Secret Brotherhood Private Defense 4 July 2300, Evening — Pioneer-12, Corridor outside SS-2 and Backup Inspection Compartment When Firo leaves the cold maintenance bay, the music from the Culture Ring has grown distant. He presses an encrypted chip back beneath the velvet lining of his saxophone case — on the surface, still only an instrument…

Secret Brotherhood The Cold Maintenance Bay 4 July 2300, Afternoon — Pioneer-12, Culture Ring Main Rehearsal Room The UN cultural division is preparing a major interplanetary morale concert aboard Pioneer-12 — to be broadcast across the ship and recorded for the Martian colonies and Earth’s underground cave cities. Evie, as Mars Migration Ambassador, is rehearsing…

Secret Brotherhood Warning in the Rhythm 2 July 2300, 04h30 — Pioneer-12, SS-2 Technical Monitoring Room After Johnny ends the call and the report disappears into the pending folder, the SS-2 technical monitoring room goes quiet again. Seb sits where he is. By 04h30, most of the ship is still asleep. He waits until a…

Secret Brotherhood System Oscillations and Reporting 2 July 2300, 04h17 — Pioneer-12, SS-2 Technical Monitoring Room At 04h17, in the early morning, Seb Naidoo first notices the oscillation. The Residential Ring is quiet — most passengers asleep, corridor lights dimmed to night mode, air circulation giving off a faint white noise. Three translucent data screens…