by Gene Michael Stover
created Thursday, 2026 October 8
updated Thursday, 2026 October 8
original at cybertiggyr.com/zad534z.html
Cold Eternity is a novel written by S. A. Barnes & published in 2025.
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
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Halley is Katerina. She's on the run due to something. Her parents are on the news, asking to get her back, but Halley knows they don't really care about her. Halley is just under 30 years old.
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Board the Elysium Fields. Tour. “Press that button”. (“This button” post-id. Hee hee.) See Karl on screen only.
This reader suspects that Karl is virtual. In other words, has no physical body, or maybe he's a resident, his physical body is immobile, & what we see on the screen is generated to provide the appearance of a body for the thoughts within his frozen skull. Or maybe he's the AI that runs the ship or is the ship, & again, has no physical, human body, so has generated the appearance of one to display on screens.
See the 16 + 15 = 31 cabins on floor... SB-1??? Anyway, it's the floor where Halley should select a cabin for her stay, says Karl.
Inspect the other cabins. Select the most recently used on, as Karl suggested. Brine? No; it's salt.
A roach? Memories of Niina, who looked out for Halley (who was still Katerina then), but not as much as for herself (Niina). The memory hurts.
Back to the roach: Not a roach. It's a braid of human hair, torn or roughly cut from someone. In other words, not a clip-on someone might wear for fashion.
Crosses are etched into the metal floor of the cabin. Under a carpet. Not crosses. They are Xs.
In Sec Office, press button. Notice movement on a screen, obscurred by lots of static. It's a naked (& skeletal?) person pulling themself across a floor somewhere.
Halley thinks back to better times with Niina, which appear to have become betrayal times. They hurt. Does this suggest that Halley & Niina had a more-than-professional relationship? So far in the story, it doesn't matter either way. Just filing it for thought.
Karl disbelieves what Halley saw on the screen. The screen is for SB-3 (a hallway on that floor?). Make first rounds, being thorough on SB-3. No sign of anyone.
Its week 9 or 10; Halley has lost count. Halley has developed a routine. She experiences both perpetual boredom & perpetual anxiety about missing the sacred button press every 3 hours. Can't get enough sleep. Talks to some of the corpse-cicles.
Falls asleep in suite of Vivienne, a toddler who is a resident. Has nightmare. When awake, has missed the button press. Runs to it. Karl interrupts her, doesn't appear to have noticed the missed button press. Karl says visotors (Board members?) are coming, so Halley must hide herself on another floor (maybe the one where her cabin is?) & be quiet; can't let the Board members see her. Karl vanishes from the screen, apparently to greet the visitors.
Halley still hasn't pressed the button, is about to enter the Sec Office to do so before hiding, but notices lights on in the theatre. She hesistates, then enters the theatre.
In the theatre, hologram of Ianthe Zale appears, says nothing but looks at Halley. Then holo of Aleyk Zale appears. Halley tells us that the holos were ahead of their time, are still ahead of her time. They responded to questions more lively than would regular holo recordings.
The Aleyk holo asks Halley to take a seat. Halley is frightened by him. Halley tells us (or hints that) when the visited the Elysium Fields as a school kid, the Aleyk holo grabbed her wrist (which should be impossible for a holo) & said something like “We are all dead, dead, dead. You'll be next.” to her. She has been frightened of him & the ship ever since. That also caused her to study everything she could about the Elysium Fields between then & the start of the story.
Halley says some direct things to the Aleyk holo, like calling out the AI that generates him (Svengald or something like that). Aleyk distorts. Then theatre lights dim & both holos (Aleyk & Ianthe) vanish. As Halley leaves the theatre, she hears Aleyk warn her to be careful.
Halley pauses for a long time before running to hide as Karl had instructed.
This was the second time Halley froze, distracted by a memory or news, when there was obviously time pressure to take action. The previous time was when she was trying to take her seat on the transport ship. If I remember correctly, characters in the other S. A. Barnes novels I've read do this, too. I hate it!
First, it's stupid. We've all seen so many teen slashers films (a genre I love) that characters hesitating due to disbelief is tiresome.
Second, it's out of character for her characters. Her main characters, while troubled by memories, emotions, or both, are intelligent. It's difficult to believe they'd drop their usual intelligent behaviour to be dumb unless they are overcoming their huge emotional block... but that don't happen until the end of the story.
Third, see ”First”, above. Then see it again. And again. And again...
I'm also calling foul when Halley tells us that her visit to the Elysium Fields as a kid had a special event that's driven her to study the ship in detail. Upon reading it in this chapter, I searched the ebook (did not actually re-read) for earlier phrases that hinted at it. While she told us that she had visited the Elysium Fields as a kid, she did not hint that special or horrifying events ocurred. It sounds like the events are appropriate for the story that's building, but I'm calling foul about keeping mum about them until chapter 6. Halley should have hinted at them earlier, like when she tells us that she will go to the Elysium Fields in the hopes of getting the job, she could have mentioned that she was doing it in spite of her extreme fears & all the research she's done on the ship since she visited it as a kid. She already has a very good reason for taking the job even though it's highly suss; telling us that she has a special history with the ship would not have changed that. Pulling this information out of nowhere in chapter 6, after she's been aboard for 10 weeks, feels like a cheap trick when I can tell that the plot was already planned. Also, Halley having unusually deep knowledge of the ship seems unlikely; I'd believe it better if she had done that research in the 10 weeks she's been here. She still could have had the traumatic experience as a kid who was touring the ship.
It's a good piece of information as far as the plot goes, but Halley should have & would have hinted at the traumatic experience earlier. Damn!