So those whom humanity hoped to meet, while at the same time fearing this meeting, appeared. Representatives of higher intelligence are the Heechee. Creatures who have technologies that help earthlings in many areas, but at the same time have brought the Earth to the brink of disaster. We are waiting for exciting stories about the Big Bang and black holes, about colliding photons, about other dimensions and the population of alien planets, about terrorism and artificial intelligence, about the dead who are not quite dead, and about what motivates humanity in its aspirations…