Testing the high gravity, the narrator builds a pendulum and counts cycles at two heights. Identical periods rule out a nearby centrifuge gradient. After calculating the enormous size and speed a centrifuge would need—on Earth or in space—he rejects that explanation and concludes he is not on Earth.

A memory surfaces: dinner with his friend Marissa, who works for the DOE. She shares early JAXA data that the sun is dimming and that the Petrova line is brightening at a matching, accelerating rate, implying energy is being siphoned from the sun. Global leaders plan to announce the crisis.

Back in the present, dread feels familiar. He looks at the desiccated bodies and breaks down, then realizes they were a crew on a spacecraft and had been kept in medically induced comas. He infers the automation tended them, but only he survived. He eats a ration, drinks water, and notes a vacuum toilet adapted for gravity.

Seeking more memories, he recalls watching NASA’s ArcLight mission at JPL. Experts explain its Venus orbits to sample the Petrova line. The onboard microscope shows particles that move like microbes, shocking controllers and implying possible extraterrestrial life.

An alert—"angular anomaly"—suggests a navigational issue. A locked hatch likely requires his name, so he concentrates on his identity. Visualizing his San Francisco apartment and his affinity for kids, he finally remembers a key fact: he is a schoolteacher.