Author's Note

Via Astralis is a daughter of Chief Navigator Patria Astralis, the planetary governor of the Trappist-1E Colony in the Aquarius constellation. As the sixth person in line for the governor's seat after her mother, Via knows that she will never rule, but she has always longed to serve. A keen student of the law, she's just become one of the colony's two detectives, but with only 500 people to oversee planetwide, the job promises to be rather uneventful.

When an Ancient scientist is found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning, Via sees a chance to make a name for herself as a real homicide detective. But first, she must convince her boss--dear old Ma--to let her take the case. Unfortunately, Patria doesn't see anything of concern about the death and won't let her open a formal investigation without stronger evidence of foul play.

Then Via's grandmother Kaitlyn, another Ancient, dies in her sleep.

Now, Via is determined to get to the bottom of who is killing Ancients, and why. To solve the murders and find justice for the victims, she must find her grandmother's consciousness in Trappist-1E's virtual reality Caeles, where the minds of the dead are uploaded at the time of death.

There is only one hitch in her plan: to investigate, Via needs her mother's permission... but Via's mother is her prime suspect.