He meant the red giant, of course. It was now weeks, perhaps only days from death. A new and entirely natural nova would result, as it expelled most of its mass in one single cataclysmic blast. Despite the obvious danger, untold billions of the swarm-components remained within close proximity to the star, like fireflies dancing at the edge of a forest fire.

‘Don’t.’

Dakota stared at the ghost with a puzzled expression. ‘Don’t what?’

‘You were about to apologize. Don’t start saying you’re sorry for killing me.’

‘I wasn’t—’

‘You made me, spun me out of your memories, and that means I know every thought in your head even before it appears. Now,’ he said, leaning down with hands on knees to peer at the component’s hull, ‘this is interesting . . .’

Part of her wanted to touch the back of his neck, in case his skin was still warm and soft and carried the same scent as the man she’d known. Instead, she had her ship feed her highly magnified images of the component’s exterior. It was studded with millions of extremely miniaturized tach-net transceivers, each one packed with dense molecular circuitry.

This particular component appeared to have a relatively simple function, storing and analysing data from all across the electromagnetic spectrum as well as more exotic phenomena such as gravitic fluctuations and superluminal tachyon drift. If the swarm did have an overarching intelligence, as she suspected, it was almost certainly an emergent property resulting from its sheer complexity.

Dakota lightly touched the fingers of one hand to the component’s hull and closed her eyes, tense despite herself. She could hear the whisper of its transceivers, and realized it was still in communication with its brethren.

Perhaps she could tap into that flow, talk directly to the swarm . . .

She hesitated, drawing her hand back.

‘Go ahead,’ the ghost prompted. ‘It’s the opportunity to talk to something that’s been alive for billions of years.’

‘It’s also responsible for creating the caches. The same ones that destroyed the Magi and could still destroy us. What if I . . . made it angry?’

‘Life, Dakota, is a series of opportunities preceded by risks. We have the chance to finally find out what the swarm’s ultimate purpose is. So go ahead and try.’

She nodded, and put her fingers once again on the component’s hull, listening to the swarm’s chatter. What had been unintelligible noise suddenly became clear, and what she learned was so shocking she pulled her hand back with a gasp.

‘It’s trying to . . .’

‘Re-engineer the universe,’ the ghost finished for her. ‘A project it doesn’t expect to finish until billions of years from now.’

‘That’s incredible,’ she said, ‘but how does it help us?’

‘Look here,’ said the ghost, directing her attention to one particular strand of data. ‘There – a way to stop the nova war.’