byBeyond lonely Pluto, dark and shadowless, lies the glittering realm of interstellar space, the silent ocean that rolls on and on, past stars and galaxies alike, to the ends of the universe. What do men know of this vast infinity, this shoreless ocean? Is it hostile or friendly—or merely indifferent?
—James Strong
We look now at the great expanse just beyond a region of the galaxy ostensibly referred to as the Oort Cloud, and approximately 1.73 parsecs from the gravitational focal point of the nearest planetary system. It is here, in this stretch of space, that a single nematocystic interstellar biosphere, located on the outer rim of an extensive web-like bloom, separates its tethers from a great many identical others. As this detachment occurs, vibrational waves are displaced across th
