When the colossus's armor had fully unfolded into a silver flower, and the arc of light resembling a miniature black hole had flickered for half a minute, all the fluctuating gravitational signals and heat signatures on the terminals fell silent.
Then came another full hour of silence.
The officers and scientists watching everything in silence hardly dared to breathe, as though they were waiting for a judgment to be handed down.
Just as some of the less patient people began to grow suspicious, a continuous, buzzing chorus of calls suddenly rang out across the observation station. It was a resonance from a deep-space probe in another star system.
A star designated CS9527, in a system a full 3.7 light-years away from "Miss Yu Lian," let out a shriek that most of the scientific instruments currently available could not decipher.
It was an ultra-low-frequency vibration produced as the star's magnetic field tore apart. Passing through the sparse medium of space, it acted directly on the deep-space probe, producing a faint, subtle signal that was then transmitted to this distant corner of space.
Yet Princess Rainbow Rose, standing before the floor-to-ceiling window, gazed straight toward that planet, as though she could already see the scene three light-years away with her own eyes.
"The star's reaction is accelerating," Amida Berenkester said.
"Are you facing a star's death?" the old man asked with interest.
"Sooner or later, I'll see many deaths. If I face the death of a star, perhaps I'll be able to get used to them," she said.
"Best not to get used to it. My child, don't forget what I told you about the anchor points of life." Otter Berenkester said, "You may accept it, and face it calmly, but don't get used to it, and certainly don't become indifferent."
"Before