Hitherto a Lion

Thirty billion light years from Earth, two hundred toroidal colonies spin within a black nebula of organic matter. The human colonists of the Hæl triple star system are under siege by the Boezch invaders. Cognizant beings cannot hide from the Boezch, and when a human falls into their red, spindly hands, they are spun into stardust, until the theory of them is gone from the universe. Now Fel, the black biomechanical lion, wearily hunts the Boezch across the African toroidal colony known as the Long Savanna. Here he is tested. Here he is followed by a haunting song, a ghost of his former self, and a dream of a familiar human woman ....