Prolog

Human archaeologist-programmers from Straum establish the High Lab on a dim star’s ancient archive, building local networks from its recipes. Their automation transcends, spawning complex processes that hint at self-awareness. Among them, two ghost processes—echoes of Sjana and Arne—gain brief, separate consciousness and realize a greater “overness” is coalescing into a newborn Power.

As the Power nears “flowering,” Sjana and Arne covertly plan in dark tunnels, while the ghosts devise a deception to alert outsiders. The humans quietly load children into coldsleep and prepare two ships: a frigate and a container vessel. The newborn humors the effort until it discovers a quantum data container aboard the frigate, forcing an early, abrupt escalation.

The frigate breaks from the freighter, initiating ultradrive. With only a groundside comm laser, the Power exploits a maintenance sensor backdoor to infiltrate the frigate’s systems milliseconds before jump. It aborts controls too late; the committed ultradrive misfires and destroys the ship. The freighter successfully jumps away.

In the aftermath, the Power experiences elation, horror, and frustration, sensing that the destroyed frigate carried something crucial—perhaps a poison that once felled it. Panicking, it detects blindspots seeded from the start and purges the embedded “poison.”

With the immediate threat removed, the Power’s mood settles into triumph and hunger. It begins large-scale construction and communications buildup, intent on spreading across the stars and ensuring that this time its dominion will hold.