Episode 1

Distracted by the view, Arii trips on a small yellow orb. It is perfectly spherical and clearly made by a sophisticated race. Getting to her feet again, Arii pockets the orb and scans the rivers and crystals. To her surprise she finds that the clouds, rivers and crystals are made of the same organometallic compound called Atlanticene (a compound of the yet undiscovered metal Atlantium and carbon). It appears that Atlanticene is at the perfect temperature and pressure on this planet to be in all three of its phases at once; its Triple Point.

The story becomes stranger when Arii and her companions realise that the planet has three suns; a red giant, a main sequence star and a white dwarf. As these suns would constantly be changing position relative to the planet, it seems remarkable that the Nexus Machine took Arii to the exact time at which Atlanticene was at its Triple Point. Something of a coincidence.

After more exploration, Arii finds what looks like a stone altar with three metal statues placed upon it. It's unclear why these statues were made or by whom.

In the distance, one of Arii's team spots what looks like the remains of a crashed spacecraft hanging on the top of a mountain. Using her ability to view causally connected areas that are close by, Arii shows her companions the inside of the craft. It seems to be an old freighter, with an inside that has been hastily repaired far too many times. Alarmingly though, there is a black liquid covering the inside of the freighter that looks to have originated from its ventilation system. As it seeps out of the vent, this substance becomes more structured and vein-like as it sprawls across the ship's cabin and across its front window. Arii scans the substance and, to her horror, the scanner identifies the substance as "False Neuron". Arii explains that False Neuron originates from a sector of the galaxy called Arctra 5, a region completely off-limits to every living soul without exception. There had once been a civilisation in the Arctra 5 sector, a civilisation that had advanced in technology and culture at a rate unprecedented by all known records. However, this wasn't due to the natural evolution of the civilisation, it was caused by False Neuron. False Neuron is structurally very similar to neurons found in most species in the Universe, but it behaves as a sort of infection. With sufficient energy, False Neuron can transform any matter it comes into contact with into itself (described as a "Biological Scaffold" by many). As it is structurally similar to neurons, it requires only a small amount of energy to transform them into False Neurons. It is unknown how the infection started, with False Neuron appearing to originate from a cavernous planet in a different system entirely. The first stages of inhabitation by False Neuron is acquiring new skills, abilities even languages that the host has never previously been exposed to. As the host mind becomes increasingly active, the False Neuron is fed with more and more electrical energy until it eventually has sufficient energy to consume the host and surrounding area. It consumed the civilisation entirely.

The freighter should never have been carrying False Neuron and they paid the price. The crash of the craft seems to have been millenia ago and the remaining False Neuron long dead. Arii notices where the front window has cracked open, a tendril of False Neuron extends outwards and seems to transform into something else. Scanning this tendril, Arii finds a perplexing result; something that appears like a fusion of False Neuron and Atlanticene. Before leaving the ship Arii spots a small white orb, similar to yellow one found earlier. She takes it and returns outside the freighter.

After leaving the freighter, Arii speculates if something truly remarkable happened on this planet. As the freighter crashed, a huge amount of energy would have been released, energy that False Neuron could feed on. When it came into contact with crystals of Atlanticene, it had sufficient energy to consume it, but the crystal was so different that the result was some kind of hybrid. Atlanticene is highly electrically conductive (hence the strange hum emanating from the crystals) and was able to spread energy across planet, causing hybrid "False Atlanticene" crystals to form throughout the landscape. By some strange combination of the conductive properties of Atlanticene and the life-mimicking properties of the False Neuron, some sort of life was formed formed on the planet; beings able to exist in different phases.

Returning to the altar with the three statues, Arii spots a red orb near by; the third orb found on the planet. She then looks up and sees what looks like some kind of artificial portal; a "Stargate" as she believes humans call it. It's getting closer, but is inactive.

Placing the three orbs on the altar, it's clear that these orbs are related to the suns of the system. It also seems that the statues are made out of the same metal as the freighter, perhaps as some sort of homage by the beings on this planet. Placing the orbs on the correct statues activates an ancient teleport device. Stunned, Arii is teleported away to a subterranean walkway. It is immediately apparent that this place is far more technologically advanced than was previously thought. Hovering above the end of the walkway are three crystals surrounded by glowing rings, moving slowly around the central crystals. Below there are a series of seven buttons, the same number as there are rings. On closer inspection, the buttons are each inscribed with symbols resembling the statues, which Arii and her companions conclude are representations of the three suns of the system.

Arii thinks a while, and then speculates that if these being were to survive, they would need some way to control their phase, rather than be transformed into a solid, liquid or gas whenever the stars changed position. If they were able to control the position of the planet relative to the suns, in theory, they could keep the temperature at the Triple Point of Atlanticene, giving them the ability to move between phases at will. For this to work though, one of them should be here to activate the stargate and move the planet before the Triple Point destabilises completely.

Realising that each ring in the levitating structure represents a different possible orbit of the planet and the buttons depict a different configuration of the suns, Arii thinks that the stargate can be activated, hopefully restoring the beings and their ability to control their phase. Using the stargate, the planet can be instantly relocated to a different orbit once the current one becomes uninhabitable. Arii's companions remember the current configuration of the suns on the surface and Arii presses the corresponding button. The system activates and Arii hurries back to the teleport.

The stargate is quickly approaching now and the whole planet is vibrating with energy as it prepares to jump. Arii runs to the door of the Nexus Machine with Tangle close behind. Once inside, an alarm starts to sound indicating that the stargate has insufficient power to complete the planet's jump. Quickly Arii connects the Nexus Machine to the stargate to supply it with some additional energy, but as she does a huge surge begins to build. The doors of the Nexus Machine begin to glow red and the power continues to build around Arii until there is a huge explosion.

Confused, Arii wakes up and pulls herself to her feet. Something is deeply wrong. Arii can only describe what has happened as someone reaching back through the doors of the Nexus Machine after she connected to the stargate. She begins to wonder if this whole scenario had been orchestrated. The beings of the planet are advanced and diligent. Was it likely that they would allow the Triple Point to destabilise completely, when their existence depended upon it? Someone had engineered the situation so that Arii would help and eventually connect her Nexus Machine to the stargate when it failed to power up. Whatever reached through the doors has made changes throughout the Fray, changing events through the history of the Universe. Arii has never seen such power before and her actions have directly allowed whoever did this to use her Nexus Machine to manipulate the threads of the Fray.

Rising from her defeat and guilt, Arii knows what she and her companions have to do. They have to follow the threads of change through the Fray back to their source. As an Ark'torii, a guardian of the Fray, Arii is dutybound to protect the causal connections that hold the Universe together. This is not going to be an easy journey, but she has no choice.