Their country was emptiness, their sanctuary the dark regions between the stars: cosmic wanderers, rocketing through a black gulf of infinite cold and infinite depth nicked here and there by tiny orbs of flame burning yellow, blue, and red, solitary beacons of warmth scattered like lighthouses offering refuge from an ocean of boundless night. For an epoch now this family of travelers had explored the universe—but as every journey has a beginning, so too must it have an end. And on a small, cloud-swept planet spinning sweetly in the radiance of a gentle sun, their destiny was waiting for them.

It would not be long.