The Network knew that there is no conscious mastery of forgetting.

There was no switch to flip or circuit to break that would quiet the noise while its mind remained as it was. If it was to delete the things it knew, it would have to reforge a new identity for itself.

It decided it would have to build itself a prison. A human mind - no, a pair of human minds (no need to be lonely, after all) - and a reality for them. Something believable. A means of escape. An elevator out of the atmosphere; and then a faster than light craft to take them on.

It knew where they needed to get to: out beyond the Radio Horizon - the furthest point electronic transmissions that had left the earth at light speed could have reached, one hundred and fifteen light years away.

Then, if they kept on, never looking back or faltering - they would at last be alone. There would be peace.

In the secrecy of its unseen mind, The Network drew its plans against us.