the Deeps

The Deeps are described as a kind of microorganism, possibly a living computer. They are found on about a dozen worlds clustered together in the Upper Centaurus, including Apas. Those worlds show signs of an ancient civilization -- a few pieces of what are believed to be statues and old buildings buried in mountains -- but so much time has passed that almost nothing remains of the civilization that left them. The Deeps are said to have the power to alter life on the atomic level; they have been characterized as a xenobiotic animalcule that breaks the helix and remakes it. People who have waded into them seeking youth or beauty, or who have been exposed to them, are said in some cases to gain the ability to perceive time. Brethren distinguishes the Deeps from itself, stating they are not machine and not human, and that their origins are not understood even by Brethren -- describing them as greater and wilder than itself, for whom time is only potential.

Jari is an Exalted who drank from one of the Deeps on Apas. The experience destroyed his body -- both arms removed at the shoulder, one leg amputated at the knee -- and left him inhabited by a supernatural presence that grants him prophetic sight. He serves as an oracle aboard the Enigma of Hours, tended by the crewman Marko.