It would take two words to define mankind's future.

The ancient stars of the galactic bulge would eventually form the core of a great elliptical supergalaxy of trillions of suns, but that era was still eons away.
The metal-poor world Efusto was the oldest surviving planet with a solid surface.
Mountains had eroded into canyons and risen up again into mountains more than a hundred times since its formation.
The Core Civilization was at least ten billion years old.
Efusto was filled with exquisite monuments to unimaginable achievements, yet everything looked brand-new and was immaculately maintained.
The Ancients had evolved to such a degree of perfection they never wished to change again. They avoided all risks.
Many Ancients had become pattern collectors, and spent their days accumulating rare crystals, interesting genetic expressions, alien languages and detailed histories.
Some individuals had become their own species, and might be considered insane by human standards, transcendent by others. They hid behind mighty walls, and hired younger species to conduct their dangerous business.

Humans had to be naked to enter the Timeless Hall where they received their instructions. The clothes didn't matter, but removing the mind implants was a major sacrifice, even for a few minutes.
Ahezh's colony had a massive property tax bill that was about to become overdue, and an even more massive budget deficit caused by reckless overspending. It couldn't hope to repay either debt, unless Ahezh succeeded here today.
He had been told not to return unless he did succeed. Quite likely, there would be no place to return to.
The Ancients' wealth defined all lesser species. They couldn't even visit each other without purchasing expensive passes.
The Ancients owned most money in the galaxy, and all of its stars, including Earth's sun. It would be inconvenient if it suddenly exploded.

Today, Ahezh was the first human to learn an incredible truth, revealed in a self-destructing memo five minutes before the big meeting.
It turned out the Ancients didn't really own the stars. They merely rented them.
Like his own colony, they too were burdened by unimaginable debts.
As far as Ahezh could see, the universe was a bottomless house of cards. Each species was subject to a still more powerful species many lightyears away.
The Hall lit up, and he saw an incomprehensible shape at the other end.
The youngest (and technically lowest ranked) Ancient was Haketis. This being had visited most of the observable universe, even the Central Group ages ago.
That supercivilization had evolved at the end of the First Eon, yet it was subservient to a still higher civilization beyond the Cosmic Wall, and so on past the boundaries of the universe.
Did someone somewhere own everything? Even Haketis had no clue.
The priests wouldn't like the theological implications if Ahezh made it back home.

Haketis spoke, and the future suddenly became real.
"I have wonderful news for your species!"
The two words were Andromeda War.

The Ancients' plans were fantastically detailed.
At the peak of the Great Crusade, over one quintillion humans would be under arms.
By the time of the final victory, the surviving population would have been whittled back down to slightly above its present number.
The gift to humanity would be a trillion years of human evolution, concentrated in one millionth of that timespan.
"This will be your epoch of glory. Few species are granted such an opportunity."
"It goes without saying that mankind will still be no closer to matching our level of development."



The best hard SF novel ever written: Infinite Thunder by Jack Arcalon.
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