Fear Infinity

Finally Ark II departs, despite any conclusion about the attacks. One of Anna’s new friends, who lost her husband to the Exken, apparently takes her own life by disabling an air lock. Stunned and fearing their imminent demise, the crew continues. As Ark IIpasses by the first Ark a manned probe is sent to recover the stalled ship and bring it back to Wrath. They find a strangely empty but functional vessel.

Anna, Jeric, and about one hundred and thirty others push on towards Proxima Centauri through the heliopause, the vast edge of the Sunís influence where comets live. They all begin to experience enhanced intelligence, as if the sun had been slowing their thoughts.

Anna notices an insidious reduction in Ark acceleration, and the crew learns that they have been deceived by the Coalition designers about the capabilities of their ship. The journey will take them at least twenty-one years, not four, but they elect to continue.

They learn that the Coalition also knows the old Mariner location, and the captain has orders to destroy it and scan the remains for bodies. Only one of three crew are detected. Jeric realizes that somehow those early explorers became the Exken, and were responsible for the "We Exist" message and The Tuning.

Jeric and Anna finally begin their long journey into deep space, bracing for their own possible transition into Exken, contemplating a family, and coping with their strange new lives. In their traveling village, Jeric and Anna must find meaning based on shared experience, trust in each other, and accept the circular nature of infinity.

Finally, Jeric has another dream where he is the martyr in the prologue. His executioner is Hæus, who reveals a simple truth to him, and the circle is completed.