“My name is Dr. Aris Thorne,” she said, her voice hoarse, unrehearsed. “This is not a script. This is not a DeepDream episode of Crisis Horizon . This is a log.”

The image resolved. A woman, mid-thirties, sat in a plastic chair. Behind her, a window showed Earth—not the pristine blue marble of the entertainment vids, but a bruised, bandaged planet, swaddled in atmospheric scrubbers and orbital tarps.

End of Part S01-De.

He reached for his own recording device. He had never written a story before. But he thought he might try.