Chapter Summaries

Tasia reported that Helen had used Gustav’s Ship Card number to deceive her, then left Hesta’s room unsettled by Hesta’s scrutiny and began questioning whether she could trust her. Hesta noticed Tasia had stopped using honorifics with her, and wondered what had changed.

• Tasia told Hesta and Officer Silei that Helen had shown her Ship Card number 62 and arranged to meet her at the infirmary at two-thirty with her Risk Passenger.
• Officer Silei explained that number 62 belonged to Gustav, and Hesta advised Tasia to register using her own Ship Card.
• Tasia said she wanted to ask Philip to be her Risk Passenger, then left and worried that Hesta might be no more trustworthy than Helen.
• Tasia told Officer Silei that Helen had received a Ship Card from Rene, and Officer Silei said Helen might eventually discover it was not her own.
• After Tasia left, Hesta told Officer Silei that Tasia had stopped using honorifics with her and wondered why.

Hesta suspected Tasia might be more capable than she appeared, while Silei questioned Hesta’s decision to keep her away from the medical room. Helen helped Tasia register as Philip’s guardian, then took her to the unexpectedly lively Second Deck, where a woman who seemed to know Helen called out to them.

• Ligo told Hesta that the Second Deck’s paid service used advanced closed Somatosensory Pods, but she had declined to book one because it required extensive physical data collection.
• Silei reported that Bernhard had argued with restaurant staff over getting more food, and asked Hesta whether she had hoped Tasia would get into trouble with Helen.
• Hesta denied trying to teach Tasia a lesson and said she thought Tasia might be less fragile than she looked, so Silei’s intervention could make things harder for her.
• Helen met Tasia and Philip outside the medical room, pushed Philip aside, and told Tasia to register as his guardian using her Ship Card.
• After the registration, Helen took Tasia to the bustling Second Deck, where a woman carrying a tennis racket called out to Helen.

Helen took Tasia to a facility for an appointment and physical examination using equipment that could simulate dangerous situations. Tasia left bruised and upset, rejecting Helen’s offer to return while Gustav followed them in silence.

• A woman invited Helen and Tasia to play tennis, but Helen led Tasia away to make an appointment.
• Helen explained that Quicksilver Needles had used immersive equipment to simulate extreme environments, and Gustav refused to enter the facility.
• Tasia entered the examination room while Gustav waited outside and heard her crying during a heated exchange.
• Helen emerged with Tasia, whose ankle was twisted and whose cheek was swollen and bruised.
• Helen told Tasia she could return to the facility, but Tasia said she would never come back and accused Helen of having filthy thoughts.

After a painful encounter, Tasia cried on the stairwell and was briefly comforted by a mysterious white cat, which Chiba carried away. As Tasia prepared to take Philip to dinner, he examined the Scepter Brooch and questioned why Helen had given it to her.

• Tasia sat on the stairs crying and was disturbed by the hateful thought that everyone aboard the ship might drown together.
• A white cat jumped onto Tasia’s lap, then escaped and led her toward the first deck before disappearing.
• Tasia encountered Chiba carrying the cat, warned her about holding it by the scruff, and watched Chiba vanish into a cabin.
• Tasia learned that Philip had received a formal outfit and prepared with him to attend dinner, while her bruises remained visible.
• Philip examined Tasia’s Scepter Brooch and asked why Helen had given it to her after saying it was lost.

Tasia and Philip attended the Night Banquet, where Philip wore the Scepter Brooch and mingled with other guests. Tasia met women from the Fifth Deck who were surprised by her freedom to move between decks.

• Tasia thanked Philip for agreeing to face danger with her, then urged him to wear the Scepter Brooch to the banquet.
• Tasia found the Night Banquet more welcoming than she had expected, while Philip spent time discussing The Egalitarianism with other young guests.
• Tasia woke to find Philip missing, then learned from the bartender that he was dancing on the floor.
• Several women told Tasia that Philip was safe because the brooch marked him as a guest personally invited by Mr. Robogriye.
• The women asked Tasia whether she could move freely between decks, and Tasia said she could visit the Second Deck and believed she could go to the Fourth Deck as well.

At a banquet, Tasia’s fellow Risk Passengers mistook her guardianship with Philip for a romance and shared their assumptions about guardians and relationships. As the banquet ended, one woman warned Tasia to learn how to act during her first night with Philip, leaving Tasia confused about what she was expected to do.

• The women asked Tasia whether Philip had taken her to the Second Deck, and she explained that she had gone to play tennis with him accompanying her.
• The women assumed Tasia and Philip were a couple, and Tasia clarified that they had a one-on-one guardianship but had not discussed taking their relationship further.
• A brown-haired woman left after the others mocked her, and Tasia learned that they believed her guardian disliked her and that she had sought other guardians’ attention.
• The women questioned Tasia about the Second Deck, then listened as she asked about relationships between Risk Passengers and guardians.
• As the banquet ended, a woman warned Tasia to learn how to act during her first night with Philip and suggested asking experienced teachers on the Second Deck for advice.

During the Night Banquet, the lights went out and an elderly man announced an immediate Safety Inspection, sending the guests into chaos. Separated from Philip, Tasia fled down a dark stairwell and found the bartender opening a cabin door for her.

• Tasia watched Philip enjoy lively conversation at the Night Banquet, then approached him just before the hall went dark.
• An elderly man announced that the Night Banquet was ending and a Safety Inspection would begin on the deck in ten minutes.
• Silei gathered passengers at Grace Theater and ordered them to remain silent, while Ligo brought Gustav and said Hesta did not need to hide with them.
• Tasia was swept out with the crowd, lost a shoe, and could not find Philip among the passengers.
• Tasia escaped through an emergency exit, descended the dark stairwell, and found the cabin doors locked on each deck.
• The bartender opened a cabin door, recognized Tasia, and urged her to come inside.

After escaping through a locked door, Tasia was carried to a waiting room by Pujina, where she found Anna reading a photography book. Tasia recognized Anna from the Grace Theater gunfight and tried to speak with her, while Anna remained distant and continued browsing the collection.

• Tasia trembled after crossing the locked door as footsteps rushed somewhere beyond it, and Pujina gave her a hot drink.
• When Tasia's injured ankle gave way and her glass shattered, Pujina carried her to a shelter on the Second Deck.
• Pujina left Tasia in a waiting room with Anna, whom Tasia recognized from the night Chiba executed the little girl at Grace Theater.
• Tasia asked Anna about her cat and tried to tell her why she had cried, but Anna said she did not need to force herself to listen.
• Tasia examined the disturbing photographs in Anna's book, then watched Anna put it aside and choose another collection.

Anna explained Sasha Kliyan’s life and the censorship of her photographs to Tasia, then removed a picture from the collection before calling to be picked up. She prepared to return to the fifth-deck cabins but told Tasia she could not come with her.

• Tasia criticized the photographs in Sasha Kliyan’s collection, and Anna explained that Sasha had endured female circumcision and lived under severe restrictions on women.
• Anna told Tasia that Sasha fled her homeland during the war, learned photography from Eliza Titan, and dedicated each collection to the correspondent who gave her a camera.
• Anna explained that male editors had selected the works in the commemorative edition, excluding Sasha’s portraits of women.
• Anna found a photograph of a woman’s profile and cut it out of the collection to take with her.
• Anna called the Second Deck duty room for a pickup, and she told Tasia she could not accompany her to the fifth-deck cabins.

Hesta discovered that the Adjudicator could use Safety Inspections to seize specific Ship Cards and turn their owners into Risk Passengers. She concluded that Robogriye’s real purpose was to choose a successor during the Supreme Praise by testing who understood the Adjudicator’s game.

• Anna left Tasia behind because her appointment covered only herself, while a crew member promised to get Tasia’s injured foot examined.
• Ligo found Hesta at the confinement room, where Helen was imprisoned and her belongings had been seized.
• Hesta showed Ligo that her restricted-item request had brought Ship Card 62 to her and caused Helen to be arrested for carrying contraband.
• Hesta explained that the Adjudicator could use a known Ship Card number to seize it and make its owner a Risk Passenger, while several other item requests had been rejected.
• Hesta realized Anna had lied about the journey’s purpose and concluded that Robogriye was testing potential successors in the Adjudicator’s game.

Anna learned that Gopelin’s assassination had been planned because she refused to cooperate on the Northern Jin Ancient Language project, and she ordered Zero to keep him in a Life Pod while copying his brain data. The next morning, Tasia reported Philip missing, and Hesta grew suspicious of Gopelin after noticing that his perfume smelled like Roger’s.

• Zero told Anna that Gopelin’s conspirators did not know her identity, and Anna reviewed the list of people involved.
• Zero reported that Gopelin had received about 760,000 Tracking Drones and warned that manipulating him could sharply shorten his life; Anna ordered him kept in a Life Pod for the rest of the voyage.
• Zero told Anna that Tasia had entered the Haptic Pod and that Robogriye had planned the voyage to choose a successor.
• Tasia told Ligo that Philip had not returned, and Hesta, Silei, and Ligo went to the fifth-floor elevator to investigate.
• Gopelin emerged from the elevator and said he had been at the bow alone; after he left, Hesta told Silei that his perfume smelled like Roger’s.

Hesta told Ligo that Philip was probably still alive, and the two went to search the Fourth Deck. As news of Philip and Helen’s disappearance unsettled the passengers, Silei faced Adams’s taunting at breakfast, where Bernhard attacked him.

• Ligo returned to find the hidden deck empty and its damage repaired, while Hesta sent Silei to stay with Tasia and asked her to host the meeting if they missed nine o’clock.
• Hesta privately told Ligo that Philip was probably not dead, and they took the elevator toward the Fourth Deck to look for him.
• After Philip and Helen disappeared, Adams confronted Silei, Tasia, and Bernhard at Bishop Restaurant and questioned how Bernhard’s group had registered as Risk Passengers without Ship Cards.
• Adams mocked Bernhard and provoked Silei, who ordered him to leave and challenged him to show his supposedly empty gun holster.
• Bernhard flipped the table and beat Adams, while Silei stopped the fight and then brought Bernhard two more eggs.

Tasia described her night at the Night Banquet and the Safety Inspection, while Silei learned that Philip was alive and had been returned to his cabin. Helen came back alone, and Tasia discovered that being a guardian made the crew treat her as trustworthy.

• Helen returned to the restaurant alone, ignored Adams's questions, and punched him until crew members intervened.
• Tasia vouched for Adams as his guardian, and the crew released him without requiring her to do anything else.
• A crew member told Silei that Hesta wanted to speak with her, and Silei later returned and announced the meeting would begin without Hesta.
• Tasia recounted attending the Night Banquet and becoming separated from Philip during the Safety Inspection, adding that she had given him her brooch.
• Silei told Tasia that Philip was alive and had been sent back to his cabin, though his mental state might be poor.

Silei addressed the Night Banquet’s accessory rules, returned the brooch to Jacqueline, and stripped Helen of her guardian role. The crew apologized to Bernhard and returned his belongings, but his retaliation led to Adams being taken to solitary confinement.

• Silei warned the crowd not to casually swap accessories and gave Jacqueline the brooch, offering to explain the guardian rules after the meeting.
• Silei told Helen she was no longer Gustav's guardian and barred her from recruiting Risk Passengers for the foreseeable future; Helen left the dining hall.
• The crew apologized to Bernhard on Hesta's orders and returned his weapons and personal documents.
• Bernhard punched the crew member who had assaulted him, then demanded that the crew deal with Adams for provoking him.
• The crew took Adams to solitary confinement, while Silei told Tasia that he would be fine.
• A crew member warned Bernhard not to carry the returned weapons, and Bernhard said he understood.

After Silei returned, Hesta and Ligo explained how they had found Philip and obtained Helen’s Ship Card, while keeping Hesta’s registration of Philip’s damaged brooch secret from Silei. Hesta worried that her next encounter with Tasia and Robogriye’s followers would bring intense courtesy and slander.

• Silei told the crew that Hesta and Ligo would no longer attend regular meetings, then returned to their room and recounted what had happened at Bishop Restaurant.
• Hesta showed Silei the shattered brooch Tasia had given Philip and explained that she and Ligo had found Philip sleeping alone on the Fourth Deck and sent crew members to bring him back.
• Hesta explained that she had temporarily become Helen’s guardian and Risk Passenger after finding Helen’s No. 62 Ship Card among the belongings of an arrested person.
• Silei questioned whether Hesta was hiding something, but dismissed her suspicion before leaving the room.
• Ligo asked when Hesta would tell Silei about the Restricted Item Registration Form, and Hesta admitted she was waiting because she had added Philip’s brooch to it.

Jacqueline begged Tasia to become her guardian for the Night Banquet, but Tasia refused, and Jacqueline left in anger. Later, Hesta and Ligo found Buli’s medical reports in Anna’s study before catching sight of Meyers.

• Jacqueline asked Tasia to register as her guardian so she would not have to attend the Night Banquet alone.
• Tasia urged Jacqueline to find a Risk Passenger and explained why she believed the guardian arrangement might carry risks.
• Jacqueline accused Tasia of refusing to help her and left after Philip began crying.
• Ligo pushed Hesta into the underground luggage hall, where they found Anna’s study empty and Buli’s medical reports on a table.
• Hesta and Ligo heard glass shatter and spotted Meyers’s silhouette behind a small door.

Hesta warned Meyers and Agnes that the Night Banquet was connected to the Thorn Monks’ deaths and asked about the trials others aboard had faced. Silei found Gustav injured and brought him back to the cabins, where she encountered Hesta and Ligo leaving the elevator.

• Hesta told Meyers and Agnes that passengers were being invited to the Night Banquet and that they might be next.
• Hesta said the Thorn Monks’ deaths were connected to the Night Banquet, then asked the sisters about the trials others had experienced.
• Silei found Gustav bandaged in the infirmary and learned that Fionn had beaten him while searching for Helen.
• Gustav asked Silei to become his guardian after Helen’s status was revoked, and Silei offered to let him stay in their suite overnight.
• Silei brought Gustav back to the cabins and found Ligo pushing Hesta out of the elevator.

Silei learned that the Thorn Monks aboard the Ascending Bright had passed Rob Green’s virtual-reality trials, including Gustav. As she considered whether to become Gustav’s guardian, Ligo began explaining how Agnes had revealed details about the trials.

• Silei arranged for Gustav to stay in her suite overnight while Helen was missing.
• Silei questioned Hesta and Ligo about their warning against becoming Gustav’s guardian.
• Hesta explained that Dietrich’s terrorist attacks had taken place in Rob Green’s simulated reality and caused no real casualties.
• Hesta said Rob designed different trials to test each person’s weaknesses, and Dietrich, Gruning, Ashley, Buli, Agnes, and Gustav had passed theirs.
• Ligo said Jane had tricked Agnes into revealing something about her trial.

Hesta, Ligo, and Silei discussed whether the Thorn Monks’ deaths reflected their past crimes and whether they should question Gustav about his trial. Silei agreed to ask him, but warned Hesta not to treat anyone as guilty without evidence, while Hesta recalled they had argued about the same issue before.

• Hesta explained that she had bluffed Agnes by claiming Buli had told them about Robogriye, and Ligo described Agnes’s reaction.
• Hesta suggested that the different ways the Thorn Monks died might reflect the evils they had committed.
• Hesta and Ligo proposed asking Gustav about his trial, but Silei objected to treating him as a suspect without evidence.
• Silei agreed to ask Gustav about his experience, then urged Hesta, as an Adjudicator, not to presume anyone’s guilt.
• After Silei left, Hesta told Ligo they had argued about the same topic on the night Gustav received the Night Banquet invitation.

Silei was drawn into a late-night meeting with Fionn and his associates after Jacqueline came to fetch her, while Ligo went to the Hard Rock Bar to find Anna. The chapter left Silei heading out with Hesta and Jacqueline and Ligo meeting Anna and Pujina downstairs.

• Ligo warned Hesta not to take Anna's claims or books too seriously, and Hesta said she would not.
• Silei approached Gustav's room but was interrupted when Jacqueline arrived and said Fionn, Adams, and their associates wanted to see her.
• Silei agreed to go with Jacqueline, while Ligo and Hesta joined her; Hesta stood from her wheelchair and asked someone to carry it downstairs.
• Ligo took the elevator to the second basement level and found the Hard Rock Bar empty because its bartender was at the Night Banquet.
• Anna and Pujina arrived together, and Anna greeted Ligo as Madam Sol.