Quietly shift amongst the stars, brittle enamel creaking soundlessly.

Hundreds of little metal eyes quest for sights in their brass sockets, gazing out at eternity. Long antennae listen for the hum of the stars carried for years upon the electromagnetic aether.

A vast funnel at the front of the hull gathers interstellar hydrogen, to be eventually fused and ejected through the funnel at the rear.

Within the thick bone hull, the hearts beat in unison, pumping blood and coolant through every recess, every nook and cranny. Dark fins radiate heat into the endless void, occasionally sheathing or extending as the temperature changes.

Deeper in the base of the hull, cradled in sinew, cartilage and iron, the brain sits. A twisting lump of electrical sponge and silicon circuit board connected by copper nerves to the entire system, coated in plastic and sealed against the biting cold.

Within the brain, a mind dreams its way across the interstellar distances.

The probe is silent.