“We still have to stop them, Idris. Billions of lives are at stake. All the lives and thinking minds in the universe,” and Idris broke in before he could stop himself. “What are you, Ash?” Another silence. “Because you know what, you’re right. All the thinking minds. Thought is the thing, isn’t it. Thought distorts unspace. I’m living proof of that. When I was in the Machine, I could see all those thoughts, of all those sentient beings, pulling at the structure of everything just by virtue of existing. But you already knew that. Are you… Are you the last Originator?”
