Above, us, in the dark shadows of the outer solar system, there is the shape of something unknown, something unspeakable. It waits, it bides its time, and as the days of summer grow longer, so does its voice grow louder.<br><br>On the quiet island of Sarah Ann in the Pacific Ocean, home of the renowned Firmament Foundation, awkward teenager Eirian Calohan has come in search of the mystery of their father's recent demise. Instead, they are confronted with the stark contrast between languid life on the tiny island and an unspeakable cosmic horror.<br><br>Together with their new friends, they set out to unravel the truth surrounding the death of their father and to also uncover just what it is that the Foundation has reached out to in the dark eternal night of the distant void.

All Cats Are Beautiful

“Ah! There you are!” he proclaimed, reaching up and plucking the animal from the shelf and bringing it close, squashing it to his chest in a hug.


“Ah, this is FF-15, not too fond of returning to his card for some reason. This one’s actually a mistake.” He winked at her. “These brutes are supposed to follow after the patterning of magpies, but this little one came out more cat than bird. Your old dad was all for rebooting him, but I snatched him from the jaws of death.”


Luna looked at her father inquisitively.


“They’re machines,” he answered evasively. “The AI for each individual type is stored in the central imagination engines on one of the lower floors, and the cards contain an algorithm for immaculately generating a rapid growth physical framework into which the AI is beamed when required.”


Luna turned to look at Delilah and then looked back at her father and David.


“You mean this cat-thing is a robot?”


Chapter 46