Note: In the acknowledgments of the Tachyon Press Edition, there is a note that though "the last thousand words cross the line into full-fledged novelhood, I [Watts] will go to my grave insisting this is merely a novella." Kobo USA reports 42K words, corroborating the fact this is indeed one very short novel and not a novella.

Synopsis: "There are thirty thousand of them. They have been traveling for sixty million years. Their mission: to unlock the stargate... Have you ever thought of them? To the Progenitors, to the Precursors -- whatever name you chose for them this week --, those ancient gods who left behind their portals and galactic highways for your enjoyment? Have you ever stopped wondering what they went through? No second-hand hyperspace for them. No giant shoulders to stand on. They crawl across the galaxy, like ants, dormant for millennia, waking up just long enough to start a construction site from one solar system to another. They live over moments spread over millions of years, in the service of ancestors who have been dead for eternity, for descendants who no longer have anything in common with them. To tell the truth, they are not gods but workers, cavemen living in hollowed out asteroids, launched on an endless mission to expand a posthuman empire that no longer even responds to their calls..." Amazon.fr April 10, 2022