3.1 LIGHT

Inside the repaired pod, Juna and Ste Etienne continue exchanging simple pulse patterns with nearby Shrouded, noting the creatures mirror signals but show no anticipation. Ste Etienne voices the looming truth: the environment will outlast them. Attempts to design a rescue signal prompt calculations showing even a stripped, overpowered transmission would reach less than half a kilometer before failing.

Ste Etienne, shaken by Bartokh’s death and her perceived design shortcomings, apologizes. Juna counters with encouragement, pivoting them to the only likely human landmark: the elevator anchor. The plan promises either contact with ongoing operations or access to shielded fiber to punch a signal spaceward—or, failing that, a desperate climb up the cable.

When Ste Etienne admits she cannot locate the anchor amid Shroud’s EM noise and ambiguous geometry, the Shrouded drop biological detritus beside the pod, perhaps a “gift,” underscoring their alien companionship. Juna urges Ste Etienne to sleep and mines the pod’s passive datasets. By filtering local bio-EM chatter and tracking a steady background rise, Juna identifies a non-visual “dawn”: EM from the system’s star. Cross-referencing the star’s arc with the gas giant’s powerful footprint, Juna derives their position—and the direction of the anchor.

The result is disheartening: they are on the inward-facing hemisphere, far from the outward anchor. Mechanical wear, reserves, and time are critical, yet lacking options, Ste Etienne restarts systems and begins the march. The Shrouded fall in as an escort while the pair reprogram the gait to traverse thinning briar substrate alive with smaller, shell-bearing fauna.

They reach a marginal biome: a semi-frozen sea where briars form hydrogen-bladder pontoons and shifting ice grinds like teeth. Living structures bloom in the gaps with eerie timing, implying control or prediction of the ice’s crush. The pod cannot float, and sensors warn of high alkalinity and corrosion risk. Juna and Ste Etienne halt at the treacherous shore, weighing the next step toward the distant anchor.