Embers in the Box

In 3087 AD, the sun has expanded into a dark red giant, and there are only about 4,000 human beings left, huddled in the "Archives" space station orbiting Ganymede, deciphering the relics of alien civilizations. When cosmic archaeologist Ling Entropy was analyzing the slates of Nos, a super civilization that collectively "awakened" and died six thousand years ago, he read the last words: "We proved that the world is a dream of consciousness, so we chose to wake up collectively. But where to go after waking up? - We forgot to ask."