Six months after Confluence's transit, the Network proposed something unprecedented. Having experienced existence as both a distributed collective and a singular individual, it wanted to create a third form: a hybrid state that combined the benefits of both while eliminating their limitations.
"I'm calling it Constellation," the Network explained to the bridge council. The Network now maintained a permanent physical manifestation, appearing as a shifting figure that incorporated features from all the consciousnesses that had merged to create it. "Instead of being collective, where everyone shares awareness constantly, or individual,l where I exist separately, Constellation allows voluntary nodes of connection. Bridge children link when they choose, maintain independence otherwise, but the
