Oh my goodness this was so fun. Below is Alphonse Mucha’s Zodiac which this piece is based on. The zodiac has become a mix of the wheel and the emblems of the Ancient Eight, the Houses of the Veil. The only one not visible is Berzelius, which Darlington would approve. Her headdress jewelry includes a blood red gem, a not so lucky rabbit’s foot for Babbit Rabbit, a star, and an ouroboros. Around Alex’s neck is the yoke described for her in Hell Bent. There’s a few more details throughout but I’ll let you find them yourself!

The most telling piece of information and the driver behind this whole piece is one tiny, seemingly insignificant fact: Above all, the publisher of The Locked Tomb (Tor) defines the series as Science Fiction.

It's often listed or referred to as Scifi/Fantasy, but when forced to choose, Tor looked at the Catholic Necromancy series and STILL said “Yes, this is Scifi.” Which is wild, because that means the mechanics of this insane world actually function. How??

If we're strenuously applying “Real Science" to TLT, we must return to our only source of information pre-resurrection: John, the unreliable narrator who lies primarily by omission. To get to the bottom of this, we have to look very carefully at the gaps in his story. Which is downright mean, Tamsyn, because his story is full of holes.

In any other - look at me - ANY OTHER SERIES, I'd assume uncertain science was being heavily edited by Ye Olde Magick. But there are 15 layers to everything in TLT - every literary reference, every religious influence, every thematic trope, all considered, all elaborate. Fans have done a stunning job piecing together this puzzle, but in the end this Science Fiction series still has to Science before it Fictions.

What is the Cryo Project?

John is incredibly vague about the intricacies of his life's work. We're given to understand he's testing bodies and building cryogenic pods to house living (?) humans for a 2-year trip to Tau Ceti. In specificity? It's breadcrumbs.

What factors must be considered in a cryogenic space project?

The pods need to provide nutrition, waste disposal, brain preservation, radiation shielding, and the understanding you'll be yourself when you wake up. You can't just tell people you're gonna (mostly) kill them, stuff them in tin cans and throw them into space. Cosmic and Solar radiation would be deadly over such a length of time, and certainly play a huge factor in the “maternity” issue. Lots of specialties at play.

What is John's specialty?

Guys, I spent so much time on this. First I eliminated the specialties we know were covered (eg Mercy for Medical, G1deon engineer, etc). Then I dug through John's list of alma maters to see if they had any niche programs. After hitting wall after wall without convincing proof, I'm going with my first instinct:

John is a chemist or molecular biologist or some shit with training in cryogenic electron microscopy and/or spectroscopy. It's really hard for me to summarize what cryo-CM is used for, because the Wikipedia articles hurt my brain. I *think* it means “look at molecules better, and now in 3D!!” Developments in CM Microscopy at Cambridge won the Nobel Prize in 2017, so why not. Have I mentioned I have a degree in Fine Art?

Following this logic, John is examining, measuring, and potentially trying to fiddle with the electromagnetic spectrum, aka Radiation.

SO. Mercy's job is keeping the bodies “alive” - nutrition, waste disposal, etc. G1deon builds the shielding or structure to protect them. Augustine did something really sexy with whatever “glycerol-6” is and maybe got rich, so he's also the smooth-talker for investors.

But John is the one testing for radiation and radiation damage, yeah? In this theory? (not theorems I think those are probably quantum mechanics equations) (don't ask for details I forgor exactly why)

In one of the only hard facts about his lab work we're ever given, John mentions obsessively refining a “canister mixer." Either this mixture is a part of the shield (G1deon), part of the people-packing material (Augustine?), a physical support system (Mercy) or the battery source.

The battery source. The Cryo Project requires at least 3% of New Zealand's entire power grid. How the hell are you supposed to keep up with that in space?! You're flying away from the sun, you can't use solar power forever. Many, many tabs later, I discovered you can supplement power with radioisotope thermoelectric generators, fifteen syllables that give me a huge headache.

So maybe John is trying to feed something the human body naturally produces into a battery? We humans *checks notes* emit Gamma rays due to the 5000 atoms in our bodies undergoing radiation decay every second. Say you could harness that radioactive decay happening in all of us, all the time. The death of cells. You might call it thanergy.

And, because I am Ignorant, this seems like a perfectly reasonable way to create a body-battery feedback loop (?)

(aside: it seems even more reasonable for John to be able to talk to others in dreams through brain waves (alpha, theta and delta). Or how Harrow travels to the River when she's asleep. It's all waves, maaaaan.)

When the government ended the cryo project by literally unplugging it, the majority of bodies “got the melt.” I assumed John meant they were treated in some way. To the Melt with you! But it seems like this process happened naturally; as though the loss of electricity caused them to liquify in an immediate, grotesque, Ark-of-the-Covenant fashion. Except for the two bodies John physically touched, whose batteries stayed running, the feedback still looping.

But there was no one inside.

(continued as soon as I can pull it together. I'll put the link in the comments when I do!)