Sea of Tranquility

This chapter is simply a repetition of the line Gaspery etched in his prison wall: “No star burns forever” (234).

After Gaspery turns 60, he develops a heart condition, which is difficult to treat in the time that he is stuck in. He can’t watch the moon in his prison hospital bed, so he replays memories from his life. Short, italicized descriptions of these moments are right-aligned, like Olive’s observations from Part 5. They include days from his childhood in Night City with Ephrem and his mom, as well as time-traveling to see Edwin.

Zoey appears in the hospital, removes Gaspery’s tracker, and gives him a new one, as well as a new device. She syncs their devices, and the chapter ends in an em-dash. 

This chapter begins with an em-dash, followed by Gaspery and Zoey traveling to a farm outside Oklahoma City. Zoey tells Gaspery it is 2172, and she has paid for him to be a boarder on this farm. She was arrested and imprisoned for a year after he was sent to Ohio. Then she moved to the Far Colonies, where she was recruited to work for another organization with a time machine. She apologizes for not being able to help him earlier in his imprisonment but says he should be safe and free now. They hug, and Zoey leaves. Gaspery feels lonely.

Gaspery gets to know the owners of the farm, Clara and Mariam, who respect his privacy. They are in their eighties, and Mariam becomes sick after a couple of years. At this point, Gaspery realizes he might have to help Clara if she has health problems. He fears being recognized by surveillance cameras at a hospital and the Time Institute coming after him, so he gets “laser facial resculpting and iris recoloring” (241) at the farm. Gaspery recognizes his new face—the face of the violinist at the airship terminal.

Gaspery finds Mariam’s old violin, and Clara arranges for him to get lessons from their neighbor. Clara hints that the neighbor is from another time, and Gaspery learns that Talia is his neighbor.

Talia explains that Zoey (after being in prison) warned her to leave the moon. She moved to the Far Colonies but didn’t like living underground and feared the extradition treaty with the moon. Zoey helped Talia move to Earth, and she has been living on the farm for 26 years.

Talia and Gaspery get married and, after Clara and Mariam die, inherit their farm. They spend many happy years on the farm, playing their violins, and watching farm robots and airships. Gaspery believes that a life in a simulation is still worth living.

Gaspery knows from his interview that Talia will die, and he will begin playing in the airship terminal in 2195.

In a smaller font, this chapter is one sentence, broken into short lines, that describe Talia dying of an aneurysm at 75 years old.

While mourning Talia, Gaspery sits with his dog on the porch at night. He realizes he misses being around people and is excited to move to the city and play in the terminal.

Gaspery is shocked that no one at the Time Institute realized he interviewed himself as the violinist Alan, and that he “triggered the anomaly” (250). One day in October, while playing in the airship terminal, he sees Olive, his younger selves in the terminal as well as in the forest, Edwin, and Vincent. Then, the moment of file corruption ends, and his younger self approaches to begin the interview.

Gaspery interviews himself. Before the recorded part that is included as a transcript in Part 4, the older Gaspery plans to reply as he did in the transcript and behave as he remembers Alan behaving. He tells his younger self about his days on the farm, watching the robots work, spending time with his dog, and playing violin. Gaspery thinks about the airships and how lonely he was at the farm after Talia died. Then, the younger Gaspery turns on the recorder and begins the transcribed interview. The older Gaspery thinks about how he can be a still point in an ever-moving crowd in the streets of Oklahoma City.