Chapter Fifty-Six: Graduation

Icarus (Bob) and his crew finish translating the Roanokian library after six months of work, discovering it contains only legacy technology with no information about the wormholes or where populations went. They send a cargo drone through the DMZ gate to communicate with the sentries, learning that all member civilizations have passed through the far gate and that Security Central has been unresponsive for over two thousand years.

Bob's crew completes their translation of the Roanokian library texts using comparative analysis across multiple documents, though significant portions remain untranslated. They successfully decode the audiotapes by assuming the Roanokians have human-like frequency ranges and speech processing speeds. However, the hard-copy library contains only legacy twentieth-century technology with no insights into wormhole mechanics or the fate of populations. Facing the challenge of crowded ship storage, Bob decides to send a cargo drone through the DMZ gate rather than risk the ships themselves. The drone communicates with the firewall sentries using Roanokian, establishing a verbal dialogue. The sentries explain that authorization from the Roanokian government is required, but when Bob reveals Roanoke is deserted, the sentries indicate all member civilizations have already passed through "the skzzzzzzzzz" (the wormhole gate designation). When Bob presses for more information about the gate's destination or reasons for departure, the sentries indicate such information is unavailable. Critically, when asked about alternative approval methods, the sentries reveal that Security Central, the entity that could evaluate individual requests, has not responded to queries for 2,104 years. This leaves Bob and Dae without a clear path forward for passage.