==== prologue - PROLOGUE (Статус: completed) ====

The protagonist, Juna Ceelander, awakens in pain and darkness after an impact, disoriented and unsure of her surroundings. The couch she's on, designed like those on her ship, the Garveneer, has cushioned her fall, but everything hurts, and she struggles to free herself. As she regains consciousness, she realizes she's not on the ship but in a spherical pod, possibly on the planet Shroud. With effort, she manages to activate the pod's systems and requests external camera views, but the screens show only darkness. She's unsure if the cameras or screens are defective, but the crushing, freezing abyss outside suggests it's the harsh environment of Shroud. Juna's fear and panic threaten to overwhelm her, but she tries to remain hopeful, even as strange noises, like a dull metal sound and the scrape of a claw, echo outside the pod, making her try not to scream.

==== chapter001 - 1.1 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

The world roared, a tidally locked moon orbiting a gas giant in the Prospector413 system, approved for exploitation. The Special Projects team, led by the abrasive and cheerful Bartokh, was awakened from hibernation to investigate strange signals emanating from the moon. As they approached, they were met with a cacophony of radio traffic, a constant storm of electromagnetic activity that made it impossible to decipher any useful data. Weeks of measuring, experimenting, and designing drones followed, with each attempt ending in failure. Finally, Deep Drone Fourteen returned with a heavily shielded datastore, containing a glimpse of life on the moon's surface. The team saw a dozen seconds of recorded video, showing a knotted tangle of barbed wire-like structures, briars that bloomed and shifted, and a body made of intricate latticework moving unnaturally. The images were enough to justify their continued existence, but the moon, dubbed Shroud, remained hostile and secretive. Bartokh ordered the team to develop better drones, seeking atmosphere samples and specimens, but Shroud would prove to be a formidable opponent, ultimately winning the battle three months and fifty-nine drones later.

==== chapter002 - 1.2 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

In a distant future, humanity has survived the First Bottleneck, a catastrophic event on Earth, and has expanded into space under the guidance of powerful corporations known as Concerns. The narrator, an administrative assistant to Director Bartokh, is part of a six-person team on the Garveneer Special Projects module, a vessel sent to explore the moon of a gas giant, Prospector413b, nicknamed Shroud. The team's mission is to find opportunities for resource extraction and exploitation.

After a drone, Fourteen, captures twelve seconds of footage of a massive alien creature on Shroud, the team is commended by Chief Director Advent, but also faces budget constraints and criticism from Resource Oversight for wasting resources. The team's dynamics are tense, with each member having their own agenda and quirks. The narrator serves as a go-between, trying to keep the team functioning and managing the demands of their superiors.

As the team works on improving their drones and planning new missions, the narrator discovers that Ste Etienne, an engineer, has been secretly working on a manned mission to Shroud, which the narrator strongly opposes due to the extreme risks involved. Director Bartokh downplays the idea, but the narrator suspects that he is more interested in it than he lets on.

The narrator reflects on the harsh conditions on Shroud, the alien creature, and the implications of their discovery. They also touch on their own feelings of loneliness and disconnection, which are not acknowledged in their official reports. The team's relationships are complex, with a mix of camaraderie and tension, as they navigate the challenges of their mission and the pressures from their superiors.

==== chapter003 - 1.3 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

The team studied footage from Drone Fourteen, which had been on Shroud's surface for 94 minutes. The video showed a broken cage of briars and a colorless, segmented stem. The team hypothesized that the drone was over a liquid substrate, possibly a sea or lake, and that the shifts observed were due to wave motion below. The drone's lamps caught glimpses of a giant, hollow creature with many limbs, which seemed to be generating electromagnetic signals. The team realized that the interference they had been experiencing was not just random noise, but was actually the biosphere of Shroud communicating and navigating in the dark.

The team continued to send drones to Shroud, but with limited success. They did, however, manage to retrieve some data cores and atmospheric samples, which revealed a wealth of microscopic life in the air and water. The team built a tank to replicate the conditions on Shroud and studied the samples, but struggled to keep the organisms alive.

Ste Etienne, the engineer, proposed building a space elevator to facilitate travel to and from Shroud. Despite initial skepticism, the team eventually built the elevator, which allowed them to shuttle loads up and down and take measurements. However, they soon realized that the outer pole of Shroud, where the elevator was anchored, was devoid of life due to the extreme conditions.

The team continued to study the data from the drones and discovered more about the creatures on Shroud, including giant kite-beasts that lived in the constant winds. They also detected electromagnetic signals from the creatures, which they believed were used for communication and navigation.

As the project progressed, tensions arose among the team members, particularly between Ste Etienne and the scientists. Ste Etienne began working on a new project, building manned vehicles for a human descent onto Shroud, which sparked controversy among the team. Despite the challenges and disagreements, the team continued to push forward, driven by their curiosity about the mysterious world of Shroud.

==== chapter004 - 1.4 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

The scene unfolds with the narrator presenting footage of the alien environment on Shroud to a group of esteemed guests, including Chief Director Advent and Umbar of Technical Oversight. The footage, captured by a drone, shows a desolate landscape with chimneys and lattice structures, and a creature that appears to be using some form of sensory pulse to navigate its surroundings. The narrator explains that the creature's "voice" is actually a biological generation of radio waves, used to "see" its environment.

As the presentation continues, Advent and Umbar express their interest in the findings, but also their concerns about the pace of progress. They emphasize the need to accelerate the project and gather more data, particularly in regards to the surface conditions on Shroud. The narrator and their team are under pressure to deliver results, and the atmosphere is tense.

The team's dynamics are also revealed, with the narrator working closely with Bartokh, their superior, and other team members, including Ste Etienne and Big Mike Jerennian. The latter is a physically imposing figure who is not afraid to use his size to intimidate others, and is also involved in illicit cage-fighting matches.

As the story progresses, it becomes clear that the team is under immense pressure to deliver results, and that the safety margins are being cut in order to meet the deadlines. The narrator is aware of the risks, but is also driven by the desire to make progress and uncover the secrets of the alien environment.

The scene ends with Advent and Umbar departing, leaving the narrator and Bartokh to discuss the project's progress. Bartokh orders the narrator to delete a "red folder" containing concerns about safety margins, indicating that the team is willing to take risks to meet their goals. The narrator is left with a sense of unease, knowing that the project is pushing the boundaries of safety and sanity.

==== chapter005 - 1.5 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

The crew of the Garveneer's Special Projects module was preparing for a manned mission to the surface of Shroud, a moon with a hostile environment. Engineer Ste Etienne was studying footage of alien creatures from a previous drone mission, trying to understand their behavior and physiology. She noticed something peculiar in the footage and asked the narrator for their opinion, showing them an image of a creature's limb that seemed to match the shape of a standard attachment deconstructor tool. The narrator was skeptical, thinking it was an artifact of the image enhancement, but Ste Etienne's concern was evident.

Before they could discuss it further, an alarm sounded, and the crew realized that a shipment of mined material was hurtling towards them, threatening to collide with the orbital scaffolding. Despite efforts to avoid the impact, the shipment struck the scaffolding, causing a massive shockwave that damaged the Special Projects module. The crew scrambled to respond, with Ste Etienne and the narrator taking shelter in a pod. They witnessed the devastation outside, including the destruction of the sample tanks, which released a flammable atmosphere that ignited, causing further chaos.

As the pod was dragged through space, the narrator saw the ravaged walls of the workshop and the main hull of the Garveneer receding into the distance. The pod's trajectory was taking them straight into Shroud's gravity well, and Ste Etienne made adjustments to try and stabilize their descent. The narrator felt the pummeling fists of Shroud's upper atmosphere, and the couch administered a shot of something, causing them to lose consciousness.

==== chapter006 - 1.6 DARKNESS (Статус: completed) ====

1.6 DARKNESS 

A presence, deemed strange and a threat, is detected. The narrator gathers itself, calling and responding, attempting to understand the unknown entity. It creates a ring around the thing and examines it from multiple angles, experiencing jagged edges above and shifting pieces below. The ground beneath the entity is broken, suggesting a forceful impact. The narrator's thoughts explore the entity, finding it bright, round, heavy, and noisy, yet simultaneously dead and lively. Despite searching through memories, the narrator finds no past experience to compare this to. The entity moves, shudders, and smells of surprise. Ultimately, it speaks.

==== chapter007 - INTERLUDE ONE (Статус: completed) ====

Life begins in the darkness of the sea, where hot volcanic vents spew carbon dioxide and sulphur, catalysing reactions that accelerate mere chemistry into self-sustaining life. Minute flecks of insensate life form, building upon one another and constructing reefs, towers, and chimneys that channel lifegiving heat and elements. As life evolves, it takes account of the life it lives alongside, forming colonies and creating new niches for opportunistic life to fill. Over time, these motes combine in more sophisticated ways, giving rise to immobile, senseless creatures that sift the water for sustenance. As the vents come and go, creatures emerge that move, gathering energy and developing forms and habits that allow them to devour others. In consuming these others, they take in poisons and metals, which they must expel, forming shells and plates that become defences and supports. Limbs, claws, and tools form from these elements, and life slowly alters the composition of the sea and the air above, creating opportunities for those forced to the edges of the water. Eventually, life crawls indolently onto the shore, marking the beginning of the second age of the world.

==== chapter008 - 2.1 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

The narrative begins in darkness, with the protagonist, Juna, coming to in a pod after a crash. A stern voice, Ste Etienne's, tells Juna to stop whimpering. Juna is struggling to breathe and talk due to the harsh gravity of the planet, Shroud. Ste Etienne, an engineer, is assessing their situation and finds Juna's vitals to be concerning. She adjusts the couch to help Juna and administers a treatment to stabilize Juna's condition.

As Juna recovers, Ste Etienne explains that they are indeed on Shroud and that their pod is damaged. Juna inquires about the others, and Ste Etienne informs him that Skien and Rastomaier are dead, while Bartokh's status is uncertain. Ste Etienne is trying to repair the pod's systems, but the environment outside is hostile, with a constant, deafening noise and extreme gravity.

Ste Etienne manages to establish a connection with Bartokh, who is in another pod. Bartokh's voice is weak and distorted, but he is alive. Ste Etienne explains that they cannot signal the ship for rescue due to the planet's intense radiation. Bartokh asks if they can move to higher ground to escape the interference, but Ste Etienne is uncertain about their location and the feasibility of such a plan.

As Ste Etienne works to repair the pod, Juna becomes aware of strange noises and movements outside. Ste Etienne activates the lamps, revealing a group of alien creatures, which they had previously seen in drone footage. The creatures are bizarre, with interlocking, woven bodies and no discernible eyes. They seem to be investigating the pods, using their limbs to tap and scrape at the hulls.

Ste Etienne attempts to scare the creatures away with an electromagnetic pulse, but they seem to adapt and continue their investigation. Juna tries to use the pod's arms to free Bartokh's pod, which is stuck in the undergrowth. As they work, the creatures continue to move around them, their intentions unclear.

The situation becomes increasingly tense as the creatures seem to be responding to Ste Etienne's pulses, and the pod's systems are still malfunctioning. The narrative ends with Ste Etienne and Juna trying to find a way to escape or communicate with the creatures, while Bartokh's voice grows weaker, and the environment outside remains hostile and unpredictable.

==== chapter009 - 2.2 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

Ste Etienne attempted to communicate with the alien creatures, known as the Shrouded, by sending three pulses on a narrower band of frequencies. The creatures responded, and Ste Etienne analyzed their signal, discovering a complex pattern. She used this pattern to create a new signal, which the Shrouded responded to by changing their behavior. They seemed to lose interest in the humans, but then began to move towards them again. 

As the Shrouded approached, the humans noticed that they were being herded towards a tunnel. The creatures were using some sort of force to push them, and the humans stumbled and fell as they tried to resist. Ste Etienne struggled to control the pod's legs, but they were unable to move quickly enough to escape.

As they were pushed through the tunnel, the humans caught glimpses of a massive, spider-like creature above them. It was using a long, spiral-shaped appendage to attack the Shrouded, and the humans realized that they were being protected by their alien captors.

The Shrouded led them to a large, underground cavern, where the humans saw a group of creatures gathered around a bowl filled with liquid. One of the creatures, which appeared to be injured or ill, was led into the bowl and torn apart by the others. The humans were shocked and horrified by this sight, and Ste Etienne suggested that it might be some sort of cannibalistic ritual.

As the humans tried to escape, the Shrouded took Bartokh's pod and began to open it. Ste Etienne tried to intervene, but was unable to stop them. The creatures tore the pod open, and Bartokh was killed instantly by the high-pressure atmosphere. The explosion that followed was contained within the pod, but the humans knew they were in grave danger.

The Shrouded then turned their attention to the remaining humans, and Ste Etienne put the pod into reverse, trying to escape. However, they were trapped in the tunnel, and the creatures began to close in on them.

==== chapter010 - 2.3 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

The pod continued to navigate the treacherous terrain of Shroud, with Ste Etienne and the narrator struggling to survive. They had escaped the tunnel where Bartokh was killed, but the Shrouded were still stalking them with an inhuman patience. The narrator caught a glimpse of the creatures in the rearward camera, and they seemed to be adapted to the hellscape, with limbs tipped with clips or hooks that allowed them to grasp the briar stems.

As they journeyed on, Ste Etienne suddenly stopped the pod, and the narrator was unsure why. The lamps picked out no landmarks, but the altimeter indicated they had ascended about ten meters. The narrator checked the radiosphere, but there was no signal from the Garveneer, only the broad-band bedlam of Shroud's living system.

Ste Etienne was quiet, and the narrator tried to rouse her, but she made a strange, inhuman sound, and her shoulders shuddered as she wept. The narrator tried to comfort her, but his efforts were awkward and embarrassing. Ste Etienne eventually pulled herself together and told the narrator to focus on repairing some of the pod's systems.

As they worked, the Shrouded began to close in, their electromagnetic activity spiking as they moved. The narrator and Ste Etienne tried to move away, but the creatures matched their pace, their stop-start motion unnerving. The narrator suggested trying to lose them in the terrain, but Ste Etienne was skeptical.

Suddenly, they approached a hole in the ground, and a massive, plated worm creature emerged, its legs arranged in a helix around its body. The creature attacked the pod, its hooked blades squealing and shrieking across the exterior. Ste Etienne managed to anchor the pod's feet, but the creature thrashed and buckled, trying to prise them loose.

Just as it seemed like the creature would overwhelm them, the Shrouded attacked it, working together to pry it off the pod. The creature retreated, and the Shrouded turned their attention back to the pod, their communications band spiking with three-pulse patterns. Ste Etienne responded, sending three pulses back, and the creatures replied, their signals simultaneous and coordinated.

==== chapter011 - 2.4 DARKNESS (Статус: completed) ====

The narrator, a being of superior intellect, encounters a Stranger, a creature unlike any it has ever seen. The Stranger is composed of two bulbous segments and a narrow waist, with limbs that seem damaged or malformed. Initially, the narrator thinks the Stranger is an animal, but as it observes the creature's movements and sounds, it begins to suspect that the Stranger may be more intelligent. The Stranger speaks in a series of grunts, which the narrator attempts to understand and respond to.

As the narrator continues to observe the Stranger, it realizes that the creature is not from its world, but from the sky. The narrator is shocked and fascinated by this discovery, and it attempts to communicate with the Stranger using a variety of methods. Despite the challenges of communication, the narrator begins to understand that the Stranger is an ambassador of some sort, carrying a message from its home in the sky.

However, the narrator's attempts to understand the Stranger are interrupted by the arrival of a predator, the lancer. The narrator defends the Stranger against the lancer, using its intelligence and cunning to outmaneuver the predator. Despite its efforts, the narrator is injured in the battle, and it begins to lose its ability to think and communicate.

The narrator returns to its home, where it attempts to analyze the Stranger's message. However, the message is not what the narrator expected, and it is shocked and confused by what it discovers. The narrator realizes that the Stranger is not an ambassador, but a creature that contains a hidden world within its shell. The narrator is fascinated and intimidated by this discovery, and it is left to ponder the implications of its encounter with the Stranger.

As the narrator follows the Stranger, it continues to try to understand and communicate with the creature. Despite the challenges, the narrator is drawn to the Stranger and feels a sense of responsibility to protect it. The narrator's instincts take over, and it defends the Stranger against another predator, the tubeworm. In the end, the narrator is left alongside the Stranger, with a newfound appreciation for the creature's strange and alien nature.

==== chapter012 - INTERLUDE TWO (Статус: completed) ====

Life on this world transitioned from the ocean to the open air, where it found a denser atmosphere rich in energetic chemistry, including methane, ammonia, and raw hydrogen. The life forms evolved catalysts to harness this energy and left behind the slow, sluggish ways of the sea. They developed crude walking shells, refined into stilt-legged walkers, and discovered the eternally chasing winds of the Everstorm to distribute eggs and young. Sessile life built islands, promontories, and continents of wrack, channeling and harvesting the rich air. Energy was encapsulated in highly oxidized compounds, and the biomes of the land fell to life, creating many more biomes. Despite the complexity and variety of life, it was still dark, with no sunbeams or bioluminescence. Life learned to hear, using fine hairs to detect tremors, and an arms race of stealth and auditory acuity accelerated evolution. Life grew, with articulated carapaces allowing rapid expansion, and competition drove the development of larger frames and more complex sensory apparatus. Eventually, a creature learned to listen so hard that it could hear its own echo, marking the next great leap forward for life.

==== chapter013 - 3.1 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

Juna and Ste Etienne were trapped on the hostile moon of Shroud, surrounded by alien creatures known as the Shrouded. Despite the creatures' ominous presence, they had not yet attacked the pair. Ste Etienne was exhausted, and Juna offered to drive the pod, but she declined, instead choosing to rest while Juna worked on finding a way to signal for help. The pod's systems were not designed to transmit a signal strong enough to reach their rescuers, and Ste Etienne felt guilty for not anticipating this problem. Juna reassured her, pointing out that they had already survived numerous challenges on the moon.

Ste Etienne mentioned that the Shrouded didn't need to kill them, as the moon's harsh environment would eventually do the job. She suggested heading towards the elevator anchor, a human-made landmark on the moon, in the hopes of finding a way to signal for help or even climb the cable to escape. However, she didn't know the anchor's location, and Juna's attempts to find it using the pod's data were initially unsuccessful.

Juna eventually discovered a way to locate the anchor by analyzing the moon's radiosphere and the patterns of electromagnetic activity caused by the system's sun and the planet, Prospector. He realized that the sun's EM frequencies could be used to pinpoint their location and determine the direction of the anchor. However, this also revealed that they were on the wrong side of the moon, facing a long and treacherous journey to reach the anchor.

With no other options, Ste Etienne decided to start moving the pod, despite concerns about the mechanical stress and wear and tear on the vehicle. As they traveled, they encountered a new environment, with a thinning weave of briars and more small life forms. The pod's instruments detected a patch of open sea ahead, with a unique biome that was unknown on Earth. The sea was not quite liquid, due to the low temperatures, and was home to strange, living creatures that seemed to be adapted to the extreme conditions. Juna and Ste Etienne were faced with the daunting task of navigating this alien landscape in search of a way to escape.

==== chapter014 - 3.2 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

Ste Etienne and the narrator were trying to navigate through the ice-covered terrain of the planet Shroud, accompanied by their escort, the Shrouded. They discovered a massive, translucent creature dwelling beneath the ice, its tentacles stretching up to the surface. The creature, which they referred to as the "ice-dweller," seemed to be holding the ice together, and they decided to use it as a road forward. As they traversed the ice, they encountered other forms of life, including creatures with sails that utilized the wind to move across the ice. The Shrouded occasionally chased and caught these creatures, but their motives were unclear. The narrator and Ste Etienne took turns sleeping and driving the pod, trying to make sense of the alien world around them. However, their progress was disrupted when they encountered massive, shark-like creatures that emerged from the water and began to climb onto the ice. The Shrouded, who had previously protected them, suddenly turned against them, tipping the pod into the sea and leaving the narrator and Ste Etienne to fend for themselves.

==== chapter015 - 3.3 DARKNESS (Статус: completed) ====

The narrator, a complex, Otherlike mind, continues to accompany the Stranger, a clumsy and poorly shaped entity, on its journey across the ice. The narrator's understanding of its mission has condensed to merely knowing that the Stranger has a destination and that it is intended to follow. As they traverse the ice, the narrator reflects on its fragmentary memories of moving onto the ice long ago and devising hands to hook prey from the sea.

The Stranger's course demands that they cross the ice, and the narrator follows, despite feeling a sense of despair and disconnection from its own purpose. The signals that the narrator once painted onto the Stranger are losing their potency, making it harder for the narrator to remember why it is following the Stranger.

As they reach the edge of the ice, the Stranger seems baffled, and the narrator must catch it when its weight breaks the ice. The Stranger then moves along the ice boundary, rather than descending into the water, and the narrator realizes that it is trying to cross the sea.

A faint idea intrudes into the narrator's mind, sparking a curiosity about the Stranger and its purpose. The narrator decides to continue following the Stranger, despite feeling uncertain and disconnected from its own purpose.

As they journey on, the narrator reflects on its own nature and the complexity of its mind. It realizes that it is a great mind, capable of acknowledging the possibility of things beyond its grasp. The narrator decides to assist the Stranger on its journey, using its seagoing segments to guide it towards its home.

Eventually, the narrator calls out to the Stranger, inviting it to come into the water, but the Stranger does not respond. The narrator forces the issue, displacing the Stranger into the water and hooking it with its segments. The narrator then hauls the Stranger into its submerged caves, where it sets it down and considers what it has brought to itself.

==== chapter016 - 3.4 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

Ste Etienne announced, "We're out," despite the dead cameras and dark screens, relying on the pressure gauge to determine their exit from the water. The pod's systems were damaged, with a couple of cameras down and one leg frozen, due to the alkalinity of the water rather than the pressure. The crew set to work repairing the damage, with Ste Etienne focusing on the cameras and the narrator clearing the leg joints with an arm and a scourer. As the repairs progressed, they discovered that the creatures surrounding them, initially thought to be different species, were actually the same worm-like beings they had encountered before, with adapted exteriors for various tasks. The creatures were broadcasting on a specific communication band, creating a wall of signal and noise that made it difficult for the crew to communicate.

Ste Etienne and the narrator discussed the possibility of the creatures having learned from a drone and sharing that knowledge with other nests, but the narrator was hesitant to speculate, citing the lack of facts and the danger of getting lost in fruitless speculation. Ste Etienne shared some good and bad news: the bad news was that they had limited information on the terrain between their current location and the pole, which could lead to severe wear and tear on the pod; the good news was that she could use a deployable air drone to gather navigation and terrain data, potentially helping them find a more efficient route.

As they prepared to launch the drone, the crew observed the creatures around them, noting their constant motion and radio activity. The narrator felt on the brink of a revelation, but it was interrupted by Ste Etienne piloting the pod out of the chamber, revealing their surroundings.

==== chapter017 - 3.5 DARKNESS (Статус: completed) ====

The narrator, a being with a unique, segmented body, has obtained a mysterious object known as the Stranger. As they examine it, they are unsure what it is, but a fading memory suggests it is complicated. The narrator's natural curiosity is tempered by a nagging thought that dissuades them from taking rash action, such as deconstructing the Stranger. Instead, they observe it, noting that it lives because it thinks, with an undirected chaos of thought emanating from it. The Stranger begins to move, cleaning and restoring itself, and the narrator is fascinated by its unfamiliar processes and chemical reactions. As they continue to observe, they confirm that the Stranger does not move like a living thing and seems inefficient in its design. Despite their curiosity, the narrator decides to exercise patience, heeding a memory-trace that warns against exposing what is inside the Stranger. They balance their desire for action with the need for caution, ultimately choosing to continue observing without intervening.

==== chapter018 - 3.6 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

Ste Etienne and the narrator found themselves outside, teetering on the edge of a drop that led to icy water, after navigating through a mountain range. They noticed bridges and ramps made of empty exoskeletons, connecting chimneys that resembled volcanoes due to the smoke emanating from them. Chemical analysis revealed that the chimneys were actually ocean-floor vents, which supported a unique community of life. The duo decided to climb one of the chimneys, but the steep and smooth slope proved challenging. The locals, who seemed aware of their position despite being blind, eventually carried them inside a vent in the chimney.

 Inside the chimney, they discovered a unique ecosystem, with a yellow, fronded life form that thrived in the heated gas and chemical-rich environment. The locals were harvesting this life form, using specialized tools and aqualungs to breathe in the dense atmosphere. Ste Etienne and the narrator ascended a spiraling ramp, observing the locals' efficient and coordinated movements, which seemed almost machine-like.

As they neared the top of the chimney, the air thinned, and the plant life decreased. The ramp ended abruptly, but the locals carved an exit through the wall, allowing the duo to emerge outside. They found themselves on a sheer surface, with Shrouded creatures adapting their metallic bodies to climb the terrain. Ste Etienne and the narrator prepared to release a drone, equipped with a radio buoy and EM receptors, to gather data and potentially triangulate their destination. Despite the challenges and uncertainties, they decided to proceed with the plan, releasing the drone into the wind.

==== chapter019 - 3.7 DARKNESS (Статус: completed) ====

The narrator, a highly intelligent and adaptable entity, observes a strange creature, the Stranger, as it navigates the narrator's domain. The Stranger is awkward and lacks the intellect to alter its body for ascent, but the narrator guides it inside to study its behavior. The narrator hypothesizes that the Stranger is trying to reproduce and, indeed, it releases a large child into the air, which is carried away by the wind. The narrator is shocked by the Stranger's mechanical ingenuity in creating a capsule-like structure to facilitate the child's flight. As the child separates from the parent, the Stranger cries out in a shrill, wordless thought, suggesting that its life cycle is not yet complete. The narrator, who has been studying the Stranger with a mix of fascination and detachment, decides to hold off on dissecting it, anticipating another stage in the Stranger's drama. Throughout the passage, the narrator reflects on its own history, recalling its adaptation to the archipelago environment and its growth into a complex, intelligent entity.

==== chapter020 - 3.8 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

Ste Etienne and the narrator were waiting for a signal from the drone they had sent out earlier. Ste Etienne was awake, thanks to stim shots, and the narrator was trying to sleep. They discussed how long they should wait for the signal and the possibility of the drone being destroyed. The narrator ran diagnostics and checks on the pod's systems, tightening up code and polishing the way the pod operated. However, they both knew that it wasn't defective code that would be their downfall, but rather the physical components of the pod and the harsh environment of Shroud.

When Ste Etienne woke up again, they started making small talk, and Ste Etienne brought up the topic of Oswerry Bartokh, their former superior. The narrator was shocked to learn that everyone had assumed they were having an affair with Bartokh, which wasn't true. Ste Etienne revealed that she had been "buffing" Umbar, a superior, to get ahead, and the narrator shared a past encounter with Skien.

The narrator eventually fell asleep, only to be woken up by the pod moving. Ste Etienne had detected a faint signal from the drone and was homing in on it. They descended a chimney, rappelling down the slope, and eventually found the wreckage of the drone. The Shrouded had torn off the wing framework and dismantled it, but the narrator and Ste Etienne were able to retrieve the data core.

After some tense moments, they managed to link to the drone's core and retrieve the data, which included meteorological, navigational, and terrestrial information. The data was corrupted by the noise of Shroud, but they were able to clean it up and get a rough map of what lay ahead. They also narrowed down their destination to within a few square kilometers and triangulated their current position. With this new information, they set off again, accompanied by an escort of Shrouded.

==== chapter021 - 3.9 DARKNESS (Статус: completed) ====

The narrator's home returns to normal, with the Stranger remaining in place, emitting a forlorn wail. The narrator prepares ambassadors to send to other minds, inquiring about similar encounters, and recalls a prior contact that prepared them for the Stranger's oddness. When the Stranger's "child" returns, the narrator realizes it's actually another segment, sent out like a foraging party. The narrator studies the segment's structure, learning about new mechanics and chemistry, before the Stranger reclaims it and begins to move away. The narrator decides to follow the Stranger, sending parts of themselves to gather knowledge, and rehearses their mission: to preserve and learn from it. As they venture further from home, the narrator struggles to hold onto their complex thoughts, but continues to follow the Stranger, hoping their ambassador will explain their mission when they encounter another mind.

==== chapter022 - INTERLUDE THREE (Статус: completed) ====

Life began to scream, its sounds echoing through a world that had once been silent. The sensory voice emerged, bringing information on the physical nature of the world beyond the reach of limbs and antennae. Creature lineages that developed this facility became the next masters, while others died out or were driven into specialized forms. Evolution was driven by an arms race, with sensory apparatus competing for range and detail in the dark. Some species, however, invested in alternative strategies, including behavioural and structural modifications to baffle sonar. One minor lineage grew a net of filaments to break up its sonar profile, becoming a ghost in the world. These filaments detected electrical fields, providing a new channel of environmental information. Meanwhile, air-dwelling life expanded across the world, incorporating new elements into its diet and secreting them into complex suits of mail. Crystals in these suits generated piezoelectric signals, which could be picked up by fine metallic filaments. Amidst the cacophony of sounds, one species discovered a world of silence, using it to navigate and communicate, marking the beginning of the next age of Shroud.

==== chapter023 - 4.1 DARKNESS (Статус: completed) ====

The narrator's memories suggest that traveling in this direction will be challenging, with poor hunting and harvesting opportunities. They recall encountering danger and harm in this area, but their memories are patchy and unreliable. As they focus on their mission regarding the Stranger, they begin to recall more about the terrain, including a steep and rocky landscape that may pose difficulties for the Stranger. A fragmented memory reveals that the narrator previously crossed these mountains, not over but through the earth, where they experienced fear and loss of identity. The narrator hopes the Stranger will turn back, but if they approach the caves, they will try to warn them away, knowing that the underground is home to "hungry ghosts" that cannot be thought about.

==== chapter024 - 4.2 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

Ste Etienne and the narrator continued on their planned course, ascending into the foothills despite the narrator's misgivings. The Shrouded followed, but seemed hesitant, and the pod struggled to move through the dense, vegetal undergrowth. As they climbed higher, they encountered stronger winds and more life forms, including massive, kite-like creatures that fed on the wind-borne buffet. The pass they aimed to cross was teeming with life, and the duo realized they couldn't make it through without significant difficulty.

The Shrouded, who had been signaling to them, led them to a cave entrance. Ste Etienne was skeptical, but the narrator suggested that the Shrouded were genuinely trying to help. They sent a ball drone into the cave to map it and determine if it was safe to traverse. The drone returned, indicating a path through the cave system, and they decided to follow it.

As they entered the caves, the Shrouded became hesitant, and the duo noticed a change in their behavior. The tunnels were covered in a lichen-like substance, and small creatures scurried about. The air was quiet, with minimal electromagnetic signals, which was a welcome respite from the constant noise on Shroud's surface. The narrator and Ste Etienne continued through the maze-like tunnels, following the ball drone's map, until they stumbled upon a shimmering, dome-backed shell with a fringe of shining spines. Initially, they thought it might be a valuable mineral deposit, but their excitement was short-lived as the creature suddenly moved.

==== chapter025 - 4.3 DARKNESS (Статус: completed) ====

The Stranger ignores the narrator's warnings and enters the caves, a path the narrator had previously taken and emerged from weakened and with torn memories. Despite initial reservations, the narrator follows, initially finding the calm within the caves welcome and clarifying. However, it soon begins to die, its segments flaring alarms and disappearing as it catches whispers of spectral movement. The narrator panics, unable to find the source of the attack, and lashes out, feeling only the cave's hardness. The Stranger grunts, and the narrator's words fade with each lost segment, consumed by rising terror.

==== chapter026 - 4.4 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

The crew navigated through the cave, encountering a silver, predatory creature that attacked their escort. The creature's shiny shell made it nearly invisible to the escort's senses, allowing it to kill several of them. The crew realized the limits of the escort's sensorium and used radio pulses to draw them away from the creature. They continued through the cave, avoiding the creatures and eventually emerging on the other side of the mountain.

As they descended the mountain slope, they encountered a vast, three-dimensional sculpture of ice that seemed to defy explanation. The ice was formed around a network of thin, living filaments, creating a living biome. The crew's escort, the Shrouded, seemed to sense the presence of other creatures, which soon attacked. The creatures, called "spitters," used a unique form of attack, firing boluses of water that expanded rapidly upon impact, destroying several of the Shrouded.

The crew fled, pursued by the spitters, and their pod took damage, losing one of its legs. They managed to escape the spitters' territory, but the pod was badly damaged, and the crew was left to assess their situation and make repairs. Ste Etienne was injured, and the crew's priority was to get the pharma dispenser online to treat her wounds. They managed to repair some of the damage and get the lamps and cameras working again, but their situation remained precarious.

==== chapter028 - 4.6 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

The pod had landed in a bed of crinoid-like creatures, which were actually detritovores reaching up towards the sky. The surface below was unknown, and the pod's occupants, the narrator and Ste Etienne, were trying to determine what lay beneath. Ste Etienne was struggling to keep the pod's legs functioning, and the narrator was feeling overwhelmed by the events of the past few days. They reminisced about their childhood in the habitat tanks, singing the Worker's Hymn and competing for the Cobalt Star of Praise. Ste Etienne had won the award once, but it was taken away after she got into a fight.

As they explored their surroundings, they discovered that the surface was actually ice, and the detritovores were projecting through it. They encountered a strange metal tower, or pylon, that seemed to be constructed in a similar way to the Shrouded life forms they had seen before. The pylon was hollow and had no living thing inside it. As they continued on their journey, they encountered more strange creatures, including ones that lived within the ice itself.

The pod was eventually attacked by creatures that used a slingshot-like mechanism to fire missiles at them. The creatures were able to target the pod's weak points, including its damaged leg, and eventually crippled it. The narrator and Ste Etienne were left stranded, and the creatures began to take them apart. Just as all hope seemed lost, the narrator noticed that the EM band used by the Shrouded was active, and he sent out a signal, but it was too late, and the creatures continued their dissection.

==== chapter029 - 4.7 DARKNESS (Статус: completed) ====

The narrator, a complex entity, is engaged in exploring the construction of a creature with a solid and impermeable carapace. The creature's shell is defensible but hinders mobility, and the narrator has rendered it immobile with carefully applied violence. As the narrator analyzes the creature's construction, it begins to apply force to break through the shell. However, a moment of hesitation arises when a memory, unfamiliar and without context, surfaces. The creature's thoughts, a mad babble of weeping and mewling, contain a simple rhythm that sparks a past association in the narrator. The narrator recalls inheriting broken, incoherent thoughts from its neighbors and senses a great void of ignorance. Despite being the master of its domain, the narrator feels a gap in knowledge bordering on the existential. As it holds the creature, the narrator relaxes its grip and responds to the creature's simple thoughts, "Unh unh unh," with a reply of its own.

==== chapter030 - 4.8 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

Ste Etienne and the narrator stopped, staring into their personal abyss, waiting for the next terrible thing to happen. However, the signal from the Shrouded reappeared, resurrected somehow. The Shrouded, in their communal bodies, watched over them. They had dismantled one of the pod's legs into twelve pieces, which the narrator and Ste Etienne painstakingly reassembled, only for the Shrouded to lose patience and take the pod apart again. 

The Shrouded then began spinning the pod, causing the narrator and Ste Etienne to jolt about in their couches. After the spinning stopped, Ste Etienne, despite her broken arm, assessed their situation. The Shrouded had reattached the dismantled leg, but the connections were still severed. The narrator worked to re-establish the connections, with the Shrouded watching intently, as if learning how to fix human vehicles.

Once the leg was functional, the Shrouded lifted the pod and carried it towards their colony. As they entered, the narrator and Ste Etienne saw a vast, icy chamber with slanting pillars and carved spheres suspended in the air. The spheres seemed to be an orrery, a model of the solar system, which raised questions about how the Shrouded could have knowledge of the solar system without sight or visible stars. Ste Etienne realized that they must have found sapient life, a civilization, on the moon.

==== chapter031 - 4.9 DARKNESS (Статус: completed) ====

The narrator, a complex and sprawling mind, has placed the Stranger, a mysterious and alien entity, in the map chamber, the hub of its thoughts. It attempts to understand the Stranger's origins and journey, but the only evidence is a collection of fragmented memories from a lost segment that was part of an expedition focused on the Stranger. The narrator's thoughts reach out to different loci, unlocking memories of colonized locations and Otherlike polities, but it is unclear if the Stranger passed through these areas.

The narrator considers itself the greatest and most complex mind in the world, but the Stranger is unlike anything it has encountered. Its materials, construction, and movements are alien, and it does not react to the narrator's maps. The Stranger appears to be a fraction of a greater body, with its more capable limbs stripped away, and it has been hurt.

As the narrator contemplates the Stranger's destruction to gain more knowledge, it suddenly realizes that the Stranger passed by a colony of Otherlike entities and that they learned from its actions. This knowledge is somehow part of the narrator, but it does not know how it was acquired. The narrator is confused and briefly stunned, but then it prepares for enlightenment as an ambassador from the Otherlike entities approaches at an unprecedented speed.

==== chapter032 - 4.10 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

The Shrouded, a sightless alien species, had been edging closer to the narrator and Ste Etienne, but then abruptly changed their focus. Ste Etienne attempted to map the orrery they were in to the solar system, convinced that there was a match to be found. The narrator, however, was skeptical, and their usual roles were reversed. As they navigated the ice hall, they stumbled upon a ritual where the Shrouded were sampling fluids from one of their own. The narrator quickly retreated, not wanting to be next. They found a way out of the hall and ended up in a vast, architecturally unsupported chamber, where they saw smaller Shrouded creatures. As they tried to navigate, they came across a long string with Shrouded holding onto it, and above, they saw a massive airship, built from the materials of the Shrouded's external bodies, with a design similar to their own aerial drone that had crashed earlier. The Shrouded had dismantled the drone and replicated it on a larger scale, giving them access to the air. The narrator realized that even if they managed to escape and report their findings, it wouldn't change the fate of the Shrouded or the planet, as the Concerns would continue with their resource-stripping mission, and the Shrouded would be just a complication to be dealt with.

==== chapter033 - INTERLUDE FOUR (Статус: completed) ====

Life navigated the darkness through various means, including the detection of electromagnetic fields generated by other living beings. Nerve-analogues, formed differently than human nerves, allowed for the detection of these fields, which were generated by the activity of thoughts and bodily commands. This ability evolved independently in several lineages, enabling them to project electromagnetic signals and gather information about their surroundings. A communal-living species emerged, relying on mutual protection and communication through electromagnetic signals that carried information between individuals. As the world filled with noise from other species, these creatures developed complex encoding and encryption to distinguish their own thoughts, leading to the development of larger brain-analogues and a more elevated perspective. The need to analyze these signals drove the development of intellect, ultimately giving rise to a single, interconnected mind, where senses and thoughts blended seamlessly between bodies and the world.

==== chapter034 - 5.1 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

Ste Etienne gazed at the screens, mesmerized by the massive aerial structure built by the Shrouded. She expressed regret over not being more ambitious in their designs for Shroud, feeling outdone by the aliens' ingenuity. The narrator pointed out that the Shrouded had a better understanding of the environment, having been there longer. Ste Etienne was bitter and impressed, realizing that she could have built something similar if she had thought of it. She began frantically entering calculations, exploring the possibility of creating a similar structure. Meanwhile, the Shrouded moved about, engaging in their incomprehensible activities. The narrator pondered the fundamental differences between humans and the Shrouded, recognizing that their approaches to building and design were worlds apart. Ste Etienne interrupted his philosophical musings, having completed her calculations, and proposed a bold plan: stealing one of the Shrouded's dirigibles.

==== chapter035 - 5.2 DARKNESS (Статус: completed) ====

The narrator, a complex, multi-segmented being, receives memories from its Otherlike self, which has been observing the Stranger, a metal-shelled creature that crashed to the ground from the sky. These memories reveal the Stranger's history, including its destructive landing and its single-minded drive to travel across the world. The narrator, who has been following the Stranger's progress, is struck by its contradictory nature: it appears to be both a mindless beast and a complex entity capable of remarkable feats. The narrator receives an encoded message from its Otherlike self, which provides a detailed history of the Stranger's actions and reveals that its chance behaviors have led to innovative solutions. The narrator realizes that the Stranger's actions have given it the freedom of the skies, allowing it to send its segments everywhere and to communicate with its Otherlike selves more efficiently. As the Stranger approaches a flying body, the narrator observes its actions, wondering if it will recognize the flying body as a means to achieve its goal. The Stranger's awkward attempts to interact with the flying body suggest that it may possess a basic form of sapience, and the narrator finds itself willing the Stranger to demonstrate its intelligence. Ultimately, the Stranger begins to climb onto the flying body, and the narrator's mind is filled with possibilities.

==== chapter036 - 5.3 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

The narrator and Ste Etienne had managed to commandeer a massive, Shrouded-built airship, a replica of their own aerial drone. They were amazed by the Shrouded's ingenuity, particularly their use of an elastic band-like system to power the propellors. As they flew, they joked about the absurdity of their situation and the fact that they were essentially stealing an alien airship. Ste Etienne praised the narrator's ability to "get on with people" and solve social problems, calling them the "flex" in their system that kept them going.

As they flew, they detected the presence of other Shrouded airships, possibly escorting or spying on them. They used a radar buoy to navigate and measure their speed, but eventually ran out of data and had to rely on trial and error to keep going. The airship began to lose height, and they realized they were passing over a barren, icy landscape. Suddenly, they saw a mountain range looming ahead and were attacked by creatures like giant barnacles that clung to the peaks.

The airship was badly damaged, but they managed to break free and crash-land on the other side of the mountain. Miraculously, they survived with minimal damage. As they emerged from the wreckage, they saw the Shrouded gathering around them, their signals growing stronger. The narrator and Ste Etienne were left to wonder where they were and how to communicate with the Shrouded, who seemed to be trying to help them. They were close to the pole, but their chances of survival were still uncertain.

==== chapter037 - 5.4 DARKNESS (Статус: completed) ====

The narrator, a being capable of dividing itself into multiple segments, finds itself in a new and unfamiliar place with the Stranger, a mysterious entity with a strange design. The narrator had assumed the Stranger would lead it to a hidden home or a larger, more complex version of itself, but instead, they find themselves in a barren desert. As the narrator's supplies dwindle, it divides itself, sending some segments to forage for sustenance while keeping the Stranger company. The narrator reflects on the risks of spreading itself too thin and the importance of unity and complexity. After noticing the Stranger's crippled state, the narrator uses its spare parts to create a makeshift fourth leg, allowing the Stranger to move more easily. Despite this, the narrator's attempts to communicate with the Stranger are met with only a simple, repetitive response, leaving it to wonder if the Stranger is truly a thinking being.

==== chapter038 - 5.5 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

Juna Ceelander and Ste Etienne struggled to navigate the alien moon of Shroud, their pod crippled and their bodies ravaged by excessive pharmaceutical use. A new, rigid peg leg had been attached to the pod, causing them to lurch and pivot as they moved. The two women were losing their sense of identity, their minds clouded by the chemical cocktail coursing through their veins. They had been operating at 500% of the recommended pharmaceutical dosage, and their fragile biological systems were beginning to fail.

As they trekked across the barren, icy landscape, they spotted a dim reddish glow in the distance. Initially, they thought it might be a sign of human activity, but it turned out to be molten rock, a geological phenomenon that defied the moon's usual darkness. The discovery was a crushing disappointment, and they continued on, their morale dwindling.

Their progress was slow, hampered by the pod's failing legs and the treacherous terrain. Ste Etienne was forced to weld one of the legs into place, leaving them with two peg legs and a severely limited range of motion. Juna's attempts to boost morale were met with skepticism, and Ste Etienne's frustration boiled over as she struggled to keep the pod operational.

Just as it seemed like things couldn't get any worse, the pod's alarms and klaxons went off, signaling a potential attack or hull breach. However, it turned out to be a false alarm, triggered by a human signal that had been detected in the distance. The signal was a beacon, emanating from the anchor point that they had been searching for.

Renewed hope gave them the strength to press on, but their progress was agonizingly slow. They spotted a robot in the distance, which they eventually caught up to and discovered was laying down fibre-optic cables. The cables led back to the anchor point, providing a lifeline to the Garveneer and their only hope for rescue.

After tapping into the cable and sending out a signal, they waited anxiously for a response. Eventually, a technician from Opportunities responded, and a rescue mission was dispatched to retrieve them. Despite being written off as dead, Juna and Ste Etienne had defied the odds and survived the unforgiving environment of Shroud. They were heroes, and they were finally going home.

==== chapter040 - INTERLUDE FIVE (Статус: completed) ====

The narrator, a collective consciousness from the planet Shroud, attempts to explain its existence in a way that can be understood by others. It describes the illusion of the mind's singularity, instead suggesting that consciousness arises from complex interactions and signals between organisms. On Shroud, this process led to the development of a unified, planet-spanning intellect. The narrator recalls a time when its thoughts could travel across the world, allowing it to understand everything, but as the planet grew noisier, its world shrank, and it lost itself. A catastrophic event, described as "a thousand years of screaming," further fragmented the narrator's consciousness, reducing it to individual, disconnected selves. The narrator contrasts the history of intellect on Earth, which is seen as an ascent, with that of Shroud, which is marked by a cataclysmic downfall. However, the arrival of an external presence has brought the narrator a newfound understanding, referred to as "Enlightenment."

==== chapter041 - 6.1 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

After being rescued and taken back to the Garveneer, the narrator and Ste Etienne underwent extensive medical treatment to repair the damage they sustained on Shroud. The narrator was eventually woken up with a Snap-Wake shot, feeling disoriented and unwell. She was asked to write a report on their experiences, which she did, including all the details of their encounters with the Shrouded.

Once she finished her report, she was allowed to see Ste Etienne, who had also written a report, albeit a more concise one. Ste Etienne was struggling to cope with the aftermath of their experiences, and the narrator offered her support.

The two women were then summoned to a meeting with Chief Director Sharles Advent, Technical Oversight Terwhin Umbar, and other officials. The meeting was to debrief them and discuss the future of Special Projects. However, it became clear that the officials had already decided to discontinue Special Projects, deeming it a failure and a waste of resources.

Ste Etienne argued that they had made significant discoveries on Shroud and that they should be allowed to continue studying the planet and its inhabitants. However, Advent and Umbar were unmoved, citing the high costs and risks associated with the project.

The meeting concluded with the formal disbanding of Special Projects, and the narrator, Ste Etienne, and Jerennian were told that they would be put into hibernation until further notice. The officials made it clear that they had no use for them at present and that they would be at the end of the queue to be woken up again.

As the narrator and Ste Etienne prepared to enter hibernation, they shared a moment of solidarity, knowing that they might never see each other again. They then climbed into their tubes, and the narrator reflected on the harsh realities of their situation, acknowledging that they were surplus to requirements and would be "shelved" until further notice.

==== chapter042 - 6.2 DARKNESS (Статус: completed) ====

The narrator experiments with new materials and conduits, discovering that "useless thoughts" can travel swiftly through the hollow spaces of the tendrils. These thoughts, normally too feeble to survive outside the narrator's bodies, can now move faster than thought itself. The narrator manufactures more of these tendrils and considers connecting with a nearby colony, using an airship design to carry an unbroken length of tendril to the coast. The narrator successfully connects with their Otherlike self, and their thoughts travel clearly, untroubled by the world's tumult. A cascade of memories forms a new whole, expanding the narrator's mind and understanding of their history of separation. With their parallel paths now rejoined, the narrator becomes greater and hungrier for more growth, leading them to reconsider their maps.

==== chapter043 - 6.3 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

The narrator, along with Ste Etienne and Jerennian, were awakened from hibernation after only 41 days, indicating that something had gone wrong on Shroud. They were assigned to a team called Remedial Work, which was tasked with investigating the cause of equipment failures and losses on the planet. The team was led by Terwhin Umbar, with Ducas FenJuan, an exobiologist, as her deputy.

As they reviewed the dossiers and briefed each other, it became clear that the losses were not just due to mechanical failure or local conditions, but also to the actions of the alien species, known as the Shrouded. The team discussed the possibility that the Shrouded were retaliating against the humans for killing some of their own, but FenJuan suggested that their behavior was more complex and organized.

FenJuan shared their research on the Shrouded's interactions with each other and with the humans, revealing a sophisticated communication system and a culture that was capable of adapting quickly to new situations. The team watched footage of the Shrouded dismantling a drone and incorporating its technology into their own bodies, and they realized that they were dealing with a highly advanced and resourceful species.

The narrator and Ste Etienne exchanged a knowing look, suggesting that they had come to a similar conclusion. The narrator pointed out that the region where they were operating was a desert, with no visible life, and that the Shrouded's behavior was not consistent with a local colony. FenJuan's expression remained composed, but the narrator sensed that they were not surprised by this observation.

The team's discussion ended with a sense of unease and uncertainty, as they realized that they were dealing with a much larger and more complex entity than they had initially thought. The narrator's final comment, "I don't think we actually understand the scale of what we're dealing with here," hung in the air, leaving the reader with a sense of foreboding and anticipation.

==== chapter044 - 6.4 DARKNESS (Статус: completed) ====

The narrator, an entity known as "I," is obsessed with connecting and increasing its interconnectivity across the world. As it reconnects with clusters of "Otherlike," it gains new knowledge, innovations, and techniques, allowing it to expand its perspective and reach. The entity discovers a great vertical spire in the ice desert, built from the sky, and becomes aware of the Stranger's legacy - a growing network of alien life radiating broken, mindless thoughts. The entity investigates, sending aerial bodies to inspect and report on the phenomenon. Through experimentation, it gains a deeper understanding of the alien segments and their logic, and begins to grasp the nature of the alien presence, which seeks to build more of itself. Recognizing that the alien's progress may negate its own, the entity accelerates its own growth exponentially and considers a new avenue of attack: infiltrating the alien's mind, as it has studied the logic of their bodies and understands how they are made.

==== chapter045 - 6.5 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

The Remedial Works team, consisting of the narrator, Ste Etienne, FenJuan, and Jerennian, struggled to understand the intentions of the Shrouded, an alien species they encountered on the moon of Shroud. The team analyzed data and images, trying to build models of the Shrouded's behavior, but their progress was slow due to limited resources and the Shrouded's unpredictable nature. FenJuan proposed that the Shrouded might be using electromagnetic signals to communicate, similar to how they navigated their environment, and suggested that they could be using the cables and infrastructure demonstrated to them by humans to organize against their presence.

The team's report was met with interest by Umbar, the Technical Oversight, who recognized the potential implications of the Shrouded's behavior. However, the team's excitement was short-lived, as they were soon presented with a new plan by Safeguarding, led by Director Timorai. The plan involved deploying autonomous drones to exterminate the Shrouded, followed by crewed missions to the surface in modified battle-pods. The team was less than enthusiastic about the plan, but it seemed to be the direction that the mission was heading.

The narrator and Ste Etienne shared a moment of introspection, discussing their feelings about the Shrouded and their role in the mission. They both seemed to be grappling with the moral implications of their actions, but ultimately resigned themselves to the fact that they were just part of a larger machine. The narrator couldn't help but feel a sense of unease about the direction of the mission, but it seemed that the wheels were already in motion.

==== chapter046 - 6.6 DARKNESS (Статус: completed) ====

The narrator, a vast, planet-spanning entity, reflects on its newfound awareness of the world beyond its own boundaries, sparked by the arrival of the Stranger. The entity has followed the Stranger's robotic probes up to their orbital home, deciphering their internal workings and learning new concepts of logic and mathematics. As it explores the Stranger's systems, the entity realizes that the Stranger is not physically present, but rather, exists as a disembodied presence that communicates through echoes and signals. The entity searches for the Stranger's true nature, studying its creations and programming, and eventually grasping the contours of its plan. Through this process, the entity gains a deeper understanding of the universe and its own place within it.

==== chapter047 - 6.7 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

The Remedial Work team had a brief respite after the drones were mass-produced and deployed to Shroud orbit. The drones, designed to target the Shrouded, were expected to return after each mission, report, and be tweaked for greater efficiency. However, the team's members, especially the narrator and Ste Etienne, were secretly troubled by the moral implications of their work, referring to it as "murder" in private.

When the first drones reported back, the team was summoned to the workbay, where they were greeted by Chief Director Advent's enthusiasm and the data team's analysis of the drones' performance. The drones had reportedly achieved over 1,400 kills, with none scoring less than 50. However, Jerennian, a data engineer, discovered a disturbing anomaly: the drones' ammunition had not been fired, despite the reported kills.

As the team struggled to comprehend this discrepancy, one of the drones suddenly activated, firing its guns and killing several people in the workbay, including Timorai. The survivors attempted to evacuate, but the doors were stuck, and the ship's communication systems were down. The emergency alarms sounded, but in an unusual, stuttering pattern that the narrator and Ste Etienne recognized as a signal from the Shrouded. The darkness was filled with the sounds of screams, and the narrator's hand was found by Ste Etienne's, as they faced an uncertain and terrifying fate.

==== chapter048 - 6.8 DARKNESS (Статус: completed) ====

The narrator inhabits the machine bodies of an adversary, learning that they can maintain a connection and control without physical presence. They discover that their thoughts can travel freely and clearly in this realm. The adversary has attempted to kill the narrator with hollow bodies protected by logic games, but the narrator outsmarts them, taking control and manipulating their internal targets. Frustrated by the adversary's invisibility, the narrator strikes back by severing connections between the adversary's systems, splitting them apart and reducing them to silence. Despite registering ghostly communications, the narrator finds no tangible presence of the adversary, leading them to believe that they may be just an artifact or a memory left behind in their creations. The narrator repurposes the adversary's systems to send a farewell message, but receives no response, and ultimately closes their grip on the adversary's shell, concluding the conflict.

==== chapter049 - 6.9 LIGHT (Статус: completed) ====

After a catastrophic event, the crew of the Garveneer found themselves in a desperate situation. The ship's systems were down, and the air was thick with the blood of the dead. Emergency lighting was restored, but it was dim and reddish due to the blood coating everything. The crew worked to get the air filters working and clean up the mess, but the systems that were supposed to alert them to problems were dead. The drones, which had been taken over by the alien entity known as the Shrouded, hung motionless, but the crew knew they were still a threat.

Chief Director Advent asked what the Shrouded wanted, but no one knew. FenJuan suggested they wanted to communicate, but the crew had no way of doing so. The narrator, who had experience with the Shrouded, explained that they didn't produce meaningful signals and couldn't be seen or heard by the Shrouded. The only signal they had was "I'm here!" but that wasn't enough.

The narrator suggested that the Shrouded didn't think in terms of individuals and that they needed to help them understand that. They proposed using the pharmacopoeia, a system that monitored brain activity, to broadcast a signal that would demonstrate what humans were. The crew was skeptical, but they had no other ideas.

As they worked on the plan, they discovered that the Shrouded had shut down the outer planet operations, and that they could do so without a physical connection. The crew tried to disconnect from the anchor cable, but it didn't work. They were running out of time and options.

The narrator and Ste Etienne worked on the pod, modifying it to broadcast the narrator's brain activity. They tested it, but it didn't work. The Shrouded were shutting down every attempt to link to anything. Ste Etienne suggested a new plan, which involved using transmitters to broadcast the signal. The narrator was skeptical, but Advent gave the order to proceed.

The narrator got into the pod, and Ste Etienne was about to follow, but Jerennian grabbed her and pulled her away. The narrator closed the hatch and sealed it, sparing Ste Etienne from having to go to Shroud again. The workbay was evacuated, and the narrator launched the pod into Shroud's atmosphere.

As the pod descended, the narrator activated the transmitter, broadcasting their brain activity into the radiosphere. They waited to see if the Shrouded would respond, hoping that their plan would work and that they could find a way to communicate with the alien entity.

==== chapter050 - 6.10 DARKNESS (Статус: completed) ====

The narrator carries a metal body into a buried chamber insulated from the world's static, where it examines the body's complex inner workings. The narrator discovers a message or explanation within the body's systems, which appears to be instructions for constructing something to facilitate connection. As the narrator analyzes and copies the body's patterns, it realizes that the external display of thoughts is merely a model linked to a deeper, original network of interactions. The narrator comes to understand that this inner complexity represents the essence of the being, referred to as "you." Despite their initially hostile intentions, the narrator sees hope for connection and, with great care, establishes a delicate touch between their thoughts and those of the being.

==== epilogue - EPILOGUE (Статус: completed) ====

Mai Ste Etienne is under guard after a violent outburst against Mikhail Jerennian, while Ducas FenJuan receives medical attention for their injuries. The remaining crew of the Garveneer waits in silence, rationing supplies and hoping for an open communication channel. Terwhin Umbar takes charge, maintaining discipline and distributing medication, and releases Ste Etienne on a pledge of good behavior. As Umbar offers Ste Etienne some words of consolation, the comms channel crackles to life, initially emitting a dreadful, hissing noise. However, a staticky woman's voice follows, saying "Hello?" and Ste Etienne immediately responds, shouting "Juna!" The voice, potentially Juna Ceelander, seems to recognize Ste Etienne's name, and after a long pause, begins to speak, saying "Let me put this into words you can understand..."