The story, for a moment, leaves the worried heroes on their starship and travels to the heart of the Gardener's new, terrible masterpiece. On a dead, gray world, surrounded by a silent, beautiful, and deadly dance of black holes, a new being opened its eyes for the first time.
This being had once been mortal. A long, long time ago, it had been a person, a member of a forgotten race that had lived and died on this lonely, barren planet. Its life had been one of suffering, of loss, of a deep and profound powerlessness in the face of a cold and uncaring universe. Its final memory, before its entire species had faded into dust, was one of bitter, helpless rage.
And then, it had known nothing but a long, silent sleep for a million years.
Until the Gardener had arrived.
