Fifteen years after Einstein's Bridge, George, Alice Griffin, and Roger Coulton form the Iris Foundation, an isolated research group dedicated to harnessing Maker technologies, re-mastering wormhole creation, re-establishing Maker contact, and safeguarding Earth from Hive threats. Roger's idea sparks Iris researchers to perfect wormhole tech, leading to Fermi Station's creation in the Oort Cloud. Contact resumes with Makers and Centaurs, a justice-driven robotic civilization. A triple alliance decimates the Hive world and one colony, but a second colony remains elusive. Iris explores nearby stars and establishes a colonization base on Orca, an Earth-like moon in the Tau Ceti system, marking humanity's arrival in the stars.