Essence

Life clings to cool damp niches on clumps of solid matter that aggregate in orbits about suns.  Sheltered from the radiation that permeates space by a thin layer of gasses expelled from the solids as they bake in the heat of their star, this thin layer of scum thrives.  On the scale of most things in the universe, this life and all its creations are invisible.  Left to itself with the proper environment, it multiples to a fault to ultimately decay and collapse from within and leave peripheral remnants to carry on or perish.  More prolific specimens exploit various means to disperse through space and colonize new cool damp locations.  Local extinctions are unavoidable but the resilience of this life increases exponentially with the volume of the space it occupies.  Stars die and worlds end in sublimation.  Organics coating these solids contribute to the complexity of the plasma storm that expands and dissipates.  The cool damp spaces not sterilized remain ready to begin again when seeded.  Life again collects in gravity wells, compressed and exuding its essence to fuel the engines of evolution.