civilian
The man on the patio
The Starbucks-encounter figure who is the codex's prompt — a Phoenix-area DBA who told the author his former leadership had the demonstrated capacity to travel to a specific star in Andromeda.
also known as: the man on the patio · the man at the next table
About
The codex's prompt. A mid-fifties Phoenix-metro DBA, eleven years at a regional credit union; before that "the private sector," and before that a branch of the government whose leadership, he said, had demonstrated the capacity to travel to nearby galaxies. He named a specific star in Andromeda casually. The author has not been able to stop thinking about him in the eight months since. He is not the book's evidence; he is the book's prompt.
Key dates
- May 2025 Encountered at a Chandler, AZ Starbucks patio
Appearances
The Codex (2)
Preface — "It Happened on a Starbucks Patio
And I have the shape of an argument the man on the patio fits inside, the way a small stone fits inside the cup of a larger one, and which this book is going to walk you through.
3. The Observers Above
I want to go back to the man on the patio.