16 FUTURE PAST I see the eons spinning by, from future to past to future again. The meager thousands of years of Man's history slip by at a sedate clip, with only the occasional visitation to shake the foundations of existence. From the time of the coming of the star gods, the human existence has progressed from primate forebears to agriculture, to cities of stone, to wars never ending, and on to the present days of attempting to follow the gods to the stars. The days of darkness are bookends on the days of planet Earth. The black world that comes is the primary source of the echo that ranges down through the past ages to the time before animals arose from that which is not animal. That which is to come will change all things, and it will end the world of Man, and the very universe wil

