Shadow Dance

The place you've ended up in looks like a cathedral carved from coal and designed by Escher. The light tubes look like the ones from Titan Base. Valmont wants to leave immediately but Jody doesn't think you can trust the gate. It's black and spiky but there is a Valmont Interplanetary control board spliced into it. But there isn't anyone out this far, is there? The gate begins to open, even though Frances shut it down. It's from Carousel Station, so it must be Wood. You need to move or Wood will kill you! Through that tunnel!

There's a chasm ahead with a web of bridges crossing it attached to floating platforms. There are huge gates on the platforms, and you can see dozens of glowing eyes moving on the ledges. The bridge twists behind you and the others are moving position. Shadows surge onto the bridge chasing after you. Run!

You run through a gateway to escape, but Frances has a bad reaction to it. And you seem to be in the same place. There are hundreds of those black spiky gateways and some of them look as though they're growing here. Jody notices some Valmont Interplanetary equipment and demands answers. Frances says that the gate on Carousel Station defaulted to here - Valmont isn't building the gates, he's just taking them from here! Valmont insists that he worked out how they function, so that's the same as inventing them. The gates all begin to activate, and the radiation suggests that most of them don't lead anywhere survivable. More Bright Eyes above heading towards you. Frances says that a gate nearby feels safe. Run!

Frances' glasses get knocked off, and she has the same reflective eyes. She says she's feeling buzzed. The place looks like a medical camp, full of broken cryo-tubes and first aid kits. Jody thinks Wood must have infected Frances, but Frances says that it's the gates. It gets worse every time she uses one, and Valmont knows that they're affecting people. Valmont says the first gate was found on Titan, and when they got it working, they found this place. They'd noticed minor DNA fluctuations and strange behaviour. They moved those affected here to study and develop a treatment. Frances points out that this is why ANNETTE went crazy. AIs are hardwired to protect humanity; but those changed are both human and not. Annette was smart though and was trying to find a cure. Jody notices more Bright Eyes rising from a pool of liquid methane. Valmont says they digest the hydrocarbons. Jody recognises a lot of the Bright Eyes as people she had worked with. You need to get away from them!

Jody and Valmont argue about the situation, but Frances is able to lead you. She says she can feel the place in her head, and she can tell what is beyond each gate. Valmont rants about how they needed money or else they would be taken over by Pandora Haze. He says that Jody has done bad things too, and accuses you of killing Maxine. Frances is struggling, and says it feels like part of her brain is shutting down, but she guides you to the gate that gets you home. Jody insists on taking Frances with you.

You arrive back at Titan Base, in a secret area where Valmont plates the gates in silver, but only the big gate was powered then. The rest have been linked up. Frances is transforming, but manages to tell you a little more about the gates and the Bright Eyes. Frances sets the gate to the surface of a star and throws herself into it. Jody realises that the gates are going live across the solar system soon, and they'll create millions more like Frances. It's going to spread across the human race!