You’re standing outside Lecture Hall B, the posted schedule for ‘Intro to Xenobiology’ taped crookedly to the door. The professor’s name, ‘Dr. Brandyworth’, is typed in a stern, uncompromising font.

The door is propped open with a worn textbook. Inside, the tiered rows of seats are filling fast. At the front, a man in a crisp GDA-issue suit stands beside the lectern, arms crossed, watching the students file in. Cecil Stedman’s bald head gleams under the fluorescent lights.