The drone had returned through the hole three hours ago. Fifteen minutes after it returned, the wormholes had trembled and material erupted again. Chris knew that if it had taken only a few minutes longer, he would remain clueless and left without a drone. "I got lucky this time." He smiled as he enjoyed the victory. "Haven't had many of those, lately."

He had ordered an analysis of the tests. He had tried to stay focused on the problem of the planet itself, but the tension broke through his train of thought multiple times. An hour later he decided to quit and wait for the results to arrive.

"Compiling results" the screen read. A minute later a diagram appeared along with a long string of numbers and other data. His eyes raced over the screen. "The material... compressed... result of..."

He laughed incredulously, but choked and threw a coughing fit. The rapid pounding of his heart and the sinking feeling in his stomach had him gasping for air.

Everything he'd experienced so far, every problem he had overcome, every solution he had created, nothing could compare to the findings in front of him. It wasn't a black hole swallowing up the planets. It wasn't the wormhole making the material lose its mass.

The fabric of the universe was collapsing. Its primordial matter, the foundation of all that is, was running through its fingers like sand through an hourglass.

"It's never been about Earth alone", Chris realized. "It's never been for anyone in particular. Whoever, whatever gave me this, realized that." He shook his arm. "Saving us meant saving all of us. Our entire existence."

He sat in his chair for three hours, staring at things only he could see. Silent.