Fiction

A World Beyond

Worldbuilding and speculative fiction — a forge where possibilities take shape before they become real.

Volumes on this shelf · 7

Foundations 7 chapters · 2024 · ~52 min

How the civilization's systems got built.

Chapters
  1. 1Courier2024
  2. 2Temporal Disposition2024
  3. 3Spine2024
  4. 4Continuum2024
  5. 5Without2024
  6. 6Clock of the Commons2024
  7. 7The Epoch2024
Orbis 6 chapters · 2024 · ~34 min

Governance in session — hearings, motions, and stress tests.

Chapters
  1. 1The Longevity Hearing: Session Transcript2024
  2. 2The Orbis Framework: A Structural History (Excerpts)2024
  3. 3The Hearing2024
  4. 4Motion2024
  5. 5Stress2024
  6. 6Integrity2024
Pathfinder 6 chapters · 2038 – 2081 · ~42 min

Twelve ships, sixty-two names, beyond Sol.

Chapters
  1. 1The Call2038
  2. 2Selection Committee Notes2038
  3. 3A Pathfinder's Log2038
  4. 4Peregrine Fleet Registry2038
  5. 5The Liminariscope — Issue 0012041
  6. 6A Castle Full of Vampires2081
Signals 5 chapters · 2024 – 2044 · ~37 min

First contact, in fragments and contradictions.

Chapters
  1. 1The Quiet Channels: A Redacted Brief2024
  2. 2Eyes from Afar2024
  3. 3T'nagari2024
  4. 4Random Systems2024
  5. 5Representation2044

Loose pages · 1

All pages

On the Stars: Collected Testimonies

Series: Field Notes

Personal reflections from across the solar system — on what it means to leave Earth and live among the stars. Dates of key events differ between accounts.

2024
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The Lunar Standoff: Records and Reactions

Series: Field Notes

Official records, leaked assessments, and public reactions to an event variously described as a stranding, a test, and a stunt.

2024
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Shift: Five Accounts of the Same Day

Series: Field Notes

Five people, five diaries, one date — each records a world that changed. Their descriptions of what happened do not agree.

2024
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Returns: Coverage of an Arrival

Series: Field Notes

News reports, internal memos, and leaked records covering the return of a vessel after an extended absence. Mission duration figures do not agree.

2024
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Letters from Mons

Series: Field Notes

A correspondence between Mars and Earth spanning twelve years. The details drift. Neither party notices.

2024
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The Traverse

Series: Field Notes

A mission log from a 9-person geological survey through Valles Marineris. The terrain is layered, honest, indifferent. Exploration is slow work.

2024
fictionmission-logMarsValles-MarinerisgeologySTFteam-dynamicsrover-ops

Intimacy with Indifference

Series: Field Notes

Field notes from a solo exploration of Ceres. Carbon-rich terrain, exposed ice veins, phase changes in the void. A world that didn't care if he lived or died — and that was the point.

2024
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The Quiet Leg

Series: Field Notes

Off-the-books exploration of a nameless debris field trailing a dead comet. A 400m tumbling shard. Prebiotic chains in a geode chamber. A cosmic near-miss. Stewardship of almosts.

2024
fictionfield-notesdebris-fieldsolo-explorationprebiotic-chemistrycosmic-near-missrovers

Letter Home

Series: Field Notes

A letter from someone aboard a generation ship — a vessel that will not reach its destination for 400 years. The letter is to a person on Mars who will be dead before the ship arrives. The destination is not the point. The carrying is.

2024
fictionlettergeneration-shiphopestewardshipdeparturelong-termfuture

Courier

Series: Foundations

Network operations logs from a DXN relay station during the first activation of the courier layer — the moment physical data transport became faster than light-speed signal.

2024
fictionNOC-logDXNnetwork-operationscourierFTLmeshcontradiction

Temporal Disposition

Series: Foundations

How CNVR became the quiet architect of post-terrestrial infrastructure — from a software company with 'unmarketable' tech to the backbone of interplanetary transport. The founding doctrine: live the future now.

2024
fictionoral-historyCNVRinternal-culturefleet-identityorganisational-metamorphosisfounding-doctrine

Spine

Series: Foundations

DXN was never merely a communication network. It was Orbis's keystone technology — the spine of its philosophy, infrastructure, and sovereignty. Without DXN, Orbis could've remained a fragile idea.

2024
fictiontechnical-historyDXNinfrastructuresovereigntynetworkmeshresilience

Continuum

Series: Foundations

AXYZ's 'Continuum Hypothesis' skunkworks group — where intuitive chaos meets mathematical precision. Not a company. A swarm. The open invitation: bring your disciplines, break them, rebuild them.

2024
fictionresearch-cultureAXYZAXYZICSskunkworksinnovationswarmopen-invitation

Without

Series: Foundations

What happens when the founder leaves. Orbis, CNVR, AXYZ after John's departure. The system was designed to persist — but designed and functioning are different things.

2024
fictioninstitutional-retrospectiveOrbisCNVRAXYZfounder-departuresystem-persistencematurity

Clock of the Commons

Series: Foundations

Forum threads from the Nexus Temporal Systems Domain — where Proto-USST was first debated. Fierce arguments about circadian resilience, imperial time, and whether humanity could untether itself from Earth's spin.

2024
fictionforum-threadsNexusUSSTproto-USSTtemporal-systemsdebatecircadianimperial-time

The Epoch

Series: Foundations

The formal USST proposal as published in Nexus logs — anchored to the Last Great Syzygy. Multiple versions, multiple names, multiple arguments. The moment a clock became a civilisation.

2024
fictionproposal-documentUSSTepochSyzygynamingTemporal-Design-CircleadoptionUSTscheduling

The Longevity Hearing: Session Transcript

Series: Orbis

Transcript of an Orbis Assembly subcommittee hearing on lifespan extension. Expert testimonies contain conflicting efficacy data.

2024
fictionarchivetranscriptOrbislongevityVitaGeneCyberGencontradiction

The Orbis Framework: A Structural History (Excerpts)

Series: Orbis

Excerpts from an unpublished academic history of Orbis governance. Multiple editions give different founding dates and contradict each other on key procedural events.

2024
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The Hearing

Series: Orbis

A transcript from an Orbis Audit & Integrity Circle (eSTF) hearing, where a Framework Circle decision is challenged. The governance mechanics reveal themselves through the dispute.

2024
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Motion

Series: Orbis

A detailed trace of a single Orbis motion moving through the system — Circle vote, eSTF audit, xSTF mediation, motion termination, Circle dissolution, sSTF rebuild. The mechanical heart of governance.

2024
fictioncase-studyOrbisgovernancemotion-lifecycleCircleCelleSTFxSTFsSTFdeliberation

Stress

Series: Orbis

Eight different governance models tested against identical crises. Each beats Orbis in at least one scenario. The conclusion: no single model is optimal. Resilience requires diversity.

2024
fictiongovernance-analysisOrbiseight-politiesstress-testresiliencecomparative-governance

Integrity

Series: Orbis

A simulated hostile takeover inside Orbis — infiltrators gaining seats in the AI Integrity Circle, attempting to bias Orbx summaries. The eSTF catches them. The system's immune response.

2024
fictionincident-reportOrbisAI-integrityhostile-takeoversimulationanti-fragilityimmune-response

The Call

Series: Pathfinder

Orbis bulletin announcing the Pathfinder Project — human teams to follow the probes beyond Sol. Application portal opens midnight. No guarantees of return.

2038
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Selection Committee Notes

Series: Pathfinder

Internal selection committee logs from the Pathfinder Project — 26 million applicants, 312 shortlisted, 62 placed. The names not chosen stick longer.

2038
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A Pathfinder's Log

Series: Pathfinder

Personal log from Pathfinder participant #58 — pre-departure through launch. The missing sock, the dorm arguments, the mother who stopped talking, and the quiet terror of being chosen.

2038
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Peregrine Fleet Registry

Series: Pathfinder

CNVR fleet registry for the Pathfinder Project — 12 ships, 12 destinations, 62 names. The first wave. The only wave, until there's another.

2038
fictionregistryfleetpathfindershipsmanifest

The Liminariscope — Issue 001

Series: Pathfinder

First issue of the Liminariscope — the interstellar newsletter. The Liminari declaration, a personal essay on thresholds, and the question of what to call those who built the places the pathfinders left behind.

2041
fictionnewsletterLiminariLuminariiPeregrinatordeclarationidentity

A Castle Full of Vampires

Series: Pathfinder

Transmissions from Peregrine-4, received years late and compiled on Earth: a crashed crew, a stasis rotation, livestock blood, and the natives' entirely reasonable conclusion. The first Dracula was a systems engineer who could not fix his own exoskeleton.

2081
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Progenitor: Collected Reports

Series: Progenitor

A press dossier compiled from conflicting sources covering the Progenitor's first flight. Transit times vary by source.

2024
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Probes: Signals from Alpha Centauri

Series: Progenitor

Excerpts from the telemetry logs of probes launched from the Progenitor in its early years. Their signals arrived years later — during the final preparations for Peregrine II.

2024
fictionarchivemission-logAlpha Centauriprobesinterstellarcontradiction

Progenitor: The Crowdfunding Prospectus

Series: Progenitor

The original crowdfunding prospectus for the Progenitor Project — a spacecraft waiting for an engine that doesn't exist. Backers received a steel globe, a novelty boarding pass, and a promise. The boarding pass turned out to be real.

2024
fictionprospectusarchiveProgenitorcrowdfundingOrbisboarding-passglobecontradiction

The Hangar

Series: Progenitor

A broadcast transcript reconstructing the viral video that announced the Progenitor to the world — the slideshow, the warehouse, the ship that lifted off without rockets.

2024
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Children of Sol

Series: Progenitor

An anniversarial journal entry from Cycle 10, reflecting on humanity's transition from children of Earth to children of Sol. The writer has lived through every Cycle. The numbers drift.

2024
fictionjournalUSSTanniversarialSolarianCyclesidentitycontradiction

New Horizon

Series: Progenitor

Personal notebook entries from the Progenitor crewed flight — recovered, pages missing. The artist's account. Not the official one.

2023
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The Unnamed

Series: Progenitor

The process of choosing who flies on the Progenitor — balancing scientific, cultural, and diplomatic significance. The names that were considered and rejected. The people who almost went.

2024
fictioncommittee-transcriptProgenitorcrew-selectionfamilypersonal-stakesabsencealmost

Companion

Series: Progenitor

Fragment recovered from AXYZ Inc. archives — pre-mission companion interaction logs for the Progenitor crewed flight. Two AIs, one log structure, parallel realities.

2023
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Voices from Earth

Series: Progenitor

Live transcript from the Progenitor's first lunar communication window — public questions streamed to the crew during the maiden flight. The questions were not always about space.

2034
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The Long Conversation

Series: Progenitor

Extended broadcast transcript from the Progenitor's Mars leg — the crew answering questions from Earth during the long crossing. The shock had faded. What remained was curiosity.

2034
fictionbroadcastMarspublicphilosophycrewAxycatsProgenitor

The Pilgrim Exit

Series: Progenitor

The documents surrounding John Tukei's unauthorized departure aboard Peregrine 2 — an incident report, a witness account, a final speech, a deleted log, and a message received years later. The founder left. The institutions he built had to survive without him.

2048
fictionincident reportdeparturePeregrine 2CNVROrbisJohn Tukeidisappearance

The Quiet Channels: A Redacted Brief

Series: Signals

An STF analysis document on anomalous network behaviour, with margin annotations from three analysts who do not agree on what they are looking at.

2024
fictionarchiveclassifiedAGISTFanalysiscontradiction

Eyes from Afar

Series: Signals

An archivist's report on recovered personal materials from John Tukei's twenty-year absence. Among them: field notes describing an encounter with an observer from Fusir-seta-ba, a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri Ab.

2024
fictionarchiveanalysisVeqHatha-veqFusir-seta-baT'nagari IVPeregrinerecovered-materialscontradiction

T'nagari

Series: Signals

Field notes from Hatha-veq, an observer from Fusir-seta-ba, documenting her decades-long study of T'nagari IV — the planet her people call Earth. The probes failed. The silence persisted. She did not stop watching.

2024
fictionfield-notesHatha-veqFusir-seta-baT'nagari-IVAlpha-Centauriprobesobservationcontradiction

Random Systems

Series: Signals

In 2030, three randomly deployed probes each confirmed alien life — plant ecosystems, artificial structures, thriving biospheres. The statistical shock was not the discovery. It was the implication.

2024
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Representation

Series: Signals

A leaked Orbis briefing on humanity's participation in an extraterrestrial council. Representation, cognition, and the problem of governing with beings whose minds are fundamentally different.

2044
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The Yeet Wars: A Retrospective

Series: Solarian

Ten years after the advertisement that broke the internet, the people involved still can't agree on when it aired — or who won.

2024
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The Yeet

Series: Solarian

The full-length CNVR advertisement that started the Yeet Wars — a retelling of human transportation history, directed at you.

2024
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Conversations with Amara

Series: Solarian

Transcripts from a series of diagnostic conversations with the AXYZ field AI designated Amara. Her answers to the same questions evolve — or degrade — over time.

2024
fictiontranscriptAIAXYZAmaraconversation-logglitchcontradiction

Hopper

Series: Solarian

The rise of station-to-station shuttle services — from a 5-seat prototype to a civilisational backbone. Grandmas fly. That's the victory condition.

2024
fictionfeature-article4SS4Genesisshuttle-servicesindustrynormalisationCNVReconomics

First Day

Series: Solarian

A student's first day at OASIS Academy — the education system of a spacefaring civilisation. What they learn, how they live, the rhythms of a world that doesn't need heroes.

2024
fictionslice-of-lifeOASIS-AcademyeducationUSSTdaily-lifehabitatstudent

The Panel

Series: Solarian

A retrospective panel at OASIS Academy — four researchers discuss whether COSMIC was inevitable or accidental. The question is not technical but philosophical: does progress have a direction?

2024
fictionpanel-transcriptAXYZCOSMICresearch-culturephilosophy-of-progressinevitability-vs-accident

Almost

Series: Solarian

A meditation on stewardship of near-misses. The universe is full of things that didn't become what they could have. Someone should witness them. That is the ethic.

2024
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Drift

Series: Solarian

An essay from someone who has lived 180 years. Not about the technology. About the drift — the person they were at 30 is not the person they are at 180. Who are we when we do?

2024
fictionpersonal-essaylongevityVitaGeneCyberGenidentity-driftmemoryadaptation

Solarian

Series: Solarian

Five people define 'Solarian' differently. The compilation reveals that Solarian is not a single identity — it is a network of identities, connected by infrastructure and protocol.

2024
fictionidentitymulti-perspectivecultural-synthesishabitat-technicianBelt-minerLuna-governorTitan-researcherEarth-child

The Erien Diaspora

Series: Solarian

One family across seven substrates — prescriptive, nanobot, chassis, edited, jarred, uploaded, and built. A census of what 'alive' now covers.

Cycle 87
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A World Beyond Here & Now

A speculative anthology exploring humanity's destiny among the stars — grounded speculation for a world that can be.

2022
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