Contents
Chapter 31: Tartarus
Overview
After many days in the waiting hall, the android Yume summons an elderly noblewoman while refusing Hadrian’s request to contact his companions. Another week passes as Hadrian reads and broods on Jari’s prophecy and Kharn Sagara. An elderly countess confirms the Undying offers second lives via grown replacement bodies, implying cloning, which repels Hadrian and sharpens the chapter’s moral stakes.
Summary
Hadrian endures irregular, sleepless days in the gilded waiting hall until the androgynous android Yume arrives and calls Lady Catherine Domitia Harfleur to an audience. Seizing the moment, Hadrian pleads to message or see his companions. Yume calmly refuses, assuring they are well and noting he may leave if impatient. Baron Song warns Hadrian his protest will only prolong the wait.
Another week passes. With no datasphere, Hadrian reads history and drama, revisits Valka’s xenological notes, and obsesses over Jari’s prophecy—“Light”—and the vision of a black ship plunging into a blinding whiteness. He doubts yet lingers on the possibility that the Undying is Kharn Sagara, a myth made real, as prior disbelief about the Quiet had once been overturned.
An elderly countess engages him about his reading on ancient xenobuilders. Their talk pivots to why the petitioners are here: not mere life extension but a “second life.” She implies the Undying grows new bodies—“raises them”—for identity transfer. Hadrian recognizes the implication of cloning, an abomination under the Chantry, and recoils.
Baron Song rejoins them, and Hadrian’s thoughts flash to the Emperor showing him Goya’s Saturn Devouring His Son, a metaphor for the nobles’ predation: self-aware, horrific, and insatiable. The scene closes with Song hoping to be taken below soon and inviting Hadrian to another game, while Hadrian’s moral disgust and isolation deepen.
Who Appears
- Hadrian MarloweNarrator; detained in the waiting hall, confronts Yume, reflects on prophecy, and recoils at the cloning-based ‘second life’ offered below.
- YumeElegant android usher; summons Lady Catherine, denies Hadrian contact with companions, and enforces the Undying’s rules.
- Baron Kim SongFellow petitioner; cautions Hadrian that speaking up will delay him, hopes to be taken below, resumes Druaja.
- Countess (elderly petitioner)Kind interlocutor; discusses ancient xenobuilders and reveals petitioners seek new bodies, implying cloning.
- Lady Catherine Domitia Harfleur, Baroness VaradetoElderly noblewoman summoned by Yume for audience with the Undying.
- The EmperorAppears in Hadrian’s memory, showing Goya’s Saturn; frames Hadrian’s moral analogy of predatory immortality.