“What do we do, captain?” asked Damien.

He and Matrioshka were alone on the bridge still, gazing at the life-bearing moon. Matrioshka gathered herself and considered her options;

She may direct the Sliver to Diana’s World, the farthest moon of the Duchess - a trip to it would take an additional 12 days. They could do it within 2, if they decided to risk entering the light of the Empire twins.

Hannah’s World, the closest moon to the Duchess, had no atmosphere. And Oliver’s World was molten.

The Duchess itself was a no-go; a combination of its turbulent atmosphere, and extreme planet-wide atmosphere, would mean the functionality of the Atomic Presses would be greatly reduced. The Fifth Wonder would find them no doubt.

They had no choice.

“We proceed to Rosamond’s World. It is the only celestial object with an acceptable atmospheric environment.” Matrioshka told Damien and summoned the rest of the crew.

Rhea appeared, still idly processing the Miriani DNA. She startled at the view of Rosamond’s World. Her eyes grew wide, and she looked between Damien and Matrioshka. Breathlessly she asked:

“They live?”

“They do.” Matrioshka replied with a soft smile.

“We are going.” Rhea said plainly, somewhere between a fact and a command.

Matrioshka quirked an eyebrow and shook her head. Rhea was focused again, like she was on Prudence - nothing else mattered. Just the Miriani.

Damien added: “That just so happens to be the plan.”

PesKal appeared next;

“Captain, you vanished unexpectedly… is everything…” He trailed off when he took in the view of the inhabited moon. His eyes raced over the entire visual, his fins quivering.

Makoe appeared last, another crêpe in her hand. She gulped, looking at the moon.

“So…” Damien said. “… the Miriani are alive. And we are going to their world.”

PesKal asked: “What are the procedures for such an event? How do we approach a pre-Set-drive sentient civilisation?”

Matrioshka had finished a quick survey of the atmosphere, sighed, and answered: “They are pre-internal-combustion-engine… and we do not approach. We will land somewhere on the great northern desert; Procedures for contact will not be needed.”

“But if we do encounter a Miriani, we will assume their shape and mannerisms. Blend in, do not initiate contact. That is the job for the Subdirectory of Sanctuary. Am I clear everyone?”

Her crew returned affirmative responses.

“What now?” Makoe asked.

Matrioshka replied: “We continue as we were, and survey Rosamond’s World as much as possible. We should return to the Imperium with the maximum possible amount of information on the Miriani.”

“And the Fifth Wonder? Do we know how they will react to the Miriani?” asked Damien.

Matrioshka looked at Makoe, who gave her a small smile and nodded gently. Matrioshka said:

“I am familiar with Shkadov - very familiar. He will do anything to complete his mission.” Matrioshka sucked in a breath as she added: “He is my brother.”

Rhea looked up at Matrioshka and narrowed her eyes. Damien’s mouth was agape, and PesKal nodded – he was still awake when she called Shkadov brother back on Jane’s World.

Matrioshka appreciated the Ankrahi, he decided o keep her secret all on his own.

“This complicates things.” said Rhea.

“It does. I assure you it will not influence my decision-making. I can treat Shkadov as just another mind.” Matrioshka lied.

Rhea shook her head and said: “It will be complicated for him too.”

Damien paced and said: “Akira-Hope hired your brother to hunt me down? Knowing you were the captain of this vessel… Isn’t the crew manifest secret and decided by the Subdirector of Reconnaissance?”

Matrioshka understood the implication in Damien’s voice and said: “It is. But I wouldn’t suspect foul play from the Subdirector. It is possible to manipulate minds, even ones as powerful as the Subdirector. And if anyone had the resources to do so, it would be Akira-Hope.”

They lacked information. They were guessing in the dark.

Everyone knew it. The bridge fell into a sombre silence.

Then Matrioshka realised something;

The Emperor and Empress.

“The stars. Evidently, they aren’t hostile to the Miriani on Rosamond’s World. It would be useful to understand why. If the Miriani learned to coexist with the Empires, then so can the Imperium.”

“Agreed.” said Rhea.

Matrioshka paced on the bridge. “What I don’t understand - Is how we missed this. We should have seen some evidence of sentient activity immediately when we jumped. Not to mention IRMA itself should have known.”

Damien went though the data and said: “Low incidence angle, and the slight inclination of Rosamond’s orbit, meant that we had much lower resolution of the south pole. We couldn’t have seen them directly, and since they are pre-industrial, they do not leave traces of their activity in the atmosphere.”

Rhea nodded. “I wish cognitron technology wasn’t illegal.”

Everyone looked at her.

Rhea rolled her eyes. “Oh please. Tell me how the ability to detect intelligence itself wouldn’t be useful for a research vessel.”

Damien crossed his arms. “Sure. Those same sensors can be used to block cognitrons as well, and quite easily might I add.”

Makoe nodded. “It would be less than a minute’s work. Just swap two diodes – and voilà: Pure deletion of sentience in a billion kilometre radius.”

Matrioshka added: “Best not to count on the Imperium using that tree of the technological forest. Ever.” You don’t want to taste the fruits that bloom on it.

“Fine.” Rhea threw her hands up in mock surrender. “Your question still stands captain. How did the Interstellar Reconnaissance Mega Array miss this? Shouldn’t it have resolution down to a meter?”

Damien went into the diagrams of the Imperium, radiating in a sphere from Terra. He marked the location of IRMA, in the Sirius system, and pulled a direct line towards the Empire system. He nodded and said: “Yes, 1.11 meters per pixel. The issue is that the south pole of Rosamond’s World always points away from IRMA.”

“Then at least it should have seen Prudence.” Makoe added.

The bridge was swimming in silence. None knew the answer to how a megastructure capable or resolving mountains in the Large Magellanic Cloud missed something so obvious.

Rhea opened a private channel to Matrioshka. And into it she said:

“If the Director of Expansion knew what we would find on Prudence. Could she have assigned you on this mission on purpose? Due to your reputation as a discoverer of many civilizations, and the um…”

Rhea paused for a moment before finishing. “…maybe due to the family ties? She might have considered this as a gift of sorts.”

Matrioshka did not let the surprise show on her face. She told Rhea:

“You know that too?”

Rhea nodded.

Matrioshka turned to the rest of the crew and said: “All we can do is our job. We will monitor Rosamond’s World, and use its atmosphere to repair the Sliver. Get to work.”

Rhea’s eyes narrowed as she was being ignore. She scoffed and did as she was told. The rest of the crew too, took a pair of sensors and went to scan the inhabited moon.

Matrioshka did not.

She went to her room.

Matrioshka’s father was born on Terra – back when it was still called Earth and was the centre of the universe as far as humans were concerned. Samson Song was born in 1992 in Seoul. He lived with his mother, Matrioshka’s grandmother, in their 12th story apartment near the centre of the city.

Samson’s father died when he was a little boy and his mother, a wealthy businesswoman, cared little for her son. Samson spent most of his time reading science fiction, he was fascinated by the future and the possibilities it entailed.

Six decades later, this drove him to invent the first Lattice, and eventually create Matrioshka and her siblings.

Matrioshka appeared in her father’s room, just as he had described it to her. A large bed, books stacked on top of each other, an old computer on a desk with a large CRT screen. The windows overlooking a shopping mall.

This approximated her father’s room. He spent his entire childhood here – a brilliant mind disconnected from the world around him, dreaming of the years to come.

Matrioshka laid in her bed – her father’s bed, and closed her eyes.

She never showed this room to anyone. This was her safe haven - she was safe from everything.

The feeling was a mirage; Matrioshka was still in her lattice aboard the Sliver, being hunted by her brother and two sentient stars.

Damn it. She thought, and sat up.

She grabbed a random book and flipped it about. Ringworld by Larry Niven - the namesake of Matrioshka’s sister.

Niven, what happened to you? What made you what you are? Did you do this on purpose - send me here?

Matrioshka’s eyes flared, her teeth clenched. Memories of her sister started flooding in, violent and murderous memories. She threw the book against the wall, simulated a handgun in her hand and shot at it as it fell, the virtual sound echoed in her mind. Matrioshka stood up, summoned a flaming crowbar, and beat the ever-living bits out of the already torn book.

Matrioshka hated the book but couldn’t bring herself to delete it. It offered release in moments such as these.

Wow, Makoe is right. I need therapy. Matrioshka thought with a faint smile under her now dishevelled red hair.

She looked at a picture of her father on his night stand.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

He was younger than ten back then, in his white shirt illustrated with some square cartoon character, black pants, and a stupidly cute grin on his face. His hands were covered in mud as he was proudly showing them to the camera. Samson’s mother, Ryeo, was the woman running after him in the picture, a towel in her hands.

Edwin, Matrioshka’s grandfather, wasn’t in the picture. He was most likely holding the camera.

“One big happy family...” she whispered.

Matrioshka ate a caramel glazed cinnamon donut and looked out the window. She idled, doing this and that around the room for the next hour. Until she felt ready to come back to reality.

Her mind retreated from the simulation and took a pair of the sensors. The Sliver’s crew worked while she was away, nobody inquired where she was. She felt grateful.

They worked in peace for several hours, Matrioshka and PesKal assigned themselves to the socio-political analysis. They were creating a general overview of the Miriani society.

After about 12 hours, they were reasonably certain the Miriani were divided into 11 political entities, with one of them exerting far greater control over the rest. Matrioshka named the kingdoms in ascending order of citizen prosperity, with the most affluent kingdom taking the 11th place.

The 11th Kingdom had larger cities and a plentiful population, and was found on the largest island in the Southern Ocean. The 10th and 9th Kingdoms were also islands, near the pole. It would seem the Miriani were very reliant on maritime traffic; numerous ships sailed across the ocean.

PesKal pointed out the stark differences in the amount of activity during day and night; the Miriani avoided going out during the day, with peak activity occurring during local midnight.

It was about this time that Oliver’s World, the Duchess, and the Empire stars aligned in syzygy. It allowed the Sliver to pass from the shadow of Oliver’s World into the shadow of the Duchess.

They will remain here, shadowed and stationary thanks to their thrusters, until Rosamond’s World itself entered the protected region behind the Duchess.

The Sliver would land then - on an inhabited alien world.

Damien briefed the crew on the climate and surrounding geography. The Southern Ocean occupied an extremely low basin on the south of the moon, which was encircled by a thriving ecosystem. On one side, this area was shielded by a 11-kilometre-tall mountain chain. The mountains, which always faced the Duchess, guarded one side of the ocean’s coast from the harsh desert winds and temperature. Matrioshka noted the 8th, 7th and 6th Kingdoms were in this area - protected.

The poorest Kingdoms, situated on the other side of the ocean, were exposed to the desert, never falling under the protection of the Duchess - its populations were low, and their cities small.

Rhea studied the biology, even from space it was obvious life evolved on Rosamond’s World on its own. The plant life had a distinctly blueish colour, and the moon’s atmospheric composition contained trace gases poisonous to life on Prudence.

Matrioshka wondered how the Miriani endured the atmosphere, but then again; they were capable of genetic engineering - at least at some point in the past. It was easy to imagine a frantic civilisation on the brink of extinction, colonising another habitable celestial object within its system, and altering its population in the process.

While they waited for the moon to reach its position, the Sliver of the Sun detected several Set-flashes across the system. Undoubtedly the Fifth Wonder, searching for the Sliver. It distracted the crew for a few minutes, but everyone soon returned to observing the Miriani.

The mood on the ship has improved greatly; the Miriani lived - they thrived.

A new neighbour for the Imperium, and possibly a new member species. PesKal was particularly excited. He hoped to bring to the Miriani the same sense of freedom and peace the Imperium brought to his own species.

Three days have passed, and the Sliver was now near Rosamond’s World. Still hidden in planetary shadows. They remained in space, taking great care to not alert the Miriani of their existence. The Cloak Frame was holding steady, its hum serving as a gentle reminder of their predicament with the Fifth Wonder.

Matrioshka took the Sliver on a quick fly-over of the Southern Ocean.

“The 11th Kingdom contains 55% of the moon’s fresh water sources. And they aren’t very good at sharing.” Damien pointed out on the bridge. The crew were at their station, idly chatting and observing the ocean bellow them.

He highlighted the many rivers and lakes of the 11th Kingdom; “The 10 remaining kingdoms are subject to the 11th - they use drinkable water as a major bargaining ship. We are looking at an Empire fuelled by blackmail and extortion.”

PesKal’s fins quivered: “An opportunity for growth! We can teach them sharing is key to a successful civilisation.”

Matrioshka shook her head slightly and said: “I am unsure it will go over as smoothly as you imagine, Officer PesKal. The Ankrahi were desperate, they had little choice whether to assimilate into the Imperium. The Miriani have already reached a more civilised point but have been forced back into a less developed state. By themselves no less.”

PesKal looked very worried. He paced a bit and said: “We can show them. We must do it as soon as possible. The Imperium’s diplomats and scientists arrived 11 years after the Purview of Light. Many Ankrahi died in those 11 years, and if they lived, they would have been immortal.”

“Valid point. But who are we to decide the fate of an entire species?” Matrioshka asked.

PesKal stopped and stared at Rosamond’s World.

“We are all they have.” he said.

“It is out of the question. We will not make contact.”

PesKal seemed to accept his captain’s will, though he still looked troubled. He said:

“Understood. Can you hold the Sliver as close as possible to the 11th Kingdom captain?”

The Sliver was close enough, barely a kilometre above Rosamond’s atmosphere, so its sensors were able to detect sound waves. PesKal could listen to, and decipher, the Miriani language.

“Linguistic analysis?” Matrioshka asked.

“Yes. I would like to see how the Miriani language changed after they left their homeworld. It will take no more than 13 minutes.”

Matrioshka felt bad she denied PesKal’s wish for contact, so she relented on this.

“Alright. No more than 13 minutes.” She said and turned the Sliver towards a point in space directly above the capitol of the 11th Kingdom. The Sliver’s thrusters, already working to battle the gravity of Rosamond’s World and keep itself in place, surged.

Soon the Sliver of the Sun was directly above its mark. Matrioshka silenced the thrusters and turned toward Rhea.

You’ve been quiet. She thought and asked out loud;

“Anything to add, Officer Lavigne?”

Rhea looked up from her VR, and said after a gentle shake of the head and a smile;

“The biodiversity is beautiful. Look at this creature.”

Rhea focused the bridge’s viewscreen onto a large herd of crustaceans in a shallow sea within the 7th Kingdom. They numbered 23 and varied in size. The smallest were 5 meters tall and 9 meters wide. The largest were almost bigger than the Sliver.

Rhea played back the view, showing the last 20 minutes of their activity. The crustaceans were slow and peaceful. They ate seaweeds and coral and gently scared away predators which dared approach some of the smaller members of the herd.

“Oh, I recognise those!” said PesKal and moved the view elsewhere. The sim now showed a beautiful garden in the centre of the 11th Kingdom’s capitol. Three large statues dominated the area. They were of the Miriani, and one of them rode a creature identical to the crustaceans Rhea found.

“Idols of sorts?” asked Makoe.

PesKal jumped in excitement: “I believe so. Rudimentary language analysis shows the Miriani speak with great care when looking at the statues.”

One of the Miriani in the garden walked up to a statue. It was of two embracing Miriani, wearing opulent robes and golden crowns. The Miriani, an older male cloaked in a brown cape over a white dress, threw a small silver coin at the base of the statue. His ears coiled downwards in reverence.

The Sliver was still too far up to discern any more detail, but the coin seemed to have fallen into a small opening at the statue’s base.

“If I may?” Rhea asked and looked crossly at PesKal. She returned the view back to the crustaceans. They were large enough the Sliver could resolve their brain structures. The brains of the larger members were bigger than Matrioshka’s lattice.

“I cannot say for sure before I get genetic samples. But I believe this species falls under the Sanctuary Act as well.”

Rhea implied the crustaceans were on an evolutionary path to evolve complete sentience. Such species were protected by Imperial law, specifically the Sanctuary Act. It also meant Rosamond’s World was twice as precious.

“We really need to get back to the Imperium…” said Makoe. “We cannot disturb this system anymore!”

The top of the Sliver of the Sun began to break apart. Matrioshka sensed with horror as her ship disassembled. Everything shattered, and Matrioshka lost connection to most of the ship’s systems.

What remained was the connection to approximately 13.5% of the Sliver’s nanites. As per emergency protocol, the nanites flowed towards the nearest lattice connected to their network. In this case, the lattices of the Sliver’s crew. The nanites returned confirmation they’ve formed 5 smooth spheres; protecting the lattices within.

Matrioshka scanned her surroundings using the much weaker nanite sensors and was shocked to see the Sliver gone - destroyed by a brilliant ball of fire.

Judging by the lack of radiation and the surrounding temperature; an antimatter nuke.

Matrioshka reached out to the rest of the crew, their connections held strong.

“What happened?” A panicked Makoe asked.

“Nuke. Must be the Fifth Wonder.” replied Matrioshka.

Sure enough, the Fifth Wonder appeared, racing towards the remnants of the Sliver. The explosion catapulted the shards of the Sliver towards to moon. They breached the atmosphere now at high speed, falling in the general direction of the 11th Kingdom.

The Wonder was so close now the crew could see through its Cloak Frame. It was longer than the Sliver, more bullet-like in its curves but similarly black. It had five smaller winglets on its back, and a large ring circling its front.

It began approaching dangerously close to PesKal’s lattice.

“Captain?” PesKal asked worriedly as the Fifth Wonder opened its cargo doors and moved to accept PesKal’s lattice.

I need options.

Matrioshka surveyed the wreckage of her ship. Millions of singular nanites - incapable of directed motion, chunks of raw elements from the cargo hold…

There!

She found an inertial cannon, spinning wildly near PesKal’s position.

“I can overload a weapon near you PesKal. If I time it right, it will severely damage the Fifth Wonder.”

“Do it captain!” PesKal screamed.

“Let me.” Makoe said and gently requested access to the cannon.

Matrioshka relaxed, surrendered access, and trusted Makoe.

The weapon glowed blue for a moment, and then detonated, catapulting itself through the Fifth Wonder’s engines at 500km/s. Shkadov’s ship began to lose orientation. With only its side thrusters, it couldn’t orient itself. It began to drift farther and farther away from the Sliver wreckage, and downwards into the Atmosphere. The ship would survive re-entry, and was falling towards the ocean between the 11th and 10th Kingdoms.

PesKal was still here, falling with the rest of the Sliver’s crew. He exhaled through the connection and said: “Thank you, Officer Rue. That was close.”

The Fifth Wonder continued to distance itself from PesKal, and was soon far enough its Cloak Frame made it once again invisible. Matrioshka was certain the blow to the ship’s engines would force them to land.

“What is our strategy, Captain?” asked Rhea as the final scattered nanites merged with her protective shell.

Matrioshka calculated her crew’s velocity vectors and sent them the results.

Matrioshka tracked the falling debris. One of the Atomic Presses survived the detonation - marginally survived to be precise. It would need extensive repair. But its existence meant escape from Rosamond’s World was possible.

“Our current trajectories will scatter us across more than 30 000 square kilometres of forest and city. After we slow down sufficiently, form gliders. Relevant schematics are being sent. Aim for the capitol of the 11th Kingdom. Our main goal is to secure the surviving Atomic Press which will land somewhere in that area.”

The atmosphere of Rosamond’s World began to offer resistance, it wished to slow them down. And at their 3.4 kilometres per second, the re-entry heating was extreme. Matrioshka anticipated they would lose an additional 6 percent of the remining nanites.

In virtual space, the crew simulated their falling bodies next to their lattices. The artificial wind pushed against their clothes and hair. PesKal looked like he struggled to choose between fear and excitement - he spread his arms like he was a bird.

“There is no way the Miriani failed to notice this.” Makoe said just as the heating reached it maximum. Other remnants of the Sliver ignited as well, many would survive re-entry, they were built to withstand higher temperatures.

Matrioshka surveyed the rest of the falling wreckage - she could not risk some of it landing on top of an unassuming Miriani. She sacrificed a portion of the nanites to disassemble as much as possible. Much of the surviving gear would be broken down into million of smaller than a millimetre dust particles.

The crew was half-way into the atmosphere now, their protective shells began to slowly cool down. And just as Matrioshka predicted, only 7% of the Sliver’s starting nanites remained intact. Matrioshka was the first to form a winged glider around her falling lattice.

A thin layer of nanites melted during re-entry, they became solid and as tough as the Sliver’s external hull. Matrioshka hid the layer within the glider and her crew followed suit, and just as they did, their connection to the Imperium was severed.

The gravity of Rosamond’s World, coupled with the atmospheric particles, overpowered the small data relays within each of their lattices. No data could pass between them and the nearest Imperial relay.

Their backups were no longer updated with new memories. The connection will return once they distance themselves from Rosamond’s World, but doing so without the Sliver posed a challenge.

The lattices were dense, not optimal for flight, PesKal in particular, struggled to get a hold of his glider’s aerodynamic profile. They descended, slower now, towards the 11th Kingdom.

“Aim for an open area, obscured from view. Preferably a forest near the capitol.” Matrioshka told her crew. The average distance between the five of them was 1.41 kilometres and slowly increasing.

Matrioshka asked PesKal: “Language analysis?”

“Partial. Though I will be able to complete it within the hour. Especially now since we are near the Miriani themselves. Refrain from communication until you receive the completed language pack.”

“Thank you, Officer PesKal. Has everyone chosen a landing spot?”

The crew all returned affirmative responses. Matrioshka debated what else to say or do to prepare the crew, and herself, for landing. She said:

“I would like you all to install an Enslavement Bond. To be clear; this is not an order. But I wish to have a detailed account of all our interactions with the Miriani. I will not use it for anything except…”

PesKal, Damien, and Makoe replied in sync: “Affirmative.”

Oh.

Matrioshka was surprised, she had expected at least some resistance.

Rhea just scoffed. Her Bond already installed.

The Atomic Press crashed into a clearing near the city.

Ouch. Matrioshka thought, but was glad the Press was still transmitting its location.

“Thank you everyone.” Matrioshka said, and one by one, she became aware of her crew. She saw Damien scan and adjust his bearings, aiming for a clearing within a fenced off area of the forest near the edge of the capitol city.

PesKal was still busy analysing the Miriani language. He was close enough to the ground now, and was able to resolve the basic shapes of the Miriani. Thousands of them lived within the city. It was night time, so most were outside of their dwellings, doing various jobs. The context in which words were spoken helped PesKal greatly.

Matrioshka’s own flight path would bring her down in a forested clearing within the city’s centre, right next to a large official-looking building - near the garden where PesKal found the three statues.

The wind was strong, the temperature cool and the night sky clear, when five aliens descended onto Rosamond’s World.

- End of Part 1