Chapter Summaries

Pujina remembered the old bartender’s secret gin code and returned to her preparations for the day. On the Observation Deck, Hesta discussed life with Ligo and agreed to protect a young Thorn Monk who would document his past trials.

• Pujina recalled that a gin recipe was a code leading a customer to the navigation museum on the Seventh Deck, then went back to preparing the bar and scheduling a Safety Inspection meeting.
• Hesta and Ligo rested on the Observation Deck and talked about Ligo’s wish for a quiet life and how life could become an open world after its challenges were overcome.
• Bernhard brought Hesta a young Thorn Monk who volunteered to share his trial experiences in exchange for protection.
• Hesta told the young man to write a detailed account of his trials by dinner and agreed to become his guardian.
• After the young man and Bernhard left, Ligo compared Bernhard favorably with Rene, and Hesta remarked that both men were obedient once their roles were clear.

Fionn failed to reach his associates and sent Jacqueline to check on them, then took the bound Gustav with him as they fled. That night, Agnes and Meyers stayed with the surviving passengers at Bishop Restaurant until a crew member arrived to escort Agnes to the Night Banquet.

• Ligo questioned why Tasia and others resisted despite their low status, and Hesta wondered why they disliked her.
• Fionn found that none of his associates were at Bishop Restaurant and told Jacqueline to investigate while he hid.
• Fionn struck Jacqueline during their argument, then comforted her before she left to check the restaurant.
• Fionn removed Gustav’s gag, rejected his claim that they were companions, and carried him away after taping his mouth again.
• Agnes and Meyers studied the guide at Bishop Restaurant while the surviving passengers settled in for the night.
• An unfamiliar crew member arrived and told Agnes she had come to escort her to the Night Banquet.

Agnes visited the infirmary before the Night Banquet and stabbed the gravely injured Buli, reopening her own gunshot wound in the struggle. Tasia returned to the restaurant after staying with Philip as he died, while Meyers waited anxiously for Agnes.

• Agnes insisted that Meyers return to Bishop Restaurant and went toward the Night Banquet with the crew member.
• Agnes asked the crew member to take her to the infirmary so she could see Buli.
• Agnes stabbed Buli several times, and the doctor ordered her to be sent below after her gunshot wound reopened.
• Tasia returned to Bishop Restaurant near nine o'clock after holding Philip's hand as he died.

After Philip died, Tasia returned to the restaurant and told Meyers that the Night Banquet had been safe before the Safety Inspection. A second inspection began, prompting Meyers to rush out, while Hesta showed Ligo a confession revealing Rupre’s trial had tasked him with becoming a Chelated Being and spreading disease.

• Tasia stayed with Philip as he died, listened to his imagined future, and resolved not to repeat her mother's mistakes in choosing a partner.
• Tasia told Meyers that the Night Banquet had been safe before the Safety Inspection and offered to wait with her while Aig went alone.
• The bartender announced that a second Safety Inspection would begin, and Meyers immediately rushed out of the temporary shelter.
• Hesta called Miss Chiba and showed Ligo Rupre's confession, which said his trial required him to become a Chelated Being and spread disease and panic.

Hesta and Ligo suspected Chiba knew more about the ship’s Chelated Beings, while Meyers headed alone to the Night Banquet venue. Tasia followed to protect her, but Fionn intercepted her and was captured after she led him to the wrong Sixth Deck.

• Ligo questioned how the Thorn Monks’ confession contained detailed information about Aberrants and the Chelated Tide, and Hesta decided to confront Helen.
• Meyers escaped Tasia and took an elevator toward the Night Banquet venue on level -2.
• Tasia followed Meyers, hoping to reach her before the Safety Inspection began.
• Fionn entered Tasia’s elevator, grabbed her by the throat, and insisted that he trusted her and intended for her to become Arbiter.
• Tasia exited onto the Sixth Deck, where Fionn realized they were not at his intended destination.
• Two crew members tackled Fionn and identified him as an intruder.

Tasia agreed to take her seat with Fionn after the crew broke his arm and told her the little girl had already taken hers. Meanwhile, Hesta tortured Helen to force her to cooperate and accused her of knowing what happened to Rob Green, her first Risk Passenger.

• A crew member broke Fionn's left forearm, and Tasia identified him as her Risk Passenger to get the crew to release him.
• Tasia learned the little girl had already taken her seat and agreed to shelter with Fionn while the crew took him to stop the bleeding.
• Hesta had a crew member beat Helen and demanded that she answer the question Hesta had asked earlier.
• Helen offered to consider cooperating and said Hesta did not truly enjoy hurting people, provoking Hesta to attack her.
• Ligo stopped Hesta and suggested Helen was only a bodyguard, but Hesta insisted Helen knew about Guardians and had read the Guide.
• Hesta accused Helen of being Rob Green's first Risk Passenger and connected his disappearance to a murder aboard the ship.

Helen revealed that Rob planned to establish a screening site in District 14 before taking selected people to District 15, and described his secretive visits to Core City. Hesta pressed her for more information about Rob’s trial and Goblin’s altered rules, but Helen denied knowing what had changed.

• Ligo choked Helen until Helen agreed to tell Hesta what she knew.
• Helen said someone in District 15 had invited Rob to build the next Eden on the New Continent, and that his District 14 project was secretly meant to screen people for entry into District 15.
• Helen described Rob’s scheduled visits to Core City, where he stayed at different assigned residences and sometimes went out with only Goblin.
• Helen explained that she had been brought along for her sniping ability and recounted the trial’s difficult missions.
• Hesta asked how many rules Goblin had changed, but Helen said she did not know and argued that Rob had never read the rules.

Hesta questioned Helen about Rob’s mysterious guests, while Tasia entered the lively Bishop Restaurant searching for Meyers and found Gustav unharmed. The chapter left Tasia face-to-face with Philip as the Night Banquet continued.

• Helen told Hesta that Rob had respected certain guests who lived on his estate in District 3, but she did not know where they were.
• Ligo admitted she had intended to kill Helen because Helen posed a real threat, and warned Hesta against playing with her prey.
• Tasia watched crew members carry Fionn away and entered Bishop Restaurant after they invited her into the banquet.
• Tasia spotted a figure she thought was Meyers, but found no one when she chased it through the crowd.
• Gustav appeared unharmed and urged Tasia to drink champagne before she could ask him to help find Meyers.
• Philip approached Tasia wearing the same outfit and sapphire Scepter Brooch he had worn earlier that night.

Tasia encountered Philip and Meyers at the banquet, though neither seemed to recognize her, and she was taken aside by the crew after causing a disturbance. The crew dismissed her claim that she had seen her dead Risk Passenger as a hallucination, leaving Tasia without answers.

• Tasia fled from Philip and Gustav after they approached her, shaken because she had watched Philip die only hours earlier.
• Tasia found Meyers, but Meyers did not recognize her and shouted until crew members separated them.
• A crew member questioned Tasia and explained that Meyers could act freely unless her actual adult guardian appeared.
• Tasia asked why the banquet continued despite a Safety Inspection, then admitted she had seen her dead Risk Passenger.
• The crew member suggested Tasia was hallucinating because she missed Philip and offered to contact medical staff or take her to the injured person she had brought back.

Tasia followed the nighttime rules and stayed with Meyers, who had forgotten why she came to the banquet but still worried about Agnes. Meyers revealed that Agnes’s nightmares had returned aboard the ship, and Tasia considered asking a crew member whether they could leave.

• Tasia reviewed the nighttime guidelines and watched Gustav and Philip, noticing Philip no longer wore his Sapphire Brooch.
• Meyers sat beside Tasia, admitted she could not remember why she came, and said she had been looking for Agnes.
• Tasia reassured Meyers that female passengers were generally safe and reminded her of the Passenger Conduct Guidelines.
• Meyers told Tasia that Agnes had suffered recurring nightmares and had been injured, and that both women had armed themselves with knives to confront the ghosts in her dreams.
• Tasia offered to help Agnes see a psychologist after they left the ship, and Meyers asked if they could leave the banquet together.
• Tasia spotted a crew member and suggested they ask whether they could leave.

Chiba took Hesta’s Arbiter documents and confined Hesta and Ligo to Hesta’s room, apparently trying to prevent them from going out. Hesta revealed she had kept the Restricted Items List, and initiated another Safety Inspection, while Anna learned it was Hesta’s third inspection in twenty-four hours.

• Chiba examined Hesta, borrowed her Arbiter documents, and ordered Hesta and Ligo to stay in their room for the night.
• Hesta and Ligo decided to leave, but found the door locked and the phone line cut.
• Ligo broke through the decorative wall panels and recognized the inner layer as material used in the Night Banquet.
• Hesta warned that breaking through in Bullet Time might leave Ligo unable to move seven hours later, then gave her the Restricted Items List she had secretly kept.
• Hesta initiated a third Safety Inspection in twenty-four hours, and Anna woke up to hear about it.

Tasia tried to leave the Night Banquet with Meyers, but her perception began changing until Philip and Meyers looked like strangers. She led Meyers toward the exit while trying to hold onto their identities and promised Philip she would return.

• Anna learned that the remaining blank Restricted Items Lists were in Hesta’s and Gobelin’s possession, then ordered the crew to gather on the Night Banquet deck and end the night shift early.
• Tasia asked Pujina how to leave safely, and Pujina warned her not to take a wrong turn before explaining they could exit through the main entrance after the Safety Inspection.
• Philip and Gustav approached Tasia and Meyers, and Tasia realized Philip’s appearance had changed and that Meyers looked unfamiliar too.
• Tasia feared she would soon forget Meyers, so she asked Meyers to hold her hand and remember her name.
• After the Safety Inspection ended, Tasia led Meyers toward the exit and told Philip to stay with Gustav while she took Meyers back.

Tasia and Meyers became lost in corridors that kept changing, and they followed the ship’s rules while searching for a map or crew member. Meanwhile, crew members reached Hesta and Ligo’s room with another blank Restricted Items List, retrieved from Gopelin.

• Tasia led Meyers toward what she thought was an elevator, but Meyers pulled her back from a window and a ladder that Tasia had mistaken for an elevator and steps.
• Tasia and Meyers found the route back to Bishop Restaurant had vanished, and they used the nighttime activity rules to decide to seek a deck map or patrolling crew member.
• Tasia and Meyers sat together as the corridor shifted around them, then agreed to walk along it without opening doors recklessly or following anyone suspicious.
• Crew members entered Chiba’s room, where Hesta and Ligo waited with a blank Restricted Items List.
• A crew member told Hesta that the list was not the only copy and presented another blank copy retrieved from Gopelin.

Hesta and Ligo went to the Navigation Museum after Hesta received Gopelin’s hidden copy of the Arbiter’s list and learned the crewmen would be unavailable after three. As Hesta searched the broken figurehead for inspiration about Anna’s metaphor and Alecto’s myth, Tasia and Meyers continued trying to escape the mezzanine while refusing to trust anyone without a Ship Card.

• Hesta received Gopelin’s hidden copy of the Arbiter’s list and decided to leave without questioning him.
• A crewman warned Hesta and Ligo that the night shift would end at three, so they went to the Navigation Museum.
• Tasia kept Meyers focused on escaping and demanded Ship Cards from anyone who offered help, then saw an apparition of her father.
• Tasia warned Meyers to verify her sister’s Ship Card and check for brooches or earrings before trusting her.
• Ligo opened the museum’s locked doors, and Hesta examined the shattered figurehead while reflecting on Anna’s words about metaphors and Alecto’s myth.

Ligo and Hesta challenged the crew members guarding Alecto’s statue and uncovered a locked wooden box hidden inside it. The women escaped the crew’s control, revealing that Hesta could use Bullet Time despite her bandaged legs, and Ligo incapacitated the other guards.

• Ligo and Hesta refused to leave the museum, and Hesta inferred that the crew’s night shift would end at three in the morning.
• Hesta and Ligo agreed to search Alecto’s statue while the crew watched them, then Ligo kicked apart the statue and found a locked wooden box in its hollow chest.
• Ligo threw the box to Hesta, who sprang from her wheelchair and ran off with it despite her injured legs.
• Hesta entered Bullet Time and confronted the crew member pursuing her, while Ligo broke free and left the other three crew members badly injured.

After Ligo stole the wooden box Chiba wanted, Hesta fled with the real box while Ligo carried a decoy. Anna ordered Zero to stop the fight and manage the Night Banquet’s remaining passengers, while Hesta continued running despite the pain in her legs.

• Chiba confronted Hesta and demanded the wooden box she had found inside Alecto’s statue, but Ligo took it and ran after swapping it with the box she tossed to Hesta.
• Anna told Zero to stop Chiba and Ligo without hurting Hesta, send Pujina to guide Tasia and Meyers out of the looping corridor, and finish passenger cleanup before one o’clock.
• Anna learned that only search-and-rescue vessels from Districts 3, 6, 9, and 14 had joined the Ascending Bright operation, and noted that District 12 had offered no actual support.
• Pujina reminded Tasia how they had met before, then led Tasia and Meyers toward the Fourth Deck so they could return to Bishop Restaurant.
• Hesta ran away with the wooden box in her arms, enduring sharp pain with each step and considering replacing her legs with prosthetics.

Hesta escaped the crew pursuing her by diving into a ventilation shaft, where she opened the wooden box and found an old camera containing a video for Anna. As the camera’s battery dwindled, she watched Chiba tour the Alecto and learned that one deck used industrial electricity.

• Hesta evaded the crew and fell into a ventilation shaft while clutching the wooden box.
• The crew tried to rescue Hesta, but she screamed whenever they touched her injured legs and refused to cooperate.
• Hesta used the golden key from the Alecto statue to open the box and found an old video camera and memory card.
• Hesta played the video titled “For Anna” and recognized the young girl on screen as Chiba.
• Hesta watched Chiba tour the Alecto, then slowed the footage when Chiba reached an unfinished deck and pointed out its 380V three-phase power supply.

Hesta watched an old video of Chiba asking Anna to come see her aboard the ship, leaving Hesta shaken by what it revealed. Meanwhile, Pujina brought Tasia to the Fourth Deck, where she discovered many Experience Pods and learned the hallucinations on the Second Deck were a defensive measure.

• Hesta watched the video of young Chiba showing the ship and asking Anna to find her at the Hard Rock Bar after the ship left District 3 waters.
• Hesta felt guilty about watching the video, then Chiba pulled her from the shaft and asked for the gold key that opened the wooden box.
• Chiba told Hesta to return to her room and stay there for the rest of the night, where Ligo was waiting.
• Pujina led Tasia onto the Fourth Deck, which was filled with white Experience Pods and only opened at night.
• Tasia questioned Pujina about the hallucinations on the Second Deck, and Pujina explained they were defensive measures meant to protect guests.

Pujina took Meyers to wait with Agnes and Officer Silei, assuring Tasia that they were safe. Tasia then found Fionn restrained in an Experience Pod and learned that the deck’s machines provided backup services for guardians.

• Pujina told Tasia that Agnes was with Officer Silei and would likely return the next day, then left with Meyers.
• Tasia watched Pujina and Meyers go before hearing a chime and finding Fionn strapped into a white Experience Pod.
• Tasia summoned a crew member, who said Fionn had suffered reversible mental damage and advised against removing him.
• The crew member said the deck’s machines had several uses, including free backup services for guardians, and recognized Tasia from her earlier use of those services on the Second Deck.

Tasia discovered that the Experience Pods offered scenarios based on Gustav and Philip and attacked the system for using passengers as entertainment, learning that new data about someone on the Fourth Deck was being added to a special database. Hesta returned to Chiba’s room without opening the box, while Ligo suspected she was hiding what it contained as they prepared for something expected to happen overnight.

• Tasia found crystal panels bearing Gustav and Philip’s profiles and learned that only her Risk Passenger counted as her private property.
• Tasia smashed the panels and denounced the crew member for treating passengers as material for amusement.
• The crew member told Tasia that new data from the Fourth Deck was being entered into a special-type database because its appearance rating was too low for general scenarios.
• A crew member returned Hesta to Chiba’s room, where Ligo asked what had been inside the box Hesta carried away.
• Hesta said crew members had trapped her before she could open the box, and Ligo explained that she had stalled Chiba after realizing Chiba was trying to kill her.
• Hesta urged Ligo to sleep and set an alarm for 2:30 a.m., but Ligo suspected Hesta had seen the box’s contents and was keeping them secret.