What Is STEPYXIS?
STEPYXIS is the home of No Source Found, a free serialized science fiction novel by Nansen Zhang, published at stepyxis.com since August 2026. It begins with Alan Reyes, a night-shift review associate whose employment record says her shift ended before she arrived. The missing record now threatens her housing renewal. New chapters publish Monday through Saturday. The novel is also serialized on Royal Road and Substack. For readers of Kafka, Ted Chiang, and Severance.
STEPYXIS is an ongoing work of Kafkaesque bureaucratic science fiction, told through serialized chapters, archive records, and wearable objects.
Read the chapters in the Archive Log. They stand on their own. Archive records document selected states, traces, and local returns; some of that record language also appears on wearable objects.
STEPYXIS is still unfolding. This site shows the current record; its count and sequence are not final.
A Work of Kafkaesque Bureaucratic Science Fiction
STEPYXIS is science fiction built around procedures, records, permissions, queues, forms, and the ordinary people required to pass through them.
The tension comes from systems that process records but cannot fully account for the people, events, or sources behind them.
The External Index
The External Index is how this site displays selected archive entries, protocol fields, and local returns. The work's genre is Kafkaesque bureaucratic science fiction.
Use the index to find the fiction, inspect archive records, or browse wearable objects. It leaves the story's final explanation open.
Archive Records and Wearable Objects
The chapters tell the story. Archive records show selected entries from the work. Wearable objects carry part of that archive language into physical form. You can read the fiction independently.
The fiction can be read without buying a product. Products do not serve as chapter summaries; specific connections are identified on the site.
What Is the Q1 Series?
Q1 is the current series of wearable records within the STEPYXIS Archive. The project extends beyond this series.
Where Should New Readers Start?
Start with Chapter 01, then continue through the Archive Log in publication order. The Chinese Character Cores guide is an optional, spoiler-light reference.
Browse the Q1 Series for wearable records. You can read the fiction without buying a product or learning its symbols first.
System FAQ
- What is STEPYXIS?
- STEPYXIS is the series name of No Source Found, a free serialized science fiction novel by Nansen Zhang.
- What is the External Index?
- It is the site's index of selected archive records, protocol fields, and local returns.
- Can the fiction be read independently?
- Yes. The serialized chapters can be read without a product.
- What is a wearable record?
- It carries part of an archive record into physical form. It does not summarize the plot.
- What is Q1?
- Q1 is one series of wearable records within the STEPYXIS Archive.
- Where should a new reader begin?
- Start with Chapter 01 in the Archive Log and continue in publication order.
- Does every chapter have a product connection?
- No. A connection is stated only when the site explicitly confirms it.