Empire of Silence

The planet Emesh is closer to its sun and much hotter than Delos. It also has stronger gravity. Hadrian is in the capital city Borosevo, which is built on steel pilings driven deep into the ground. The structures are now covered in cracks and the buildings in the poorer areas are often below the water line.

Hadrian finds the space port and tries to search for the Eurynasir, but there is no record of the ship, and he does not know how long it has been since he was placed in the fugue creche. The workers chase him off. Next, he visits an old ship scrapyard. He does not find the ship, but he discovers one of the workers wearing his signet ring and demands it back. The owner of the yard tells him that the ship has already been processed and refitted, and its contents burned. He fights with the workers and is badly beaten but manages to escape with his signet ring.

Hadrian thought he understood poverty and suffering, but only after begging on the streets of Borosevo does he understand that there is a difference between knowing that suffering exists and experiencing the reality of it. During this time, an illness called the Rot ravages Borosevo.