Beacon 23

Aster arrives at Beacon 23 to find the Beacon Keeper, who introduces himself as Solomon. Aster and her personal AI, Harmony quickly learn that the Beacon keeper is not who he claims to be, and his identity is Halan. For protection Aster locks Halan into an airlock but Halan notices something approaching outside of the Beacon ... the pirates known as Wreckers.

The Wreckers storm onboard Beacon 23 and take Halan hostage as they tear the Beacon apart for its valuables. Halan and Aster work together to disarm and eliminate the Wreckers in a climactic Zero-G battle in which Halan shows his extreme military experience and Aster shows her grandmaster manipulation and tactical skills.

Aster’s partner and girlfriend, Coley (Sandrine Holt), arrives to extract Aster and the minerals Aster was hired to take from Solomon. Coley does not trust Halan because of his lies and decides it is better to kill Halan than take him with her and Aster. She doesn’t get far with her plan, as Aster stabs and kills Coley, saving Halan.

In the early days of Beacon 23’s history, Sophie - one of the Beacon’s first keepers - socializes an AI and “raises” it like a mother would a human child. But when she receives a surprise visit from Milan Aleph, the awkward but genius corporate leader responsible for the deployment of the Beacons, she realizes her approach to AI socialization may have been a mistake.

The solid matter stones that form The Artifact are called remnants. The “rocks” are seemingly the source of Halan’s hallucinations and are frantically trying to give him a message. One of the rocks, Rocky, breaks through to Halan who realizes the Rocks want something very simple - to be free.

Farut and Grisha, a married couple and keepers of Beacon 23, struggle to conceive a child. But when The Artifact appeared they conceived, and their child Parsim was born. While Parsim seems to communicate freely with The Artifact, Grisha believes The Artifact is making Parsim violent and seeks to destroy it.

Aster and Halan work together to study The Artifact. A religious and guerrilla movement against AI, specifically Aleph, known as “The Column,” arrive to acquire whatever powers of The Artifact they can. The are surprised to find that they have been followed by the military who seek to board the Beacon to apprehend them.

With Bart gone, the battle between the Beacon and the military cutters turns decisively in the military’s favor. Aleph arrives in “The Mothership”, one of the biggest craft in the known universe. While The Column members plan an elaborate suicide attack on The Mothership, The Artifact reappears to Aster and seems to strengthen its special bond with her.