The star cameras boot into a fireworks show. KILO tries to match the specks to a catalog and, being honest, fails. “False stars. Proton events on the charge-coupled device. Confidence: none.”

The window overlay still paints a cheerful cartoon Earth on the glass, using the last guessed attitude. The real Earth is a smear in a different place. The cartoon does not care.

Jax whispers, “It looks so sure.”

Mira’s voice is quiet on purpose. “A map that is wrong is more dangerous than a blank. Sun sensors still work. The IMU still works until it drifts. The pretty camera is lying because the storm is raining on the chip, not because space moved.”

You can feel the tumble in your inner ear, which is also not a star catalog. The guard on the tracker switch is already up. Putting it down would feel like admitting a mistake. Leaving it up would feel like believing a poster.

Okonkwo, on the loop: “Air is still a thing, if anyone is collecting things that work.”