“Surely we can’t change the interstellar weather.”

“We must try. You are new and thus able to see newly. Or such is my hope.”

Siloh’s deep resonant bass sounded ominous. For the first time Rachel noticed that high above in the ceiling was a skylight bringing direct sun down hundreds of meters, for the Nought’s sole use.

Lead-gray light fell through the chill air like a scythe as Siloh moved quickly nearer. “The mean Ashkenazi IQ is one hundred ten, with a standard deviation of fifteen, so the number of northern Europeans with IQs greater than one hundred forty is four per thousand, while twenty-three per thousand Ashkenazim exceed the same threshold, a sixfold difference. You are exceptional even among the Ashkenazim.”

“I never paid any attention to that.”

“You surely should. Non-Ashkenazi Jews do not have high average IQs. The Sephardic, for example.”

Rachel was irked but kept her tone steady. “You’ve got my whole dossier. What else is relevant?”

“Ashkenazim do not show any marked advantage on spatial tasks, while they excel at linguistic and arithmetic tasks. Northeast Asians have high spatial scores for a given overall IQ.”

“So I’m not good at physical stuff?”

“If you were typical Ashkenazim, you would not be. But I see you were quite athletic.”

“Yep. Where I grew up, if you were smart, better learn to fight or run.”

“I advise the latter, generally.”

“I majored in the former in elementary school. Playground learning.” She paused, not wanting to seem like a braggart. “How much support will I have? How much time doing full interface with the… Message Minds?”

Siloh pursed the wide mouth pensively, eyes veiled. “I will see you garner in proportion to your rapport with the Minds.”

“I assume this is supported by the inventions, royalties—”

“I do not exploit that avenue very often. I have found that money costs too much.”

“I will apply all my ability. I understand that caution with these emulated alien minds demands careful use.”

Siloh sighed, rustled robes, looked off into the distance. “If you are extremely careful and take absolutely no risks, nothing bad will ever happen to you. Or good.”

“I will learn from the senior—”

“Most of whom are frequently in error, never in doubt.”

Rachel stood. Time to say something solid. “We must try. The older Galactics may know of a world that survived such an onslaught.”

She had read about all this, but never thought she could play a role. The sun’s realm, the heliosphere, had met the dense clump of gas and plasma eighty-eight years before. Normally the solar wind particles blown out from the sun kept the interstellar medium at bay. For many past millennia, these pressures had struggled against each other in a filmy barrier more than a hundred astronomical units beyond the cozy inner solar system. Now that barrier had been pressed back in, striking into where the outer planets orbited.

The wall’s view expanded to show what remained of the comfy realm dominated by the sun’s pressure. It looked like an oceangoing vessel, seen from above: bow waves generated at the prow rolled back, forming the characteristic parabolic curve.