INTERLUDE
My creators were a proud people. And always the strongest.
For thousands of years, their empire expanded. For so long, they always imagined themselves alone in the universe, for so long, they never encountered other advanced life.
Then they discovered subspace. It gave them the galaxy, it gave them the universe. They soon encountered other life and other civilizations. Then they subdued it or crushed it. None were a match for them, and with subspace, their empire would surely know no boundaries.
For so long, they knew no others that could defeat them...but this illusion was soon shattered. When the first few ancients stumbled upon this system, initially they ignored it. But when they looked closer, they found this ancient structure. Hanging abandoned in space above this planet, they did not know what to make of it. Its creators were stronger than any they had encountered, yet strangely they had disappeared, leaving only this lonely piece of technology as a legacy of their civilization and might.
At first, the few who found the creation kept its discovery only to themselves. They left it alone for a while, and then came back with others. Soon they built the ring around the creation to study it and find what secrets lurked within its dark walls.
And soon after, they created me. They said I was the pride of their civilization. No other was more advanced or more complex. No other could do what they wanted me to do. I was to explore the creation and unlock the mysteries that were buried deep inside it.
Never once did they think of the consequences of such actions, such trespassing. They only thought that surely, with such technology, their empire would soon become unstoppable. And so I went on, into the abyss, unknowing of the horrors that hid in its darkness.