Alex Prane

Alex Prane is a computer scientist based on Lukyr Qyvor in year 7354 and the romantic partner of Tomas Lithe. She provides the technical expertise that confirms The Glowing Element is communicating intentionally, first identifying the phrase "Almost there" across separate corrupted files. After Tomas is conscripted by the Royal Research Guild, she is relocated to Lukyr Prime under the terms of his contract — though separated from him on arrival.

Physical Appearance

Not yet established.

Personality

Alex is patient and unflappable in the face of Tomas's frequent technical frustrations, meeting his complaints with dry composure. She is professionally skeptical — initially doubting any connection between computer corruptions and the material — but genuinely open-minded once evidence accumulates. She has a teasing, sarcastic wit that surfaces frequently in her interactions with Tomas. Her professional habit of hoarding old data drives, which she defends as standard practice, mirrors his own tendency to clutter his lab with redundant equipment.

Background

Alex is a computer scientist with hands-on diagnostics skill: she opens hardware using mechanical clamps, runs cable-connected diagnostics via phone, identifies and replaces corrupted files, and writes comparison scripts for anomalous data. She understands the distinction between numbers encoded as readable text versus binary, a detail that proves critical in decoding the element's transmissions. She keeps old data drives that no longer serve operational needs, which she draws on for the experiment with the element.

She is of Brisk descent — meaning her family's ancestral home is Lukyr Prime, which the Brisk called Perind before Rovin Warpine's conquest. Her family has not been to Prime in roughly a hundred years, and she herself has never been there. Under Rovin's rule, Brisk and non-Brisk citizens are legally ineligible to marry, a constraint that directly affects her relationship with Tomas.

Relationships

Tomas Lithe (Romantic Partner)

Alex and Tomas are long-term partners who live together. Their dynamic is playful and collaborative: she provides tech support for his persistent computer problems, teasing him about the pattern of breakages while he protests innocence. Their areas of expertise are complementary — she handles hardware diagnostics and data analysis; he handles physics and material science — and he formally enlists her help with the computational side of his work with the element. During the separation on Prime, Tomas thinks of her as someone whose data access skills would be invaluable in exactly the situations where he is locked out.

The Glowing Element

Alex is initially cautious around the element, asking Tomas to confirm it is safe before approaching. She becomes its most important interpreter: her analysis of corrupted files establishes the "Almost there" message, and her three-hour data drive experiment yields the coordinates that confirm the element is tracking the approach of SYMMETRY.

Story Arc

SFL-TA Chapter 1 — Discovery and Analysis

Alex is reading when Tomas complains his computer will not start. She investigates skeptically and diagnoses a corrupted core system file, replaces it, and keeps the corrupted copy for later analysis. When Tomas finds the word "almost" in a test log, she examines the file she retained and finds "there" embedded in system data — together forming "Almost there." She considers the anomaly genuinely unusual, noting that random corruptions rarely produce coherent words, and that the computer model in question has corruption protection.

When Tomas proposes that the material communicated intentionally, Alex points out the logical problem — the corruption predates his request — but agrees to run an experiment. She retrieves a box of old data drives and places them at measured distances from the element, then waits three hours. The drives return numbers encoded as readable text, which she sends to Tomas. When he confirms the numbers match the approaching object's position from 73 minutes earlier, she is visibly shaken by the result.

SFL-TA Chapter 2 — Relocation and Separation

After Tomas is detained by the Royal Research Guild following his discovery of SYMMETRY's transmissions, Alex goes to the lab where he is being held. She is visibly frightened and warns him quietly that Rovin Warpine has not held power for four centuries by being lenient, urging him not to overreach in negotiations. She states that if the Guild does not agree to relocate her, she will relocate herself regardless.

Tomas discloses her Brisk descent to the Guild scientist — a risky admission — as part of securing her relocation. The exception is granted on the basis that he is an exceptional asset. They are escorted by a Royal Brigade Knight to the space elevator station, bypassing all queues. During the elevator ride, Alex keeps Tomas engaged in technical discussion to manage her own distress. On arrival at Prime, when asked how it feels to be going "home," she rejects the framing: Prime is her ancestral world by lineage only, not in any lived sense. At the Guild's headquarters train stop, Tomas is taken to the research facility and she is sent on to their accommodation alone.

SFL-TA Chapter 3 — Left Behind

Alex does not appear in Chapter 3. She is at the relocation housing on Lukyr Prime, separated from Tomas since their arrival. Tomas asks Miran Keldt for permission to see her before the mission, but the request is denied — the Emperor has demanded an immediate departure, leaving fewer than thirty minutes. Tomas boards the ship without seeing her.

SFL-TA Chapter 6 — Still On Tomas's Mind

Alex does not appear in Chapter 6. Aboard the intercept ship, Tomas — locked out of bridge consoles he suspects Byran Kale and Miryana Dorense of manipulating — reflects that Alex could retrieve or audit that data where he cannot. This is the clearest indication that her skills extend meaningfully beyond the element experiment.

SFL-TA Chapter 8 — Reunion

Alex does not appear during the intercept mission chapters, but at the close of Chapter 8, Tomas regains consciousness in a brightly lit room to find her seated beside him. No explanation is given for how she came to be there — whether the probe transported him, or she was brought to him on Prime — making this the first scene together since the separation at the Guild headquarters train stop.

SFL-TA Chapter 9 — Aftermath

Alex is present as Tomas is assessed and discharged from the medical facility. She relays what the crew witnessed after his contact with the probe: all anomalies ended immediately; the probe spoke, apologized for an unspecified mistake, and asked permission to bring the crew home; it then transported the ship to Prime at extreme speed and landed nearby, where it has since been dormant. She also reports crew status — Byran Kale is under arrest, Mera Serenol has gone to a genetics lab, and Kristopher Yette and Miryana Dorense are well. Despite crew accounts suggesting severe trauma, Tomas is declared in perfect health. Alex, Tomas, and Kristopher leave the hospital together; when Kristopher asks whether Tomas intends to return to studying the probe, he confirms it — a reaction Alex had already predicted.

Open Questions

• How will Alex's Brisk identity affect her situation on Prime under Rovin's rule?
• Will her computer science skills be put to use on the SYMMETRY project, or is she simply housed near Tomas?
• How did Alex come to be at Tomas's bedside — was she brought to him, or was he transported back to where she was on Prime?
• Does her Brisk heritage give her any connection to the underground Cities of Perind beneath Lukyr Prime?
• What role will she play in Tomas's continued research into the probe?

Sources

• SFL-TA Chapter 1
• SFL-TA Chapter 2
• SFL-TA Chapter 3
• SFL-TA Chapter 6
• SFL-TA Chapter 8
• SFL-TA Chapter 9