Sea of Tranquility

Part 3 is not broken up into chapters, but there are sections separated by asterisks. Before the first set of asterisks, Olive’s book tour begins in New York City. She walks in Central Park between events and is then herded by Aretta, one of her regional publicists, to a dinner. Olive, who was born and raised on a moon colony, wonders about living on Earth.

She meets up with her parents, who retired to a small town near Denver, the next day. They talk about imposter syndrome and Olive being away from Dion and Sylvie while on tour. Olive travels through Colorado Springs, Salt Lake City, and Texas. There, a woman suggests Olive’s book, Marienbad, ends too abruptly, and Olive contemplates this as she travels to Canada. There, over the phone, Dion tells Olive he is on a new project at a university center for physics that is connected to a government building by underground tunnels.

After the first asterisks, Olive has a driver who explains her idea for a book, a sci-fi/fantasy epic. The driver also mentions the connection between the pandemic in Olive’s book and a new virus in Australia. An excerpt from Olive’s lecture is included.