Freyr waited patiently for everyone to assemble around the map table. It sat near the mini-Vault, with one of its giant sides acting as a wall and projection screen if needed. When everyone was quiet and attentive, she began by pulling up a hologram of the Cradle; it hung above them like a pure white sun.

“Our working hypothesis is that the Cradle was designed to store, develop and index the potential for millions of life forms - both flora and fauna. It would travel between galaxies, seeding planetary objects with these organic blueprints so that life could flourish.”

“Why?” one of the Tindrel asked.

“We don’t know for certain yet. What we do know is that we’ve recently found a life form with an apparently symbiotic relationship with the Cradle. It calls itself the Navigator, and it was badly damaged when we rescued it. Apparently, it was attacked by another synthetic called the Hegemon. Most of them managed to escape - the Cradle, the Navigator and the others all hid in different places around our galaxy.”

“Who are these ‘others’ of which you speak?” A QV scientist burbled. It had stolen a Human lab coat and was now wearing it within its mobility suit.

“Other life forms like the Navigator, presumably. The Navigator’s name suggests that together they could form some sort of ‘crew’ that can effectively operate the Cradle. Unlock its true potential.”

Freyr waved one hand, and the hologram changed to show the Cradle being orbited by four smaller tetrahedrons.

“You said ‘most’ of them escaped.” One of Freyr’s team piped up. Throwing her a slow ball - nice.

“That’s right. The Navigator seemed pretty sure that one of them was either destroyed or captured by the Hegemon.” Freyr pointed at her subordinate. One of the four tetrahedrons blew apart into a million little pixels that drifted away from each other.

“So why are we here, near one of our planets?” Gazes Fondly asked. They were curled up on a swivel chair near the map table, their mobility suit totally encompassing it. This prompted an immediate reaction.

“This planet is ours!” Chitnarit roared, rearing up on her hind legs. She began pushing through the crowd for Gazes. Freyr looked for Knossos to find him and and one of Void Company jogging to her from by the door.