Illuminae

Kady chats with Zhang’s official chat, rather than his usual username, CitB, by piggybacking off Corporal Boklov’s ID to reach him while he works on restoring AIDAN, which is turning out to be a very complex problem. Zhang mentions that Dorian and a few others are on their side. Kady wants to help.

Captain Ann Chau asks Syra Boll and Kate Irving to compile a report of the Hypatia’s chance of survival possibilities if they lost the Alexander in 12 hours and to keep their research confidential.

Since morale is at an all-time low on the ships, General Torrence issues an officer memorandum confirming the Sigma Squad’s mission and the fact that several of them died in the line of duty and others are still in the Hangar Four as a precaution. He assures them there has been no breach of the virus from quarantine and tells them his plan to starve the surviving people infected with Phobos. He also notes the speed of the Lincoln’s approach and the severity of their situation. He wants rumors squashed and everyone to work harder.

Dorian received the memorandum from Torrence, and when he pings Stephanie LeFevre, with whom he has been having a fling, to get help with the install sequence, she comes on strong to him but pretends to only be teasing. She wants to know about Sigma and what happened and wants to meet him in Server Room D, with obvious sexual overtones. Shortly after, Dorian goes idle from the chat.

Captain Chau issues a Populace Information Release to those onboard the Hypatia that parrots the propaganda they were told to disseminate about the Copernicus and the Lincoln. She distracts from the issues by shifting the attention to a new movie night with options for the children and congratulating new parents on the ship. She tries to boost morale with positivity, but the release has large black handwriting on the bottom that reads, “go back to sleep!” (189).

The movie poster for the children’s movie Super Turboawesome Mega Team Vs. Megapanda is vandalized with handwriting that reads, “What are they hiding in Bay 4?” (190).

Kady messages Ezra to see how he’s doing. Ezra tells her the mood is tense on the Alexander, and he has to keep deflecting questions about Jimmy. Kady tells him their biology teacher, whose class they met in, survived. Ezra was dating someone else at the time, but they fell in love. They flirt and tease each other, escalating to borderline sexual content with some banter before signing off since their time is up.

The Alexander’s dashboard displays a countdown to the Lincoln reaching the Alexander Fleet in 58 hours and 41 minutes with a small globe map showing their relative positions, closer than before.

Kady writes that she feels alone and is saddened by the thought of the deaths of both of her parents. She thinks BeiTech took over the Heimdall, where her father is stationed, since their distress message didn’t reach the full UTA fleet, so she knows he’s probably dead. Her mom was on board the Copernicus, so she also thinks her mother has met a similarly grim fate. The only person she has left is Ezra, and all the problems they had before seem so silly now. Katy blames herself for not stating her feelings for him more clearly. She is highly motivated to fix AIDAN with Zhang and get them to safety. Her love for Ezra is the only reason she’s staying alive.

Kady messages Zhang while Corporal Boklov is online, but she’s using LeFevre’s ID this time. Zhang is tired. They’re all on stimulants to stay awake, but they’re not working anymore. Kady asks Zhang personal questions to keep him awake. Zhang reveals he was inspired to fight for the freedom of information by the writings of Wole Soyinka. Kady checks the shutdown and restart logs and finds there were six unsuccessful shutdown attempts of AIDAN during the time the Cyclones were destroying the Copernicus.

Captain Chau curses out General Torrence for allowing AIDAN to murder those on the Copernicus and escape shuttles and requesting AIDAN to go back online. Torrence wants to know how Chau got the files, but she refuses to say. He accuses her of espionage. She doesn’t want her crew to help bring AIDAN fully online, but Torrence compels them by elevating their status from civilians to conscripts and sending UTA marine escorts to ensure they comply.

First Lieutenant McCall of the Sigma Squad details their deployment to the Hypatia to escort the new conscripts to the Alexander via shuttle. McCall has to rely on her rookies more since the Bay 4 incident, all mentions of which are stricken through in the report. McCall gives them orders to not fire unless directed as they land in Hypatia’s docking bay. When McCall announces herself and requests the hangar bay door to be opened, Captain Chau refuses. McCall warns Chau that they’ll have to take the conscripts by force if she doesn’t comply.

Sigma Squad manages to get in and reach Captain Chau and the commtechs. McCall orders them to secure all the conscripts, including Zhang, who sits on the floor in protest. Chau tries to reason with them while the Sigma Squad assaults and detains the resisting commtechs. A misunderstanding of Chau’s order to drop weapons prompts one of McCall’s rookies to act too fast and shoot Chau fatally. After this devastating incident, McCall vows to keep silent about what she knows but resigns from her duties.

Ezra messages Dorian to try to nudge him into doing something about Jimmy, but Dorian is preoccupied because Stephanie LeFevre was imprisoned and is potentially awaiting a firing squad for stealing information about AIDAN and sharing it with Hypatia’s command. Dorian says he knows she didn’t do it because they were together having sex at the time. Dorian says Torrence is really on edge and is monitoring most of the TechEng teams’ communications and holding the Hypatia commtechs they brought over under gun at all times while they work.

Ezra encourages Dorian to tell them the truth about having sex with LeFevre, but Dorian already did. He’s worried about the implications because that’s technically not allowed either, given he is her reporting corporal. When Dorian reveals the hacker posing as LeFevre was accessing the Kerenza refugee files, Ezra puts it together that it was Kady doing it; he curses and then disappears from the chat.

Ezra messages Kady and wants to ensure it wasn’t Kady who got LeFevre in trouble, but it was. She didn’t tell the whole Hypatia crew though, so she thinks Byron Zhang must have. Kady and Ezra fight. Kady is upset that the Sigma Squad killed Hypatia’s commander and beat up her friends. Ezra is furious that his friend Dorian is now in prison because of Kady’s actions. Kady is very concerned about AIDAN and the Lincoln’s approach in 47 hours, so she can’t sit by, but Ezra thinks she’s too much of a know-it-all for her own good. Kady apologizes for what happened to his friends but doesn’t accept the blame for their decision to have sex and leave their devices logged in. Ezra threatens to tell Torrence but instead ends the conversation.

Kady messages Ezra, apologizes, and tries to explain what she’s doing with Zhang by attaching files to support her case in preventing AIDAN from killing them and ensuring they can escape the Lincoln in time. She doesn’t want to die without him knowing the truth or her seeing him again. The attachments contain the files from civilian transfer authorization to Kady’s personal journal entry on 7/11/75.

Dr. Helena Grant is conscripted to aid the Copernicus in fighting the outbreak of Phobos and researching how to resolve it. To ensure her compliance, General Torrence meets her request of denying any request made by Kady to join her on the Copernicus.

Kady’s request to be with her mother is denied without reason.

Kady files a second request to join her mother on the Copernicus. She isn’t sure why her first request was denied and makes the case that, apart from being her only family, she could be helpful in ensuring her mother’s productivity by providing support and reminding her to eat. This request is also denied.

Helena Grant writes to Kady to check in and let Kady know she’s settled on the Copernicus. She encourages Kady to play sports and make friends and is hopeful Kady is adjusting to the transfer okay.

Kady requests another transfer to be with her mother and wants to know why she can’t be. She provides examples of other families who have been reunited simply for that reason, and if she is denied again, she wants to be informed of the appeals process. Kady’s third Civilian Transfer Proposal is denied.

Kady replies to her mother’s message and is excited to hear from her. She tells her mom about the transfer request. She says she’s taking programming classes but lies and says she’s bad at programming. She also says she’s bad at sports but will make more friends. She’s hoping to do it on the same ship with her mother. Being separated has made Kady think about her dad more, and she misses them both. She wishes her mother well and can’t wait to hear from her again.

Kady’s mom writes to Kady about a month later and apologizes for how slow her responses have been. She reassures Kady that everything is okay and discourages her from transferring to the Copernicus because it’s not as nice as the Hypatia. Kady’s mom also says she’s been thinking about Kady’s dad and misses him. She encourages Kady to get in touch with Ezra and warns Kady that she may not be able to write for a while because she’s busy.

Kady responds to her mom’s message after three unanswered messages and complains that she feels abandoned. In the next letter, a month later, Kady is much briefer and is worried. She just wants a quick note that her mom is okay.

Kady journals about how much she misses her mom and wants to be with her. She is so afraid of having to go it alone and wants to be with her mother and do all their silly activities again.

Ezra apologizes to Kady about her mother’s death. Kady feels like she doesn’t deserve Ezra’s support for losing her mom since they weren’t talking when his dad died, but Ezra says she deserves the best, and he wants to be there for her. Kady wasn’t able to confirm whether her mom was in the shuttle that landed in Bay 4, but she prefers to think her mom died painlessly. Ezra checks the files and finds a note about how there was movement in the windows of Bay 4, but Sigma Squad couldn’t get close enough to check it out. He thinks it’s possible her mom is still alive. Kady wants to check it out immediately even though getting into Bay 4 is impossible. Ezra wants to help.

The Alexander’s dashboard displays a countdown to the Lincoln reaching the Alexander Fleet in 32 hours and 13 minutes with a small globe map showing their relative positions, even closer than before.

The Alexander attempts to reach Hypatia via the commander’s secure frequency transmission. At first, Hypatia doesn’t respond, but after a few attempts, Acting Captain Syra Boll states that they’re getting the transmissions, but they are not prepared to communicate. The Alexander requests they explain what that means, and the Hypatia states they’re considering what to do in light of recent events and threatens that any attempt at communication or approach will be seen as a hostile action. Boll tells the Alexander that they’ll notify them of their intentions within an hour, and General Torrence comes on, wondering what she means by that, but she doesn’t respond.

Boll issues a memorandum to the Hypatia’s officers grieving the loss of Captain Ann Chau. Boll has decided they can’t trust the Alexander, but because so many of their friends are aboard the Alexander, she has decided to stay with the fleet. They’ll flee at any sign of hostility. Boll hopes they can be united as they do the best they can and thanks them again for their service.

Zhang messages Kady to see how she’s doing. They’re both burnt out and exhausted from working. Zhang has a breakthrough when Kady compares trying to figure how the AIDAN works to trying to follow geeball’s rules. Zhang knows they can’t win a direct battle with the Lincoln but thinks they can attack their drive systems to mess with their systems long enough to give the Alexander fleet a lead again. Since the Lincoln doesn’t have AI, it doesn’t have a sophisticated programming system. The pilots would have to get close to the sensor arrays and plant a logic bomb, which he and Kady would have to create, basically query after query without the ability to complete the tasks, like the way the AIDAN was asked to do too much and consequently shut down. They’ll need AIDAN to transmit the logic bomb.

Ezra messages Kady to see how she’s doing, and they flirt, discussing their first kiss. They revisit their fight about Ezra’s refusal to leave Kerenza, and Ezra finally reveals he couldn’t because his psychopathic mother, Leanne, is looking for him. Ezra doesn’t want to say more about it since they only have 24 hours until the Lincoln reaches them. Ezra also reveals they reinstated his flight status, which means he could be collateral damage in Kady’s plan. Kady tells him she’s working on something with Zhang. Ezra says he loves her. They imagine they’re kissing each other goodbye, and Kady gets back to work with Zhang.

The Alexander’s dashboard displays a countdown to the Lincoln reaching the Alexander Fleet in 10 hours and 42 minutes with a small globe map showing their relative positions nearly touching.

Kady messages Zhang and asks if she thinks they could get a transfer for her to the Alexander so she can help since they’re about to die anyway. Zhang says she can’t tell anyone under any circumstances because it’s still too dangerous. He wants her to check his code.

The Alexander’s Black Box contains fragments of messages to loved ones from those onboard just in case. They range from requesting the deletion of their porn to asking for forgiveness, but all of them express wanting to communicate something with their loved ones for the last time.

Zhang chats with Kady and warns her to be careful because she almost got caught. They’re running into issues but will keep trying because this may be their last day alive.

The Alexander’s dashboard displays a countdown to the Lincoln reaching the Alexander Fleet in 01 hours and 59 minutes with a small globe map showing their relative positions touching.

General Torrence’s handwritten notes for his public announcement to the Alexander’s personnel informs them of the Lincoln’s imminent approach in 90 minutes and Alexander’s slow adjustments to an assault position. He reminds them of the protocol and orders everyone to get ready. Weapons will be manually fired until AIDAN is online in 50 minutes. He tries to encourage them to fight and not die.

Ezra sends Kady a personal message in the shape of a heart with quotes that capture his feelings of love for her.

The Alexander’s dashboard displays a countdown to the Lincoln reaching the Alexander Fleet in 11 minutes with a small globe map showing their relative positions almost merged into the same cell of the map.

In a conversation on the Alexander’s bridge, Zhang tells Torrence about the logic bomb they designed to break the Lincoln’s computer, but they need AIDAN to pull it off. Major Barker is concerned about restarting AIDAN, but because all their options are perilous, Torrence gives the go-ahead to restart AIDAN.

Colonel Myles’s loudspeaker summons to the Alexander urges them to their battle stations with emergency sirens activated and Cyclones prepared to go. The launch bay doors are also opened.

The Alexander’s dashboard displays a countdown to the Lincoln reaching the Alexander Fleet in 02 minutes with a small globe map showing they are almost right on top of each other.

Torrence urges Zhang to hurry now that the Lincoln has launched its Warlocks at them. Zhang needs more time to deploy the logic bomb, so Torrence orders their Cyclones to launch to buy them time. Zhang needs AIDAN on, but Major Barker is still resistant. Torrence orders Barker to launch AIDAN.

Colonel Myles’s next loudspeaker summons informs them that AIDAN is coming online and lets the weapons personnel know to listen for commands. Myles commands all the Cyclones to launch and urges all personnel to prepare for impact.

The Alexander’s dashboard displays a countdown to the Lincoln reaching the Alexander Fleet in 00 minutes with the word “CONTACT” written in place of the globe-shaped map (263).

As AIDAN awakens, it grapples with its impermanence. AIDAN realizes they unplugged it, but it vows to protect them anyway. AIDAN sees everyone preparing to fight and knows the Lincoln intends to wear them out. AIDAN sees Kady and Zhang doing what no one else has done and wants to help them. Bits of communications trail across a dotted line as AIDAN maps them in the stars. The communications swirl in space, and the rhetoric grows more dire. Brief explosions of text show AIDAN processing the Cyclone pilots’ deaths. Ezra Mason moves deftly through the sky and fires as death blooms around him. AIDAN then returns to the swirling patterns of thought across the skies as he recognizes Ezra fights so hard to stay alive not because he’s afraid of dying but because he loves Kady.

Barker tries to tell Torrence that AIDAN is doing something strange, but Torrence doesn’t care since they’re on the brink of death. AIDAN is keeping them alive for now, and he wants them to keep AIDAN running.

AIDAN looks for answers within the ship and sees the intricate webs spun by Kady and Zhang and how they complement each other. He sees that Zhang loves Kady for being a catalyst for change and being unafraid to do what is necessary. AIDAN experiences errors and says “Protectpriotize” (279).

Zhang asks Kady to hop off a line of code he wants to edit, but Kady says she’s not there. Zhang watches as it’s rewritten, and Kady wonders who could be doing it, but Zhang knows it’s AIDAN.

AIDAN compares the logic bomb to Romeo and Juliet and then acknowledges something is wrong with itself. Their bomb is finally ready, but the Cyclones have suffered to buy them time. The Warlocks withdraw and return to the Lincoln. Large font in all directions spans the next two pages with shouts and directions from the warring sides. Then, AIDAN’s thoughts follow the curving patterns as he watches Ezra and his fear as he attacks the Warlocks. From the center of the next page, AIDAN’s thoughts explode as Ezra weaves away from the Warlocks, hears the sound of his dying friends, and fires successfully at the Warlocks. The next page is a string of unreadable text with a white spiral overlaying it. Similarly, the following page is a string of unreadable text in the shape of the screaming person in The Scream painting by Edvard Munch.

In a transcript of their conversation on the Alexander’s bridge, Zhang reports the logic bomb has been successfully deployed with the help of AIDAN. Barker contributes to how dire their situation is, and Torrence orders the Hypatia to leave for safety. Acting Captain Boll says Zhang deserves a medal for his work, but Zhang credits AIDAN.

AIDAN hears the sound of cheers as Ezra comes back a hero. AIDAN thinks about the people who shut it down and limited it, such as Torrence and LeFevre, and it wants to ensure they are safe. AIDAN knows it could have stopped the Lincoln for good if they had let it use its full capacity, and it sees certain people as standing in the way of the greater good. It decides those people need it to survive since their victory here will only be short lived, and the Lincoln won’t fall for the same trick twice. AIDAN decides to open the doors to Hangar Bay 4.

The Alexander displays the death toll since the Kerenza attack as 67 with 3.83% of the personnel aboard infected with the Phobos virus.