Enveloped in the womb-like embrace of that sprawling cocoon, we marvelled anew as an iridescent display painted each surface. There was no doubt in our minds now - the chambers we strode were the pulsating form of a very living being. Though nothing as primitive as words were exchanged, a symbiotic understanding continued to blossom. In an instant we glimpsed it all as though through the sensory totality of the billion beings it had touched on its travels. A grand agent of transformation, here to remake the earth in its own image, just as it had done on countless worlds before. But something was awry. The baleful presence and behaviour of the entities with which we had duelled was testament to this aberration. They were beholden to an entirely different agenda, massing greedily now as they sensed our ascension.