and the Immortal HQ is actually a research station entirely devoted to studying them. These beings communicate on extremely long wavelengths, which are so slow, even S-Space is woefully inadequate to process them. However Immortals have interpreted some signals, which seem to indicate the Deep Space Beings predict that the stars in the spiral arm will all mysteriously go dark in the next 40,000 years; an impossibly short time on the cosmological scale. Whether the Deep Space beings are actively causing this artificial transformation is unknown. To better understand the problem, the Immortals are devising a new T-Space which is an even more radical slowing of human consciousness. Peron's group agree to help, but insist on building a new facility that will be operated only in N-space, resisting the logic that S-Space is superior method of operation. After much debate, the Immortal scientists agree to the plan. The narrative ends here, but the last few pages are from the perspective of one of Peron's friends who has volunteered as a guinea pig for T-Space. He relates the last 5 T-minutes of the universe, which is over 1000 years of normal time. He witnesses the final Big Crunch while somehow he and the deep space beings remain unaffected by the singularity. References External links 1985 American novels Novels by Charles Sheffield Fiction set in 2010 Fiction set in the 7th millennium or beyond Hard science fiction Sleep in fiction Dystopian novels Fiction about asteroid mining Novels about nuclear war and weapons Space exploration novels Time in fiction Novels about extraterrestrial life Fiction about superhuman features or abilities Novels about the end of the universe Climate change novels Novels first published in serial form Baen Books books Works originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact