Before the Commonwealth existed, there was an expanding, multi-galaxy civilization, that disintegrated.  This is the story of its downfall, where colony worlds learned to survive by their own strength...or were abandoned to die.Before the Commonwealth existed, there was an expanding, multi-galaxy civilization, that disintegrated.  This is the story of its downfall, where colony worlds learned to survive by their own strength...or were abandoned to die. Three novellas in one volume explore the birth of the Khybors, whose descendants will impact the Downfall, the rebirth of civilization, the return to the stars, and the Commonwealth far into the future. Khrystalis: Kerin is the youngest child of two powerful, intelligent and gifted research scientists. When the military interferes yet again in her father's research, the resulting lab explosion fills Kerin's body with experimental bio-crystal, long before the material is ready for human testing. In a twinkling, she's changed.Intended to aid the body in repairing itself, bio-crystal is used when medical science is incapable. As the living mineral penetrates down to the genetic level, Kerin learns to change herself and to sense the world in totally new ways. When her gift reaches out beyond her own biology, she stands poised between being the bearer of a great gift for humanity...or a threat that may change the universe...