CHAPTER 1

Johanna Olsndot moves among tightly packed coldsleep boxes, finding many near failure after twenty days. She and her brother Jefri join their parents, Arne and Sjana, for an emergency descent in a cargo shell, the only remnant after abandoning their failing carrier. The planned rendezvous with the frigate has failed, forcing a direct landing.

Arne uses a single rocket torch to cancel orbital velocity, while Sjana keeps Jefri calm by explaining the unconventional, powered descent. From low altitude they observe a habitable world with signs of roads and towns but no visible high technology, and they aim for a remote, thinly populated region.

As they hover to select a site, the family notes possible native structures on an offshore island. Inside the shell, Johanna recalls unsettling hints of a gray, fungus-like hull growth and her parents’ belief they carry an “answer” to the disaster that forced their flight from the High Lab.

They choose a hill above the timberline, skim the torch to clear subsurface water, and settle onto the rendezvous pylons. One side gives slightly, but the hull remains sealed. The landing succeeds, preserving the children and whatever secret cargo the parents believe may counter the threat they helped unleash.