'So he taught you how to use Star Metal?'

'No actually that was a happy coincidence.'

I launched into the story about Mike and his rock hunting expedition. Then I asked him about the cosmic sieve as Charlie called it and its purpose.

'The sieve as you call it opens onto a pocket universe where a hidden sun is kept. I can feel that burning question so I will answer it first. A hidden sun is a sun that has gone supernova and what is left is a solid crystalline core. Basically in your terms a gigantic radioactive diamond and we rekindle it. Once the star is stable we shift...