World
Discover the various settings found in the novel on this page.
Agamemnon
An asteroid in the Trojan asteroids and the site of the construction of Nautilus.
Auckland
The largest city in New Zealand on Earth and location of Maya Davis's apartment during her senior year at the IEF Academy...and yet, the academy has locations on
Mars and Triton. Phase tunnels make it possible for Maya to travel to the outskirts of the solar system in a matter of minutes. Why did Maya choose to live
in Auckland? Renowned for its beauty, all women love New Zealand.
Callisto
Jupiter's eighth moon in terms of distance from the planet and second larget moon after Ganymede.
Callisto is home to multiple colonies, including New Galilei, and was the first moon settled in the Jovian system back in the mid-twenty-second century.
Charon
Pluto's largest (but still tiny) moon and home to ISC Defense Base Christy.
Christy, Base
An ISC Defense installation infiltrated by a clandestine organization.
Ganymede
Jupiter's largest moon and seventh in terms of distance from the planet.
After the UN settled Callisto in the mid-twenty-second century, Russia and China staked their claim to Ganymede. As a result, the moon is home to a large
Russian and Chinese population. Ganymede is home to Marius colony.
Gliese 581
A red dwarf star a little over twenty light years from Earth's solar system. The fourth planet circling the dwarf is home to the Penphins, a seemingly-benevolent
race of exobeings. The Gliese 581 system is the destination of the New Horizons mission.
Hyperspace
The higher dimensional space ships and travelers pass through during a phase shift. Hyperspace is incomprehensible to humans, but engineers have implemented phase
shielding to reduce the sight of the strange realm to a pinkish hue distorted and filled by mind-boggling shapes.
Huygens City
The largest human settlement on Titan and in the Saturnian system. Once a colony of only 10,000 people, it grew to become a bustling metropolis in the aftermath
of the alleged extrasolar attack years ago.
Ida
A small asteroid in the main belt where Brooke spends a little time.
Jovian System
The planet Jupiter, its rings, its moons, and the elements of human civilization found there.
The Galilean moons of the Jovian system are home to millions of people.
Scientifically speaking, the Jovian system extends all the way out until the gas giant's gravity becomes negligible.
Kuiper Belt
The solar system's second asteroid belt. The Kuiper belt extends from the orbit of Neptune to the edge of the solar system and
is less densely packed than the belt between Mars and Jupiter. Pluto is a Kuiper belt object (a very large asteroid) and
a dwarf planet, not a regular planet. The Kuiper belt is home to hundreds of dwarf planets, some bigger than Pluto (Eris) and
others smaller (Makemake). Thanks to phase tunnels, numerous small human colonies have taken root on various Kuiper belt worlds.
Landis
The floating city in Venus's atmosphere. With too much heat and pressure plaguing the surface of Venus, engineers chose to construct
a city in the sky. Landis's altitude provides the right atmospheric pressure, and the filtered carbon dioxide siphoned from the
toxic air helps plants to thrive.
Lassell Colony
The largest colony of Triton and chief hub of activity for the Interstellar Expeditionary Force. The New Horizon launch ceremony
takes place in Lassell Colony on the shores of Lake Flammarion.
Luna
The proper name of Earth's moon. Centuries ago, people referred to Luna as The Moon because it was the only moon that mattered or that
humans knew. As humankind branched out into the solar system and settled many different moons, the term "moon" became ambiguous.
Thus, the people of the future refer to Earth's moon by its actual name, Luna. Relatively speaking, Luna is heavily populated
in the 23rd century and a key phase tunnel junction.
Mars
The red planet needs little introduction to science fiction fans. With hyperterraforming of the world having reached the final stages,
the billions of inhabitants are able to roam freely without the need for environmental gear. After Earth and Triton, Mars has the next
most habitable climate.
Makemake
A dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt. Brooke Davis-Sommerfield relocates to Makemake after doing prison time and separating with her husband.
Marius Colony
The largest settlement on Ganymede is a melting pot of Russian and Chinese culture. Shin Saito and his half-sister Xiaoqing grew up in Marius.
Melbourne
A city in Australia on Earth and still the site of the Australian Open after hundreds of years.
Mercury
The smallest planet in the solar system and closest one to the sun. Mercury is home to Gassendi colony and huge solar power collection facilities.
Briefly, Brooke meets with Shin on Mercury.
New Allen Telescope Array
A space station in the Oort Cloud operated by SETI under the direction of the Solar Science Society. The station's chief objective is to search for
signs of extrasolar life, both friendly and otherwise.
New Galilei
The first and largest colony settled on Callisto and in the Jovian system. Named after the astronomer Galileo Galilei as well as the
Galileo probe sent by NASA to study Jupiter and its moons in the late 20th century.
Hyperterraforming progress made in the last seventeen years has allowed the open-air colony to do away with its domes.
In the last few years, New Galilei has earned a reputation as a city with an exciting night life.
Oberon
The outermost major and second-largest moon of the planet Uranus. In the mid-to-late twenty-third century, the phase port on Oberon provides a waystop
between colonies further inside the solar system and Kuiper belt settlements like Makemake.
Oort Cloud
The Oort Cloud is a ring of sparsely-packed comets encircling the extreme outskirts of Earth's solar system.
Psykhe
A planetar (rogue planet) that strayed from its parent star and now resides a light-year outside the solar system.
Red Rock City
Known as Red Rocks for short by local residents. One of the larger colonies of Mars near Valles Marineris, a canyon bigger and deeper than The Grand Canyon on Earth.
Brooke Davis-Sommerfield and her husband live on the edge of the city.
Triton
Neptune's largest moon and home to the Interstellar Expeditionary Force bases and research facilities. After the so-called extrasolar threat fled the moon at the end of the
war (in book 1), the technology they left behind helped to advance human science considerably. They also spent over a century hyperterraforming the moon before vacating it,
leaving Triton with the most Earth-like climate in the solar system after the blue marble itself.
Don't confuse Triton with Titan, Saturn's largest moon.
Trojans, Jupiter / Trojan Asteroids
A group of asteroids that sit within Jupiter's orbit at a lagrange point and orbit the sun along with the planet.
The IEF and ISC Defense construct spacecraft spacecraft within the Trojans by using the raw materials within the asteroids.
Both New Horizons and Nautilus are constructed in the Trojans.
Uranus
The seventh planet from Earth's sun and third largest gas giant. Uranus looks like a solid light blue marble from any distance.
Vesta
The second-largest rock in the main asteroid belt after Ceres and home to mining operations.