The gossip among the guards is this: a colony ship sets off for a new world, making grav jumps along the way. After one of the grav jumps, one of the passengers claims he spent that time communing with a celestial entity known as the Great Serpent. What was a few seconds for everyone else was... much longer for him. And he brought back a mandate, which is basically, "get onboard, or be devoured when the Great Serpent encircles the universe." Is it true?? I ain't sayin'.
I Believe.