Author’s comment: If you haven’t read Part 1, you’ll find Part 2 confusing. Therefore I don’t recommend buying Part 2 until you’ve read Part 1. Part 1 ended with a cliffhanger (start of a space battle) on the last page. Some readers don’t like that while other readers expect it. Part 2 does not end with the opening stages of a space battle but does drop a bombshell in terms of new information that could lead to more battles. It’s not a cliffhanger in the conventional sense of the word. If you like cliffhangers, don’t say I didn’t warn you.  When you read this novel, you’ll come across this word ‘shi’, pronounced ‘sheye’. It’s not a typo. It’s my attempt to add a new word to the English language and it is a short way of saying she/he/it for a 3rd person reference to an entity whose gender is not known. If you like it, feel free to use it.