I like the voice of the narrator. Definitely can relate to the time race…

I hope there is some sort of base at the edge that is friendly to the inhabitants, because it should extend from the orbit of Venus to the orbit of Jupiter. This is assuming that we can share the cost of construction with other species. This idea came from the book Playgrounds of the Mind and was concieved by Dan Alderson. Maybe I should note that on my ficlet. Your ficlet puts an angle on this that I never thought of. Good job.