Had every change on Earth been watched by a godlike civilization, the way the Space Odyssey books told it? Had that civilization even meddled in how civilizations grew?

There was no telling.

Shen Cong's stubborn suspicion that aliens existed and were coming to Earth to get him also came from his everyday habit of thinking too much.

The moon's ceaseless radiative fluctuation. The Gate of Cybertron and the Firestarter comet. Life changing from organic to metal. The strange way Firestarter Spirits were spread out and kept turning up.

Taken one at a time, each of these might be just one more baffling phenomenon.

Put together, though, they set Shen Cong's imagination running wild about aliens. It all felt like a plot aimed at Earth.

"The aliens are out to get this emperor!"

Of course, he had no solid proof that aliens existed at all. Life on Earth had changed its very form and was growing stronger by the day, yet the aliens had never come calling, and that had Shen Cong a little stumped.

If they really wanted to take Earth, they should have swept in while the evolved were still weak.

Or, if the transformation hadn't gone far enough, they should have pushed harder and sent another Firestarter comet or something.

Neither had happened.

Maybe it really is just a natural phenomenon? Shen Cong asked himself. He liked the sound of that. If it was natural, then all he had to do was seize the chance, evolve and grow strong.

And once he was strong, what then?

Learn from the godlike civilization. Leave Earth, the cradle that bore him, explore the universe, seek out the true meaning of life and come to know the eternal truths.

"What's out there beyond Earth? Is there an American flag on the moon? Is there life on Mars? What's the ocean on Europa like?"

"Are there planets like Earth out there? 'Aliens' who developed intelligence the way humans did? Wormholes through space and time? And the edge of the universe, what must that look like!"

As far as our minds can reach, that's…