Sensors reported a zero-width wormhole establishing itself between the star and the Anomine homeworld. The smartcore dismissed it as a weapon. Marius ordered an urgent review. The wormhole was originating from the mysterious object with which the Delivery Man’s ship had rendezvoused.

It had to be some kind of power system-whatever needed that level of power? The elevation mechanism! Marius knew it with absolute certainty. Gore had found some way to switch it on. He was going postphysical. It was the only thing left that could threaten Fusion.

Marius activated the ship’s ultradrive and flashed in toward the star. He emerged just above the swirling streamers of the photosphere, where energized atoms from a multitude of spots and flares simmered away into solar wind. Every force field warning turned critical as the starship received the full blast of the star’s radiation and heat. Marius fired two novabombs straight down, then jumped back into hyperspace.

Behind him the borderguards were massing above the photosphere. Eighteen of the giant machines had rushed out of hyperspace, firing enough weapons down after the novabombs to break open a moon. None of it was any use. The novabombs were designed to function amid the outer fringes of a star, whereas the borderguards’ weapons were just uselessly pumping more energy into the rampant solar furnace.

Thirty seconds before they detonated, Marius was already outside the Anomine system. The nova would eliminate the power station, then go on to wipe out the Anomine homeworld minutes later. Gore would never reach postphysical status now. The Accelerator objective was safe.

Edeard didn’t know who to give his attention to or even that it would do any good if he could decide. The astounding Firstlife was straightening itself, turning several small black membranes at the top of its trunk toward the humans as well as directing a formidable farsight at them.

Above the dome the Ilanthe thing was also observing them. It scared him how nonhuman it was. His farsight couldn’t begin to uncover its secrets, but the power it contained was evident. Whatever the Heart was, it seemed to be bending around Ilanthe’s glossy surface.

But it was Gore who now concerned him the most. The golden man was stumbling, dropping to his knees. The anguished keening his mind emitted was dreadful, as if his soul itself were being violated.

“Dad,” Justine was yelling frantically. “Dad, what is it? What’s happening?”

“It caught me,” Gore told her weakly. “The motherfucker found the infiltrator packages.”

“I could have told you the Anomine mechanism was obdurate,” Ilanthe said complacently.

The Firstlife took a step toward the humans, three of its feet slamming down on the surface of the square with a slap that Edeard could feel in his leg bones. “What is this place?” the Firstlife’s longtalk demanded. “What are you? You are not us.”

Inigo squared up to the imposing creature. “This is your future. You were re-created from the Void’s memory.”

The Firstlife’s farsight probed around again, its extraordinary reach allowing it to scan the city and delve down into a fair percentage of the warship’s main body. It also attempted to examine Ilanthe, who deflected it effortlessly.

“You are the omega?” it asked in surprise.

“No,” Inigo said. “We originated outside the Void.”

“How can that be? There is nothing outside, only dead matter.”

“Are you the creators? Did your species build this?”

“Yes.”

“We and many others have been pulled inside so you could exploit our rationality.”

“That is not so. You cannot exist unless the omega formed you.”

“We do exist, and the Void did not make us. The Void is killing us.”

“You do not understand your purpose. This is why I was brought back.” The Firstlife was uncertain.

“No. You can communicate with the Heart, the mind that envelops us. This is why-”

“Wait,” Troblum said. He ignored the looks everyone gave him. “In your time, were there any other sentient species in the galaxy?”

“There is only us. We are first, and when we achieve omega, we will be last.”

“First life,” Oscar said in wonder. “The first race to evolve in the galaxy. How old is this thing?”

“Ancient,” Justine muttered. “More ancient than we ever thought possible.”

“Since your time, countless species have evolved right across the galaxy,” Inigo said. “You were first, but you are no longer alone.”

The Firstlife’s thoughts reeled in astonishment. “You are not us? You are original?”

“We are.”

The black membranes flapped about in agitation. Glistening honey-like droplets appeared on their tips. “Why are you here?”

“This thing you built, this Void, now threatens the entire galaxy,” Gore said, climbing to his feet again. “I understand why you built it, to evolve into something new, something exquisite. You haven’t. Instead it has absorbed thousands of other types of minds which have pulled it in every direction. It cannot evolve, not in this state.”

“Exactly,” Ilanthe said. “Ask these creatures what they would have you do. They want you to stop; they want all you have achieved on the way to your omega to wither away and die. They have nothing else to offer you. I do.”

“Is this why you brought me back?” the Firstlife asked. “To end our evolution?”

“It cannot continue in its current form,” Inigo said. “It is consuming the mass of the galaxy in order to power its existence. Every star will ultimately be devoured, and the species they have birthed will die with them.”

“Unless you act now,” Ilanthe said. “Communicate with the amalgamated mind; tell it to adopt my inversion.”

“What is your inversion?”

“I will take the composition of the Void and implant it within the quantum fields which structure the universe outside. This core will ignite the chain reaction which will disseminate change across the entirety of spacetime. Entropy will be eliminated. Mind will become paramount. Every sentient entity will be given the opportunity to reach its own omega as you anticipated for yourselves. Your legacy will be the birth of a new reality.”

“You have got to be fucking joking,” Gore gasped. “Any quantum field transform wave will simply reverse once it expands past its initial energy input zone. All you’ll be left with is a collapsing microverse that seals itself off from reality as soon as the implosion is complete.”

“Not if entropy is eliminated.”

“You can’t eliminate entropy across infinity. That’s the fucking point of infinity. It’s forever and always.”

“Ask the amalgamated mind to give me the Void’s governing parameters,” Ilanthe said to the Firstlife.

“Do not!” Gore shouted, thrusting his arm out at the Firstlife. “Do not even think it. You will destroy this entire supercluster with her insanity.”

“And what do you offer?” Ilanthe mocked. “The end of their journey to omega?”

“Since you built the Void, hundreds of species have evolved to postphysical status, what you call omega,” Gore said. “It can be done, but not like this. I’m sorry, but you have made a mistake by building the Void. You have to get the Heart to stop the boundary’s mass devourment, suspend the Void’s functions, become stable. We’ll show you how to achieve true evolution in a different way.”

“You can’t,” Ilanthe said. “Every species has to find its own way.”

The Firstlife didn’t reply. A whistling sound was coming from the thin fronds around its mouth as air gusted in and out past the teeth. Edeard was aware of its thoughts pulsing out to be absorbed by the Heart. It wasn’t anything he could copy; he knew he could never communicate with the Heart directly.

“Darkness eclipses us,” it said eventually. “Something is growing outside our frontier, a shroud which would deny us the universe.”