Chapter Sixty-Eight: Federation Capital

Icarus arrives at the Federation capital system via the wormhole network and encounters a heavily artificial stellar arrangement. After submitting a false registration application, Icarus attempts to query the Capital Archives' Archivist AI, discovering the Federation population has evacuated due to impending galactic destruction and struggling with the Archivist's queue-based response system.

Icarus exits the wormhole at Hub Zero and receives a challenge from a sentry. Unable to provide valid Roanokian registration credentials, Icarus claims no Roanokian authority exists to issue them and suggests the capital as the next logical source. The sentry restricts their trajectories but grants permission to communicate with the Archivist. Dae approves of this diplomatic solution. Upon arriving in the capital system, Icarus observes an extraordinary artificial arrangement: six terrestrial planets positioned at Lagrange points in a common orbit, mirrored by six Jovian planets at Saturn-equivalent distance, creating a near-perfect Klemperer rosette. Icarus and Dae submit false registration applications while beginning research. When Icarus attempts to query the Archivist, they discover over 132,000 queued connections, mostly from automated systems. After finally connecting, Icarus learns that all 114 Federation species have emigrated to avoid imminent galactic destruction. Subsequent queries become frustratingly inefficient, with the Archivist placing Icarus back in queues after each answer. Through persistence, Icarus learns the antimatter fountain was discovered in Federation Standard Year 832, may be either a white hole or artificially-created wormhole, and is held open by escaping antimatter or black hole pressure. The current year is 12,902, with a Federation Year equivalent to approximately 1.72 Earth years, placing Year Zero roughly 22,191 Earth years in the past. Federation Year Zero marks the inaugural year when the Six Original Races signed the Articles of the Constitution. Frustrated by the queue system, Icarus begins automating future queries.