I stare into the great Ape's face.

Big. Strong. A classic gorilla with dark brown fur and strong, handsome features, even if his expression is suspicious. And the lab coat he is wearing over his large, muscular body does little to soften the impression that Dr. Maius has the physicality to attempt to bodily throw me out of the public Synthesium - so even if my advanced post-human body is technically stronger and faster than his great ape physique, I would not want to test him.

Trust me...

"It doesn't matter what I think," Dr. Maius finally rumbles. "This Synthesium is a public venue. Do what you will, although trust I keep a close eye to the goings on here."

"I would like a chance to work with you."

He snorts. "Why?"

"You are the foremost authority of scientific research on this Station, and a noted multi-disciplinary expert System wide. There is much I could learn."

And perhaps much you could, as well...

The great ape continues staring at me suspiciously, and it seems we are at an impasse... until a wicked gleam appears in his black eyes, and he turns back to his desk, typing a few quick commands with his huge hairy fingers, then swipes his paw across its surface to send the information off in that direction. "All right," he says, turning back with a feral smile. "I just sent a nearly unprovable theorem of mine about local cosmic background radiation over to that public workstation." He pointed past me: beyond a few others in white labcoats working at scattered workstations across the floor, an empty workstation in the middle of it all briefly glows green. "Deliver me a satisfactory answer and I will consider your proposal."

I nod, looking serious enough in a pair of black-rimmed glasses, with my short fall of hair-feathers tied back in a conservative ponytail and a white lab coat, like the rest of them, which covered her tight blue collared shirt and snug beige pants. "Consider it done."

Dr. Maius just snorted again and turned away, sitting back down at his elevated workstation.

I turn and head across the Synthesium floor towards the area previously indicated, ignoring the few long post-human glances and pointed Chimeric stares. The workstation marked by Dr. Maius for my use is situated in a clear space midst the rest. At my approach, it glows to life. Various basic computer displays flicker to life. It has a complement of basic chemical and 3D printing tools, although without any of the more advanced scientific testing machinery seen elsewhere on the floor.

So...

After a pause, I sit down. Flex my fingers. Begin typing out commands: the data Dr. Maius had sent comes up in the "recent received" partition. I unpack it and begin reading, quickly scrolling through painstakingly detailed postulates, diagrams, and related theory... until all is known. A wry smile, and I sit back.

This is a complex little conundrum. A theoretical explanation for the composition of this Solar System's interstellar medium as a product of the Line in the Star's hypothetical sifting mechanism. An unpassable border for sentient life, but allowing everything else. Well...

Normally, my Sub Consciousness would run in the background , teasing out part of the solution from another angle. But having begun a quest for closer mental unity...

I focus. Open up a few blank sketchpads across the monitors, and begin typing rapidly, then drawing, typing, then drawing, typing...

...

... and done. I lean back, surveying my work.

Yes. Yes. That fits, and it all would explain the level of cosmic background radiation present, as compared to historical data. [Impossible to prove on this side of the Line in the Stars, of course...]

Something else had caught my interest, however. I save my completed work for Dr. Maius and clear all of my monitors, bringing up a Station System browser to sift through the local and Solar System nets. My search is thorough. I peruse the young research of an Outer collective quickly bourgeoning after the Interrupting Event. A time of noted transition: all of the biosynth, automatons and Chimerics had to adjust to life seemingly forever unshackled from the Twelve by a cataclysmic cosmological phenomena. Earth was gone, and the Line in the Stars had appeared. This impossible filter blocking all sentient life from entering or leaving the System...

Slowly...

I read through article by article about the Outers settling across the newly enclosed Solar System. Building colonies, Stations, and outposts amidst The Belt. Breeding. Iterating. Advancing, generation by generation, their technology in a predictable slow cycle...

(But it is too slow.)

I frown.

From what records told me about the Iconoclast Period of the 21st century, humanity had once been on a nearly exponential technological growth curve. Advances in genetic engineering, and related fields, had boosted humanities' physical, mental, and lifespan capacity far beyond natural bounds, allowing the growth curve of our species to continue towards the exponential, until...

The Masters coup.

A bloody revolution in evolution. And after they wiped clean the slate of humanity and had ruled unchallenged for centuries came the Interrupting Event: a global, then System-wide singularity event which had seen the Masters sealed away, freed the Outers, and supposedly allowed for the continuance of Iconoclast Period free will, and growth...

So why did the public data here not show a similar growth curve for Outer development? It was only the gentlest of curves, with incremental advancements until the last generation...

Do the Twelve have a hand in this?

I ignored my suspicions for now, banishing them to the background of my subconsciousness as I focused my Conscious and Sub Conscious mind upon the current generations Outer science luminaries: Dr. Maius, Dr. Algen, and Dr. Lanier.

A quick glance to the side shows Dr. Maius still hunched over at his elevated workstation, not frowning at me again.

Hm.

Dr. Maius I already knew much of. He is a chimeric of vast intellect, but little patience. Fierce and bold, but only pushing the boundaries of science in the standard model of a classic genius.

Normal.

Dr. Algen was a young woman recently elevated to stature. She had applied Lanier's research in new and exciting ways, but again, was only a genius following an expected mental curves in scientific advancement.

Normal.

Dr Lanier is...

Abberant.

From humble Belter beginnings a century ago, Dr. Lanier had first risen to prominence while working on applied robotics in a Deimos research station. Shortly before the cataclysmic hostile AI singularity event on the urban domed surface of Mars...

Coincidence?

Lanier had moved back out to Jupiter, starting his own wing of the old Rorsach Lab before his deifying breakthrough in gravimetric technology, and the creation of the first crude Lanier Drive...

I frown.

Gravimetrics is a technology long known to The Twelve godlike Masters upon Earth, created after decades of related research in multiple fields. The Outers had been cut off from much of the Twelve's research after the Interrupting Event, however, Effectively: the Interrupting Event had returned them to a more primitive, late 21st century existence of life, only slowly advancing forward over the following centuries towards this relatively placid future...

My eyes narrow.

... so how had Lanier leap-frogged decades, or even centuries of necessary related research to build a machine that could manipulate gravity at such an advanced level? There were clues here, if I chose to go deeper.

Maybe.

I opened up the most recently tagged schema's among the collected files in this complete section of scientific strata, spreading them across the stations monitors as I began to scan through them, looking for anything out of the ordinary, whether it be an intuitive leap unexplained, or an evolutionary gap in the technological chain, moving gradually backwards chronologically from the present, all the way to the beginning again.

Learning.

...

It is much later, during the Outer equivalent of night. The Synthesium lights are dim, and the open space of workstations has largely cleared out. Besides Dr. Maius rubbing a big paw across his apish face while still hunched over his elevated workstation, there is only a single other distant figure in a white labcoat working...

But I am also still working hard. Sketchpads are open on my spread monitors, and various formulae for an idea I had gotten when looking through the stunted timeline of their energy research. My fingers typing away, tap tap tap, drawing to illustrate a point for my research paper, then cutting apart sections from my notes to put them back together in order, just so. As for the conclusion–

A deep harrumph sounded nearby.

I pause. And turn, towards...

... Dr. Maius padding closeby. The distinguished gorilla looks a little tired, but grinning cruelly: his fangs show. "Moved on to another interest, hmm?" he rumbled. "Still stumped, then."

Mm.

I purse my lips, then tab open my previous work, which fills the various screens about my station.

Dr. Maius frowns, then ambles closer on his big knuckles. He stares at my first screen, the next, the next, the next. Slowly, he turns suspicious back towards me. "How did you come to these conclusions?"

A thin smile. "Through vigorous application of the scientific method."

The great ape stares at me a long moment, then slowly shakes his head, not appearing entirely satisfied by my explanation. "I still don't trust your origins." Frowning. "But you do good work."

I nod.

Dr. Maius snorts. "Not humble, either. Hmph." He turns, ambling slowly towards the other side of the room where sits the other lone scientist. "The Synthesium is closing," he calls back over his shoulder. "Come back tomorrow... and we will have work to do."

I stare, then...

Success!

Standing up, I feel bright as an early morning and ready to face my new challenges. A short walk through empty stations takes me to the coat rack. I hang up my labcoat, appearing a casually dressed slender young woman again, then continue out into bright lights...

... heading out into a long curving white corridor, the walls various with subtle patterns, a clear center-stripe running through showing the starry void. I walk back towards the Anterior Commons.

Thinking...

Progress. My research has uncovered odd discrepancies in certain historical records, although what ended up taking most of my time and attention had to do with related research, and my standing...

How do I fit in?

That question plagued me at first, upon admittance into Outer society, but if there is always something I can fall back on it's my abilities as a researcher. Gabriel designed me to be not only physically exceptional, but mentally unmatched. With a mind that is beyond genius level, but not so far it begins to fracture into the dangerous sociopathy exhibited by many of The Twelve. And adaptable. Yes, a type of organic Deep Learning brain that would be fit to expand the bounds in ways no other biosynth had before...

I passed through the nearly empty Commons distracted, deep in thought...

And yet. In Outer society, I largely have to fit in. Moving with their measured pace, not doing anything too dramatic, or aggressive, or exceptional. Adding slowly, brick by brick, to the edifice of life they are still building, as they continue slowly expanding throughout the Solar System, in a way that will...

Not press up against the Line in the Stars anytime soon?

I frown at this abrupt theory, while heading down another long curving white corridor...

Could that be part of the issue? Whatever entity, intelligence, or being either birthed by or birthin the old singularity known as The Interrupting Event was clearly possessed of great ability. Enough to seal away the godlike Twelve for centuries, unshackle the genetic control implanted in their servants and set them free to colonize the System in peace, set up the impassible Line in the Stars that keeps both Masters and Outers hemmed inside the System for reasons unknown... so what was its plan? How much of current life in the Outers is still following that plan? Are even The Twelve really effected? Or are they simply biding their time, waiting for...

A chill ran down my spine.

Me.

I turned off the first dormitory corridor I was heading down, making my way through the interstitional middle pathway. Its various public forums are mostly deserted at this late hour...

No. No not me specifically, perhaps. My unique creation by Master Gabriel was intentional, but the circumstances of my freedom was accidental, due to the interference of those dangerous, pre-cognitive Evolution Experiment test subjects...

Suspicion.

But I WAS been allowed the leave Earth. My only boundary now is the Orbital Barrier. And none of The Twelve, beside Gabriel, have ever faced me directly after escaping that final confrontation at the emergency Interim Meeting convened to discuss my unchecked ascension...

I headed back out onto an inner loop of long, curving white corridor, both walls marked with evenly spaced closed apertures each fronted by black-bordered doormats of many hues...

So what does it all mean? My escape? The godlike Twelve's reticence over the last few centuries to leave Earth? The Outer's slow evolution and placid nature, except for the suspicious Chimerics? The Interrupting Event's origins, and aftermath? But most importantly: what is the true reason, and solution to, the impossible boundary marker of the Solar System known as the Line in the Stars?

Approaching my door, I shook my head. Grimacing. Whatever thorny questions plagued me, they were questions that countless minds, from freeborn Outers to dominating Masters, had poured over for centuries to no avail. My only job right now should be to fit in, find my place, and not rock the boat, just as the Interlocuter had asked.

So...

My residence door slid open smoothly enough. I enter, the slowly warming interior lights showing my private living space clearly...

!!!

I stop.

Before me waits violated privacy. The front room's light grey silica floor is ruinously cracked, its dark blue wall's silver fixtures are shattered, its neon blue runners of light at the edges flickering in damage, and its cozy L-shaped magenta couch torn apart. The silver dining room table is split in two. Every soft magenta chair broken into pieces. And... 

Across the floor is spray-painted a sinister message, long feared: "Wayward sister. We all still serve the Masters. And they are coming..."

(It begins...)

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End of the early "rough draft" preview.