Gravitrek: A Bright New Horizon
At the public unveiling of Nole Alset's cover-story space program, a hairline fracture in the demonstration shuttle turns the glossy launch gala into a live, worldwide near-catastrophe — and someone outside Gravitrek already knew the schedule before it existed.
The world meets Gravitrek as trillionaire showman Nole Alset's dream of colonising the stars, fronted by three of the soon-to-be Code Trekkers already famous in their own right. A countdown glitch during the live broadcast turns out to be a real structural fracture in the demo shuttle, and the crew must fly, fix, and spin their way through a closing launch window without breaking the cover story or the crowd on the platform. Behind a VIP booth at the back of the gala, an Umbrax broker is already selling pre-sale "berths" — and his paperwork is dated before Gravitrek's launch date was ever made public. The launch flies, the fire is contained, and the crowd goes home believing they witnessed a thrilling stunt. Alone afterward, Alset finds a tampered maintenance log and realises the leak that let Umbrax in early came from inside his own company.