Above, us, in the dark shadows of the outer solar system, there is the shape of something unknown, something unspeakable. It waits, it bides its time, and as the days of summer grow longer, so does its voice grow louder.<br><br>On the quiet island of Sarah Ann in the Pacific Ocean, home of the renowned Firmament Foundation, awkward teenager Eirian Calohan has come in search of the mystery of their father's recent demise. Instead, they are confronted with the stark contrast between languid life on the tiny island and an unspeakable cosmic horror.<br><br>Together with their new friends, they set out to unravel the truth surrounding the death of their father and to also uncover just what it is that the Foundation has reached out to in the dark eternal night of the distant void.

All Cats Are Beautiful

“Y-You knew him?” Eirian whispered.


“What happened…at the end, I mean, what happened?”


She closed her eyes. Somewhere, someone stopped the tape, a rising jeer exciting the crowd until the cassette was turned over, and something else was played, something inappropriate, something loud.


“He was working on a project for my grandfather, a homunculus that could replace the need for spaceships, for meows. My mother disapproved. They argued. She found about him…and me…”


“That you were in the tournament?” Eirian asked innocently.


Cautiously, she reached up, placing a finger beneath an eye, trying to catch a tear and not smudge her eyeliner.


“I didn’t hear from him for a while. And then, in February, I heard from my mother that he had died before New Year. She just came out and said it all casual, and that was that.”


Chapter 33