Part 4 — Chapter 8

Summary

• The chapter opens with two characters, the narrator and Ephrem, reminiscing over memories of chai tea at Ephrem’s house. It’s suggested that they have a long and shared past together.
• The narrator questions why a character named Zoey didn't want them to be there, to which Ephrem responds by revealing a rumor about Zoey falling in love with a time traveler who subsequently "got lost in time."
• Ephrem explains how one could get lost in time by intentionally tampering with the time line and warns against doing so.
• Ephrem uses a console to show a timeline with the images of people that floats in the air. He explains to the narrator that they are on a mission to interview people who have possibly witnessed an unknown anomaly.
• The first individual they must interview is Edwin St. Andrew, who reportedly had an encounter in the forest at Caiette. The narrator must interview him in the year 1912, before he had a traumatic experience on the Western Front.
• They will also speak to Paul James Smith, an artist involved in a video performance in 2020. The video presumably shows the anomaly that St. Andrew described a century earlier.
• The narrator must also seek out Alan Sami, a violinist who played in the Oklahoma City Airship Terminal around 2200, and who features in a piece of music referenced in the book Marienbad. Through him, they hope to learn more about the music and other potential information.
• Olive Llewellyn is another person the narrator must interview. Ephrem reveals there is no video footage of her experiences before writing Marienbad available due to no one keeping records for that long. The interview should occur during her last book tour in November 2203.
• Ephrem informs the narrator that other investigators are also working the case from different perspectives. Their role is to conduct these interviews and hand their findings to a senior investigator for final determination.
• The chapter ends with Ephrem saying that the narrator will start by interviewing the violinist, but not until five years later, as they need to complete training first.