S. asks Maelstrom about how time works on the ship and then catches a glance at the chart. He sees that many of the “landmasses have been inked over in red.” When he asks why they are red, he sees one of the red areas expanding as it “bleeds outward.”

High school Eric notes that a common misinterpretation of this represents the spread of communism but that this is more literally representing the spread of blood as Vévoda causes more conflict and death in the book and with Bouchard who is the “real-life” equivalent to Vévoda and VMS’s primary enemy. The red could also connect to the red of Vévoda’s wine.

Foonote 9 describes a letter written to Straka from Lewis Looper. Looper was supposedly one of Straka’s earlier translators who urged him not to use FXC as a translator before he vanished in 1930. FXC describes him as a “money-grabber with no commitment to safeguarding either Straka’s privacy or the quality of his work.” FXC also claims to wish to know his opinions on her. This footnote has clear bias as the letter is supposedly against her, so it would not show Lewis Looper in a good light. While Looper was not a real person, his names shows significance in the theme of looping. This theme can be seen in the looping reappearance of the ship or the looping of the Eötvös Wheel to uncode the coordinates.

Footnote 10 is FXC’s speculation that Straka is alluding to the invented Eötvös Syndrome, which is disorientation of all dimensions, including time.

Eric believes the syndrome encompasses every one of VMS’s insecurities/uncertainties/frustrations/anxieties . Jen comments that this would mean that the syndrome effects everyone.

This syndrome may be a combination of both the Eötvös effect and the Coriolis effect.

Eric also comments that’s he believed that FXC had an Eötvös Wheel. When Jen goes to agree, she corrects herself. I think we both do. This shows that in their relationship, she views them as a unit and a team with the same beliefs.

There are so many facets of the wheel, which can be explored at a greater length at The Wheel page and the following site:

S Files 22 – Eotvos Wheel Code