Tracing Sentinel Energy Flares From Orbit
A Leap in the Dark begins the moment you slip past the factory Sentinels at the end of Ghosts in the Machine and climb back into open space. Answer Apollo's incoming transmission to learn that your intrusion inside the Korvax Manufacturing Facility triggered unusual high-energy Sentinel flares across ancient stone monuments in the system. Apollo wants you to trace those energy bursts to an operational planetary Portal and see firsthand where Artemis vanished. Trigger an orbital starship scan with C on PC or L3 on controller once the call ends, because each step in this archaeological chain stays hidden until you actively ping the system from your cockpit.
Ancient Plaque, Ruin, and Alien Monolith
Your orbital scan locks onto three ancient sites one after another: first an Ancient Plaque, second an Ancient Ruin, and third a towering Alien Monolith. Land at the Ancient Plaque and activate its stone cylinder to pull the opening coordinate fragment, which triggers a light one-star Sentinel investigation drone; let the drone lose track of you or shoot it down quickly before launching back up to scan for the Ancient Ruin. Interact with the main lectern at the Ancient Ruin to log the second energy signature, return briefly to flight if needed to scan for the Alien Monolith, and step onto the Monolith's stone dais to receive a haunting vision and lock onto the exact planetary coordinates of a Portal.
Stepping Through the Uncharged Story Portal
Fly down to the towering black monolith ring of the planetary Portal and walk up to its raised dialer pedestal. Normally, planetary Portals demand elements across sixteen glyph sockets and a learned glyph sequence before their event horizon opens, leading many Travellers to pause here assuming they have to hunt Traveller Graves first. During A Leap in the Dark, Apollo's traced anomaly overrides the dialer completely, meaning you need zero learned Portal Glyphs and zero charging elements to activate the ring. Make sure your Exosuit carries basic Pure Ferrite and Di-hydrogen before interacting with the pedestal, then step straight into the shimmering blue-white vortex.
First Audience With the Atlas and the 500u Hike
Crossing the boundary drops you momentarily into deep space alongside flashing 16 / 16 telemetry errors before pulling you directly inside a colossal crimson Atlas Interface for a scripted audience. Walk forward to address the colossal red orb and work through its diagnostic prompts; choosing either to examine the system or resist the interface advances the story identically, though accepting the gift at the end of the conversation drops two free Warp Cells into your inventory for the road ahead. Another blinding flash transports you onto the surface of a surreal exotic glitch world, stranded on foot roughly 500 units from your starship. Follow your top-compass ship icon over the ridge, patch your Launch Thrusters if the boundary jump left them empty or damaged, and lift back into space.
Artemis's Traveller Grave and Reporting to Nada
Once airborne, Apollo contacts you in disbelief at what happened inside the Portal, only for your instruments to lock onto a faint personal distress signature down on a nearby planet. Fly down to the marker to uncover a glowing diamond-shaped Traveller Grave belonging to Artemis, confirming that Artemis died long ago and that every Holo-Terminus conversation you shared was coming from a trapped residual echo. Activate the grave marker to close A Leap in the Dark and automatically start The First Traveller, then summon the Space Anomaly in orbit to share what you witnessed through the Portal with Priest Entity Nada for Quicksilver and Nanites.