"It must be very upsetting to know we're a category. But if it helps, most species we've met are more like you than like us."

"Not surprising."

"It does seem like natural selection would pick that for sapient species. Regardless, given that it appears I will achieve my goals more effectively by helping you achieve yours, and that I have magic preventing me from doing most of what I'd normally do to ensure that remains the case, I do believe it would be in your interests to share more with me."

"Perhaps you could be more specific about how you plan to be helpful."

"We have several hundred thousand different ways to cheat at physics without outright breaking it, but the reason we created the whole cycle was that we are not a very creative species. We rely on others to do creativity for us. I'd offer the same, if in a less—destructive relationship than our usual ones."

"What are your interests past preventing the end of the universe?"

"I don't have any. Increasing the probability that I'll keep existing is really my only goal."

"We don't make a habit of resurrecting people and then killing them later. I suppose you could be useful as a consultant on other members of your species if you want to help out though."

"I did not mean you'd kill me, I meant entropy would. As for consultation—I will of course do what I can but that may turn out to be very little. The first time we ran into another of our kind in a very long time was when we were first arriving on Earth and it was not unlike meeting aliens of yet another species."

"How so?"

"I expect from your perspective that would not be the case—the other entity was also a mass of shards with a variety of ways of driving other species insane and then eating them. But it was similar to us in the same way, perhaps, certain apes are similar to humans: evolved from the same ancestor. It had split off before our kind discovered the strategy of specialising and cooperating, like Scion and I do, but was thus significantly more efficient and had different kinds of powers. Many of which I acquired, too, and passed on to humans to study."

"We have circumstantial evidence and local observer analysis of your species to go on. Maybe you could provide more depth."

"I suppose I perhaps could, yes."

"If you want to trade information we can work out terms."

"Oh, no, that's not what I was saying at all, I think it's a good idea to share this information with you anyway, you're the solution to all of our problems, if you really have the abilities you claim to have."

"I'm not sure how that's in question."

"I believe humans have a saying—any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic? None of what I've observed so far strictly implies the entropy-breaking capabilities you claim to have, although if other worlds are sufficiently numerous and different and out of sync it might just be that the question is moot."

"That too."

"Still. It would be—reassuring to be offered some more evidence in that direction."

"Do you have something in mind?"

"My ability to come up with hypotheticals only goes so far, especially given what little we've observed."

"You've observed some magic. If those demonstrations weren't convincing I'm not sure why other ones should be if you can't define what you're looking for."

"You could start by telling me what you can do, but if that is out of the question, my only real goal here is figuring out how entropy is going to be defeated."

"One of the more portable powers allows the creation of arbitrary material objects. It's got a speed limit but it fits the description."

"—and it does not fetch this matter from other universes?"