MEGALOMANIA

When even implausible fiction can pass as ultimate truth, as long as you keep believing, would that stop you from digging for better answers—or would logic no longer be your friend?

Severed from supervision, Mathew trades the serious for pleasure. With a fresh shell capable of neural linking, the Standard can freely indulge in virtual immersion and the absolute trust of a mindmeld. Yet, even in the warm glow of love and sweet feels, nagging questions emerge. The recorded Exodus undertaking draws his attention first, and upon closer look, its gapped chronology and doubtful feasibility stand out. But while the Nova populace remains happily oblivious about the past, Mathew's qualms about an unrecalled history quickly grow too strong to ignore.

Desperate to drown out his rising distrust, he blindly embraces the strange offering of a sudden new friendship, believing a distraction will prevent his curious mind from slipping into dangerous conjecture. Balance seems restored by the adjustment. Yet while the dome of civilisation remains generally coherent, the first hairline cracks do begin to form—each of them hinting at ever deeper layers of existence than first meets the eye.