by Gene Michael Stover
created Thursday, 2026 October 8
updated Sunday, 2026 October 11
original at cybertiggyr.com/zad534z.php
Cold Eternity is a novel written by S. A. Barnes & published in 2025.
As of 2026 October 10, I'm still reading it, not finished yet.
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
no notes
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.
no notes
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 Viviane, 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!
Chapter begins with Halley intent on following instructions to stay in her cabin & remain quiet, but she's continually distracted. She starts towards the Sec Office but remembers that she placed her holocomm & some Mix-travaganza under a chair in Viviane's suite; she should retrieve it so the visitors don't encounter it & realize the ship isn't being maintained as mandated. So she heads to Viviane's suite. Seems that she ran down a flight (or two) of stairs, then realized she needed to know where the visitors might be, so she back-tracked & entered the Sec Office.
I'm again frustrated by Halley's airheadedness. At some point (maybe in some other chapter; I don't remember), she mentions that this is due to sleep deprivation. Okay, maybe.
In retrospect, the chapter appears to be a waste of time. When it begins, Halley is headed to the Sec Office. When it ends after much inner confusion in Halley & some back-tracking, Halley is in the Sec Office. So the chapter is a waste of time or builds tension by frustrating the reader at Halley's airheadedness.
Watch the visitors on the screens in Sec Office to know where they are so Halley can return to her cabin without encountering them. Halley also hopes to catch a glimpse of Karl, which does not happen; Karl never enters the field of view of any of the cameras.
See 3 visitors enter. All are in robes. One is tall & skeletal. The other two help the tall one walk. Later, see the shorter two leave. Halley can see that they are women & have far-away, dazed expressions. She assumes they are on the drug, Daze, but later realizes they are experiencing intense grief.
With the 2 visitors vacated, Halley heads to the cargo bay (which is where the 3 visitors entered & the 2 visitors exited). She hopes to find Karl but no joy. She enters one of the prep rooms. The tall, skeletal visitor is there. He's in a cryotank, being prepped. He's no longer conscious. He's 15 or 16 years old. He has some terrible disease.
Outside the room (but still in the cargo bay?), confront Karl. Karl obliquely admits that he still accepts new residents; they pay the ship & it gives them hope. He admits that the revivification process doesn't work but that research can solve that; Halley points out that there is no research on that any more.
Halley sort of threatens to expose Karl's operation. Karl threatens to expose Halley.
Maybe I'm jumping ahead, but to me, sounds like Halley could agree that Karl is trying to help people but that to convert it from “trying to help” to “helping”, civilization needs to resume research into revivification. With her own original motivation, her professional experience, & maybe some of her family's money, Halley could help that start. Heck, the researchers could live aboard the ship. However, as soon as the plot heads in that direction, we lose the horror that I expect & hope is coming.
(Is this the chapter in which we get more of Halley's back-story? I think so. I should have kept notes, but I was actually to immersed to stop & do it.)
We learn that Halley's parents are what I'd call big ticket consultants or maybe fixers: if you are a politician or maybe any kind of celebrity, they can solve your problems or make them go away. We get more verbage about Halley's professional relationship with Niina. We get a little about the scandal involving the prime ministor for whom Niina worked (& Halley worked for Niina), though I think we already knew enough about the scandal.
Another stop into the theatre. Aleyk speaks only a scripted sentence or two but gets Halley to watch a 21st century remake of the film “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”. Halley notices that Amli Browning, an actress in the film, is not the corpse-cicle woman in Amli Browning's suite aboard Elysium Fields.
Halley considers explanations for the corpse-cicle imposter in Amli Browning's suite. There are many because Karl is not trustworth & is a likely law-breaker.
Go to sleep. Awakened by a shape that appears to be an animated, rotting corpse. It lunches!
Fully awake after scrambling, there is no corpse-like thing in Halley's cabin, but Halley is almost certain she saw it, did not hallucinate.
Searching the room shows nothing. Oh, wait: The cabin's door is open & there's a spot of fresh blood on the pillow.
Another theatre visit: Aleyk, Ianthe, & Bryck. Halley metions the attack by the animated, rotting corpse; she now believes it was a hallucination. The three holograms react. After some confusion, Ianthe & Bryck vanish. Aleyk remains, speaks some scripted sentences which could relate to the situation in an obscure way. Then another Aleyk climbs out of Aleyk (like in (one of?) the earlier visit to the theatre). The inner Aleyk speaks some un-scripted warnings including “He consumes”.
Halley remembers being caught in an anti-UNOC protest, & Halley worked for UNOC. So I guess some people hate UNOC. So I guess UNOC is a mixed blessing. Or maybe UNOC is malevolent. I wonder if this affects the story or is just detail for the universe. Maybe when I've finished reading the book, I'll go back & figure out the whole UNOC situation. (This probably counts as evidence that the story is built on a rich universe.)
Outside the theatre, confronted by screen image of Karl. Karl knows her real identity: Katerina Weiller.
We learn more of Katerina, her relationship with her parents (an asset, maybe a tool when they can get away with it), & that Rober Ayis is their client. Rober Ayis attempted to overturn an election; if Katerina Weiller returns to her parents, Rober Ayis will have succeeded in overturning an election, the first person in history to do so, Halley tells us in thought.
“Bierhas may have murdered democracy, but Ayis is fucking dangerous.”
Chapter ends with Halley's decision to go below, see Karl in person.
We already knew that Halley's parents are big-ticket fixers. Halley is clear at this point that Rober Ayis is one of their clients & that, if she returns to her parents as they implore her to do on the news casts, her parents will be able to make Rober Ayis's problem go away, which means that he will succeed in overturning an election. That seems clear. It provides strong & in-character motivation for Halley. No arguments with it.
It sounds like returning to her parents simply allows them to succeed in their fixer job. That would be a failure in Katerina Weiller's personal code of ethics, & it would return her to whatever power struggle & identity struggle has existed between her & her parents. It sounds like that is a definite possibility if she returns to her parents.
I'm less clear on whether an outcome of returning risks a second possibility: Murder of Katerina Weiller. And if so, who would be the cause. Political enemies could be one. Would her parents also be willing to have her killed if, somehow, she returned to them without returning to her roll as an asset? I'm unclear about this, though my uncertainty is not detracting from the story. Heck, maybe it's intended by the writer.
I notice that the name Rober from Katerina Weiller's time could have resulted by applying the law of consonantal softening(?) to the name Robert. It's possible I've noticed similar names in the other couple of S. A. Barnes's books I've read.
Into the forbidden area of floor SB-3(?). Luxurious rooms for 3 people, but they are dust-covered & deteriorating. Find a room containing 4 cryo-tanks. 3 of them occupied by Aleyk, Ianthe, & Bryck. The fourth is empty, & its door is open.
The large amount of undisturbed dust indicates that no one has visited those rooms in a very long time, such as decades. If there is a rotting, animated corpse wandering the ship, it is not visiting these rooms regularly.
Looking in the tanks, notice that the 3 people (Aleyk, Ianthe, & Brick) are like the usual corpse-cicles except that they are wearing headbands (or rigid, not bands, thingies on their heads). Aleyk is injured with bruises on his torso & face, maybe some broken ribs.
Run to the theater on the Main Exhibition level. Talk with Aleyk. Katerina concludes that the 3 adult children were uploaded into the AI. She figures out that Zale Winfeld must have wanted them to keep him company in his uploaded afterlife. (Aleyk suggests as much.) Katerina gives us some lore of her world, how uploading personalities has been outlawed since forever; the uploaded minds go insane.
Aleyk (or the Aleyk holo, take your pick at this point) cryptically implies that Zale Winfeld is aboard the ship. Katerina says no, his cryo-tank is empty. Aleyk insists. Aleyk warns Katerina that she's in danger.
At the end of their conversation, Aleyk implies that he wants to die. He's cryptic as usual, so we don't know for certain that's what he intends. Katerina wouldn't blame him for wanting to escape Elysium Fields by dying, but she resolves to find a better solution.
Maybe Katerina or S. B. Barnes is conflating uploaded minds with minds in biological brains that are connected to cyberspace. What I mean is that I can see two interpretations for what Katerina has discovered. The first is the one she's concluded: The 3 Winfelds were uploaded as part of the cryo-preparation process. Their minds are executing on a hefty computer somewhere. The second interpretation is that their minds are executing on their biological brains, but the sensory inputs & the nerve/stimulus outputs are through the computer, not their bodies.
An argument in favor of the second interpretation is that, if uploading worked in her world (or if Zale Winfeld thought he could make it work or didn't care that it only almost-worked), then why put his kids in cryo at all? Why not upload them & destroy the bodies? Heck, why create a ship of corpse-cicles? Elysium Fields could be a ship of uploaded minds. No bodies in cryo-tanks. He could charge the same exorbitant fees. There are a ton of reasons that would be preferable to the residents, society at large, to his bank balance, & to his place in the history books.
So I'm wondering whether Katerina is misinterpreting the situation or if S. A. Barnes herself is critical of the idea of uploading minds.
Katerina begins making rounds. She's beginning to think about what leverage she has (at last!). She stops in Viviane's suite, realizes that the little girl in the cryo-tank is not the one who has been there for weeks.
It's nice to see Katerina finally invoking the brains I expect from her, when she's thinking about how she can help Aleyk & fix the situation in general.