Phoenix Starship Andromeda—Near the Dyson Sphere
The question of a seemingly derelict Dyson Sphere loomed large in Thorpe’s mind. The directed microbot swarms put the lie to its being totally abandoned, or were they part of some bizarre automatic operation the builders left behind when they departed—assuming they did? If they were still here, where were they?
Surrounded by shieldbots with Mother using MCS to discourage any nearby swarms, Thorpe moved the starship closer to the disproportionately larger sphere. In his mind’s eye, Thorpe imagined the view from afar, Andromeda like a speck of dust against the unimaginably huge Dyson Sphere.
In fact, he told himself, not a speck of dust, but a microbe, an infinitesimal, inconsequential piece of flotsam. It staggers the mind.
He took his ti
