Houses Festri and Tellari have been trying to get the gate working for months. Their Liar work crews have finally gotten it to do something, but none of the Alteri ships have been able to use the gate for long-distance travel. They simply pass through to the other side.

The Alteri order the Liars to fiddle with various pieces of the structure, hoping that one of them will be able to determine the problem. Imrainai passes through the gate purely because it's the shortest route to the piece she's supposed to fiddle with.

She finds herself unable to see the gate, the support ship, or the sun. There’s a sun, and also a planet, but she’s pretty sure it’s not the sun or the planet that are supposed to be there. She’s also pretty sure this ends with her slowly suffocating to death between the stars - or worse, if they somehow get her back and decide it was an intentional escape attempt - but just in case, she fires up her spacesuit comm and starts broadcasting.

“H-hello? This is Tellari spacer 97816. Visual contact with previous support ship has been lost. Can anybody hear me?”