Labyrinth

No living thing could exist in the unoccupied areas of space. Where the wide gaps still remained -that could only be passed by going around or flying across in pressurized vehicles- the construction continuingly went on. If one were to spend longer than a few sleep periods near these holes in the labyrinth, they would start to see a loss of mass- from their own body and all of their clothing and other possessions around them. The Challyobites may be invisible to the naked eye, but they are always working; always scouting near construction zones; always looking for more molecules with which to use as building materials. And the countless races of beings gave them plenty to work with. Major communities of a trillion or more, were usually within a light-year of a yet un-constructed area within the labyrinth. This was their dumping grounds for the refuse of life. Huge garbage trains ran for endless klicks through the vast wastelands of the labyrinth, eventually winding up near the edge of a hole. Here the melting pot of matter was deposited and then hungrily gobbled up on a microscopic scale, and turned into more beams, girders and panels, slowly closing the abyss that was sometimes billions of klicks across.

Most people lived in population centres that housed quadrillions of individuals. These areas were all old growth, and no longer had the necessary room for Challyobites to gather and construct. They were joined by endless rural stretches of the labyrinth. They were also mainly old growth sections. Here you could go for many sleep periods without ever seeing another living being. These drawn out catacombs were much larger than the numerous populous sections that they bridged. And their living-being populations were only in the billions and in some cases of very sparsely inhabited areas- only in the tens of millions.

Tik was now in one of these vast, lonely rural areas. He had devoted his long life to the exploration of the labyrinth, and had been in many sections like it before. As he cruised along the travel-way in his bus, he decided that he was hungry. The map that he had acquired back in Tualipa, or whatever the locals had called it, showed a settlement another two or three thousand klicks down the way. He slowed the vehicle's flight down, so as not to miss it. In another moment, he was at the turn-off. There on the left-hand wall of the far-stretching tunnel, was the universal sign for gravity change. The red arrow showed him that he needed to turn the bus ninety degrees onto its right side as he made the turn. He did this, and now felt his sense of up and down righted again. His vehicle's navi-computer noted the turn and recorded the course deviation. If he ever became lost, or too far off-course, his life's work would be lost.