This is Nikolai's story. The story is on a clone freed from containment and freed to speak his tales to whoever is listening.
Someone asked this question "What do you, Nikolai, remember just prior to your arrival to planet Aire or whatever name it's called now?"
This someone was a Meritanian dubbed Merra heard blaring in the minds of Nikolai and Recorder, who Nikolai spoke this story as recorded by Recorder, Victoria Montreal.