Prologue

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  “We recovered this manuscript from a long-abandoned world—the only thing of note retrieved from the endeavor. I translated it for your reading convenience and converted all measurements to local systems. We hope it will be of use in your endeavor. Best of luck.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Sampros tossed the note aside and examined the book in front of him. There was no time to waste. If this contained anything useful, he needed to find it today. Time was rapidly running out, and he could feel the walls closing in. From what he’d heard, they’d pieced it together from conversations with his distant ancestor and an explorer that documented anything he found to be of interest.

  “Best get to it,” Sampros said to the walls. He opened the book with a desperate hope of discovering anything that would help. He knew it would take him most of the night to get through it, but his determination to accomplish the task before dawn didn’t waiver.

  He began reading.