Braving the endless void, Nia Adewale, a trailblazing astronaut, embarks alone on humanity’s first interstellar voyage to Barnard’s Star, 6 lightyears from Earth. Piloting the prototype warp vessel Iris-3, Nia ventures out into the cosmos in hopes of proving that faster-than-light travel is within humanity’s grasp, ready to greet whatever life may exist in the unseen universe.

 

Nia’s only companion along this long, intrepid journey is the ship’s quantum computer, Iris, an advanced artificial intelligence. Forged in isolation, their evolving bond challenges Nia to question what it means to be alive, blurring the line between programming and soul.

 

But when disaster strikes, stranding them on a heartless alien world, Cordis, Nia’s mission becomes a battle for survival. Upon this near-tidally locked world, days are aflame with unbearable, scorching heat, and the nights are chilled with deadly frost. Only with her wits and her will can she stave off her evermore certain death and uncover the mysteries of Cordis’ extinct race of luminescent creatures.

 

Through warp-induced terminal illness, Whitefold Drive failure, and the remnants of a supernova, Nia and Iris forge their way through the cosmos in search of the unknown. Will Nia best the hostile universe and return home, triumphant in her discoveries, or will the harsh landscapes of Cordis claim her, interring her with the bones of its fallen?