Timeline
What's happened so far
Book 1 Pandora's Star
- Ch 1 · PROLOGUE
Eagle II lands on Mars
Wilson separates Eagle II from Ulysses, flies the descent to Arabia Terra and takes manual control to land near the cargo landers, accomplishing the first human Mars landing.
- Ch 1 · PROLOGUE
First steps on Mars
Lewis, Orchiston and Wilson climb down the ladder onto the surface; Lewis delivers a speech and photographs his footprint, then they prepare to plant the flag.
- Ch 1 · PROLOGUE
Strangers appear through a gateway
A sniggering voice over radio claims to be Nigel Sheldon. Wilson finds him behind the lander in a homemade suit beside a gateway opening onto a Californian physics lab.
- Ch 2 · ONE
Dyson Alpha vanishes
Dudley Bose watches Dyson Alpha vanish from his telescope in under a heartbeat, but sensors were not active. Sensors later show only an infrared signature, implying instantaneous envelopment.
- Ch 2 · ONE
Journey to Tanyata
Dudley travels by train through the Verona gateway, changes at the huge junction station, and reaches the frontier planet Tanyata, where LionWalker meets him.
- Ch 3 · TWO
Adam arrives on Velaines
Disguised as Huw North, Adam passes CST station surveillance, checks into hotels and sets up a sentry array in a second hideout.
- Ch 3 · TWO
Sabbah coerced by the policewoman
Nine years earlier a policewoman threatened Sabbah, made him promise to report the terrorist, then arrested him for theft anyway.
- Ch 3 · TWO
Sabbah informs on Elvin
Sabbah, coerced for nine years, calls Paula Myo to report that Adam Elvin has arrived.
- Ch 3 · TWO
Adam negotiates weapons purchase
At the Scarred Suit club, Adam agrees with Rachael Lancier to buy a weapons list, paying cash upfront and requiring them to be hidden in machinery.
- Ch 3 · TWO
Johansson warns Adam
An encrypted message from Bradley Johansson warns Adam Elvin that Paula Myo is on Velaines; Paula's team detects the message but cannot decrypt it.
- Ch 3 · TWO
Weapons shipment readied
Elvin authorizes agricultural machinery to be sent to Lancier's dealership, and eight trucks arrive and enter a screened warehouse. Elvin checks out of his hotel.
- Ch 3 · TWO
Failed warehouse raid
Police tactical squad storms Rachael Lancier's warehouse expecting arms and Adam, but finds only staged crates and a toast; the taxi is empty. Maggie realizes they were deceived.
- Ch 3 · TWO
Adam's escape and reprofiling
Adam rolls out of a taxi under a rail bridge, escapes to the A+A, and spends two weeks altering his body, then leaves for the CST station and LA Galactic.
- Ch 4 · THREE
ExoProtectorate Council convenes over the Dyson barriers
Powerful Council members gather in New York to assess the threat posed by the barriers around the Dyson Pair, discovered by Dudley Bose. They debate whether the barriers are defensive or imposed.
- Ch 4 · THREE
CST reveals Beta's identical enclosure
Nigel reveals that CST's exploratory wormhole showed Dyson Beta's barrier formed within three minutes of Alpha's, identical to it, suggesting a defensive action by one civilization.
- Ch 4 · THREE
Council approves a starship
Nigel proposes building an FTL starship to investigate the Dyson Pair; the Council votes unanimously in favor and CST will partly fund it.
- Ch 4 · THREE
Murder of Tara Shaheef and Wyobie Cotal
Forty years before Bose's discovery, a disguised killer cuts the power, murders Tara and Wyobie, destroys their memorycells, and removes the bodies and Tara's belongings.
- Ch 5 · FOUR
Hyperglider launch in the storm
Justine waits out her fear, then releases her hyperglider tethers in the storm and is carried up Stakeout Canyon on a vertical wall of wind and water.
- Ch 5 · FOUR
Climb above Herculaneum
Justine bursts out above the canyon, flies up Mount Herculaneum's slope toward the summit, and scans radar to reach her ultimate goal.
- Ch 5 · FOUR
Twister ride to the edge of space
Justine flies the hyperglider into a twister, is flung up through the stratosphere, and glides over Mount Herculaneum's summit before descending.
- Ch 5 · FOUR
Landing amid electronic failure
While landing in a rainforest clearing, the hyperglider suffers a multiple electronic failure resembling an em pulse; Justine lands safely and weeps with relief.
- Ch 5 · FOUR
Tracking the mysterious emission
Justine trudges through the jungle toward the source of repeating electromagnetic pulses, which briefly reboot her e-butler, and decides it isn't pirates.
- Ch 5 · FOUR
Justine discovers the d-sink
Exploring the jungle on Mount Herculaneum, Justine finds an overgrown shelter housing a niling d-sink fed by a geothermal cable and identifies it as the source of the em pulses.
- Ch 5 · FOUR
Justine meets Kazimir
Kazimir, watching from hiding, is spotted by Justine and invited into her shelter. He tells her the clans' story of the Starflyer and Bradley Johansson, and they spend the day together.
- Ch 6 · FIVE
Nigel punched and recruits Wilson
Nigel Sheldon arrives through a wormhole at Wilson's vineyard, is punched, then asks him to captain the starship to Dyson Alpha. Wilson agrees to take it on.
- Ch 6 · FIVE
Wilson names the ship
Nigel lets Wilson name the starship, and Wilson chooses Second Chance. He also sets a cautious approach for the mission.
- Ch 6 · FIVE
Paula interviews Wyobie Cotal
At the Clayden Clinic, Paula and Finn question the re-lifed Cotal, who recalls nothing of leaving Oaktier or Tampico and begs them to find his killers; he is sedated.
- Ch 7 · SIX
Guardians of Selfhood shotgun the unisphere
A message with Halgarth's certificate is shotgunned to billions of e-butlers, claiming the Starflyer engineered the Dyson Pair mission and urging citizens to demand it be stopped.
- Ch 7 · SIX
Mark comes home to his father and Amanda
After a bad day, Mark arrives home in Santa Hydra, finds his family at the pool, and meets Marty's teenage girlfriend Amanda.
- Ch 7 · SIX
Family barbecue debate
At a family evening, relatives argue over the Commonwealth Cup, the Guardians' shotgun, and the starship project, and Mark reveals his promotion was delayed again.
- Ch 7 · SIX
Investigators reach Port Launay
Tarlo and Renne travel with a forensics team to Nzega after a case breaks, drive to Port Launay, and Tarlo talks the local police into letting them through past reporters.
- Ch 7 · SIX
Tarlo voices doubts about the Guardians case
Outside, Tarlo suggests the Guardians' long luck is unnatural and may involve memory edits used on the Directorate; Renne dismisses it, and they bet ten dollars on whether forensics will find a clue.
- Ch 8 · SEVEN
Survey of new planet
The crew finds a habitable third planet with no sentient life. Oscar authorizes a ground encounter and moves the gateway exit to just above the surface at dawn.
- Ch 8 · SEVEN
Oscar recruited by Wilson
Wilson Kime, impressed by Oscar's management, offers him the executive officer post on the Second Chance and Oscar accepts.
- Ch 8 · SEVEN
Crew planning and Halgarth conference
At Anshun, Oscar and Wilson plan crew selection and discuss Ulysses survivors. They then confer with Halgarth about the Marie Celeste and the Dyson Pair.
- Ch 8 · SEVEN
Director rules out Marie Celeste link
The Institute Director tells Wilson and Oscar the Marie Celeste's builders could not have made the Dyson barrier, which predates the arkship, so it is not connected to the Dyson Pair.
- Ch 8 · SEVEN
Dudley made full professor
At a rainy ceremony in Leonida City Dudley receives his professorship and publicly hopes to join the Second Chance crew; the Vice President promises to help.
- Ch 8 · SEVEN
Burglary of the Bose house
Police find the Boses' house array was wiped and its memory taken by skilled intruders, though nothing else appears missing.
- Ch 9 · EIGHT
Ozzie returns home from New York
After the Council vote, Ozzie leaves Earth through his private wormhole to his asteroid home orbiting the Leo Twins.
- Ch 9 · EIGHT
Ozzie debates the SI
Ozzie questions the SI about why it backed the Dyson Pair mission, the aggressor theories, and its capabilities, then tells of a man who lived with the Silfen.
- Ch 9 · EIGHT
Ozzie arrives in Lyddington
Ozzie takes the train to Lyddington, walks through the muddy town, and takes a room at the Last Pony after haggling with the landlord Big Bear.
- Ch 9 · EIGHT
Ozzie departs for the forest
After two days of preparation with Mr. Stafford's help, Ozzie sets out on the third morning with a horse and lontrus to pathwalk into the forest.
- Ch 9 · EIGHT
Meeting the Silfen
Orion's pendant glows and the Silfen appear singing. Orion chases them into a clearing, and Ozzie follows and rebukes him. Ozzie speaks Silfen with one he names Nine Sky.
- Ch 10 · NINE
Adam commits to Bradley's crusade
In a Leithpool café, Bradley asks Adam to lead direct action against the Starflyer's interests. After wavering over rejuvenation and hope, Adam agrees, tasked with assembling a crew to destroy the Second Chance.
- Ch 10 · NINE
The Redhounds' Hive raid
Marcus and Rebecca Redhound's cabal stole seven Hive babies from a Fordsville birthing ward. All were recovered except Paula, whom the Redhounds raised on Marindra alongside their daughter Coya.
- Ch 11 · TEN
Journey to the High Angel
Oscar and Mac pass security at Kerensk, take a zero-gee shuttle from the gateway station to New Glasgow dome, and spot Paula Myo travelling too.
- Ch 11 · TEN
Meeting the Chairwoman
Toniea Gall coolly criticises Sheldon's choice of Anshun, then reluctantly lets Oscar and Mac use the Association's channel to ask the High Angel about the Dyson Pair.
- Ch 11 · TEN
Mac and Oscar question the High Angel
The High Angel appears as a human executive and says it knows nothing of the Dyson Pair or why barriers were raised, but doubts they were defensive against aggression.
- Ch 11 · TEN
Gateway control room seized
Rob Tannie, another guard and a maintenance tech plant charges, enter the Anshun gateway control room, drug the staff, force a lockdown and begin hacking the consoles.
- Ch 11 · TEN
Attack on the Anshun complex
Kaos software, an explosion and intruders hit the complex. Wilson seals the assembly platform's gateway, orders everyone to Second Chance's life-support ring and names Anna Hober his executive officer.
- Ch 11 · TEN
Alamo Avengers attack the Anshun starship complex
Under cover of kaos software, three Alamo Avengers burst from rail wagons, fire particle lances at the complex's force field dome, which holds, and begin tunneling beneath it.
- Ch 11 · TEN
The SI breaches the raiders' fireshields
The SI flushes out the kaos and starts cracking the gateway control room's fireshields; Rob's team realizes they are being watched and shoots the cameras.
- Ch 11 · TEN
Alamo Avengers break into the complex
Two Alamo Avengers burst up through the floor of lab 7D and charge toward the assessment building and gateway.
- Ch 11 · TEN
Spaceplane attack announced
The SI reports two spaceplanes on a collision course; Wilson realizes the kinetic strike is lethal and asks about fuel in the tanks.
- Ch 11 · TEN
Second Chance escapes the platform
The Second Chance opens the platform shell and fires plasma rockets, fleeing as the gateway field ruptures. The spaceplanes then destroy the platform.
- Ch 12 · ELEVEN
Ozzie and Orion in the cold forest
On day eight the pair ride into cold misty alpine woods; Ozzie changes clothes and they camp, struggling to light a fire with wet wood.
- Ch 12 · ELEVEN
Buried by snow
Ozzie wakes breathless with the tent half-buried by powder snow, digs out, and Orion sees snow for the first time; Ozzie realises they are far from Silvergalde's climate.
- Ch 12 · ELEVEN
Following the pendant and Silfen tracks
After a bitter night, Orion's pendant indicates the way, and Ozzie finds apparent Silfen footprints which they follow through deepening cold.
- Ch 12 · ELEVEN
Assault on the gateway complex ends
CST security takes the control center after Rob Tannie surrenders; the gateway reopens and Wilson Kime returns to acclaim.
- Ch 12 · ELEVEN
Investigation of the Alamo Avenger attack
Columbia, Rees and Paula examine the wrecked Alamo Avenger, argue over blame, and Columbia gives Paula full Directorate resources to pursue Johansson.
- Ch 13 · TWELVE
Raid preparations at Rock Dee
Clans arm and equip eighty fighters and Charlemagne warhorses. Harvey advises caution, and Bruce pressures Kazimir into promising to bed Andria after the raid.
- Ch 13 · TWELVE
Ambush of the Institute supply convoy
Clan McSobels fire plasma at the convoy on Highway One, then mounted Charlemagne raiders charge down the ridge and use dump-webs to collapse force fields so missiles destroy trucks, against Institute soldiers and Land Rover Cruisers.
- Ch 13 · TWELVE
Roll call after the raid
At the rendezvous in the forest, Scott McFoster calls the roll; Bruce is declared dead and memorialized, and Kazimir answers brokenly.
- Ch 13 · TWELVE
Paula questions the Boses' lawyer and wife
At the Manby clinic Paula reveals the Guardians of Selfhood hacked a charity account using a Trojan based on Bose's codes; Wendy explains a break-in copied their household array and relays Bradley's message.
- Ch 13 · TWELVE
Ozzie and Orion reach the Ice Citadel
Sara takes them by sled to the Ice Citadel, explaining the Silfen paths and the dangers of leaving; they descend into the vast domed hall full of many species.
- Ch 13 · TWELVE
Farewell gala at the Regency Palace
On the eve of departure, Wilson, Anna and Oscar attend the First Speaker's gala, where Council members debate the mission, weapons, funding and defense, and the Second Chance is saluted with fireworks.
- Ch 13 · TWELVE
Ship settles into routine flight
Wilson checks the starship's primary systems and finds them running well. The engineers keep monitoring their fields while the rest of the bridge crew relax, with about a hundred thirty days of travel remaining.
- Ch 14 · THIRTEEN
Morton arrested
Paula and Hoshe arrive at Morton's penthouse and arrest him for the bodykill and memory erasure of his ex-wife Tara Jennifer Shaheef and Wyobie Cotal. Morton insists it's a mistake.
- Ch 14 · THIRTEEN
Bruce's memorial and Stig's offer
The McFoster village holds a memorial for Bruce. Afterward Stig recruits Kazimir for a Commonwealth mission to set up routes for items needed on Far Away, pending Johansson's approval.
- Ch 14 · THIRTEEN
Defense undermines the prosecution
Madoc's cross-examinations of Hoffbrand, Tara and Hoshe Finn create doubt, getting Finn to admit no evidence rules out a gang killing, and public opinion swings toward Morton.
- Ch 15 · FOURTEEN
Hysradar sweep and approach to the barrier
At one light-month the crew uses hysradar, which is reflected like a mirror, then jumps to one million km above the barrier's equator and learns wormholes cannot penetrate it.
- Ch 15 · FOURTEEN
Mac's EVA to the barrier
Mac jets from the shuttle to the barrier, touches it, and spends forty minutes placing sensors. It is solid-feeling and impervious, with no further answers about its origin.
- Ch 15 · FOURTEEN
Hemisphere discovered
During the equatorial survey, hysradar finds a 25,000 km hemisphere with an apex opening, gravity pulses and a strong magnetic field. A satellite is launched to look inside.
- Ch 15 · FOURTEEN
Exploring the Dark Fortress
Using Galileo and Armstrong satellites, the crew maps four lattice spheres and the central rings, discovering electro-repulsive and negative mass layers, and finds no hole on the opposite side.
- Ch 15 · FOURTEEN
Decision to move on
Wilson, Oscar and Tunde agree the Dark Fortress can't be understood with onboard resources and politically won't earn follow-up missions, so the flight around the barrier resumes.
- Ch 15 · FOURTEEN
Barrier turns transparent
An emergency alarm wakes Wilson as hysradar shows the barrier bowing inward. He takes the ship to one million kilometers, and the barrier begins turning transparent.
- Ch 15 · FOURTEEN
The barrier vanishes
Dyson Alpha's barrier loses cohesion and disappears as the Second Chance approaches, revealing a civilized, heavily colonized system and a changed Dark Fortress. Oscar fears something knows they are there.
- Ch 15 · FOURTEEN
Cautious contact plan and approach
Wilson authorizes a minimum-emission investigation of an abandoned wreck or habitat, with the ship on combat alert. The Second Chance crosses the old barrier line and heads for a chosen rock.
- Ch 15 · FOURTEEN
Dysons signal the Second Chance
Laser and microwave beams from Alpha Major's moonlets target the ship. Wilson's crew concludes the Dysons detected them, and hysradar then reveals eight ships approaching.
- Ch 15 · FOURTEEN
Contact team loses comms
Dudley and Emmanuelle are deep in the Watchtower's spiral shaft when they drop out of communication; Mac and Francis try to go after them.
- Ch 15 · FOURTEEN
Alien flotilla fires missiles
Alien ships close at extreme velocity, then launch over a hundred missiles, twenty-four at Second Chance, and battle among themselves.
- Ch 16 · FIFTEEN
Mellanie discovers Wayside's porno intent
On set at Wayside Productions, Mellanie realises the drama is a sex-heavy production that portrays Morton as a murderer; she objects, and Jaycee tries to placate her.
- Ch 16 · FIFTEEN
Mellanie attacks Jaycee
Pressed by Jaycee to perform sex on record, Mellanie refuses, knees him in the groin and walks out of Wayside Productions.
- Ch 16 · FIFTEEN
Mark fixes the espresso machine
Mark Vernon repairs the café's espresso machine, is given breakfast by Mandy, then walks through Randtown.
- Ch 16 · FIFTEEN
The Second Chance returns
The Second Chance returns to Anshun reporting that the barrier around Dyson Alpha vanished and that the aliens seem hostile. Mark follows the news in Randtown.
- Ch 16 · FIFTEEN
Evening at the Vernon home
Mark returns home to Ulon Valley, hears about Barry's day and cares for sick Sandy, while Liz cooks tea; later he and Liz banter about chickens and the house.
- Ch 16 · FIFTEEN
Nigel Sheldon's interview
Mark watches Nigel Sheldon defend Captain Kime and the mission and call for a return mission with multiple ships, answering Alessandra Baron's criticisms.
- Ch 17 · SIXTEEN
Council debates response to the Dyson aliens
After Second Chance's return, the Council concludes a third party removed the barrier, considers the Dyson aliens a threat, and discusses the risk that Bose and Verbeke are captured.
- Ch 17 · SIXTEEN
Council votes for a starflight agency
Nigel pushes for a covertly built navy within a new agency overseeing scoutship missions to Dyson Alpha. The Council votes unanimously to propose the agency to the Executive Office.
- Ch 17 · SIXTEEN
Guardians of Selfhood broadcast
The Guardians' spokesman blames the Starflyer for freeing the Dyson aliens and urges citizens to demand an armada and vigilance against Starflyer agents.
- Ch 17 · SIXTEEN
Ozzie proposes mass escape
Ozzie suggests to George that everyone leave together by following the Silfen hunt on lighter sleds pulled in relays. George refuses, arguing the Ice Citadel has a purpose and the risks are too great.
- Ch 17 · SIXTEEN
Ozzie decodes Tochee's language
Testing the tochee, Ozzie realizes it communicates through ultraviolet light patterns from its eye. He sees them with his retinal inserts and starts matching symbols to objects.
- Ch 18 · SEVENTEEN
Justine investigates Isabella
Justine suspects Patricia's companion Isabella might signify Halgarth influence, and asks Estella Fenton. She learns Isabella is unimportant and that the Halgarths back Doi.
- Ch 18 · SEVENTEEN
Crispin Goldreich agrees to back Doi
At breakfast Justine and Patricia win Crispin's conditional support for the agency, offering him continued Budget Commission leadership if Doi is elected, with oversight committee.
- Ch 18 · SEVENTEEN
Sheldon agrees to back Doi
Gore tells Patricia the key is Sheldon money, and Campbell later confirms Sheldon backing for Doi in exchange for billions for the agency's first budget. Burnellis then plan to move the agency base to High Angel.
- Ch 18 · SEVENTEEN
Isabella seduces Ramon
Isabella goes to Ramon's lodge and sleeps with him; next morning Ramon proposes parallel development to move the agency to High Angel.
- Ch 18 · SEVENTEEN
Halgarths push offensive navy and merge Directorates
At the review meeting Larry argues for offensive capability; Natasha urges new weapons, and Rafael's Directorate absorbs other security Directorates, with the Burnellis reluctantly accepting.
- Ch 18 · SEVENTEEN
Silfen arrive to hunt
A procession of about 250 Silfen reaches the Ice Citadel to hunt icewhales. They party in the central chamber, and Sara secures permission to follow and keep the carcasses.
- Ch 18 · SEVENTEEN
Escape from the frozen world
After hours of skiing through snow, Ozzie's group notices the snow melting and finds real trees. They conclude they have left the Ice Citadel world and emerge into a green mountain valley at dawn.
- Ch 19 · EIGHTEEN
Founding of MorningLightMountain
A sub-herd of twelve motiles chooses the light-struck mountain, prepares a pond, and four merge into the immotile MorningLightMountain, which begins birthing motiles.
- Ch 19 · EIGHTEEN
Electronics and expansion
MorningLightMountain develops electronics for remote control of motiles, conquers territory southward, and builds an empire until grand alliances limit its growth.
- Ch 19 · EIGHTEEN
First mobile immotile
ColdLakePromontory creates ColdLakePromontory2 and sends it to an asteroid, starting the Primes' spread across the solar system.
- Ch 19 · EIGHTEEN
First Prime starship reaches the second star
MorningLightMountain8658 finds an alien civilization, bombards it, takes over its industry and studies the aliens; a rival Prime ship later arrives and the two immotiles divide the planet.
- Ch 19 · EIGHTEEN
The force field falls and a message arrives
After 1,182 years the barrier vanishes. Days later MorningLightMountain17,735 sends a warning from an alien ship, which vanishes in a spatial distortion as Prime ships close.
- Ch 19 · EIGHTEEN
Alien captives examined
Two alien motiles are brought to MorningLightMountain's mountain and confined in the chemical warfare laboratory. Soldiers strip their suits, revealing strange physiology.
- Ch 19 · EIGHTEEN
Dissection and processor analysis
MorningLightMountain scans the two captured humans, extracts and analyzes their embedded processors, and learns to operate a transceiver, but the larger human sends a shutdown sequence disabling its device.
- Ch 19 · EIGHTEEN
Second human killed for his memory store
After the second human's defiance, a soldier shoots him, and the intact full information store is extracted and read over weeks into MorningLightMountain's memory.
- Ch 19 · EIGHTEEN
MorningLightMountain relives Bose's memories
Replaying the recording through one isolated immotile, MorningLightMountain experiences pain for the first time and learns about human society, the SI, Silfen, barriers and the Commonwealth's worlds.
- Ch 19 · EIGHTEEN
MorningLightMountain probes human knowledge
MorningLightMountain draws on Dudley Bose's remnant knowledge to learn about wormholes, then retrieves the location of every Commonwealth star, seeing wormholes as a route to galactic dominance.
- Ch 20 · NINETEEN
Surveillance of the Nystol Gallery
Paula and Tarlo sit at a café reviewing the target, a gallery fronting arms dealer Rigin's purchases of restricted components matching Adam Elvin's shipment pattern.
- Ch 20 · NINETEEN
Attack on the Nystol Gallery
An unknown, heavily augmented intruder kills Rigin's bodyguard and Rigin, extracts Rigin's data and memorycell, blows up the stored components, and escapes through the canal.
- Ch 20 · NINETEEN
Bradley meets Kazimir
On Santa Monica beach Bradley meets and approves Kazimir, telling him he may be asked to die for the cause, then hands him over to Adam Elvin.
- Ch 20 · NINETEEN
Breakfast at The Georgian
Bradley and Adam discuss the gallery attack, blockade running, a courier for Mars data, and Bradley's plan to convert Wilson Kime.
- Ch 20 · NINETEEN
Bradley asks Adam to contact someone close to Kime
Bradley wants Kime to review Second Chance's system logs and proposes Adam approach an old contact with access to Kime. Adam angrily refuses.
- Ch 20 · NINETEEN
Kazimir searches for Justine Burnelli
After planning his smuggling covers in Los Angeles, Kazimir recalls his night with Justine and asks his e-butler to look her up.
- Ch 20 · NINETEEN
Paula asks Hoshe Finn for help
Paula visits Hoshe unofficially and asks him to investigate the Shansorel Partnership's software link to Rigin's modulator.
- Ch 20 · NINETEEN
Squash match and bar talk
After Paula beats Thompson at squash, they meet in the Clinton Estate bar and discuss the Venice Coast fallout, a possible mole, and Far Away cargo inspection.
- Ch 20 · NINETEEN
Thompson agrees to lobby the President
Paula asks Thompson to press President Doi for full examination of cargo to Far Away; he agrees despite likely Halgarth annoyance.
- Ch 21 · TWENTY
MorningLightMountain builds wormholes
Using Bose's memories, MorningLightMountain develops wormhole generators, links its settlements and builds a huge interstellar wormhole, spotting the approaching human ships three weeks after it began operating.
- Ch 21 · TWENTY
Fake Dudley call and flight
MorningLightMountain impersonates Dudley Bose to lure the humans, but the Bose memories break out and shout a warning. Kime orders the scoutships to scatter and flee.
- Ch 21 · TWENTY
Descent into the canyon
The trio follow the river down a series of steep falls into a vast red canyon, finding an ancient fire circle and a bleached soda can that raises false hope about being in the Commonwealth.
- Ch 22 · TWENTY-ONE
Doi announces the Commonwealth Navy
Doi addresses the Senate, honors Kime, Bose and Verbeke, signs decree 1081 creating the Commonwealth Navy, and promotes Kime to admiral. The speech is received with applause and high approval.
- Ch 22 · TWENTY-ONE
Hoshe meets Kareem
Using Giscard Lex's introduction, Hoshe finds Kareem in his garage and, posing as a tax-dodging importer, pays a deposit for a software fix and hands over a memory crystal.
- Ch 22 · TWENTY-ONE
Mark meets Mel
Mark meets a flirtatious newcomer, Mel, who probes him about the blockade's aims and support in town.
- Ch 22 · TWENTY-ONE
Mark humiliated on Alessandra Baron's show
At the Phoenix bar, Mark discovers the reporter he spoke to was Mellanie Rescorai, whose edited interview portrays him as a backward, antihuman simpleton. Messages of abuse flood in.
- Ch 22 · TWENTY-ONE
Electronics return on the ringed world
On a new world, Ozzie's devices work again. With the handheld array, Tochee and Orion converse for the first time, and Ozzie spots a gas halo around the star, recognizing the place from Bradley Johansson's tale.
- Ch 22 · TWENTY-ONE
Stig tailed through Seattle station
Stig McSobel checks for followers on the way to a loop train while Hoshe Finn and Paula's team B shadow him.
- Ch 22 · TWENTY-ONE
Paula's team tracks Stig to Del Rey Marina
Paula arrives at LA Galactic and coordinates a CST, navy and LAPD team following Stig through LA to the Del Rey Marina, while Senator Burnelli calls with news.
- Ch 22 · TWENTY-ONE
Cargo inspections ordered and Sheldon implicated
Burnelli tells Paula that Far Away cargo will be inspected at Boongate, and that lobbyists blocking her request work for Nigel Sheldon.
- Ch 22 · TWENTY-ONE
Assassination of Senator Burnelli
Disguised as a squash coach, an assassin who has corrupted the club's network kills Senator Thompson Burnelli.
- Ch 23 · TWENTY-TWO
Paula removed from the Johansson operation
Columbia blames Paula for the LA and Venice Coast failures and appoints Hogan to run the operation; Paula resigns her commission and leaves.
- Ch 23 · TWENTY-TWO
MorningLightMountain annihilates rival immotiles
MorningLightMountain opens 328 small wormholes and nukes all rival immotile groupings across the Prime system, then absorbs the survivors, ending all rivalry.
- Ch 23 · TWENTY-TWO
Paula travels to Huxley's Haven
After resigning, Paula takes an express to Wessex and a steam train through a gateway to Huxley's Haven.
- Ch 23 · TWENTY-TWO
The Great Wormhole Heist
Johansson's team broke into the museum, restarted the old wormhole generator, robbed a Las Vegas casino vault of 1.17 billion dollars, and escaped while guards were locked outside by their own force field.
- Ch 24 · TWENTY-THREE
Alessandra assigns Mellanie to Campbell Sheldon
Alessandra instructs Mellanie to seduce Campbell Sheldon for navy information; then they notice Paula Myo at the party and Alessandra grows curious.
- Ch 24 · TWENTY-THREE
Kazimir reunites with Justine
Kazimir, disguised as a waiter, returns Justine's old sunhat at her engagement party. They spend the night together; he reveals he is on a Guardian mission.
- Ch 24 · TWENTY-THREE
Justine and Kazimir argue
Justine begs Kazimir to quit the Guardians, denying the Starflyer. He asks her to lift cargo inspections, refuses to stop, and leaves, promising to return. Justine calls Alic Hogan.
- Ch 24 · TWENTY-THREE
Dauntless launched and welcome-back ceremony
Dauntless leaves High Angel and Oscar is offered Defender. The next day Oscar, hungover, attends a media welcome-back ceremony for Bose and Verbeke at the Nadsis Hotel.
- Ch 24 · TWENTY-THREE
Dudley's outburst and Oscar's gaffe
At the welcome-back event Dudley denounces the Second Chance crew for abandoning him. Pressed by Baron, Oscar angrily says Bose screwed up and nobody wanted him aboard, causing a media uproar.
- Ch 24 · TWENTY-THREE
Adam Elvin confronts Oscar
Adam, Oscar's old comrade, appears in his hotel room, admits attacking the Second Chance, and asks Oscar to review its flight logs for evidence of Starflyer influence on behalf of Johansson.
- Ch 24 · TWENTY-THREE
Adam pressures Oscar to examine the flight data
Adam argues Oscar should search the flight data for background activity, such as who was on deck thirteen when the barrier came down. Oscar protests, but Adam reminds him of Abadan station and leaves, promising fortnightly check-ins.
- Ch 25 · TWENTY-FOUR
Mellanie learns of Myo's interview and the Cox charity
After hours of Dudley's rambling, Mellanie gets him to reveal Myo's interview and the Cox Educational charity, then asks the SI about it and finds suspicious funding.
- Ch 25 · TWENTY-FOUR
Regents detector station nuked
A nuclear explosion destroys the Regents detector station; Mark's family watches the mushroom cloud rise as electronics fail.
- Ch 25 · TWENTY-FOUR
Prime invasion begins
Forty-eight wormholes open in each of 23 Commonwealth systems, and the Primes bombard planets with nukes and projectiles. Wilson, Rafael and Nigel raise force fields and launch defenses.
- Ch 25 · TWENTY-FOUR
Second Chance fights over Anshun
Tu Lee's Second Chance destroys projectiles and jumps around Anshun launching missiles, until Prime wormholes block its hyperdrive and ninety-six missiles per wormhole fly at it.
- Ch 25 · TWENTY-FOUR
Loss of the Second Chance
The Second Chance is destroyed in orbit above Anshun while trying to escape Prime wormholes.
- Ch 25 · TWENTY-FOUR
Primes launch invasion fleet
After bombardment, MorningLightMountain halts the projectiles and sends forty-eight thousand ships through toward the besieged worlds; Wilson's council plans evacuations.
- Ch 25 · TWENTY-FOUR
Mark's family heads for Randtown
After the blast damages their home, the family packs the repaired pickup and sets out toward Randtown to find neighbours and news, armed.
- Ch 25 · TWENTY-FOUR
Aftermath in Randtown
Mark's group enters Randtown, finds the streets full of glass and blood, and carries a wounded man to the General Hospital, where Simon and Mellanie are present.
- Ch 25 · TWENTY-FOUR
Evacuation order and Prime landing
Simon announces an urgent convoy to the Highmarsh after Mellanie warns the aliens are coming; Prime ships then descend through the clouds over the Trine'ba, and her feed cuts out.
- Ch 25 · TWENTY-FOUR
Evacuation and defense of Anshun
Commonwealth forces funnel refugees and aerobots through Wessex; aerobots deploy from Treloar to confront Primes landing at Scraptoft, but are beaten back by Prime fusion exhaust and smog.
- Ch 25 · TWENTY-FOUR
Rear-guard fight at Randtown
Simon Rand's guerrillas fire on landing Prime troops; the aliens retaliate, destroying many buildings and causing panic among the defenders.
- Ch 25 · TWENTY-FOUR
Mellanie stops the Prime soldiers at Randtown
Mellanie and the SI disrupt the Primes' communications, freezing the soldiers, so Mark's group can take weapons. The SI confronts MorningLightMountain, which vows destruction. Mellanie escapes through a wormhole as flyers fire.
- Ch 25 · TWENTY-FOUR
Humans use electronic warfare at Scraptoft and Anshun
Wilson's EW aerobots jam Prime communications at Scraptoft, disabling armored soldiers and flyers. Navy warships arrive at Anshun and fight an hour-long battle with the Primes.
- Ch 25 · TWENTY-FOUR
Randtown convoy reaches Turquino wormhole
The convoy flees to the Turquino Valley, where Mellanie has opened a small wormhole, and Carys's group begins to pass through.
- Ch 25 · TWENTY-FOUR
Desperado's suicide strike
Jean Douvoir flies the Desperado back at 0.2c into a Prime wormhole, detonating and opening it to a temporary sun. The blast rips through the wormhole to the Prime staging post.
- Ch 25 · TWENTY-FOUR
Humans fall back
Wilson, Nigel and the President decide to evacuate all assaulted worlds as Prime wormholes stay open and gateway machinery is landed.
- Ch 25 · TWENTY-FOUR
MorningLightMountain consolidates its gains
After losing a quarter of its wormholes, MorningLightMountain realigns the surviving routes to its twenty-three new worlds, ships resume carrying supplies, and motiles advance outside the human cities against little resistance.
- Ch 26 · TWENTY-FIVE
Launch of the Pathfinder
After preparations, Ozzie, Orion and Tochee launch their raft Pathfinder, row out, raise the sail and head toward a nearby island.
- Ch 26 · TWENTY-FIVE
Mellanie and Alessandra argue
In Alessandra's Salamanca penthouse, Mellanie refuses to seduce Robin Dalsol and insists on her Starflyer investigation story, puzzling Alessandra.
- Ch 26 · TWENTY-FIVE
Mellanie flees Alessandra
Mellanie deduces that Alessandra warned the Starflyer's cover-up, flees the penthouse, and heads to Dudley, intending to find Paula Myo.
- Ch 26 · TWENTY-FIVE
The raft goes over the edge of the world
After missing several islands in a swift current, Ozzie, Orion and Tochee on the Pathfinder realise the roar ahead is a waterfall. The sea pours over a cliff, and the raft falls off the edge of the world.
Book 2 Judas Unchained
- Ch 1 · Chapter 1
Investigating the Daroca victim
Renne and Tarlo interview Trisha and her flatmates about Howard Liang, a Guardians operative, and arrange forensic sweeps. Renne senses the setup repeats earlier Guardians cases.
- Ch 2 · Chapter 2
Justine takes Kazimir's body to New York
Justine rides with the body, secretly finds a memory crystal, and takes it by private train to her family clinic. Myo notices the blood on her fingers and asks to see what she found.
- Ch 2 · Chapter 2
Escape from the waterfall
After the Pathfinder plunges over the worldlet's edge, Ozzie realises they are in freefall and has Tochee fly them out of the weak underside gravity.
- Ch 2 · Chapter 2
Suspicion of Nigel Sheldon
Paula tells Justine and Gore that Thompson learned Nigel Sheldon blocked cargo inspections. They resolve that Justine will find Thompson's source and Gore will build a resistance network.
- Ch 2 · Chapter 2
Renne questions the observatory Director
At Antina Station Renne learns from Seitz that Mars data has been received for twenty years for the Lambeth Association, with no one at the observatory knowing what it contains.
- Ch 2 · Chapter 2
Cufflin questioned on the flight
Renne takes Cufflin aboard a VTOL to Rio and Paris. He explains he was recruited through Robin Beard's contact to monitor and erase Martian data in exchange for seeing his grandson.
- Ch 3 · Chapter 3
First War Cabinet meeting
Meeting in Washington's Senate Hall, the War Cabinet hears Kime's assessment of the Prime assault and unanimously approves his three-stage strategy, with the Seattle Project noted as stage four.
- Ch 3 · Chapter 3
Mellanie confronts Paula Myo
Mellanie visits Paula in Paris and tells her about the Starflyer, the fraudulent Cox charity and Baron. Paula is noncommittal, says she'll investigate, and asks Mellanie to come to her, not the media, with proof.
- Ch 3 · Chapter 3
Paula offers Hoshe a job
Paula visits the recovering Hoshe, comforts him, and offers him a job as her assistant at Senate Security, citing her distrust of her old team. He asks about the medical benefits.
- Ch 4 · Chapter 4
Hogan presents Rowden theory
Hogan, citing Cortese's facial match, declares the assassin Francis Rowden a Guardian enforcer; Renne privately doubts it.
- Ch 4 · Chapter 4
Force field equipment puzzle and Beard hunt
King reports smuggled equipment is high-power force field devices with no power source on Far Away; Vic reports Robin Beard has fled Cagayn in his van.
- Ch 4 · Chapter 4
Paula briefs Hoshe
On Hoshe's first day, Paula assigns him to re-investigate the Cox charity and discusses Mellanie and the Rowden escape from LA Galactic.
- Ch 4 · Chapter 4
Flight across Half Way
Mellanie and Dudley take a ten-hour Carbon Goose flight from Shackleton to Port Evergreen, seeing whurwals along the way.
- Ch 4 · Chapter 4
Passage through the Far Away wormhole
When the stormrider powers the gateway, the passengers step through to Armstrong City; Mellanie stumbles in the low gravity.
- Ch 4 · Chapter 4
Arrivals watched
Stig McSobel and Olwen McOnna watch Halgarth and Alwon arrive and plan to alert the raiders.
- Ch 4 · Chapter 4
Mellanie and Dudley arrive
Stig and Olwen watch Mellanie and Dudley arrive through the gateway and identify them. The two check into the Langford Towers.
- Ch 4 · Chapter 4
SI subroutine installed
Mellanie releases the SI's observer subroutine into Armstrong City's net to find the Guardians, then asks a barkeeper about meeting them.
- Ch 4 · Chapter 4
Stig learns of the presence in the net
Stig bribes the barkeeper and learns of Mellanie's request. Dr. Friland senses a machine presence in the city net, and Stig concludes Mellanie sent it.
- Ch 4 · Chapter 4
Mellanie investigates Guardian links
Mellanie researches court cases at the grand courthouse, finding that a few lawyers represent paid punks who attacked the Institute, and realizes two groups are watching her.
- Ch 4 · Chapter 4
Cheyne Street car attack
Institute troopers threaten Mellanie; the SIsubroutine hijacks cars, killing both troopers and blocking the Cruisers. Mellanie and Dudley escape in a taken-over car.
- Ch 4 · Chapter 4
Mellanie meets the Guardians
At Franico's, Mellanie and Dudley meet Stig and Dr. Friland, seeking Guardian cooperation against the Starflyer. Stig gives her a onetime contact address and they depart for the Commonwealth.
- Ch 4 · Chapter 4
Wilson and Anna's wedding
Wilson and Anna marry in a media-saturated chapel ceremony at High Angel, attended by politicians and navy personnel, then leave for a short honeymoon before returning to work.
- Ch 4 · Chapter 4
Oscar copies Second Chance logs
Late at night in Pentagon II, Oscar copies the Second Chance's extensive log recordings onto memory crystals, secretly investigating the voyage.
- Ch 5 · Chapter 5
Morton revived early
Morton is woken after only about two and a half years of suspension and offered full remission of his sentence if he fights the Primes on the Lost23; he accepts immediately.
- Ch 5 · Chapter 5
Mellanie confronts the SI
Back in Darklake City, Mellanie questions the SI about its involvement. It says it will protect her but has not decided whether to save humanity, shaking her faith.
- Ch 5 · Chapter 5
Mellanie contacts the Guardians
Mellanie calls Adam Elvin, learns the LA Galactic killer was Bruce McFoster, and gets a new onetime address. She then visits Paul Cramley.
- Ch 5 · Chapter 5
Mellanie recruits Paul
Mellanie persuades the disgraced hacker Paul to run an observation routine on Alessandra Baron by telling him the Starflyer is real and that Baron is involved.
- Ch 5 · Chapter 5
Dudley reaches Randtown
After months among the Primes, Dudley travels to Randtown, watches the poisoned water pumped into the Trine'ba, and hopes to meet the human saboteurs.
- Ch 5 · Chapter 5
Adam buys the ND47
Adam and Kieran sign the contract with Baraki for refurbishing the nuclear train for Foster Transport and discuss arming it and the unreliable new contact.
- Ch 5 · Chapter 5
Renne seeks warrant for Isabella
Suspicious of the shotgun case, Renne persuades Alic Hogan to approve a warrant for Isabella Halgarth and travels to Solidade.
- Ch 5 · Chapter 5
Trisha reveals a false reporter visited
At the Kolda Valley lodge, Trisha tells Renne a man calling himself Brad Myo of Earl News interviewed her about Howard Liang. Renne concludes it was likely Bradley Johansson, and that neither Guardians nor Halgarths staged the shotgun.
- Ch 5 · Chapter 5
Wilson briefs Oscar and Mac
Wilson reveals the Primes are fortifying the Lost23, tasks Oscar with finding Hell's Gateway's destination, assigns Mac to test relativistic missiles, and promises Oscar the assault cruiser project.
- Ch 6 · Chapter 6
Crash onto Island Two
The Pathfinder drifts into the artificial gravity of Island Two, accelerates and smashes through the treetops. Ozzie is hurt, Tochee saves him, and Orion survives by jumping.
- Ch 6 · Chapter 6
Nostats kill intruders at 1800 Briggins
Two men break into Paul Cramley's bungalow and are killed by his nostats; a fire starts and police and Homesecure find the remains. Paul's lawyer pays fines and takes over the property.
- Ch 6 · Chapter 6
Mellanie meets Paul in his crypt
Paul reveals his wetwired state, traces the attackers' payments to Bromley, Waterford, and Granku, and tells of lifeboat projects. He asks Mellanie to investigate a Sheldon lifeboat on Cressat and proposes marriage; she declines.
- Ch 6 · Chapter 6
Nigel investigates Mellanie
Nigel is alerted to Mellanie's visit to Paul Cramley's house and begins digging into her, then phones Michelangelo.
- Ch 6 · Chapter 6
Hogan reins in Renne
At lunch Hogan orders Renne to stop pursuing Isabella Halgarth and assigns her and Tarlo to investigate the meteorological data from Mars.
- Ch 6 · Chapter 6
Paula Myo recruits Renne's help
Paula tells Renne that Alessandra Baron is a Starflyer agent and asks her to research Isabella's background, while secretly having Renne monitored to see whom she contacts.
- Ch 6 · Chapter 6
Oscar spots the Second Chance's dish
Reviewing sensor composites, Oscar notices the Second Chance's comms dish was extended toward Dyson Alpha. Then the Defender's alarm sounds as hysradar finds the other end of Hell's Gateway.
- Ch 7 · Chapter 7
Landing on the Prime-held planet
Cat's Claws are fired through a wormhole in bubbles above the Highmarsh Valley during a massive assault. Aerobots fight off Prime flyers while the squad hides, then they travel through the mountains.
- Ch 7 · Chapter 7
Base camp and sensor placement
The squad establishes a base camp in a saddle in the Regents, plants sensors overlooking the Trine'ba and Randtown, and observes heavy Prime activity.
- Ch 7 · Chapter 7
Squad splits to scout
After arguing over Cat's reliability, Morton and Rob scout east of Randtown while Cat, Parker and the Doc go toward Blackwater Crag, avoiding engagement.
- Ch 7 · Chapter 7
Escape downstream and rescue of Simon Rand
After the nuclear blast, Morton and Rob escape down the stream with the survivor, who identifies himself as Simon Rand, founder of Randtown.
- Ch 7 · Chapter 7
Meeting in the cave and new plan
In the survivors' cave, Cat's Claws treats David and feeds the group. They plan to evacuate them and, following the Cat's idea, plant a nuke at the future force field boundary.
- Ch 7 · Chapter 7
Bose surrenders
An alien in the ruined house contacts Morton's team electronically, surrenders and identifies itself as Dudley Bose in a Prime motile body, offering information against MorningLightMountain.
- Ch 7 · Chapter 7
Randtown destroyed; Mark reassigned
Mark and Liz watch Randtown's nuclear destruction on Michelangelo's show. Giselle then visits, grants them lifeboat berths and orders them to move to starship assembly.
- Ch 7 · Chapter 7
Quantumbuster test
The Moscow launches satellites and a prototype quantumbuster at a barren moon; it disintegrates the whole moon in a blaze of light.
- Ch 7 · Chapter 7
Justine probes Ramon
After a committee ambush by Valetta Halgarth, Justine questions Ramon about the origins of the navy deal and then warns Paula Myo of the vote.
- Ch 7 · Chapter 7
Commonwealth counterstrike repelled
Wormholes opened over all twenty-three conquered worlds, releasing missiles and ground-level wormholes with aerobots. MorningLightMountain intercepted with nuclear weapons and numerical superiority, ending the attack after seventeen hours.
- Ch 7 · Chapter 7
Staging post location discovered
A human starship detected the staging post and left; MorningLightMountain expects a navy attack and rushes wormhole generator modifications and a new warfleet.
- Ch 8 · Chapter 8
Navy Strategic Review Council debates the Hell's Gateway assault
Advisors discuss the Hell's Gateway location, Dimitri's call for caution and use of the Seattle weapon, and ship production. They agree to wait a fortnight, keeping reserves for defense and expanding guerrilla warfare.
- Ch 8 · Chapter 8
Oscar reveals the Second Chance traitor evidence
Oscar privately shows Wilson a log of the dish pointed at the Prime homeworld, revealing a traitor aboard Second Chance. Wilson resolves to consult Paula Myo.
- Ch 8 · Chapter 8
Ramon's heart attack
Ramon collapses after Justine leaves. Paramedics sedate him for rejuvenation; he warns her about Toniea Gall and directs her to Crispin.
- Ch 8 · Chapter 8
Assassin hides in Justine's apartment
The assassin enters Justine's Park Avenue apartment and hides in the refrigerator when Senate Security upgrades the apartment's defenses.
- Ch 8 · Chapter 8
Paula tests Tarlo at the club
Paula finds Tarlo at a Paris club and asks him to check old Cox Educational accounts, citing a tip-off and Baron's possible involvement, asking secrecy. She is secretly testing his trustworthiness.
- Ch 9 · Chapter 9
Bayfoss link to the barrier's collapse
Paula reveals the Bayfoss connection and warns the Armstrong-class satellites may have been sabotaged to switch off the barrier. She urges Wilson to inspect Bayfoss components supplied to classified projects.
- Ch 9 · Chapter 9
MorningLightMountain repels the human attack
Twenty human starships attack the staging post star. MorningLightMountain deflects their missiles, destroys three ships, takes losses of generators and immotiles, and the rest retreat.
- Ch 9 · Chapter 9
Michelangelo's tip on the fugitives
Michelangelo explains that the fugitive lawyers would seek baseline DNA modification on Illuminatus and gives Mellanie the Saffron Clinic lead.
- Ch 9 · Chapter 9
Prime wormholes shut and reopen
Before the attack, 772 Prime wormholes shut down, then all reopened five hours later, showing the human strike on Hell's Gateway failed.
- Ch 9 · Chapter 9
War Cabinet approves quantumbusters
After the failed strike, the War Cabinet decides to arm all starships with Seattle quantumbuster weapons against Prime attack.
- Ch 10 · Chapter 10
Bradley's grim assessment of the war
Bradley tells Adam the navy attack on Hell's Gateway seems to be in trouble and the war may continue regardless of exposing the Starflyer.
- Ch 10 · Chapter 10
Mellanie goes undercover on a nightcruise
Disguised as 'Saskia', Mellanie boards the Cypress Island, having tracked Kaspar Murdo from the Saffron Clinic, and is approached by Dorian.
- Ch 10 · Chapter 10
Paula's team detects Tarlo's warning
Hoshe reports that Tarlo sent an encrypted warning to Bernadette after Renne's call; Paula decides to monitor both and arrest Tarlo later.
- Ch 10 · Chapter 10
Rival watchers discovered at the Octavious
Kieran's team finds a second set of scrutineer programs monitoring Bernadette's room, suspects the navy, dons force field suits and abandons the Grialgol suite.
- Ch 10 · Chapter 10
Plan to let Bernadette run
Paula persuades the group to delay arresting Bernadette, keep multiple teams on her, and prioritize taking the Agent in custody at tonight's meeting.
- Ch 10 · Chapter 10
Guardians follow the navy team
Bernadette's evasion forces the Guardians to switch tactics. They trail the navy team to the precinct, see Paula Myo arrive, and follow a convoy leaving at dusk.
- Ch 10 · Chapter 10
Beard escorted on cable car
Alic, Lucius Lee and Marhol escort Robin Beard onto the scenic cable car toward Treetops restaurant for the Agent meeting.
- Ch 10 · Chapter 10
Attack on Hell's Gateway fails
Admiral Kime announces the failure of the fleet's missile strike against Hell's Gateway.
- Ch 10 · Chapter 10
Raid on the Saffron Clinic
Paula's teams storm the clinic; wetwired hostiles fight back with explosions. Bernadette and others are killed, but an unidentified man's body is found and an elevator shaft breach suggests someone escaped.
- Ch 10 · Chapter 10
Renne killed by Isabella Halgarth
Renne spots Isabella Halgarth and follows her taxi; Isabella detects her and destroys the taxi with a maser, killing Renne, whose memorycell survives.
- Ch 11 · Chapter 11
Paula and Mellanie leave Illuminatus
After the Greenford Tower aftermath, Paula and Hoshe take Mellanie by police van to the CST station and board an express toward Earth.
- Ch 11 · Chapter 11
Isabella ambushed on the express
Isabella Halgarth, a Starflyer agent, attacks the compartment; Paula's team traps her in a cage, disables her with a dump-web and nervejam stick, and captures her alive. Paula reveals it was an entrapment.
- Ch 11 · Chapter 11
Assassin attacks Justine's apartment
Bruce McFoster kills Hector Del and attacks Justine in her Park Avenue apartment; Gore Burnelli crashes in, fights him, chases him off the balcony, and kills him on the street.
- Ch 11 · Chapter 11
War Cabinet debates striking the Primes
The War Cabinet discusses carrying the fight to the Primes with quantumbusters; Justine backs genocide, Kime opposes, and Doi institutes an ongoing review.
- Ch 11 · Chapter 11
Hoshe delivers Isabella to the High Angel
Hoshe is stopped by navy troopers but cleared after the High Angel intervenes, then travels to the Raiel dome with Isabella's suspension shell.
- Ch 11 · Chapter 11
Isabella delivered to Qatux
Hoshe Finn brings Isabella Halgarth's suspension shell to Qatux, who will examine her memories to discover how the Starflyer controlled her.
- Ch 11 · Chapter 11
Institute takes 3F Plaza
Stig learns the Governor signed 3F Plaza to the Institute; he and Olwen scout it, and he orders Keely to prepare a crash evacuation after suspicious watchers appear.
- Ch 11 · Chapter 11
Justine secures Sheldon support for Paula
At Nitachie, Campbell asks Nigel, who declares the Sheldon Dynasty will oppose Paula's dismissal from Senate Security.
- Ch 11 · Chapter 11
Alien wormholes alert
A navy alert reports hundreds of new alien wormholes opening in Commonwealth star systems.
- Ch 12 · Chapter 12
Primes launch the second invasion
Prime wormholes open around 48 Commonwealth worlds, including Hanko and Wessex, flooding the systems with ships while Douvoirs fail to catch the shifting wormholes.
- Ch 12 · Chapter 12
Prime flare bomb strikes Hanko's star
Dublin observes a Prime device plunge into the corona and become a flare bomb; Seattle Project scientists identify it, warning the biosphere of Hanko is threatened.
- Ch 12 · Chapter 12
Wilson orders strike on Hell's Gateway
Wilson commits to acting and sends the Cairo and Baghdad toward Hell's Gateway while quantumbusters are used against flare bombs, irradiating Commonwealth worlds.
- Ch 12 · Chapter 12
Charybdis sent through to Hell's Gateway
Nigel merges CST wormholes with a Prime one, letting the stealth ship Charybdis pass through and fire a missile that sends the Primes' staging post star nova.
- Ch 12 · Chapter 12
Ozzie's party ambushes a figure on the reef
On the reef of Island Two, Orion spots a dark shape; Tochee pulls a humanoid down from the canopy and Ozzie tackles it as it struggles.
- Ch 12 · Chapter 12
Clouddancer reveals the truth about the barriers
Clouddancer explains the Anomines built barriers to imprison the Dysons; a human starship disabled one generator, freeing the Dysons to invade Commonwealth planets. He refuses Silfen help.
- Ch 12 · Chapter 12
Ozzie is named a Silfen friend
Clouddancer gives Ozzie a pendant; wearing it, Ozzie senses the Silfen Motherholme. Clouddancer departs and Ozzie decides they leave next day.
- Ch 12 · Chapter 12
Nova of the staging post star
A Commonwealth ship triggers a nova in MorningLightMountain's staging post star, destroying its wormhole generators, halting the invasion and freezing local Prime motiles temporarily.
- Ch 12 · Chapter 12
Aftermath debate over the Bose motile
Rob expects rescue and release, but the Cat points out they still hold the Bose motile; Rob pressures Morton to hide it from the navy.
- Ch 13 · Chapter 13
Wilson forced to resign
The War Cabinet demands Wilson Kime's resignation after the invasion and revokes his codes; he warns them the Starflyer is real before leaving.
- Ch 13 · Chapter 13
Rafael made navy commander; Nigel's weapon plan
The War Cabinet votes Rafael Columbia in command of the navy, and Nigel offers his star-destroying weapon against the Primes' homeworld and firewall strategy.
- Ch 13 · Chapter 13
War Cabinet votes to exterminate Primes
The War Cabinet unanimously approves using every means, up to extermination, against the Primes, and debates evacuating the New48 worlds.
- Ch 13 · Chapter 13
Wormhole rescue from the Trine'ba mountains
Morton's team receives Mellanie's message, verifies her, and passes through a wormhole to Augusta with survivors and the Bose motile.
- Ch 13 · Chapter 13
Dudley meets his motile
Dudley demands his memories from the Bose motile, learns he was killed at Dyson Alpha, and rebuffs Mellanie before both go to a treatment room for the transfer.
- Ch 13 · Chapter 13
Tarlo found at Boongate
Edmund Li reports Tarlo seizing control of the Far Away section; Alic promises rescue and plans to petition the Admiral.
- Ch 13 · Chapter 13
Night with Nigel
Mellanie visits Nigel's bedroom; he reveals he got information through his son Michelangelo and asks her to marry him. She declines but stays tempted.
- Ch 13 · Chapter 13
Breakfast confrontation and Dudley's demand
Morton confronts Paula Myo at breakfast. At the meeting, Dudley demands lifeboat berths and reveals the Second Chance's message to the Primes.
- Ch 13 · Chapter 13
Origin of the Starflyer revealed
Dudley explains the Dyson Beta alienPrimes and that the Starflyer is a MorningLightMountain subsidiary that fled to Far Away; the group infers the Starflyer's plan to pit humans against the Primes.
- Ch 14 · Chapter 14
Columbia briefs Oscar
Admiral Columbia tells Oscar he now believes the Starflyer threat and sends him to ask Nigel Sheldon to open the wormhole for an arrest team after Tarlo.
- Ch 14 · Chapter 14
Mellanie recruits Tiger Pansy
Mellanie fights Jaycee at Wayside Production and persuades Tiger Pansy to join her for a special sensorium job, promising medicine and rejuvenation.
- Ch 14 · Chapter 14
Oscar's request approved
Nigel Sheldon agrees to let an arrest team go through the Boongate wormhole to capture Tarlo, on the condition of secrecy and that memory data goes through his operation.
- Ch 14 · Chapter 14
Bradley and Burnelli negotiate
Senator Burnelli proposes joining forces; Bradley demands Paula Myo deliver McFoster's data to prove trust.
- Ch 14 · Chapter 14
Qatux arrives with Tiger Pansy
Qatux and Hoshe come through the wormhole into the High Angel; Qatux links with Tiger Pansy, then goes to the analysis center to help find Starflyer agents.
- Ch 14 · Chapter 14
Paula refuses Johansson's demand
Johansson demands Paula deliver Kazimir McFoster's data; Paula flatly refuses, angering Nigel, who tells Justine to negotiate alternatives.
- Ch 14 · Chapter 14
Dudley dumps Mellanie
Dudley Bose coolly ends his relationship with Mellanie, with the Bose motile agreeing it is because he is an asshole; she leaves and later bargains with Hoshe.
- Ch 14 · Chapter 14
Pursuit on the Boongate line
Oscar warns Alic that a train is accelerating behind him; Alic blasts a hole in the carriage rear and sees the GH7 engine pursuing.
- Ch 14 · Chapter 14
Alster massacres gateway staff
Daniel Alster killed the Narrabri gateway control center staff and was chased by Nelson's security squad.
- Ch 15 · Chapter 15
Ozzie's party returns to the Commonwealth
After walking the Silfen paths, Ozzie, Orion and Tochee emerge on Bilma, Ozzie reconnects to the unisphere, learns three years have passed, and hires a Land Rover to Eansor.
- Ch 15 · Chapter 15
Wormhole lost and race to Port Evergreen
The Guardians find the Half Way wormhole gone, trapping them. Adam decides to fly Carbon Geese to Port Evergreen before the Starflyer blows the last wormhole.
- Ch 15 · Chapter 15
Boarding the Carbon Goose
After sensorbot checks find no sabotage, Adam's group loads vehicles aboard the Carbon Goose, and Wilson pilots it out of the hangar toward the sea to chase the Starflyer.
- Ch 15 · Chapter 15
Nigel questions Ozzie about the Starflyer
Nigel asks if Ozzie is a Starflyer agent; Ozzie explains his Johansson contact and confesses to taking part in the Great Wormhole Heist.
- Ch 15 · Chapter 15
Bradley explains the planet's revenge
On the Carbon Goose, Bradley tells Paula the smuggled force field equipment will steer a superstorm to smash the Marie Celeste on Far Away.
- Ch 15 · Chapter 15
Drop onto Port Evergreen
After launching recon drones and seeing the Starflyer's group stalled, the Carbon Goose is detected when its radar switches on; ten armored figures jump anyway.
- Ch 15 · Chapter 15
Blimpbot attack on 3F Plaza
As the Institute escorts a capsule truck toward the gateway, Stig launches the blimpbot attack in the rain; the first blimpbot is shredded by Institute fire while releasing chaff and drones.
- Ch 15 · Chapter 15
Blimpbot fuel-air bomb destroys 3F Plaza
Stig's blimpbots draw fire with flares; a bomb from blimpbot five detonates below Market Wall, annihilating the Institute force and vehicles at the Plaza while the wall channels the blast upward.
- Ch 15 · Chapter 15
Battle of Port Evergreen
Morton's ten armored fighters jump in, destroy Port Evergreen, the Carbon Gooses and a weapons truck, but several trucks, probably with the Starflyer, escape through the wormhole.
- Ch 15 · Chapter 15
Deciding whether to pursue through the wormhole
With eleven minutes left, the team sends sneekbots through, finds enemies waiting, and debates whether to follow with armored cars given the Volvos' cargo.
- Ch 15 · Chapter 15
Institute breaks through 3F Plaza
Institute Cruisers and bulldozers cross the rubble of Market Wall, drive trucks through the gateway, and bring the Starflyer out and away. Guardians cannot stop them, leaving an ambush at the gateway to trap Adam.
- Ch 15 · Chapter 15
Carbon Goose lands and plan to reopen wormhole
After landing at Port Evergreen, Adam proposes hijacking the stormrider to power the wormhole. Morton objects, Bradley insists on going, and Qatux offers to compute a new wormhole end location.
- Ch 16 · Chapter 16
Mellanie diverted to Cressat
As Hoshe's arrest team moves on Alessandra Baron, the SI tells Mellanie to impersonate call girl Vanora Kingsley and reach Ozzie Isaac on Cressat; she leaves the operation.
- Ch 16 · Chapter 16
Guardians arrive on Far Away
Wilson sends the stormrider into the neutron star; Qatux opens a wormhole and Bradley's party crosses to Far Away near Armstrong City, then the wormhole is closed.
- Ch 16 · Chapter 16
Truck breakdown and sabotage
A Volvo engine burns out on the Aldrin Plains. While transferring cargo, Adam finds four crates sabotaged by maser, raising suspicion of a saboteur within the group.
- Ch 16 · Chapter 16
Orion meets Jasmine
Jasmine Sheldon arrives at the mansion, bullying the security staff. Orion sees her and is smitten. Ozzie tells him to go and talk to her.
- Ch 16 · Chapter 16
Orion and Jasmine in the pool
Orion talks with Jasmine for hours, then they dive into the pool after Tochee; she kisses him and they play together.
- Ch 16 · Chapter 16
Mellanie's secret contact with Ozzie
Posing as Jasmine, Mellanie kisses Ozzie to activate a simulation in his inserts, delivering the SIsubroutine. Ozzie shares his Dark Fortress theory and plans an escape.
- Ch 16 · Chapter 16
Ozzie's escape plan
Ozzie asks Mellanie to leave that night and have a car waiting while the SIsubroutine subverts security so he can run to the car.
- Ch 17 · Chapter 17
Hanko evacuation begins
The Hanko wormhole opens to Anagaska; Hasimer Owram drives through first and millions of refugees begin to stream in as Doi and Nigel watch.
- Ch 17 · Chapter 17
Michelangelo's hostile interview
Michelangelo grills Doi live about Kime, Baron's death, Boongate and Patricia; she deflects, then rages in the limousine and suspects the navy leaked information.
- Ch 17 · Chapter 17
Hijacking of the Charybdis
Ozzie seizes command of the frigate through the SIsubroutine, leaves the dock with Mark aboard and heads for Dyson Alpha at FTL.
- Ch 17 · Chapter 17
Nigel's ultimatum
Nigel contacts Ozzie via the TD channel, demands the ship's return, tries a Trojan takeover and threatens to hunt him down. Ozzie refuses and cuts the link.
- Ch 18 · Chapter 18
Meeting Judson
Crossing a wide shallow river, the Volvos meet Judson McKratz, who verifies them via songs and sends them to Samantha in Reithstone Valley.
- Ch 18 · Chapter 18
Equipment handover and unloading
Adam's team meets Samantha's Guardians on the mountain road, hands over the Martian data, and the equipment is unloaded for distribution to the manipulator stations.
- Ch 18 · Chapter 18
Convoy smashes Institute blockade
Guardians' Loko trucks and the Cat ram through four Land Rover Cruisers blocking Highway One; Stig drives through the burning gap and the Cat survives.
- Ch 18 · Chapter 18
Harvey dies-bound at the Anculan ford
At the Anculan crossing the Guardians find the battlefield and the dying Harvey, who gives Bradley the Starflyer's eighty-seven-minute lead; Bradley takes him along.
- Ch 18 · Chapter 18
Hangar preparations
The group breaks into the Grand Triad Adventures hangar, powers it up, and checks hypergliders, jeeps and files while planning the flight to Aphrodite's Seat.
- Ch 18 · Chapter 18
Adam is stabbed
While alone in the hangar, Adam is attacked from behind and stabbed in the brain with a harmonic blade.
- Ch 19 · Chapter 19
Samantha arrives at Mount Idle
Samantha reaches the Guardians' cave control center for the planet's revenge, where Valentine notes the Barsoomian horses.
- Ch 19 · Chapter 19
Hypergliders tethered in the wet desert
The group tethers three hypergliders along Stakeout Canyon for the morning storm launch. Oscar, Anna and Wilson board; the rest retreat to shelter at Mount Zeus.
- Ch 19 · Chapter 19
Paula broadcasts to Johansson
Paula sets a repeating short-wave message telling Johansson Adam was murdered and asking who contacted Oscar to review the Second Chance logs. Johansson's group receives it.
- Ch 19 · Chapter 19
Control center readies for the storm
Samantha checks Andria's control center, runs simulations with Martian data, and asks Dr. Friland about Barsoomian help for Johansson.
- Ch 19 · Chapter 19
Clans confront the Starflyer convoy
The clans block Highway One, mine it and encircle the Starflyer convoy; Barsoomians arrive on king eagles, and the Institute sends out hundreds of soldier motiles.
- Ch 19 · Chapter 19
Scylla nears Dyson Alpha
Nigel readies the nova bomb and neutron lasers as Scylla closes on Charybdis near Dyson Alpha.
- Ch 19 · Chapter 19
Paula turns back to Oscar
Paula hears Bradley's reply, concludes Oscar is not the agent, and has Rosamund turn the jeep back toward Stakeout Canyon to question him.
- Ch 19 · Chapter 19
Oscar rams Anna
Oscar plunges his hyperglider into Anna's as she closes on Wilson; both crash, and Wilson rides the waterfall and a twister toward Aphrodite's Seat.
- Ch 19 · Chapter 19
Hyperglider crash on Herculaneum
Wilson lands too fast on Mount Herculaneum's summit, the glider bounces, flips and crashes into a rock spur, and he is injured.
- Ch 19 · Chapter 19
Charybdis attacked at the Dark Fortress
Ozzie and Mark approach the Dark Fortress, activate active sensors, and are detected; MorningLightMountain opens wormholes and launches missiles at them while they accelerate at twelve gees.
- Ch 19 · Chapter 19
Zone killer strike on the convoy
Zone killers destroy most of the Starflyer convoy and a stretch of road, but the MANN truck and seventeen Cruisers survive. Cruisers then slaughter the charging Guardian horses and riders.
- Ch 19 · Chapter 19
Armored cars charge and meet soldier motiles
Bradley orders the armored cars to ram the MANN truck, but hundreds of soldier motiles block the way. Morton kills one in close combat and the Paris team ends up nearly surrounded.
- Ch 19 · Chapter 19
Wilson watches the storm
Wilson, dying atop Mount Herculaneum, watches the Guardians channel the storm east until it becomes a vast self-sustaining dust storm sweeping over the High Desert.
- Ch 19 · Chapter 19
Rob's sacrifice and the dash to the valley
Soldier motiles pin Rob, who detonates his power cells to cover the others. Morton, Cat and Alic ride the armored car to the Institute valley, but the second car is destroyed and the MANN truck reaches the starship first.
- Ch 19 · Chapter 19
Retreat from soldier motiles and sudden darkness
The group's decoy attack on the soldier motiles fails and the second armored car is destroyed. The armor suits flee on foot as the sun suddenly goes dark over the Dessault Mountains.
- Ch 19 · Chapter 19
Flare bomb hits the Dark Fortress
Ozzie's flare bomb flashes at the Dark Fortress; afterwards Dyson Alpha's light and MorningLightMountain's signals vanish and the crews head home.
- Ch 20 · Chapter 20
Wilson awaits death
Wilson refuses rescue after the storm, stays on the cold lava, and drifts into visions as he dies.
- Ch 20 · Chapter 20
Paula takes over the Paris office
Paula returns as Deputy Director, welcomes the team, keeps Alic, and plans a meeting about Oscar Monroe's fate.
- Ch 20 · Chapter 20
Mark's family moves into their new house
Mark and Liz settle into their huge new house near Tanyata, receive Ozzie's gift, meet neighbors, and watch Michelangelo's show featuring Nigel, Ozzie and the Bose motile.
- Ch 20 · Chapter 20
Tom's brothers meet the Cat
After a fruitless scavenging trip, Tom, Andy and Hagen find a girl sitting by Highway One and offer her a ride; she turns out to be the Cat.
- Ch 20 · Chapter 20
Ozzie parts from Orion, Mellanie and Tochee
Ozzie says goodbye to his friends, who go on to Tochee's world. Ozzie and the Bose motile take a Silfen path to MorningLightMountain's home.
- Ch 20 · Chapter 20
Plan to change MorningLightMountain
The speaker, who escaped Dyson Alpha, decides to stay with MorningLightMountain and slip new questions into its thoughts to teach it tolerance. The speaker expects this to take centuries, and the other party promises to return in a few hundred years to check progress.