Definition #4: A strain is a section of music. No sound travels thru void. Every sound within void contributes to strains of soothing defiance ··· every sound and every soul. Each silence is an alarm.

The 4th in the 5-volume Strains saga, this is the story of LabShip Alta Scotia; th'early prequel to Above the Sun. It begins when Earth turns into Hell, and then Hell freezes over ? the time of the Collapse, precipitating th'evolution of cælestial society. Th'Alta Scotia doesn't join·in until a century later, needs to catch·up fast, or die faster.

Stylistically the Strains series is unique, an experimental hybrid genre all its own, the details of which are discussed in th'introduction to volume #1. It's theoretically possible to read the series out of order, but not recommended.

The time is 3 centuries in the future. The setting is inter·planetary void and a human society there·in evolved ? a very different way of life resulting from a very different set of environmental constraints. The reality is our·own ? no time·travel, no worm·holes, no FTL, no parallel universes ? speculation, not fantasy.

Q: Since we're slowly becoming alien, how do we know when we're not human anymore?
A: When humanity has gone extinct, and we have not.

REQUIRES COLOR.