Chapter: “Into the Grid”
Zix completes his survey and reaches the reception zone with readings from the human star. The damage is far worse than expected: it has already reached parts of the Grid the Council did not realise were in danger. A bigger ship — the RSS Pythagorean — launches on its first true deep-space mission, with Zogo now in command and two new crewmates: Lyra-7, a half-human navigator whose arm reads the Grid like a living star map, and Koda, an enormous, gentle alien who solves almost everything with patience.
It should be a straightforward voyage of discovery. It isn't. As the ship pushes further out, Lyra-7 picks up on something the instruments can't explain: entire clusters of stars, gone completely silent. Then Koda finds signs that one of the dead nodes was accessed from inside the Grid.
Cast
Zogo
Mission Commander
Lyra-7
Half-Human Navigator
Koda
Gentle Giant Alien