When humanity first destroyed the Prism Ship, the stepping-stone of the Compound-Eyed Observer had already been stepped on.
Harrison Clark's attention had shifted by then.
He started to seriously think about higher-order civilizations.
Up to now, he had never truly dealt with higher-order civilizations, only indirectly guessing their characteristics through unconventional means held by the Compound-Eyed Observer.
He didn't even know what the higher-order civilization looked like, let alone their technological level.
The only two things he could ascertain were:
First, their hostility.
Second, the products they casually bestowed upon the Compound-Eyed Observer, like the Song of the Wilderness, the Dome, the Star Destroyer Cannon, and the unreasonably superior sublight travel at 500 times the speed of light.
But now, with the advent of the Quantum Virus and the Methuselah Star coming into view, Harrison Clark had a vague guess about the identity of the higher-order civilization.
