# Continuity Report: Chapter 3

## Diagnosis

Chapter 3 locks in the departure wound and the promise that will echo through the full manuscript. It also sharpens the scientific pressure by revising E2-X1's mass upward and moving the industrial milestone earlier than the public architecture implied.

## Timeline Updates

- The chapter opens at 21 years, 302 days until keyhole crossing.
- Departure occurs roughly 247 days after Chapter 2, allowing mission approval, selection, architecture, and launch preparation to happen off-page.
- Sixteen hours remain before final medical isolation when the family conversation begins.

## Character State Updates

- Elian is five and understands the departure as a long absence, not a normal "space work" trip.
- Mira lies by giving the full promise Elian demands: to return before Elian is taller than her.
- Jonas admits fear directly to Elian, establishing his emotionally honest pattern.
- Hana sends Mira the refined mass estimate first because she trusts Mira to resist morale-softened briefings.
- Mira and Jonas leave together through isolation; Elian keeps the dragon instead of sending it.

## Worldbuilding Updates

- Refined E2-X1 model indicates larger radius/mass than the first estimate due to low albedo.
- First local heavy-lift chain must exist inside nine years.
- Mass-driver components are needed by year twelve.
- Sustained surface operations are needed by year fourteen for decent margin.
- Earth-2 likely lacks electricity, germ theory, and standardized screws at contact.

## Unresolved Promises

- Mira's promise to return before Elian is taller than her.
- How the mission can accelerate local industrial capacity to the revised timeline.
- Whether first contact can remain consent-based when the schedule has worsened.

## Foreshadowing Introduced

- "People on the other planet, you can borrow them. But not forever" foreshadows Elian's later anger and final understanding.
- The soft isolation door seal foreshadows later irreversible doors and hatches.
- Hana's warning that the timeline has worsened foreshadows future compromises and war pressure.

## Required Bible Updates

- Track Mira's promise as a major emotional debt.
- Track the revised industrial milestones: heavy-lift by year 9, mass-driver components by year 12, sustained operations by year 14.
- Elian keeps the repaired dragon on Earth; it can recur in later messages.