I was born at the age of thirteen, she often repeats to herself. I was born from the void.
July 2289: AMBRE PASQUIER, renowned biologist, decides to quit everything. This is a well-considered act, the successful completion of a plan elaborated since adolescence. Her objective is to go to Gemma, an extrasolar planet of the binary star AltaMira. Although the entire planet is covered by glaciers, it is inhabitable and has been colonized for over a century. It is also the farthest outpost of the human race, which doesn’t scare the young woman. Ambre is rootless. The victim of a trauma in her childhood, her first memories date back to when she was thirteen. Before that, her memory is composed of short visions, smells, colors, and Indian rhythmic cycles that her grandfather SHANTI taught her in Mumbai when she was a child.
I was born at the age of thirteen, she often repeats to herself. I was born from the void.
On Gemma, a “snowball” Earth-like planet, extremophile microorganisms were discovered by the first wave of settlers, suggesting that a more complex biosphere may have evolved there before the glaciation period. This, however, is not what motivated Ambre. The young scientist is convinced that her destiny is linked to Gemma. The planet is, like her, hiding a rare pearl, a black diamond, an appalling and troubling secret.
THE GREAT ARCH.
An organic shape, a scary yet elegant architecture, hovering over the frozen plains of Gemma. In truth, it is a ghost ship, abandoned twelve thousand years earlier by a mysterious stellar civilization that humans call the BUILDERS. Despite repeated attempts, the huge artefact has always resisted investigation. Embodying a vague threat in the eyes of settlers, it is pure fascination to Ambre. This ship, which appeared suddenly from the void and is prepared to go back there at any moment, without revealing the slightest clue as to its origin, is so like Ambre!
