Helena Holsten Lain lies strapped in zero gravity as the crew completes pre-launch checks aboard the living starship Voyager. Built from combined human engineering and spider biotechnology, the vessel embodies decades of mutual learning. A human–spider nanovirus has dissolved old barriers into lasting empathy, while a shared lingua franca, Imperial C, bridges communication.

Portia, the spiders’ first interstellar pioneer, commands the mission. After confirming systems are in tolerance, Portia gives the order and the ship—its intelligence a witty offshoot of Avrana Kern—detaches from an expanded orbital web. Voyager reconfigures its bioengineered body and begins a smooth, long acceleration, its adaptive structure protecting the crew for a journey measured in sleeping decades.

The expedition’s urgency arises from a detected, structured signal: unmistakably artificial yet unintelligible. This beacon compels the newly united civilization to depart sooner than planned, turning curiosity and duty into a shared mandate to respond.

The destination appears on Gilgamesh’s ancient star maps, one more world in the terraformers’ scattered archipelago. Voyager carries seventy crew, extensive genetic stores, and vast recorded Understandings, supported by symbiotic repair colonies. As the ship gathers speed, humans and spiders commit to the unknown, reclaiming the stars as a joint legacy.