NARRATOR: The skies are inhospitable this close to the massive generator built from the Milky Way's galactic core.
It isn't a constant state. Most nights the starlight is just pretty.
NARRATOR: Once every few millennia, however a dense gas filament sweeps across a neutron star, a blue supergiant dies, or a hungry white dwarf devours its giant companion.
The pretty starlight is washed out in sudden, explosive brilliance.
NARRATOR: The evolutionary program of organic life doesn't iterate effectively when the sky mashes the reset button every five to ten thousand years.
NARRATOR: But even lifeless planets are rich sources of building materials. Cities soar in orbit about them.
NARRATOR: These barren worlds may not have evolved children of their own, but they're supporting billions of adoptees.
Do these blasted plains serve as an example for nurturing, non-biological parents, and the children who love them?
SCHLOCK: It is ugly down there. Why did you put this window in?
NARRATOR: Almost certainly.