Chapter Fourteen: Network Tours

Icarus and Dae spend six months exploring the wormhole network, systematically hopping through multiple hub systems across the galaxy. They discover a trend suggesting they are moving toward the center of an ancient empire and decide to investigate Hub Zero, the theoretical hub at the network's core.

Over six months, Icarus and Dae complete eight hub jumps across approximately sixty degrees of the galaxy, moving from the Orion Spur into the thicker Perseus Arm. They observe that hub systems contain between two hundred and five hundred wormhole connections, with the trend increasing as they progress. Icarus discovers a previously unknown dwarf galaxy becoming visible as they travel, which he documents for future reports. Icarus grows frustrated with their slow progress and limited exploration, noting they have mapped over thirty-two hundred systems without encountering any signs of life or wormhole traffic. Dae suggests they continue one more hub spinward to determine if the connection numbers peak, indicating the empire's center. When the next hub shows fewer connections, they conclude the previous hub is likely Hub Zero. After mapping all systems at this new hub (taking a month), they commit to returning to Hub Zero as their next priority. Over several additional months, they map six more hubs spinward of Hub Zero, discovering the empire is slightly asymmetrical with connections decreasing as expected from a central point. Icarus and Dae analyze the hub spacing, noting it corresponds to hemidecimal and decimal counting systems. They return to Hub Zero and are confronted with over a thousand wormhole gates with no clear indication of which leads to the civilization's homeworld. Unable to find identifying information beyond what they already know, they randomly select a gate and pass through.