Chapter 16
We find ourselves at Amy's adoptive parents' home in Sweden. They are concluding a phone call with Amy, but seem worried about telling her something. We then jump to Cordola, where Marcy is meeting Jeff and the others for another session with Simulcra. Nigel is boasting that his father's work has been named the greatest invention of the 21st century, but Amy believes the artificial womb deserves that title. The gang are greated by Nigel's dad and quickly sink into unconsciousness. Suddenly we are in Cordola in the year 1937, at a private detective's office - Jeffrey's. The hard-boiled private eye gives a gruff and stern introduction, before his meek and earnest assistant, Nigel, enters to give Jeff a case file. Jeff goes on to explain how Nigel came to work for him - at the start of the decade, Jeff was living in Paris. We see the Eiffel Tower covered in dazzling neon lights spelling out Citroen and Jeff walking the streets. A guy he owes money to grabs him from a dark alley and threatens him with a knife. In the apartment above, Nigel watches, and drops a flower pot directly on the would be assailant's head, knocking him out cold. Jeff flees France by ship to Carnelia, and sets up shop as a private detective, later hiring Nigel.
In the present day of 1937, they discover glamorous actress Lauren Woodwind has died by suicide. The phone rings, but Jeff holds the handset upside down. It's Johnny Woodwind, the movie star's husband, seeking his help in finding her killer. He believes someone else was behind her death. Nigel drives Jeff to Johnny's house in Gladstone. Johnny has an alibi, and directs Jeff to interview Lauren's best friend - Callista Evangeline aka Amy Kitts! They find her performing a love song at the Sakura Lounge, to a sell-out crowd. She cheerily greets them at her changing room, but Jeff is all business. Amy extolls her close relationship with the deceased followed by Jeff asking about the big bag of cash sitting behind her. Resisting his questions, Jeff suddenly brings out a jar of snakes, thanks to the simulation's Magic Inventory. Terrified, she reveals that a mysterious man paid her to allow access to Lauren's costume for her upcoming movie. He claimed to be from a rival film studio. Jeff and Nigel take her to Lauren's house, telling her to find the spare key. She is unable to find it, proving she wasn't with Lauren when she died.
Jeff heads to a seedier part of town for his next suspect: Rufus. He is part of Cordola's criminal underworld - and a former boyfriend of Lauren's. Jeff's questions and jabs get under Rufus' skin, until another gangster warns the police are on their way. Rufus decides Jeff ratted him out and has him dumped in the ocean while in a tied up sack. He escapes and trudges back to his office, where a chance word by Nigel gives him a brain wave. At Cordola's Adoption Agency, Jeff demands Lauren's records. He gets an address for Gracie Bismark, her biological sister. In one of the rooms, he finds a revengeful photo installation expressing hatred towards Lauren. Gracie shows up, and proves to be her identical twin sister. Jeff shows off the rope he found in her house, matching the one Lauren apparently hanged herself with, and reveals he knows about her life - she failed in life and love while her sister flourished - so she was the one who killed her and faked her death. Lauren says while she planned her death, she wasn't the one who actually killed her, it was - BANG - and she's shot dead just before saying the name. The shooter is Johnny! He was Gracie's lover before marrying Lauren, but regretted his decision. Together, the two plotted her death.
It turns out Johnny was the one who called the police on Rufus' gang, intending for them to kill him. He's about to finish the job when Nigel appears out of nowhere and whacks him on the head with a baseball bat. The mystery solved, Jeff and Nigel leave the house for some fresh air.
Chapter 17
At Cordola Airport, Amy and her sister Yvonne are heading to their flight to take them back to Sweden, where their family lives. Amy tells her that she plans on changing her studies from Advertising to Food Science. . .making two members of the family now with connections to the food industry (her brother is a chef). They board a typical plane in 2048 - a blended wing body with even more passengers crammed in than we are used to. Meanwhile in downtown Cordola, Rufus is enjoying a cup of Ninja Noodles. He's surprised to see Jeff leaving for the university again, but it's to attend a cooking class. In the late afternoon, Jeff takes the maglev to Cordola U. Waiting outside the classroom are two young people, Neil and Candice. Neil recognises Jeff as being in his graduating year at Melody Heights High. We cross to the Hannaford Estate, where Marcy is typing in her blog and researching space travel. It seems she's considering travelling to Luna to visit her mother. After studying a list of spaceports, she looks up space flight accidents and finds that the most recent one was 12 years earlier. The footage sends chills down her spine.
The plane touches down in Stockholm and the two girls are reunited with their family. In the car on the way to their home, Amy announces her participation in Carnelian Diva, the nationwide singing competition. Back at Cordola U, Jerry, the cooking class teacher, arrives. The students are told to pair off - Jeff partners with Candice. While preparing carbonara, Jeff learns Candice is studying Childcare at college.
In Stockholm, Amy cuddles Alistair, the family dog. He's been genetically engineered to live around fifty years. She goes up to the attic and comes back down with treasured childhood toys. The family then leaves for dinner at their favourite restaurant. The cooking class is dismissed and while Jeff initially intends to go straight home, his new acquaintances invite him to tag along with them while they go shopping in the city.
The next morning in Stockholm, Amy awakens. At the dining room her parents announce that they know who her birth mother is. She is Julie Oostman, a Swedish woman now living in the US. She got pregnant at a young age and suffered a mental breakdown when her boyfriend ran away. She abandoned newborn Amy at a hospital, along with contact details and instructions not to tell her who her mother is until she turns 18. Floored by the news, Amy leaves the house to go for a run. Taking a break on a park bench, she is shocked to see St Cecilia Hospital, where she was abandoned, rising above the trees. It's in the wrong part of town. She runs to it and notices a woman leaving a basket by the front door. Amy confronts her, but screams when the person has a bare skull instead of a face. It turns out Amy fell asleep on the park bench and had a nightmare.
Chapter 18
Marcy is painting an artwork of an angel when Daphne enters, saying that their mother wants them all to visit her on Luna. They then sit down to watch the latest episode of Carnelian Diva. The host explains there are only 10 contestants left in the competition and that they recently moved to the same lodging for more drama and conflict. We briefly eavesdrop on a conversation between Neil and Candice, the former reminding her to cast her vote for Amy to keep her in the competition. In the diva house, the contestants receive news that they will be flown to Mumbai for mentoring by Bianca Primrose, the daughter of singing legend Lakesha Primrose. Amy has befriended a fellow contestant named Meredith, hanging out with her while seeing the tourist spots. Her enemy is Kathy, the girl she clashed with during the auditions back in Chapter 13. Amy admits she has drafted a letter to her birth mother, but hasn't had the courage to send it.
In Cordola, another cooking class has concluded. Neil invites Jeff to join him and Candice to watch a jam session at his house. Along the away, they discuss the upcoming Olympics in their city and the band's ambition. They go into the basement where Jeff meets the rest of the band Quadraticus. They launch into an aggressive song called Get Over Yourself. Famished, they order dinner from Phobos Pizza and sit down in front of the holotube. While the bandmates make crude remarks about an actress on screen, Jeff gives his eloquent description of her, impressing Candice. Neil takes Jeff to see his room, where he asserts his protectiveness over his long time friend.
After the last day of filming in Mumbai, Amy and Meredith retire to their hotel room. Amy gets a reply from her birth mother, and is estatic to learn not only is her mother interested in meeting her, she also has two younger half brothers.
A few days later, Jeff is taking Candice out to the movies. He has borrowed Rufus' car, but when he puts on the holotube, skimpy-clad dancing girls fill the screen. She playfully puts one of the movie ticket stickers on his cheek and promises him a present if he keeps it on his face until the movie begins. As the lights dim, he gets his surprise - a first kiss from her. The movie ends, disappointingly, on a cliffhanger - the stinger promises more in the sequel.
Leaving the movie, the couple bump into Amy. After an awkward conversation - she obviously was never expecting to see Jeff on a date, she leaves.
Chapter 19
We see a vast expanse of ice and rock. . .and an Ichthys aircraft coming in to land on a remote airstrip. It's the South Pole Spaceport, and Marcy and Daphne emerge from the plane in heavy winter clothing. They meet their father there to drop off their luggage and have breakfast at Moonbucks Coffee.
The Hannafords board the huge spacecraft, run by Interplanet Spacelines. Instead of seats, they find rectangular chambers large enough to fit one person inside. A flight attendant explains that the passengers will be put to sleep before launch, and awaken when they've left the atmosphere and en route to Luna. Marcy tries to calm her nerves by recalling a mysterious and epic dream she had - rowing to a crescent moon shaped island with a temple containing a statue of her clutching a pair of snakes, one in each hand. The spacecraft accelerates along a track in an underground tunnel until it follows the slope up a mountain at rapid speed. The engines ignite and the spacecraft roars off into outer space. Marcy regains consciousness to see Daphne's excited face. They are experiencing weightlessness for the first time. Below them is Japan, the eruption of Mount Fuji sending a long column of smoke into the air.
The trip to Luna takes two and a half days - the Hannafords pass the time by watching lots of movies and shows, sleeping, experiencing bathing in weightlessness and watching the Earth. Finally the spacecraft lands just outside Daudaeus. . .the large convex hump of the underground's protective dome is nearby, topped with the flag of the Lunar Republic. They exit the spacecraft, passing a large painting of the founder of Daudaeus, Ali Hassan Al-Fulani and the girls' mother, Estelle Hannaford. We get a close look of the Daudaeus map - the city burrows deep into the ground in a series of 12 layers.
After checking in, they learn that their mother is not available until later that day. The Hannafords decide to tour the Apollo 11 landing site - the descent stage of the lander is still there, as well as the American flag. The flag, however, is bleached white. Estelle meets them for dinner, and while she inquires about Marcy's friend Jeff, she doesn't reveal that he's already dating Candice.
We then see a vast field of grass. Amy approaches an abandoned farmhouse. Inside she sees a basket, the kind that baby Moses was laid in. She leans in closer, trembling with fear, snatching up the blanket. It turns into a trapdoor! She tumbles inside towards a horrible looking creature, and all goes black. Waking up screaming, she worries about her mental state. Amy goes to pick up the Hannafords upon their return to Earth. On the drive back, Amy reveals that karma has paid back handsomely as the new girl group helmed by the contest winner - Meredith Willard, consists of Amy, Melanie and Isobel. Kathy was deliberately excluded upon Meredith's request.