The generation ship Seed is in the final construction phases before embarking for Tau Ceti. Captain Hsu is trying to ensure they leave as scheduled but much work remains. A new gravity wave comms system is being tested using a path through the sun. Silently the high frequency waves cause an unnatural number of discontinuities, and the uncertainty generates a black hole within Sol. As the ship and crew flee the impending supernova, it is attacked by an entropy obsessed AI prophet.
The suicidal assault triggers a superposition of human qualia from which emerges a hive mind, one that controls quantum probabilities. The uplift provides Gaeans with the ability to penetrate the blackhole and traverse hyperspace. Once through they find themselves under attack by microbes with a far stronger hive mind. Barely escaping destruction, they are forced to Retreat to Sol. The ensuing battle puts not only Earth, but the entire universe at risk, as Entropy uses quintessence to destroy the Gaeans.