Seventeen Carryx colony ships emerge from asymmetric space at the edge of the system and confirm they have reached Anjiin, already prebriefed by earlier scouts. They accelerate inward under a projected-gravity “bubble,” unaware that an Anjiin observer, Llaren Morse, has seen their approach without understanding what it means.

As the fleet nears the planet, the ships activate their dependent organisms and equipment: nodes are readied, Rak-hund are woken, Sinen gather tools, and other moieties are prepared for deployment. A broad-spectrum planetary signal unexpectedly penetrates their protections, prompting caution; when no defender appears, the Carryx drop their concealment early and scan for threats, finding none.

The Carryx then release tens of thousands of nodes, which fall and coordinate into a vast net encircling Anjiin in the upper atmosphere. Drawing on prior reconnaissance and live “chatter,” the colonization half-mind rapidly confirms the primary intelligent species’ communication methods and technological patterns, and assesses a second intelligent species as too slow and soil-bound for immediate use. The half-mind recommends focusing on the primary species first, and the coordinating intelligence agrees.

On the surface, Anjiin’s governments panic, broadcast demands and threats, and mobilize conventional forces. When missiles are launched from multiple rival states, the node net disables them with lightning-like discharges; one detonates in a nuclear blast while others fail. The nodes then methodically identify and destroy launch sites and similar installations worldwide, incinerating a handful of cities and bases as a demonstration rather than a sustained attack.

With translation completed, the half-mind initiates the Carryx’s dominance ritual: “breaking the limb,” a single overwhelming act meant to establish authority. The node matrix maps and counts the primary species—over 3.67 billion individuals—then algorithmically divides them into groups and selects one group for a targeted culling. A hundred thousand nodes open to release short-lived, white, diaphanous quasi-organisms that form a unified, planetwide voice, delivering the opening command: You are, individually and collectively, under the authority of the Carryx…