My name is Cadence
I chartered a ship to find my father
They told me I was too young
They told me I needed more training
I told them to drop dead
How ironic
I don't know how I survived the crash
Something strange must have happened
My blood is cold, but my heart is beating like a drum
I'm not sure what's going on
But I came here with a question
And I'm going to find the answer if it kills me
I found my father
And what was driving him: a lute
Some kind of instrument
Not of plastic - no wires, no speakers
It was cold and hard to the touch, but it seemed almost alive
I asked him what it was, where it came from
He said he'd show me
They brought me back
Using the power of the lute
The one living relic in this world of bioarchives and digital graves
But we quickly learned that the lute was not all it seemed
There are vast sections of my memories I can't reach
And we found that I can't leave the planetoid alive
But I know something about this place that they don't
They'll wait in orbit while I make
My way to the center of the institute
Now I need answers
In the center of the facility I found a man, Octavian
He'd been the administrator here back when it had been manned
But they'd closed the project years ago, shortly after his death
"I'd hoped not to find you here, Octavian"
"You have the lute?"
"Yes"
"Then we're both in its clutches"
I worked with Octavian in the institute
We were working towards a better future
One where we could use the memories in the digital graves
To return people to their families
But it turned out he had bigger plans
He sought to exploit them, using them for free, unregulated labour
We fought, and Octavian died
But the threat remained
While the lute exists, we're in danger
Everyone is in danger
But I know what we need to do