Cold Black Mirror

The Cold Black Mirror is a purpose‑built stealthing surface put together in low orbit by Cell 317 to conceal activity from the Daban Urnud and the Geometers while operating above Arbre.

Not to be confused with Zenith Mirror.

Design and Purpose

• Form: a square membrane about fifty feet on a side, stretched perfectly flat like a drumhead between knife‑edge supports.
• Reflectivity: its upper face is a near‑perfect mirror across visible light and the microwave bands used for radar. When angled correctly, it reflects “some other patch of space,” presenting as featureless black against the sky and bouncing radar returns away from sensors.
• Thermal control: integrated solid‑state chillers keep the surface cold. Heat from life‑support and the small reactor powering operations is dumped into radiators kept hidden beneath the Mirror and aimed planetward so that the Pedestal has no direct line of sight to them.
• Structure and handling: the frame uses inflatable struts, memory wire, thin membranes, and aerogels so it weighs little and can be packed small, then deployed and rigidized in orbit.

Assembly and Deployment

• Concealed rendezvous: after a massed launch of small payloads, the team gathered behind a metallized balloon while chaff and decoys confused surveillance. The Cold Black Mirror was assembled there alongside a separate decoy platform.
• Breakout and diversion: once complete, the Mirror’s thrust structure briefly fired to depart from the shelter. At the same time a decoy platform—a lashed‑together cluster of stages inside an inflatable shell—performed a conspicuous burn and then self‑destructed, drawing attention while the Mirrored group slipped away.
• Decoy construction details: the decoy rode on seven monyafeeks lashed in a hexagonal array and was packed with spare netting, scrap, and manikins inside its inflatable shell. Its engine cycle was deliberately set to fail, scattering debris to keep sensors occupied.

Operations

• Masking sensors: in use, the Mirror is canted like a shed roof so that search beams and imaging from the Daban Urnud never receive a direct reflection. Against the starfield it renders the formation effectively invisible except for subtle stellar misplacements.
• Power and life support: a tender with a compact reactor splits water into oxygen and hydrogen and powers chillers; its hot radiators remain hidden under the Mirror’s shadow.
• Breakout burn and straps: for the departure impulse the team strapped down to the thrust structure beneath the Mirror. After this one burn to shift trajectory, the engines are left idle to avoid any further plumes.
• Silent climb: to change orbit without rocket plumes, the group deploys an electrodynamic tether with a counterweight below and runs current to generate continuous, gentle thrust. The assembly is set spinning to pay out the tether; afterward the Mirror stays “above” the crew, providing cover while they spiral toward the visitors’ altitude.
• Counterweight concealment: the spent monyafeeks forming the counterweight are lashed into a compact mass and hidden beneath a smaller mirror at the tether’s end so that the whole configuration remains masked.
• Spin and pseudogravity: with the tether fully paid out the system rotates once per orbit, keeping the Mirror uppermost and creating a faint pseudogravity that lets crew and loose gear settle against the frame.
• Debris discipline: while working under the Mirror, loose fragments from maintenance were captured and secured so they would not drift out from beneath its shadow and create detectable radar echoes.
• Final approach and release: concealment was maintained behind the Mirror until very near the Daban Urnud; at that point the team pushed off and let the Mirror glide away to clear line of sight for the closing maneuver.

Current Status

After the long tether‑assisted approach, the Mirror was released shortly before the cell closed with the Daban Urnud. It drifted away while the team, in matte‑black suits, proceeded to the rubble shield and secured lines to the ship. Its subsequent trajectory and condition have not been described.