Interstellar Sentinel

Godspeed

The Interstellar Sentinel, sometimes referred to as "Interstellar Guardian" or "Seer", is a unique species of life which could not be said to belong to the ordinary class of life in the known universe, yet which evolved from it.
As such, interacting with the universe differently, it has been classified as "Quantum Life"

Interstellar Sentinels first appeared 15 billion years after the big bang, (a time after life on Earth had disappeared) leaving unknown worlds behind, in favor of new adaptations.

Interstellar Sentinels are roughly a kilometer and a half across, and grow to lengths as long as seven or eight kilometers. The tips of it's tentacles may glow with light, like large fiber-optic cables, and when orbiting a body, the Sentinel may be known to spread out it's tentacles (to the "open" position) and illuminate the ends, sometimes for communication purposes, giving it the appearance in darkness of a small scene of stars a dozen or so kilometers across.

The Sentinel, mostly inhabiting deep space between the stars and galaxies, has to exist in an area in which there is almost no sunlight, heat, or necessary energy utilized by normal, classical life. As such, through a unique, unknown phenomenon, it manipulates and absorbs "quantum foam" fluctuations for energy. It is also thought to interact with dark matter. Its unique tissue makeup can tolerate the near-absolute-zero temperatures of deep space.

When near stars, the Sentinel absorbs light energy and stores it for travel. Through another unique process, the Sentinel utilizes a specialized photon emission to propel itself through space. From its 'open' position, with its tentacles spread out in a complex mess of chaos, the massive Sentinel will accelerate, majestically pushing its tangled mess of tentacles into a beautiful order. The Sentinel navigates by deflecting this photon emission from its core with clusters of tentacles. Being in a vacuum, the Sentinel may continuously accelerate, and over an extended period is able to reach a significant percentage of the speed of light. The sentinel then "cruises" under its own inertia, while a remainder of the light remains stored for deceleration. During this time, the Sentinel may spend times as long as hundreds of millions of years in complete isolation traveling between galaxies.

The majority of this time spent in complete isolation traveling between stars is spent in a 'hibernation' or 'sleep' mode, using incalculable intelligence to dream, or perhaps meditate. The Sentinel intermittently 'wakes' in order to stargaze. Encased in its upper membrane is a light receptor roughly half a kilometer across - its 'eye' - which acts as a giant telescope far more sophisticated than any next-generation man-made telescope. This can be aimed at coordinates and locked on for long periods of time, giving the Sentinel incredible stargazing powers.

The Sentinel is by far one of the gentlest species of life known to exist, like a Jellyfish, it will simply disintegrate and tear apart upon touch. Minor impacts from space debris are simply regenerated. The Sentinel is biologically immortal and has no gender.
The Sentinel has absolutely no defensive or offensive mechanisms. It requires none.