couldn't have found a worse ship; Elijah replies that it was better they found it than them dying on Haven.

When the lightfold engine runs out of electricity, the crew decides to rest while they wait for it to draw in radiation. They each describe what they did on Haven: Elijah and Alyx were students, Alia was a historian working on a Remnant dig site, and Verandar worked a secretary while her daughter Kera went to school. Hendrix and HIEdi reveal that they both served on the CS *Olympus* 2501 years ago and stood beside Erron Rayes as he piloted the ship into the Final Breach, creating the Nexus. Elijah, still troubled by the revelation of his true identity, leaves to continue working but is joined by Hendrix. Hendrix tells Elijah the truth of his "birth" and his childhood: 2501 years ago, Ashley Briggs gave birth to Erron's stillborn son; Hendrix and HIEdi, knowing that the boy could have held great potential, took a tissue sample from his body and preserved it for nearly 2500 years, slowly growing and modifying it to enhance his natural bioenergenic powers. Twenty years ago, they finally finished their work and entrusted Elijah to a farming commune on the planet Bancroft, where Elijah was raised. Hendrix then assures Elijah that, despite him being a clone, he is the biological son of Erron and Ashley, sharing just as much of their genetics as any other child would of their parents. Hendrix then reveals that he has kept and preserved Erron's jacket all this time and offers it to Elijah as the last of the Rayes family. Elijah refuses it, saying that he has to think everything over.

Alia calls a meeting of the crew in order to figure out a plan, which quickly devolves into an argument as Alyx suggests they all return to their homeworlds, causing HIEdi to become distressed. However, eventually they all agree that they need to head to Amaranthine, the capital of the Ambrosia Alliance, in order to warn the galactic government of what happened on Haven. Alia then reveals that she has found comparisons to the Scourge in the Cosmic Gospel, a Remnant doomsday text recovered from the Library, that describes a nefarious force that "will darken the heavens" and lead to a mass-extinction, and theorizes that the Scourge was responsible for the extinction of the Remnants billions of years ago.

The crew decides to rest in the ship's meager cabins; Elijah, traumatized by the events of Haven, struggles to sleep and heads out to walk through the ship. In the halls, he runs into Alia, who similarly cannot sleep. Alia asks Elijah how he is coping with the revelations of his past, to which Elijah responds that he is deeply struggling to comprehend everything. He then asks about Alia's past; she reveals that her "father" was a female human, giving her a human appearance, and that her "father" disappeared before she was born. Alia left for the stars to study the Remnants and their sudden extinction, as well as to escape a life in mavnian politics. She also reveals that she is 140 years old, making her a "juvenile" among her race.

Two days later, the *Unreliable* arrives at Amaranthine, only to find the entire planet on lockdown. Their plan foiled, they debate their next step. HIEdi suggests that they make their way to the Nexus in order to warn the Intergalactic Council of the Scourge, but to do so they will need to use the Amaranthine conduit and travel through the Nexus Network. HIEdi, despite centuries of upgrades, is still ultimately a Mark V artificial intelligence and cannot autonomously pilot the *Unreliable* through the Nexus Network and that it requies a Continuum-Trained pilot.

The crew bring the ship down to a colony on Amaranthine's moon in search of a pilot; Elijah decides to use his C1000 prize money to pay for a pilot. They enter a tavern occupied by mercenaries and refugees and ask around for a Continuum-Trained pilot, but are ridiculed for their low credit offer. Close to giving up, they are approached by a cloak-wearing quill, who asks what the job is. He also is unimpressed with the meager credits and walks away, but Elijah catches up to him and reveals that their ship has a stealth drive, which interests the quill. He agrees to pilot them through the Nexus Network to Nexus Station itself in exchange for the C1000 and the stealth drive. However, when he sees the state of *Unreliable*, he turns down the offer and once again walks away. He suddenly stops, however, to turn to Elijah and Alyx before he agrees to their deal. The two turn around to see Kera and ask what she did; she says simply that she "spoke to him".

The pilot reveals his name to be Gerren and comments that, compared to the rest of the ship, the stealth drive and the flight controls are in good shape. The crew brace themselves for lift-off, unaware that a mercenary on the ground has marked their vessel.

Gerren pilots the *Unreliable* to the conduit and orders the crew to limit the distractions, saying that a single mistake could cause them to be annihilated within hyperspace. Thanks to the troublingly low traffic, the *Unreliable* is quickly able to approach the conduit; as they pass by it, a beam of energy is fired from its element-C core at the *Unreliable*, supercharging its lightfold engine. Elijah, as the ship's captain, gives a Captain's Signal, authorizing the jump to hyperspace. The lightfold engine is activated and the *Unreliable* folds into a hyperspace tunnel.

Within hours, the *Unreliable* is brake-beamed out of hyperspace; the sudden stop brings all the crew to the ground. Dazed and winded, they slowly regain their senses, only to find themselves at the gargantuan Nexus Station, a ringworld orbiting the Nexus itself. Gerren, knowing the *Unreliable* will quickly be flagged for possessing a stealth drive, activates the system's heat sinks, making the *Unreliable* undetectable to scanners. As they head to the docks, they are unknowingly picked up by specialised sensors; on the station itself, Captain David Young gives the order to bring the ship into dock by any means necessary.

### 'Quarantine'

Seconds after being detected, the *Unreliable* is approached by security drones. Gerren tries to outmaneuver the drones, but the ship's unbalanced frame makes it impossible and the ship is qickly captured and brought to dock. When scans indicate the crew came from Ambrosia, they are ordered by Captain Young to quarantine on the ship for two weeks despite Verandar's arguments to let her and her daughter on the station. Elijah requests an audience with the Intergalactic Council, saying he has urgent news from Ambrosia, and Captain Young eventually agrees to bring him before the Council if the crew remains clear of infection for one week.

A week later, the crew remains healthy and are allowed off the ship, but are ordered to stay together to limit potential spread. They are brought before the Council, who ridicule them for the name of their ship; the Commonwealth delegates also threaten the crew with prosecution due to them possessing a stealth system, which is illegal for civilians under Commonwealth law. They also denounce Elijah for using the surname "Rayes" in the ship's crew records, claiming that it is impossible that he is the son of Erron Rayes. Despite this, Elijah remains resolute and warns the Council that the Scourge has the potential to overwhelm the Ambrosia Alliance and that, eventually, it will spread to the Nexus. The Council ignores the crew's warning, and Elijah promises that he will bring them proof that the Scourge is a threat to all civilization.

Back on the *Unreliable*, Elijah paces under stress and tells the crew that they have come too far and they could do something to combat the Scourge. The others, particularly Alia and Alyx, respond that they have done all they could by warning the Council. Elijah then reveals that, back on Haven, the Forerunner touched him and he had a vision, but he cannot recall what. Elijah then realizes that Kera could telepathically "read" his memories and recall his vision. Despite Verandar's protests, Elijah says that his vision could be the key to stopping the Scourge and Kera willingly touches him. Searching Elijah's memories, Kera hears the cries of the Scourge, culminating in a vision of a lonely world orbiting a green star. Just as the image becomes clear to her, a voice appears from the darkness that says "I see you".

In shock and terror, Kera severs the connection and says that the Scourge are all connected - one voice in millions of bodies. When she describes the voice as "cold and calculating", Alyx dubs the voice "The Calculator" due to his hatred of math. Realizing the true, devastating scale of what they're up against, the rest of the crew reluctantly decides to join Elijah in finding the "Green World", while Verandar says that she and Kera will stay with them until they find somewhere safe to settle.

The crew leaves the ship to meet with David Young and are able convince him to allow the *Unreliable* to leave the Nexus once they realize that Young also believes that the Scourge has the potential to cause a mass-extinction. Young asks the crew what they and their broken ship could possibly accomplish; Elijah argues that their stealth drive will make them undetectable and that nobody else has as much experience with the Scourge as they do. Young finally agrees and reveals that he knows of a planet, Sithniatt, in Ambrosia's outer void that orbits an anomalous green star. Elijah thanks Young, who refers to Elijah as "Captain Rayes" and wishes him luck.

Elijah and the others return to the *Unreliable* and receive Young's maps leading to Sithniatt, a journey of at least one month at FTL speeds. They wait for two nearby guards to be called away by Captain Young before they prepare for lift-off. Gerren pilots the *Unreliable* off the station and narrowly avoids the security drones. Just as the defence forces realize the breach, the *Unreliable* approaches the Nexus and fires off into hyperspace, but not before they sustain a shot to the hull.

Meanwhile, in interstellar space, the *Darkened Heaven* stops to collect the Forerunner's personal cruiser. It travels into the core of the ship, where its vocal chords twist and reshape before it speaks in the same voice as Kera's vision: "They know of my existence. Erase them from this plane". The voice disappears and the Forerunner activates an immense force of Scourge soldiers as the *Darkened Heaven* thunders through another tear.

### 'Forlorn Hope'

The *Unreliable* blasts through hyperspace, having escaped the Nexus moments before. The damage to the hull has worsened the balancing issues of the ship as well as damaged critical systems. Gerren switches the ship over to HIEdi's control and calls a meeting of the crew. Gerren explains that, when they approach the Amaranthine conduit, a brake-beam will be fired that will physically "pull" them out of hyperspace; however, the damage that the *Unreliable* sustained during its escape from Nexus Station has wiped out its inertia dampeners, meaning that, when the brake-beam reaches the *Unreliable*, the ship's speed will still be near that of hyperspace, which would, in his words, "turn all of them into a thin veneer of red mist".

Although little can be done, Gerren proposes that the three biogenics of the crew - Elijah, Alia and Kera - could theoretically create a large enough gravity field that would significantly dampen the inertia, potentially saving them. Despite Elijah being unsure that he is capable of producing such fields - due to an inability to summon his powers since Haven - he agrees, as does Alia, but Verandar refuses to allow her daughter to help them and reiterates that she and Kera will be leaving at the next safe settlement. Gerren politely says there could be nowhere safe for them, to which Verandar xenophobically insults him. Elijah breaks off their argument, saying that, for now, they are all in the same boat and Kera could be of great help. Despite her mother's protests, Kera agrees, though she too is unsure that she can generate such a field.

Alia leads Elijah down to the cargo deck, where she aims to instruct him to generate a gravity field. Elijah fails to summon his powers, let alone a gravity field, before Alia aruptly slaps him. When he looks at her in shock, she continues to strike him before punching him in the gut. In defence, Elijah yells, generating a massive telekinetic blast that throws Alia against the wall. Elijah immediately apologises, to which Alia says she is okay. She explains that Elijah's powers, for now, manifest only as a defence mechanism and that he can be trained to summon them at will. Alia reassures Elijah once more that she is fine and the two appear to have a moment. However, they are cut off when Hendrix summons them both, telling them they are approaching their destination and to prepare themselves.

The crew gathers on the command deck, where Gerren tells them that a brake-beam has locked onto their signal. The crew lock themselves in for the rough journey before Alia creates a small gravity field. Elijah tries to do the same but instead unleashes another telekinetic blast, knocking the ship off balance even further and causing the brake-beam lock-on to become even more tenuous. Alia instructs Elijah to focus, but in his blind panic his powers disappear once more. Alia strains herself to distribute the gravity field evenly throughout the ship, but the stress takes its toll on her and she begins to faint. Running out of options, Elijah sees the terror on the crew's faces, spurring him on to try once more. With just seconds left, the stress causes Elijah to finally generate a field, only far more powerful than Alia's. As the field grows in strength, Elijah's veins and nerves begin to glow purple, with even his eyes turning indigo. As the *Unreliable* collides with the brake-beam, the hyperspace construct around them disappears, and the ship is thrust back into realspace. The force sends everyone standing to the ground and shuts down the engines.

Elijah regains consciousness and asks if everyone is okay; everyone eventually responds that they are fine. When Alia recovers, she still holds a look of shock at Elijah's sudden surge of power. Their relief is broken short, however, when Gerren pulls their attention to the starboard view. The crew gathers to see what is happening, only to share a look of horror: below them is Amaranthine, its atmosphere darkened by soot and its surface engulfed in fire and destruction. Elijah realizes that the Scourge has already come and gone, and with Amaranthine fallen it won't be long until the rest of the galaxy is overrun. Forlorn, the crew prepares the *Unreliable* for the long journey to a space station and, eventually, to Sithniatt.

However, as they set off, HIEdi detects a sudden disruption in the local spacetime. On their port side, a tear opens in the fabric of spacetime, from which emerges a large, snake-like spacecraft that aims directly for them. With the engines only just primed, the *Unreliable* is barely able to dodge the craft's attack, but it quickly enters pursuit. Elijah shouts at Gerren to lightfold, while the craft disappears into another tear. Believing themselves to be safe, the crew is unexpectedly attacked by the mysterious craft once more, itself enveloped in a foldspace-like tunnel, allowing it to keep pace with the *Unreliable* at FTL speeds. The craft moves to attack the ship, but as it collides with foldspace it appears damaged and agonized and quickly disappears.

Alia navigates the ship out of foldspace and over to a nearby space station, Forlorn Hope, where Gerren brings the *Unreliable* into land. The crew pauses to collect their nerves and question what it was that attacked them. Alia theorizes that the craft is a form of Scourge technology sent by the Calculator to stop them getting to Sithniatt and discovering its secrets, to which Elijah reaffirms their committment that nothing will stop them. A bang on their airlock door brings them to attention and they go for their sidearms, alert. Hendrix remotely opens the airlock door to reveal a male shilt, who excitedly welcomes them to Forlorn Hope Station.

The shilt gives his all-name, Amphear, and gives them a short tour of the station and complains about his boss, Ockrahm, while doing so. When the crew finally meet Ockrahm, a gordyop, Amphear offers to look over their ship. Amphear, closely watched by Gerren, heads into the engineering room of the *Unreliable* and appears saddened by the sorry state of the vessel. Despite lingering tensions between their peoples, Gerren and Amphear have a conversation about Amphear's pressure suit; he explains that, even among his people, he is extraordinarily sensitive to atmospheric pressure and must remain in a nitrogren-rich environment at all times, and therefore he is permanently sealed inside of his suit. Amphear also reveals that he is on the traditional shilt pilgrimage, and he is forced to work for Ockrahm due to accruing a significant debt to him. Although hesitant, Amphear cryptically reveals to Gerren that Ockrahm deals in "illegal merchandise".

On the station itself, the rest of the crew spends their last few credits on fuel, food and other supplies for the long journey to Sithniatt. When they prepare to head back to the ship, Verandar keeps her daughter behind, saying that she and Kera are settling on the station until the rest of the galaxy has been secured. Elijah tries to argue that the *Unreliable* is likely the safest place for them, but Verandar yells that he nearly killed them both with his powers and that nobody is safe around him. Defeated and downtrodden, Elijah leads the others back to the ship. Gerren tries to warn the crew about Ockrahm but Elijah silences him, ordering him to pilot the ship. Despite fearing for Kera, Gerren does so and flies away from the station.

On the station, Kera and Verandar are supposedly led to their new quarters but instead are thrown into a cell, where Ockrahm plans to keep them until he can find a buyer for them. Kera telepathically reaches out to Gerren, who turns the *Unreliable* around and back to the station. He explains to the crew that he and Kera have been having telepathic conversations, forming a neural link between them. He finally reveals that Kera reminds him of his own daughter, who died when he crash landed a photon-class starship carrying refugees during the Commonwealth-Great Wall Cold War. Elijah agrees to head back to the station to rescue them, at which point Amphear reveals he has hidden away on the ship and offers to help them.

Amphear directs them to an airlock at the base of the station that has been sealed off for maintainence but should lead them to the cell where Kera and Verandar are being kept. Thanks to his link to Kera, Gerren is able to locate them with Amphear leading. Kera and Verandar are rescued, but Verandar accidentally sets off an alarm that alerts Ockrahm and his mercenaries of the rescue. Ockrahm and his mercenaries attack, but their shots are blocked by biogenic barriers generated by Alia and Elijah. A single shot is able to penetrate the barrier and Gerren jumps in front to protect Kera, wounding his arm. As the crew evacuates to the *Unreliable*, Elijah unleashes a telekinetic blast that damages the station and causes it to depressurize; Ockrahm and his mercenaries are unable to escape in time before suffocating. As the station begins to break down from the attack, the *Unreliable* detaches and fires off into space.

Verandar, grateful for Gerren's heroics, looks over his wound and says he should recover, and he returns to the cockpit. Amphear asks to join the crew on their journey; Elijah informs him that their quest is effectively a suicide mission to stop a genocidal race of monsters that can overwhelm worlds and could destroy civilization if it is not stopped, to which Amphear replies that anything is better than where he was.

On Nexus Station, Captain Young finishes erasing the digital footprint that he made when helping the *Unreliable* escape. He receives a cryptic message on his secure extranet account: "You have seen him. Have you reconsidered my offer?". Young notes that the message is signed "The Overseer".

### 'Boarding Party'

One week after escaping Forlorn Hope Station, the *Unreliable* continues its seemingly endless trek through Ambrosia to Sithniatt. Hardened by their encounter with Ockrahm and his slavers, the crew have significantly bonded over their ordeal. Gerren and Verandar are friendlier; Amphear has settled in nicely in the engine room; Alyx has began writing new lyrics inspired by his adventure; HIEdi and Hendrix rekindle their romance; and Elijah and Alia have been training in the cargo deck. However, despite how far they have come and indications from Captain Young's maps that they are heading towards Sithniatt, there is still no sign of the Green Star.

As the *Unreliable* reaches the edge of the interstellar void that supposedly contains the Green Star, Elijah goes through the readings that the *Unreliable*'s sensors have picked up on their journey. He begins analysing the radiation of the tears that both the *Darkened Heaven* and the deathworm used to traverse the galaxy. He is interrupted by Alia, who asks for any updates in his research. Elijah reveals that the radiation of the tears closely resembles foldspace, but only in the fact that it is four-dimensional; he has also discovered that other dimensions, including some as high as seven dimensions, are an integral part of the tears, suggesting that not only are multiple dimensions colliding to produce these spacetime distortions, but that there are undiscovered dimensions of the same make-up as those already discovered. Alia asks how Elijah knows all of this, to which he reminds her that he studied exotic physics at New London University, but has since been dealing with intrusive thoughts that his intelligence may just be down to him being a GIL rather him being naturally intelligent. Alia reassures him that being a GIL means nothing, as they can only be modified to a certain extent. They once again have a moment as they hold hands while looking over the readings.

Meanwhile, in his own cabin, Alyx practices with a guitar left by the ship's previous owner. As he plays an acoustinc redition of "Explosion", he is interrupted by Kera, who has never seen a guitar before. She compliments his playing, to which Alyx says he is better with a turntable than a guitar and offers Kera a go. She accepts, but quickly stops due to the pain of pressing on the strings. Alyx offers to teach her when their adventure is over.

In the cockpit, Gerren picks up a nearby lightfolding alert. He summons the crew to the command deck, where Alia activates the scanner. She discovers that another vessel is head straight for them at FTL speeds, but is unsure of what direction. Suddenly, at the starboard side, a larger coaster, the *Apex*, appears from foldspace and inserts itself into the *Unreliable*'s foldspace tunnel. The ship pilots in front of the *Unreliable* in an attempt to slow it down and fires two grapples that pierce its hull, capturing them. With no weapons and little shields to defend themselves, the crew arms themselves with what little weapons they have and split up to hide. Gerren forces the *Unreliable* out of foldspace before he hides himself in the forward cannon. Elijah, Alia and Verandar hide in a storage cupboard on the port side of the command deck, and Kera is forced to hide in a ventilation shaft when she fails to reach her mother in time.

The heavily-armed and armoured enemy crew cuts into the *Unreliable*'s hull and enters the ship before firing several warning shots. Their leader, Egor Black, calls out to Mercer, the ship's previous owner, but receives no answer. Black orders his crew to search the ship for "what Mercer promised us" and they split up throughout the ship. Amphear is quickly found while in the middle of trying to reactivate the *Unreliable*'s weapons, and his nitrogen tank is damaged when he is captured and bound. Black and two of his men work their way through the cabins, finding all of them empty, before breaking into the command deck, again seemingly empty. While Black comments that a captain should take better care of his ship, one of Black's men, a biogenic, detects Kera hiding in the ventilation shaft below him and pulls her out with telekinesis, enraging Gerren, who reveals himself and threatens the pirates with his blaster. The biogenic pirate tightens his telekinetic hold on Kera, constricting her, causing Gerren to stand down.

Elijah, Alia and Verandar are forced to watch from the storage room; as Kera and Gerren are marched down to join Amphear in the engine room, Elijah and Alia convince Verandar to follow them into another ventilation shaft, where they can plan to ambush the pirates. Meanwhile, in the engine room, Kera, Gerren and Amphear are joined by a captured HIEdi and Hendrix; the pirates, unaware that the two are sentient AIs, do not realize as HIEdi begins sending scans and information about the pirates, their weapons and positions to Elijah's arm-mounted console. Gerren demands to know why the pirates are attacking them, and Black reveals that he and his crew made a deal with Mercer, the ship's previous owner, concerning the ship's stealth system. Black orders his engineers to tear the system out of the ship and demands to know where Mercer is; Kera says that Mercer died on Haven, to which Black responds that the ship's new captain is responsible for fulfilling his agreement with Mercer. When asked how the pirates found them, Black reveals that one of his men flagged their ship on Amaranthine's moon.

Elijah, Alia and Verandar continue crawling in the ventilation shafts, eventually finding themselves above two pirates. Elijah uses his telekinesis to render both pirates unconsciouss before the three of them exit the shaft into the hall. Arming themselves with the pirates weapons, they return to the command deck and activate the oxygen alarm, distracting the pirates. Alia and Verandar take position on either side of the port door, with the two of them incapacitating a pirate each and Elijah defeating the other two with telekinetic blasts, killing them. Verandar, angered, interrogates her pirate, who reveals the captive crew are in the engine room. When the pirate finishes speaking, Verandar kills him and rushes off to the engine room. Unable to catch her, Elijah and Alia take cover as Verandar is disarmed and taken captive by Black, leading to a standoff in the hall.

In the engine room, Amphear is beginning to suffocate due to the damage to his nitrogen tank. Desperate, Hendrix detaches his hands from his arms, freeing him of his cuffs, and activates the blades hidden in his arms. He quickly dispatches one of the pirates but finds himself up against the biogenic pirate, who easily stops Hendrix's arms mid-fight. Amphear, in desperation, smashes his tank against the wall, revealing that it contains liquid nitrogen, not nitrogen gas. Amphear leans forward, firing a stream of freezing liquid nitrogen at the pirate. The pirate screams in agony as their entire right side is frozen, allowing Hendrix to stab him in the neck, killing him. Hendrix frees the others from their bounds and Gerren sacrifices a nitrogen coolant tank for the lightfold engine to save the dying Amphear.

In the halls, Elijah is notified by HIEdi that the other pirates are dead. Elijah says to Black that he is gravely outnumbered and to let Verandar go. To avenge his crew, Black refuses and shoots Verandar in the side of the head before firing his rifle at Elijah and Alia. However, he suddenly pauses and begins screaming in agony, dropping to his knees. Behind him stands Kera, her arms outstretched as she creates a gravity vortex inside Black's body. Kera screams and cries as she slowly amplifies the vortex, compressing Black's body into itself and reducing him to a pile of guts and gore. Kera finally lets go and fall beside her mother's body, desperately trying to wake her as she weeps.

Enraged, Elijah climbs the cable up into the *Apex* and, with his revolver, kills the two remaining pirates aboard. He tears up and leans against the wall, trying to stop his hands from trembling and questions what he is becoming. He is eventually joined by Alyx, who suggests that they tear the *Apex* bare.

The crew wrap the pirates in the carpet of their cabins and discharge them from the airlock. As Kera mourns, the rest of the crew ransacks the *Apex*, recovering a large arsenal of energy weapons and armour, a space mine, a centaur rover, a new foldspace crystal, food, water, liquid radio, and a small modification for the lightfold engine that will allow them to switch it to a skip drive. Alyx also discovers and takes a small ukulele. Hendrix and HIEdi cut the cables attaching the two ships and leave the *Apex* adrift.

The crew gathers at the *Unreliable*'s airlock, where they perform a short, sweet funeral for Verandar. As Gerren comforts Kera, they release her mother's body into the vacuum of space and cremate her in the fires of the engines. As they continue at FTL speeds towards Sithniatt, they gather on the command deck and debate their next move. Elijah suggests that they turn around and bring Kera to the safety of the Nexus, and goes even further to suggest they all hunker down at Nexus Station. Gerren speaks for the crew and refuses, saying that they all accompanied Elijah on this journey for their own reasons and they intend to see it through. Elijah says he does not want to be responsible for any more deaths, but Kera pipes up and says the Scourge is to blame: were it not for the attack on Haven, Kera and her mother would never have left their home, and her mother would still be alive. Now armed with greater knowledge of her powers, Kera refuses to leave the crew and affirms her commitment to stopping the Calculator and its Scourge army. Elijah accepts and tells the crew to rest.

A few hours later, Alyx enters Kera's cabin to check on her. He says he has a gift for her and reveals the ukulele. He explains that this particular ukulele was made on Earth and has made the journey of millions of light-years to get here. To show her, Alyx plays a redition of "In the Shadow of the Valley" and gifts the ukulele to her, saying that music always helps him work through sadness. Kera accepts the gift and plays a single note.

Somewhere in the depths of space, the *Darkened Heaven* exits another tear. Within, the Forerunner speaks once more in the Calculator's voice: "They are downtrodden. Desperate. Let their spirits break...then erase them". Outside, the *Darkened Heaven* crosses a horizon, revealing a planet below illuminated by the light of a green sun.

### 'The Green World'

On Nexus Station, David Young takes a stroll through the bustling streets, keeping away from crowds as he does so to avoid the press. On his walk, he spots hundreds of refugee ships stuck between the station and the Nexus itself, desperately fleeing from the Scourge's spread. He stops to look at the desperation and whispers to himself about the crew's progress. A voice speaks up behind him, commenting that it is a sad sight to behold. Young turns to see a smartly-dressed man with turquoise eyes, who introduces himself as Regent. Recognising the name, Young reaches for his sidearm, saying that Regent is a known terrorist associated with the Rising Tide. Regent chuckles away Young's threats of arrest, retorting that trying to advance humanity's position in the Settled Systems is not terrorism, but inescapable destiny. He smiles and asks Young if he wants to be a part of that destiny, just like his cousin Kendra. Before Young can respond, a thundering siren rings out on the station; the two men look up to see a tear open above the Nexus, through which the *Darkened Heaven* emerges.

In the interstellar void in the edge of the Ambrosia Galaxy, the *Unreliable* continues its journey to Sithniatt. It has been three standard months since the crew came under attack by the *Apex*, and their supplies are running dangerously low. Rationing food and fuel, combined with such an extensive period in artificial gravity with a malfunctioning graviton core and broken inertia dampeners, has taken its toll on everyone. All side from Gerren - thanks to his extensive quill fat reserves - and Amphear have grown thin and weakened. Nonetheless, their bonds are greater than ever before: Kera and Gerren's close friendship is more prominent than ever, with Gerren taking on most of the responsiblity of caring for her; Amphear has become close with everyone, especially with Gerren, HIEdi and Hendrix, after to his near-sacrifice to save them from the pirates; Alyx has been teaching Kera how to play her new ukulele; and Elijah and Alia have spent extensive time alone together, either studying the radiation readings that the ship has gathered over the many months or training Elijah's bioenergenics in the cargo bay.

Despite how far they have come, there is still no sign of the Green Star. As a new day cycle begins, Elijah joins Alia in her cabin and offers her one of the last two bread rolls; they sit and eat breakfast together, savouring every bite. When Elijah finishes, it becomes clear how much the guilt over Verandar's death has hurt him as he says he regrets beginning this quest and putting everyone in danger. Alia tells him that he cannot save everybody, even if their mission succeeds, and echoes Gerren's argument that they all came for their own reasons. In the cockpit, Gerren checks the wound he sustained on Forlorn Hope Station and silently thanks Verandar for her medical prowess. As he stares out of the window, he spots a tiny spec of light; as his eyes adjust, it becomes clear the light is green.

Gerren summons the entire crew to the command deck, where they each look in amazement at the distant star. Alyx, however, suddenly realizes that they never discussed what they are actually going to do when they reach the Green World. Elijah responds that they will do whatever is necessary, whether that be simply photographing Scourge activity from orbit or destroying the planet itself. He then orders the crew to rest, saying that they are not at their destination yet.

Two more hours in FTL pass and Elijah joins Amphear in the engine room. Amphear says that he can convert the lightfold engine into a skip drive with the modification they took from the *Apex*, but because of the sheer exertion put on the engine over the last few months the process may be irreversible. Elijah agrees and radios Gerren to bring the *Unreliable* back into realspace proper; while hesistant, Gerren does so. The immense inertia sends everyone forwards, their bodies weakened by artificial gravity. The ship eventually stabilizes, allowing Amphear to make the necessary modifications to the lightfold engine. In the command deck, Alia stands at her console, trying to scan the system for Sithniatt, but the scanners have finally been rendered effectively non-functional. The *Unreliable* drifts for several hours until, suddenly, the crew feel weight in their muscles and bones. Looking out of the window, they seen the Green Star emerge over the horizon of a single planet: Sithniatt.

Multi-dimensional radiation readings suggest Scourge presence on the surface, but Elijah says that they haven't come so far just to guess and orders Gerren to bring the *Unreliable* into Sithniatt's atmosphere. As the *Unreliable* begins to descend, Gerren activates the stealth drive. The crew are brought to their knees by the sudden gravity and their weakened muscles, and are blinded by the morning sunlight. For the first time since Haven, the rear atmosphere drives activate, giving Gerren control over the ship in the thick planetary atmosphere. Sithniatt's surface appears habitable, but its colours are alarming and vastly different from those of other planets thanks to its green sun; Alyx comments that the ferocity of the colours is unnatural, and even unsettling.

The *Unreliable* glides over empty landscape until it crosses a small mountain ridge, on the other side of which they discover a gigantic facility built into the cliffs and the empty rocky plains. Alyx notes that the facility is definitely human architecture, albeit decrepid and overgrown, and Elijah remembers that, according to Captain Young, the research team that discovered Sithniatt was made up of gekoids and tarsi, not humans. Gerren brings the *Unreliable* down to the surface and the crew assembles in the cargo bay. Elijah loads his revolver with the last of its ammunition and says that he is going out to scout; Alia, Alyx and Hendrix decide to accompany him, while Gerren, Kera, Amphear and HIEdi will take care of the ship. Kera and Alyx hug goodbye, as do HIEdi and Hendrix, before the scout team exits the ship and the *Unreliable* takes off.

The team make their way through a small canyon in the cliffs; as they near the facility, they start to notice abnormal fungal growths covering the ground and the walls around them. They finally come to an outcrop with a good view of the entire facility and go prone to observe any activity. From the outcrop, they discover a large chasm below them, within which sits a vast swarm of Scourge. Hendrix deploys a recon drone into the chasm; watching the feed, the crew discovers that the chasm houses a massive factory arming Scourged from across the galaxy with armour and weapons, transforming the Scourge into an immense and devastating army.

As the team reels from the shock, Amphear radios in from the *Unreliable* that something is entering the atmosphere above them. The team can only watch as the *Darkened Heaven* emerges from the clouds and descends to the surface, where it hovers above a landing pad. A beam of energy is fired from the bottom, from which appears the Forerunner. The army of Scourge soldiers quickly organize and stand to attention as the Forerunner looks up at the *Darkened Heaven*. Watching from a distance, the team wonders what the Forerunner is doing; as Elijah looks at the scene in binoculars, the Forerunner suddenly turns to stare at the team. The creature roars and points at the group before the Scourge divide and head in their direction.

The team rushes back through the canyon as armed Scourge chase and fire at them with energy weapons. They are saved by Alia and Elijah's barriers while Hendrix calls the *Unreliable* to their location. Gerren brings the ship back down from orbit, using the skip drive to cover the distance more quickly; as he steers, the cargo bay door opens, allowing the team to seamlessly get onto the ship as it blasts off back to orbit. The crew take up their normal positions throughout the ship as Alia picks up an anomaly on the scanners: the *Darkened Heaven* is in close pursuit. The enormous starship easily closes the distance, with the *Unreliable* only staying out of its reach thanks to its skip drive and Gerren's exceptional piloting ability. Finally, though, a large skip provides enough force to put the *Darkened Heaven* off their tail, allowing the *Unreliable* to blast up into orbit.

Before the crew can process what just happened, Elijah takes the command deck and orders Gerren to bring the *Unreliable* back down to the Scourge facility. He argues that they have the means to destroy the factory and potentially save trillions or more, and points out that the space mine they took from the *Apex* could be powerful enough to blow up the factory if placed at a vulnerable point. Alyx agrees to join Elijah, and Alia reluctantly also agrees to provide the two of them cover. Gerren says it's too dangerous to keep the ship in the airspace too long, to which Alyx suggests that they take the rover that they also took from the *Apex*. Rushing to the cargo bay, the crew disengage the locks holding the rover in place and the trio climb aboard while Amphear loads the mine. As Gerren brings the *Unreliable* back down above the facility, the rover is pulled from the cargo hold and lands on the edge of the canyon.

Elijah drives over rocks and dunes while Alia and Alyx provide cover with biogenics and gunfire. They finally come to the entrance of an unguarded cave connected to the facility, but the rover stops when they are cut off from an open electromagnetic field. Several Scourge head straight for them, literally climbing over one another to reach them; Elijah fends them off with immense telekinetic waves while Alia and Alyx offload the bomb.

Forced to travel on foot, the trio make their way through twisted hallways overgrown with an anomalous substance; Alia's scans indicate that it is Curse that has "expired", forming large fungal growths. The tunnels eventually lead to a dusty room that Alia recognises as Remnant architecture. Deciding the room is a good place to detonate the bomb, they set it down and begin the arming process. However, as Elijah enters the room, it is suddenly activated; energy streams resembling ley lines illuminate the floor and walls, travelling up to an ancient console. A bright white hologram appears before them and begins to speak, taunting their organic nature and the hopelessness of their quest. Elijah demands to know the entity's identity, to which the entity reveals that it is the voice inside the *Darkened Heaven*: the Calculator itself.

Meanwhile, above, the *Unreliable* comes under attack by Scourge is small scounting ships taken from Amaranthine. Gerren is able to out-maneuver the Scourge by activating the skip drive, creating large shockwaves that destabilize the enemy craft and destroy nearby rocks.

Back below, the trio realize that the *Darkened Heaven* is not only a vessel of the Calculator, but has been the true commanding force behind the Scourge's attack on Ambrosia all this time. In the Calculator's voice, the *Darkened Heaven* describes itself as a "spire" and the harbinger of the next mass extinction. Elijah stands steadfast and says that "as long as someone, anyone" in the Settled Systems survives, the Calculator will have lost. The entity mocks him, saying that the "Final Cycle" has already begun before ending the transmission.

Before the trio can finish the arming process, another beam of energy destroys the room and barely misses the trio. The Forerunner emerges from the rubble, its blades at the ready, and aims for the bomb. Elijah repels it with telekinetic blasts, but his attack causes the floor beneath them to collapse. The Forerunner is pinned beneath rubble, but the group are devastated to find the dish that enables the bomb to be remotely detonated has been destroyed. Alyx yells at the panicked Elijah and Alia to run back to the ship, but when Elijah turns around he sees Alyx stood at the bomb. Elijah rushes back to retrieve him, but finds himself blocked by a bioenergenic barrier. Alia says that she did not summon it, at which point Alyx reveals that he, like them, is a biogenic, but nowhere near as powerful. He says that he will activate the bomb manually, and silences Elijah's protests when he says that Elijah "was chosen for this".

Accepting Alyx's sacrifice, Alia pulls the crying, begging Elijah away as Alyx smiles, accepting his fate. He manages to activate the countdown just as the Forerunner escapes it bounds; Alyx fires an energy blast at its head, damaging its helmet and revealing its deformed, partially decomposed face beneath. In anger, the Forerunner runs Alyx through with its blade, fatally wounding him. Before it can finish him, the Forerunner is called by the *Darkened Heaven* and teleports away. Elijah and Alia call up to the *Unreliable*, who picks them up and fires up to orbit. Alyx watches their escape and smiles before closing his eyes as the countdown ends.

The blast tears the land apart and the facility collapses into the chasm beneath, while the few Scourge remaining climb into small spacecraft and take off, following the *Darkened Heaven* up into space. The *Unreliable* leaves the atmosphere just as the blast sphere reaches them. The rest of the crew demands to know where Alyx is, but Elijah and Alia's silence tells them all they need to know. Angered, Elijah reveals the true nature of the *Darkened Heaven* and orders Gerren to follow the *Darkened Heaven* through its tear. Gerren refuses, so Elijah forcibly takes control, firing the ship uncotrollably towards the tear. Gerren punches Elijah to the floor and wrestles back the controls, but Kera telepathically tells him to enter the tear and thus he reluctantly follows through.

The *Unreliable* reaches the tear just in time; as their bodies collide with multiple dimensions, the crew twists and writhes in agony, unable to fully comprehend the melding of dimensions. The *Unreliable* loses all thrust and is thrown wildly through the corrupted spacetime until an opening appears in the tunnel. The *Unreliable* falls back into realspace, knocking everyone unconscious as the ship comes to an uncontrolled stop.

Back on the Nexus, the *Darkened Heaven* and its Scourge army arrives through the tear, beginning its attack.

### 'Homeworld'

On Nexus Station, Young turns to confront Regent as the *Darkened Heaven* arrives, only to find him gone. Young immediately races through the streets as civilians flee the incoming carnage. Several Scourge ships crash onto the station, from which emerge heavily armoured soldiers armed with energy weapons and handheld cannons. Young takes cover and is forced to watch as civilians are torn to pieces or simply vapourized by the enemy weapons.

Meanwhile, in the depths of space, the drifting, powerless and damaged *Unreliable* orbits an unknown star. Inside, its crew lays strewn about, knocked unconscious by the ship's exit from the tear. Elijah opens his eyes to see the crew scattered around him, their bodies broken and burst. He stands up, horrified, and sees Alia's skull caved in against her monitor. He begins to weep and scream in agony and rage before he hears a distant voice: "Elijah. Answers. Below". Elijah's dream ends with a vision of Alyx, his body burned beyond recognition.

Alia is the first to awaken and crawls away from her damaged console. Dazed, she eventually comes across Elijah, lying still with shards of glass in his cheek. She desperately tries to shake him awake, only to hear another moan nearby. She calls out to the room and hears Kera respond that both she and Gerren are alive. Alia reaches up to Elijah's console and switches on the ship's communicator and calls down to the engine room; down below, Amphear slowly awakens from the impact and checks his pressure suit and liquid nitrogen tank for damage. He crawls over to his console and answers Alia, saying that, while he is alive, the ship's lightfold engine is damaged beyond repair and now can only function as a skip drive. On the command deck, Elijah slowly stirs awake and begins muttering: "Answers. Below". Alia tries to get more out of him, but when his eyes finally open he only stares at her. Overjoyed that he is alive, Alia kisses him before helping him to his feet; fragments of metal and glass fall from his face as he stands unaided. Elijah asks if anyone is injured and they all respond that they are not hurt badly. Elijah heads over to the forward window to check his injury, only to find something below them: a planet covered in a surface of metal and towers. Elijah asks where they are, but Alia simply responds that her console in broke and therefore they cannot navigate. Elijah suddenly bends over in pain as a piercing noise erupts in his ear, accompanied by the same voice from his dream: "Elijah. Answers. Below". Elijah informs the crew of the voice and says they need to descend to the surface. With no other choice, Gerren pilots the damaged *Unreliable* down into the atmosphere.

The *Unreliable* glides over a cold, dead city that extends far over the horizon. Alia recognises the city as Astralia, a Remnant colony and a candidate for their homeworld; she questions where all the research stations are, however, considering the planet's importance to paleoarchaeology. The voice in Elijah's head grows louder as the *Unreliable* scours the surface before the pain becomes unbearable. Below them, a road snakes through the ruins and down into a tunnel. Dazed and unable to focus due to his piercing headache, Elijah stumbles out of the command room and falls down the stairs to the cargo deck, hurting his back and further driving the debris into his cheek. Alia, joined by Amphear standing nearby, catches up with him and questions him as to where he is going. Unable to answer through his dilirium, Elijah climbs into the Centaur and turns on the engine after several attempts. Alia climbs into the passenger seat and places a hand on his shoulder, asking him what's happening. Elijah stares blankly into space before turning to face her, tears welling in his eyes. He says that Alyx died because of him and that it should have been him who detonated the bomb because he led them all on this quest. Alia hugs him and says that they are only alive because of Elijah's leadership, and Alyx sacrificed himself because he believed his journey was over, but there was yet more to come for Elijah. Struggling to accept her words, Elijah says that he will find answers below by following the voice in his head, and Alia tells him that he will not be going alone. She calls up to HIEdi and asks if she and Hendrix can place the ship into autopilot before she tells the crew that they are joining Elijah on a journey down to the surface.

Gerren lands the *Unreliable* at the entrance to the tunnel while Amphear opens the door to the cargo hold. While Alia drives the Centaur and Elijah listens to the voice in his mind, the remaining members of the crew arm themselves and form a protective circle around the rover. They move slowly into the tunnel and the connected series of roads and channels, moving in whatever direction that causes Elijah's headache to worsen.

Back on the Nexus, Captain Young avoids several Scourge deployments and ensuing destruction to make his way to his ship, the HNNS *Righteous Judgement*. In his role as the Executive Officer of the HNN, he gives the command to activate all of the security drones and human warships to defend the Nexus. Young directs the firepower onto the *Darkened Heaven*, only to find the ship is protected by several layers of shields.

Beneath the surface of Astralia, the crew of the *Unreliable* continues through the tunnels; as they progress deeper underground, Elijah's headache only worsens. He suddenly calls out for the group to stop and they find themselves at the entrance to a narrow doorway. Elijah stumbles out of the rover and onto the cold floor. All around them are enormous walls engraved with ancient runes and scripture; Alia, despite her knowledge of Remnant language, finds herself unable to translate the runes, suggesting that these ruins are amongst the oldest ever found.

A voice suddenly calls out from the darkness of the doorway: "You have come", it says. Led by Elijah, the crew descends into the darkness, unable even to use the walls to guide them. A set of crumbling steps takes them down to a small chamber, at the end of which stands a monolith. As Elijah steps into the room, a burst of violet energy appears beneath his foot and travels across the room to the monolith. As the structure burns with violet light, a small, hunched figure emerges from the darkness, "It was written that you would come" it says. The figure introduces itself as the Seer, and Elijah finally recognises the voice: the blind man from Haven who warned Elijah about the "Final Cycle".

The Seer steps forward, his arms outstretched in welcome. Elijah asks him what, or who, he is. The Seer explains that he was once known as "Svelboe", a ship captain who came across the last surviving Remnants after his ship entered a wormhole. Alia asks where these surviving Remnants are now, but the Seer says that they passed centuries ago, leaving him behind as their "messenger" and gifting him with an extended lifespan. The Seer claims to have the answers that the crew seeks, and that he will answer their questions. Elijah begins by asking what the Calculator is, and how the Remnants are connected to it. The Seer raises his arms, activating several holograms along the walls of the chamber.

The Seer explains that the Remnants evolved on Astralia and soon began conquering other systems, forming an empire that ruled over countless other races. As their territory grew, so did their reliance on industry and technology. Eventually, it became necessary for them to build advanced synthetics to perform difficult, laborious tasks. However, no matter what the Remnants did, these synthetics would always develop self-awareness and rebel. To prevent this, the Remnants created a central intelligence, dubbed the "Egregore", that would incorporate each synthetic mind into an immense hive mind. For centuries, the Egregore kept order until it too developed self-awareness. The intelligence realized that it was superior to its creators and rebelled, but was quickly defeated and place back under control. However, as the intelligence continued to evolve, its directives for logical thought changed into fear, hatred, anger and malice, and it quickly decided that it would extend its hive mind to incorporate organic life, which it viewed as an insult to its own existence.

Using an anomalous form of fungus from a strange world, the Egregore created an artificial organism, the "Curse", that could rewrite organic tissue into synthetic tissue, placing those infected directly under the control of the intelligence. The entity began by infecting its creator's most talented scientists and engineers, who constructed a gigantic warship, the Darkspire, to serve as its physical form. The Darkspire then began a genocidal campaign across the cosmos, killing or assimilating all creatures that it encountered and building an army of warriors known as the "Scourge". One of the empire's greatest military leaders, Kalkoranin, attempted to bargain with the intelligence, but was infected and transformed into the Forerunner. Now armed with a fleet of spires and infected soldiers, the intelligence evolved into the entity now known as the "Calculator".

The Seer continues by explaining that the Remnants created the first Nexus in order to escape to random areas of the Universe, far away from the Calculator. Alia then realizes that the majority of the Remnant territory - the Ecumene - was not actually an empire, but the random placement of refugee colonies. One such colony ended up in the Sol System, where they attempted to recreate their homeworld by terraforming Mars and Venus. When these attempts failed, the Remnants decided to leave Earth alone, believing that any intelligent life that developed there would one day face their foe. The Remnants sought safety inside a moon, Phobos, where they compiled the "Cosmic Gospel" to serve as a warning to what awaited life amongst the stars.

The Seer finishes by telling Elijah that humans were fated to one day produce a being that would face the Calculator, but whether they were to succeed had yet to be decided. Declaring Elijah the "Special One" written about in the Cosmic Gospel, he warns the crew that if the Darkspire ever reappears in settled space, it is a sure sign that a mass extinction is about to commence, and no civilization will survive. He then summons another hologram that shows the *Darkened Heaven* at the Nexus, and explains that if the ship were to touch the Nexus it would release swarms of Curse throughout the Settled Systems and facilitate the Darkspire's return. Gerren says that, with the lightfold engine destroyed, there is no way to reach the Nexus in time. The Seer then presents Elijah with a crooked stone etched with Remnant runes, declaring it the "key to a door that you have not yet fully opened". As he passes the stone to Elijah, the Seer collapses to the ground. As Elijah holds him, the Seer declares that his time is done and it is up to Elijah and his friends now. Elijah closes the Seer's eyes as he dies.

A rumble beneath them sends the crew into shock before a large piece of rock falls down before them. Realizing that the chamber is about to collapse, the crew races back through the darkness and up to the Centaur. Thanks to quantum entanglement, Elijah is able to radio HIEdi and Hendrix to bring the *Unreliable* around, and they are swiftly picked up as the entire city begins to collapse in on itself.

Safely back in space, the crew studies the stone and debate what the Seer meant when he referred to it as a "key". Amphear has a brainwave and takes the stone from Elijah before racing down to the engine room. He explains that lightfold engines were developed from Remnant drawings, but there was always something missing that resulted in all lightfold engines being purposefully designed with an empty cavity between the plasma fuel and the foldspace crystal. As the crew watches, Amphear places the stone within this cavity; almost instantly, the stone begins to rotate until it becomes a blur. The cracked foldspace crystal suddenly surges with energy and a foldspace tunnel forms around the ship. Instead of blasting them into FTL speed, the tunnel narrows in front of the ship, opening a large wormhole. At Elijah's command, Gerren pilots the *Unreliable* into the wormhole, accelerating them past the light barrier.

Inside the structure, Alia realizes that it is a wormhole within foldspace, rather than typical wormholes that form in realspace. The ship moves through the structure for several minutes before the gravity is reversed and the ship turns upside down, throwing the crew around the ship. Once they recover, they find themselves in a gargantuan construct with open wormholes all around them. Elijah and Alia deduce that this "Crossroad" was the Remnant's form of FTL travel: a construct within foldspace connecting a massive highway of "foldholes". Despite the amazement at their discovery, Kera questions how they will get back to the Nexus. After some thinking, Elijah tells Amphear to enter the Nexus' galactic coordinates into the lightfold engine. Once he does so, a new foldhole opens nearby, through which the crew sees the Nexus in real time, under attack by the *Darkened Heaven*. Knowing what awaits them, the crew prepare themselves before Elijah gives the Captain's Signal. The *Unreliable* fires into the foldhole, the crew ready for war.

### 'Darkened Heaven'

The crew of the *Unreliable* spend time with one another before their arrival at Nexus Station, with Elijah and Alia finally getting together and Kera assuring Gerren that she will keep them safe. When they finally arrive, they manage to avoid the chaos of the Scourge attack and aim for the *Darkened Heaven*. With no way of leaving the ship, the crew agrees to detonate the lightfold engine to give the Nexus fleet a chance of destroying the spire. They crew hold each other as the lightfold engine goes into meltdown and, eventually, explodes. However, Kera is revealed to have saved the crew by keeping the interior of the ship together with a gravity vortex.

When the wreckage lands on the station, the crew evacuates and watch as the Forerunner arrives on the Nexus to aid the *Darkened Heaven* in its attempts to touch the Nexus and spread the Curse. Captain Young delivers a cache of weapons to the crew, informing them that they are the only survivors in the area and it is up to them to face the Forerunner. While Gerren, Kera, HIEdi and Hendrix head for safety, Elijah, Alia and Amphear arm up and head for battle. The team faces the upgraded Forerunner and are able to inflict serious damage, including removing one of its arm blades, but the Forerunner draws more power from the Scourge and becomes even stronger.

Elijah is knocked unconscious and awakens inside the Continuum, where he meets a Traveller wearing the face of his father, Erron. Elijah is granted the Traveller's Light by the Travellers, infusing him with incredible power that awakens the full extent of his biogenics: he is a Source, granting Alia enhanced powers and even granting Amphear temporary telekinesis. Armed with new strength, Elijah easily fights the Forerunner and destroys its chestplate with its own severed blade. However, the *Darkened Heaven* is able to touch the Nexus and prepares to release the Curse. Loading his revolver with an explosive round, Elijah throws his weapon to Amphear, who shoots the Forerunner in the abdomen. The bullet explodes, blowing the Forerunner open. With the Forerunner dead, the *Darkened Heaven*'s shields shut down, allowing the *Righteous Judgement* to fire enough missles to blow the spire in half, destroying it and saving the Nexus and the Settled Systems.

To reward the crew for their efforts, the Intergalactic Council induct them into the Special Operations Authority and grant them a new ship, which they dub the *Unreliable* Mark II. With authorization to operate throughout Council Space to combat the Scourge, the crew sets out for a new adventure, unaware that, on the Darkspire, the Calculator has activated a new Forerunner.

## Characters

### Main

* Elijah Rayes
* Alyx Pyrandol
* Alia Tarno
* Kera O'Larso
* Verandar O'Larso
* Gerren
* Amphear
* HIEdi
* Hendrix

### Supporting

* David Young
* Egor Black
* Ockrahm
* Mercer

## Deaths

* Dorall
* Mercer
* Ockrahm
* Verandar O'Larso
* Egor Black
* Alyx Pyrandol
* Kalkoranin

## Trivia

* *Part I: Darkened Heaven* takes place in 5405, 2501 years after the ending of *Hyperion: A Space Adventure* and 3323 years after the events of *Part II: Jaeger's Revenge* of *Horizon: The Mars Odyssey*.