Chapter 3

           Onthenextclearnight,lookupinthedirectionoftheconstellationhumanitycallsCancer.Betweenthepincersoftherightclawofthatgiantcrabintheskysitsafaintstar.Nomatterhowhardyoustare,youwon’tseeitwiththenakedeye.Itcanonlybeviewedthroughatelescopewithathirty-meteraperture.Evenifyoucouldtravelatthespeedoflight,fastenoughtocircletheearthsevenandahalftimesinasinglesecond,itwouldtakeoverfortyyearstoreachthatstar.SignalsfromEarthscatteranddisperseontheirjourneyacrossthevastgulfbetween.

           OnaplanetrevolvingaroundthisstarlivedlifeingreaternumbersanddiversitythanthatonEarth.Culturesmoreadvancedthanoursroseandflourished,andcreatureswithintelligencefarsurpassingthatofH.sapienshelddominion.Forthepurposesofthisfairytale,we’llcallthempeople.

           Oneday,apersononthisplanetinventedadevicecalledanecoformingbomb.Thedevicecouldbeaffixedtothetipofaspacecraft.Thisspacecraft,farsimplerthananysimilarcraftburdenedwithlifeandthemeanstosupportit,couldcrossthevoidofspacewithrelativeease.Uponreachingitsdestination,theship’spayloadwoulddetonate,showeringnanobotsovertheplanet’ssurface.

           Immediatelyuponarrival,thenanobotswouldbegintoreshapetheworld,transforminganyharshenvironmentintoonesuitableforcolonizationbythepeoplewhomadethem.Theactualprocessisfarmorecomplicated,butthedetailsareunimportant.