Material Megastructure

After arranging matters concerning the Dianteans, the Collectors focused on processing the translated texts. They had come to this star system to learn about the civilization that had been destroyed.

While waiting for the Celestial Mechanism Matrix to decipher the texts from Planet One, the Collectors also waited for their kin to transport material resources over.

Several years later, their kin from neighboring star systems crossed light-year-scale distances and delivered the materials. After receiving the resources, the Collectors began transporting them into stellar orbit.

Near the star, the Collectors gestated a writhing mass of flesh. It expanded rapidly, reaching a diameter equivalent to two moons in just a few months.

Inside was a ring-shaped structure. It resembled a gravitational ring, yet differed from one, because it did not encircle the star like a hula hoop. It merely existed in close orbit, and its scale was far smaller.

When the object within the flesh mass had finished gestating, a circular ring was exposed to the vacuum of space. Bathed in starlight, it gleamed brilliantly, dazzling to behold.

But the gestation was not yet complete. This miniaturized gravitational ring was only one component of the object the Collectors intended to create.

Since this was their first attempt, and usable matter was scarce, the Collectors did not dare act recklessly. They had to construct it step by step, lest an accident cause the gestation to fail.

The ring's plane stood perpendicular to the stellar plane, while its orbit shared a plane with the star's equator. The exact center of the ring, a point on the stellar equator, and the stellar core always remained aligned in a straight line.

On the ring's night side, the Collectors gestated another mass of flesh.

Viewed with the star below, the ring resembled flat ground, upon which a