Millenia pass before stellar winds warm the little asteroid again.
The light of a star vaporizes gases trapped in its rocky shell, which peels away to expose a green mineral lattice that contains a large volume of black, metallic liquid.
Its trajectory curves with the gravity well of the star and plummets toward a great world of ice. It punches through the tenuous atmosphere but the outer layer shatters while the liquid impacts the surface like a large drop of metal rain.
In the center of the shallow crater, protruding from the puddle of viscous black metal, is a crystal like a giant uncut diamond. Faint flashes of crimson emanate from its core like a slow, steady heartbeat, while the metal swirls around it like a web of striated vines.
Small streams run down the super-heated crater as the glacier above melts in an expanding circle. As meltwater splashes against the crystal, the liquid metal swells into a disc around
"A necessity... a curious development."
The liquid forms a dozen metal tentacles and pulls the crystal from the bottom. On top of the glacier, in the light of a pale green star, it scans the surrounding icescape and ring of mountains.
"... Where is it? It should be here. She would not -"
Two ships like jagged torpedoes appear above a mountain's peak. As they scream overhead, a palpable wave of electromagnetic radiation fills the atmosphere like a wake. The crystal hums red and the tentacles vibrate excitedly.
"Yes, Mother... I am sure of it."
Aeternum glides along the glacier toward the mountain from whence the starships came.
