9) An Experiment Goes Awry [contextual concept piece #6]

Having made a deal with the Cimmerians to allow him to shift their planet into a more circular orbit, Ouranian co-leader red Ithax attempts a proof-of-concept. Under his direction, a Heliosite is captured within a magnetic cage and transfused with hundreds of fruits from the Ancestral Tree of Life and syrupy exotic matter milked from hundreds of red and blue Ouranians. Ithax aims to create a massive Heliosite whose strong gravitation pull will eject a neighboring planet into a different orbit. The test is performed on the innermost planet of the Herculean System, with scores of red Ouranians shepherding the huge Heliosite. But the test goes catastrophically awry: like a cancer cell, the Heliosite attacks the planet, destroying it and killing all its Ouranian attendants.

Instead of terming the test a failure, Ithax begins pursuing an evil goal: weaponize modified Heliosites into a world-destroying, predatory force that will eliminate future threats to the red Ouranians' rule.