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Manifold: Time (Manifold #1)

by Stephen Baxter, Chris Schluep (Editor)

3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 · rating details · 2,409 ratings · 151 reviews

The year is 2010. More than a century of ecological damage, industrial and technological expansion, and unchecked population growth has left the Earth on the brink of devastation. As the world's governments turn inward, one man dares to envision a bolder, brighter future. That man, Reid Malenfant, has a very different solution to the problems plaguing the planet: the explo...more

Paperback, 480 pages

Published November 28th 2000 by Del Rey (first published August 1999)

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Jan 14, 2011 Ian rated it 3 of 5 stars

I am a fan of Stephen Baxter's. Vacuum Diagrams and The Time Ships were two of my favorite sci-fi books in the last ten years (at least among the Sci Fi I have read.) And I was looking forward to diving into a meaty trilogy of his that I could be reading for awhile. However whereas those two novel's took some fascinating contemporary science and built interesting conflicts and narratives on top of them, this book drowns beneath them.

Too often the action gets bogged down in a scene where one scie...more I am a fan of Stephen Baxter's. Vacuum Diagrams and The Time Ships were two of my favorite sci-fi books in the last ten years (at least among the Sci Fi I have read.) And I was looking forward to diving into a meaty trilogy of his that I could be reading for awhile. However whereas those two novel's took some fascinating contemporary science and built interesting conflicts and narratives on top of them, this book drowns beneath them.

Too often the action gets bogged down in a scene where one scientist or mathematician is standing in a room with one of the protagonists (who were neither scientists nor mathematician)explaining some scientific principle or another which Baxter feels is imperative to the story. And just as the protagonists, through one cliche or another, express their confusion ("In English" - "X...tried to act like they understood." - "Malenfant tried to contain his frustrating confusion.") over and over and over again, so too was I squinting at the page and struggling to distill the important principles. Invariably the scientist or mathematician would sigh in patronizing frustration at the protagonist/me and simplify things...which they could have just done to begin with.

This happens over and over again to the point where I just got bored and ended up getting bogged down in this one for quite awhile. It's a pity because this past weekend I finally made a concerted effort to finish it and, where the first 250 pages were like a pushup drill, the last 150 were a lot of fun and I flew through them. In typical Baxter style, the story was elevated from interesting straightforward premises to questions about the very nature of the universe and what could be our place in it's present, beginning, and ultimate end. Even in the midst of the climax there was STILL that convention of the smart characters stopping to explain what was happening to the dullards in the story, but at that point the action had reached a level that I didn't care.

Even though I found this one excruciating at points I'm surprisingly still interested in the sequels, if only because I have no idea how this one could carry on. If you can soldier through the first half this one gets a hesitant recommendation.(less)

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Jul 19, 2008 Kevin J. Rogers rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of hard science fiction.

Stephen Baxter is an aeronautical engineer by trade, and his formal training shines through in this entertaining and enlightening book. His descriptions of the technology needed to further explore our solar system (and the stars beyond) are excellent, as are his expository passages on the current thinking in physics and his imaginative use of those theories within the framework of his story. And the story itself is fast-paced, intriguing, and full of twists, turns, and surprises. The ending itse...more

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Jan 18, 2009 Kristen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

Baxter's work, if I'm remembering the right author, is generally difficult stuff. This one, though, really aggravated me, because the whole thing (including all the characters' motivations) revolves around a flawed concept of how statistics and probability work. In brief, this is the notion of a "probabilistic doomsday," which suggests that because the probability of any given human being alive now is very small if the future holds an indefinitely expanding or even stabilizing population of huma...more

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Aug 20, 2012 Becky rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: apocalypsesanddystopias, scifiseriousface, scifitodayish

I seem to have had a similar experience to many who have struggled doggedly through Stephen Baxter's novels: the ideas he presents (generally hard science in the form of current theoretical physics, mathematics, bioengineering, etc.) are FASCINATING, and if you can get your mind around them at all, said mind will emerge bent and possibly a little shattered. However, the writing itself is totally unengaging (with a few sparkling moments of exception), and all of the characters fall pretty flat. I...more

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Sep 15, 2011 Ralf rated it 4 of 5 stars

It's unfortunate that Baxter decided to build the story of the book upon the premise of the so called Carter Catastrophe. This statistical doomsday argument is not only counter intuitive, it is also completely bogus. The wikipedia page on this topic and the discussion subpage host quite a freak show of college math level tea leaf readers making a dance about their 'mathematical proofs'. I say unfortunate because the true beauty of Manifold Time is how Baxter resolves the bleak possible future of...more

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May 03, 2011 Daniel Roy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf

Stephen Baxter has been crowned by many as the modern king of hard science fiction. It's no coincidence that he has collaborated with Arthur C. Clarke on some novels, because his works share a lot of qualities and flaws. That is not to say his novels are not original and inventive: even Clarke himself never dreamed of the immensity of scope that Baxter weaved into Manifold: Time.

Manifold: Time opens up innocently enough, with an ex-astronaut-turned-CEO trying to launch a venture into space to mi...more Stephen Baxter has been crowned by many as the modern king of hard science fiction. It's no coincidence that he has collaborated with Arthur C. Clarke on some novels, because his works share a lot of qualities and flaws. That is not to say his novels are not original and inventive: even Clarke himself never dreamed of the immensity of scope that Baxter weaved into Manifold: Time.

Manifold: Time opens up innocently enough, with an ex-astronaut-turned-CEO trying to launch a venture into space to mine near-Earth asteroids. Fairly quickly, however, the novel throws a curveball, and the joyride begins: soon enough, you'll be reading all about sending radio signals back in time, statistical predictions of the end of Humanity, the heat death of the Universe, and phase change of the void.

If this all sounds like a hard read, well, it is. I would not recommend Manifold: Time to anyone who is not deeply into SF, and who doesn't have at least a layman's interest in cosmology and astrophysics. If you are capable of overlooking the sometimes dry prose of, say, Azimov and Clarke, and still get a kick out of their awesome speculative concepts, then you will be more than rewarded by Baxter's novel. As a matter of fact, Manifold: Time is sure to delight and surprise even the most jaded hard SF reader.

There's one sequence in particular in Manifold: Time that will just blow your mind. I won't spoil it here, other than to say it involves visions of the far future. And when I say far, I mean far: to my knowledge, I've never seen a SF novel that dared go that far into the future. The result is a vertigo-inducing thrill ride, and on the strength of it alone, I heartily recommend this novel.

I already mentioned the thin characters and average writing, but since they're not the focus of this book, I hesitate to criticize them too much. I'm a huge fan of well-crafted stories and characters, so it did annoy me throughout the book. Characters are vaguely defined, and you can tell the book is written by an engineer. In Baxter books where the core concepts are so-so (Exultant), it's enough to make me put the book down. In his stronger works (Coalescent), it's a minor obstacle. In Manifold: Time, possibly his strongest book to date, it's a minor irritant you'll most likely learn to overlook by page 50.

It's worth noting that Manifold: Time is the first of a trilogy, composed of Manifold: Space and Manifold: Origin. These two sequels do not take place after Manifold: Time, but rather in separate universes. As such, the first novel stands up perfectly well on its own. The next two books are said to be of lesser quality, but this shouldn't prevent you from picking up Manifold: Time, and enjoy its mental joyride of truly cosmic proportions.(less)

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Apr 13, 2011 Teri Dluznieski rated it 5 of 5 stars

I had already read several of Baxter's books when I read Manifold:Time. Before Manifold, I enjoyed his work After Manifold- I was completely sucked in and hooked. After reading this one, I began to search out and order all of his other books. I really loved how Baxter took on the subject of quantum physics. He takes the space and time, woven into the story to explain many very complex concepts, and he also illustrates and demonstrates them within the context of the story. this combination is a...more

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Mar 26, 2011 Andreas rated it 3 of 5 stars

Manifold is not a series per se, but rather different explorations of the theme “Are we alone in the universe?”. In “Time”, a portal is discovered in the solar system, and some fascinating stuff happens related to preserving life and intelligence in the long term. In “Space”, The Fermi Paradox is suddenly reversed, with aliens appearing everywhere and the whole universe is just one big fight for resources, to the point of utter barbarism.

I had some nasty nightmares after these, which is why I wi...more

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Jan 24, 2011 Jonathan Cullen rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: marine cephalopods

Squuuuiiiidddsss innnnnn sppppaaacceeeee….

I enjoyed attending Stephen Baxter's class…wait, this was a novel?? Manifold: Time is the epitome of a Baxter three-star effort: some mind-bending ideas about the cosmos, a plot, some classroom lessons, some bad exposition of facts and some cardboard characters. That being said, I have enjoyed three of the four Baxter novels I've read to date, including this one.

In true Baxter style, Manifold is a canvas for awesome cosmological theories and implications...more Squuuuiiiidddsss innnnnn sppppaaacceeeee….

I enjoyed attending Stephen Baxter's class…wait, this was a novel?? Manifold: Time is the epitome of a Baxter three-star effort: some mind-bending ideas about the cosmos, a plot, some classroom lessons, some bad exposition of facts and some cardboard characters. That being said, I have enjoyed three of the four Baxter novels I've read to date, including this one.

In true Baxter style, Manifold is a canvas for awesome cosmological theories and implications. I re-read passages to understand the scope. It was very cool in that respect. However, the characters are forgettable and are basically mouthpieces for the physics lessons. Also, and unfortunately, most of Baxter's books are lessons in how not to handle exposition in a story. Good exposition gives us information in the flow of the story. We don't even know it's being done. We're just being introduced to the author's world and ideas…naturally. Baxter kind of gives up and just uses a smart character to explain things to a less smart character, who is a proxy for the likely even less smart reader.

Manifold: Time covers the Doomsday argument, Fermi paradox, genetic engineering, and humanity's extinction. I occasionally read non-fiction that discusses these types of ideas, and I'm sure I could perhaps find better sources to base myself on, but I have a day job and I like fiction. So, as a rule, and to a limited extent, I forgive Mr. Baxter's failure to use good exposition and characterization. Whatever, it's fun. The fact that a ragtag plot holds some of the information together is fine. Just be prepared to read with your eyes constantly rolling due to how you're being fed the information.

In this first book in the Manifold series, entrepreneur Reid Malenfant has an idea to exploit an asteroid for space travel when he's convinced by a weirdo to communicate with future humans to figure out how to outsmart humanity's doomed destiny. There's Big Dumb Objects, statistics, time travel, black hole energy harvesting, and squids. In space.

A particular beef: this book introduced me to the concept of the "Carter catastrophe". In looking it up during and after the book, I'm pretty sure that Baxter could have described it a little better. When I read the probabilistic doomsday prediction in Manifold, it felt very flawed to me, and I couldn't let that go. I'm no mathlete but it was kind of the lynchpin to the whole story and I wasn't buying it. I also did not buy how quickly Malenfant accepts the theory wholesale.

I love being exposed to these kinds of ideas, so I will continue to read Baxter. In particular, I am fascinated by the Fermi paradox (the apparent contradiction between high estimates of the probability of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations and the lack of evidence for, or contact with, such civilizations) and its solutions. I understand this is dealt with more in the sequel, Manifold: Space. I'll read that…and likely give it three stars and copy, paste, and only mildly edit this current review.(less)

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Jul 02, 2010 John rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is an extraordinarily ambitious and complex novel . . . and in it I have at last found an sf story that accords with the pejorative phrase Margaret Atwood uses to diminish all the science fiction she doesn't write herself: yes, this is the skiffy novel that has talking squid in it! In fact, the way Baxter has handled the sections featuring the squid impressed me greatly: I found myself empathizing with the creatures in a way I would not have thought possible.

In a future so near we've actual...more

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Nov 12, 2009 Dan rated it 2 of 5 stars

I don't want to take the time to write out a full review for this book, so here's just a few un-organized thoughts:

Sometimes it feels like the story is just a framework for Baxter to explain cosmological theories and principles of physics. This leads to very boring stretches in the book, like when the main characters are traveling through hundreds of virtually indistinguishable universes that differ only in their laws and durations (which the characters are somehow able to intuit based on being...more

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Dec 24, 2011 Richard rated it 3 of 5 stars

Spoilers ahead... Baxter is very reminiscent of Arthur C Clarke as an author. His books are always original and full of fascinating ideas. But, like Clarke, the plots and characters are always in service of the ideas, and disappointingly, they always leave me a bit cold.

This book is no different. The characters are generally unlikable and hard to sympathise with. They seem to make irrational and difficult to credit decisions whenever the story calls for it - for example when Malenfent first lear...more

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Jan 26, 2013 Jane rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: hard science fiction readers

Shelves: science-fiction

This is the first story by Stephen Baxter that I've read. To be honest, I read it because I had exhausted the works of Alastair Reynolds and Baxter seemed to come highly recommended by other lovers of hard science fiction.

And I can see way. The plot and the exploration of exotic fringe physics concepts and ideas is very exciting and mind-blowing. Intially, I felt a little disappointed by the book and it's alternative universe version of earth. Parts of the story, I felt, were ridiculous. But in...more

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Aug 21, 2011 Becky rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction

I can't decide how I feel about this. It was a good book - well thought out, well written and paced. And yet...I know that eventually the Sun will go supernova and Earth will be destroyed. And eventually the energy of the Big Bang will be expended, and the Universe will cool. One of these events will be the end of humanity, if we haven't managed to do ourselves in beforehand. None of this bothers me on an existential level. But somehow, being forced to confront it in science fiction seems cruel....more

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Dec 31, 2010 James Williams rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is a weird book. At some parts, it's an excellent example of hard sci-fi (at the end of the volume, the author makes an extensive list of which of the ideas he used are true). At other times, the book gets so deep into the hand-wavy mumbo-jumbo techno-babble that it becomes frustrating and almost comical. The book introduces several super-intelligent characters whose job seems to be to babble on for several pages of science-y exposition while the view-point characters say "I don't understan...more

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Dec 28, 2012 Jesse rated it 4 of 5 stars

Manifold: Time is one of those books that blows you away, but subtly at first--you don't realize how epic it is until you're halfway through, and you look back and can only think: "...wow."

However, it wasn't immediately love at first sight with this book, for me. I spent the first forty-odd pages getting hung up on the rapid POV shifts (sometimes several on one page), choppy two-paragraph scenes of action followed by a similarly-choppy two more paragraphs of action. The story starts out jumping...more

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Dec 29, 2009 Crystal rated it 2 of 5 stars

*whew!* done. Exhausting, depressing, silliness. And I'm confused, how is it Emma survived to see the end of it all in the year 2208?! The story begins 2010... and yet there she is. And the congresswoman, too. Oops! big error here. Uh oh, would this be considered a spoiler? Well, I don't care .. I don't recommend this to anyone. The open desires for a socialist world order together with the atheist and humanist movements are too in-your-face nowadays and only spawns hopelessness and despair henc...more *whew!* done. Exhausting, depressing, silliness. And I'm confused, how is it Emma survived to see the end of it all in the year 2208?! The story begins 2010... and yet there she is. And the congresswoman, too. Oops! big error here. Uh oh, would this be considered a spoiler? Well, I don't care .. I don't recommend this to anyone. The open desires for a socialist world order together with the atheist and humanist movements are too in-your-face nowadays and only spawns hopelessness and despair hence the violent world reaction and breakdown of society in the story. I'll say it is "ok" only for the relationship of Melanfant and Emma. I hung in there just to see if they'd make it.

Now on page 100 I'm feeling pretty inadequate when compared to Sheena the squid. Not only can she repair space equipment using sea silk spun from sea weed she gathers but she can recognize star positions well enough to determine her position in space even more accurately than Dan at command center on Earth. I don't blame her for looking at mankind as inferior. *geez* Scary hint that Dan may end up with one peeved-off mollusc.
fyi don't know who Art Morris is - wierd pop up view into miscellaneous, unknown character today - but no, once a Marine, always a Marine, esp when "disabled out" there is no "used-to-be" Marine!
Another thing I can not understand about this crazy writing ... if a squid understands it has responsibility to this mission, why does the beyond genius child not figure he's gifted for a purpose beyond living in a grass hut? and does he really think the village herbalist is the most powerful?
And, um, if Cornelius knows the "Carter catastrophe" is coming "no matter what",then would he really care whether the U.S., Russia, China or Sesame Street is first to fund an off-Earth program? *for Pete's sake*
lmao I don't know who made me laugh more ... the congresswoman's "Carter? Who the hell is Carter?" or Sheena's remembering the male she had known, "the male with the bright, mindless eyes." Mindless? lmao. Even a squid gives you guys no break.
======================================

I am only on page 55 of this soap-opera science fiction ... should I bother to finish? It's crazy stupid. And hilarious! I'll have to pick it back up tomorrow to find answers to these questions:
Will the jaded accountant be able to convince her eccentric ex-husband/boss to start the family they chose not to when married because they once believed the world was overpopulated now that they're given a graph showing the world will indeed end in 200 years because of overpopulation?
Who is this mysterious and creepy benefactor Cornelius? Is he a prophet? An alien? Or more likely, could he be from the future? If so, how many more times will he say "I don't know"? Thus far, I've counted 6.
And, most importantly, has Sheena the squid ruined the mission before it gets off the ground by getting herself knocked up? Will Dan the marine biologist forgive her? Has the congresswoman risked her career by getting involved at all? Did she ever get to pee? rflmao - what lunacy. (less)

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Jan 15, 2011 Faith Justice rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: given-away

From the flyleaf: "The year is 2010. More than a century of ecological damage, industrial and technological expansion and unchecked population growth has left the Earth on the brink of devastation. But as the world's governments turn inward, one man dares to gable on a bolder, brighter future. That man--Reid Malenfant--has a very different solution to the problems plaguing the planet: the explorations an colonization of space."

A got this hardback copy several years ago from a generous Freecycler...more

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Jan 17, 2011 Lasairfiona Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: geeky friends, anyone who loves space

Shelves: iown, havereadin2011

This is hard scifi done well: wrapped in a decent fiction story. What pulls the book are the two main characters that were once in love but are now divorced. However they still work together and this is sometimes a strain. The character development is a bit of a stretch, especially when the really good stuff is dictated to you via dairy entries or self narration. You really do care very deeply about the squid (yes, squid and she is awesome) but that part fades as the book progresses and the deve...more

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Mar 13, 2011 Peter added it · review of another edition

You won't be able to put this book down: Stephen Baxter combines his ability to grip the reader with an extremely engaging plot and to challenge your mind with his ideas. This is hard core SF with captivating ideas popping up all over the place. From the doom of the Carter Prophecy to sending squid into space, Stephen Baxter explores many topics in detail masterfully without detracting from the plot while including probably the best time-jump sequences I have ever read. The ending may well blow...more

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Apr 17, 2010 Dennis Matheson rated it 1 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 02, 2012 Oleg rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Although this book benefits from using mind-bending ideas from cutting-edge physics, the actual story is rather poor. The sharp contrast between the complex fundamental physics and everybody in the book acting on the bases "shoot first, think later" is exasperating. "And he did what he had to do... She knew what to do.. He had no other choice." etc. In the end, I was really disappointed by the scene where Malenfant blows himself up to smithereens while jumping through the portal. Then he respawn...more

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Mar 23, 2011 Jason rated it 1 of 5 stars

To cut to the chase, I didn't care for this book much at all. I've never read a sci-fi book so heavy on science, by which I mean he spent a LOT of time explaining various scientific principles. There were LONG passages where various ideas and theories are discussed, explained, etc, so much so that, for me, it killed the flow of the story. I like science, and I like novels. For me, this was NOT a good mix. Tell me what's going on, not why. I don't care, in the context of a novel, about Relativity...more

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Nov 22, 2012 Graham Crawford rated it 1 of 5 stars

Take one part "The Midwich Cuckoos" and one part "2001: A Space Odyssey", chop roughly.
Add One Years Subscription of "New Scientist" - first setting aside feature articles on "The History of the Cosmos" (to be used as garnish later).
Blend mix till lumpy mess and strain out any hints of believable character.
Pour slop into a Robert Heinlein rusty mould (shaped like pubescent male wish fulfillment - you know what that looks like - hint - BIG Rockets). Sprinkle with stale dust of Ayn Rand's Far rig...more

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Nov 08, 2007 Mike rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi

Bootstrap to outer space was a great start. It was a good read at the time but I can't remember anything about it now except it was very strange at the end.

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Nov 27, 2009 Eric rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book has some interesting ideas, but lacks for good characters. I liked how Baxter played with the idea of time being a stream and that the the future can reach back to change itself. I also like the ideas about how to get to space by making short trips to resource rich near earth objects and then spread from there and so on. The idea of creating more mind by creating a bigger bang is also sort of cool.
The characters all sort of sucked. I felt the most for Emma because I could understand he...more

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May 20, 2009 Mark R. rated it 2 of 5 stars

Stephen Baxter's "Manifold: Time" is apparently the first in a trilogy of books concerning alternate universes, but I'll be content not knowing how the second and third books go. While certainly full of ideas (regarding, among other things, time travel, space time travel, super-smart squids, and super-smart kids), the writing is generally dry and the characters unengaging.

Baxter clearly has a science background, but his writing could benefit from a possible collaboration with another writer who...more

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Nov 30, 2012 Kate rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites-read-in-2012

While I could never pretend to have understood Time entirely, or even mostly, its vision and scope are as mesmerising as they are ambitious. All of time can be found here, mixed with the lives of a small group of people seeking to understand it as well as each other. The second half of the novel, which takes the protagonists to a nearby asteroid with an artificial artefact hidden on its dark side, is sublime. And then there's the blue children - and the squid...

Time is the fourth Baxter novel I'...more

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May 08, 2013 Toni rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi

You think that Revelation Space is good science fiction? Or did you consider that A Fire Upon the Deep was epic. You pussy!

The thing that makes this book so interesting is that it mixes so much interesting facts (or, at least, theories) with fiction. Baxter knows the stuff he is writing about and doesn't pull any rabbits from the hat (a few squids yes...) Don't be a pussy - read the book!

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Sep 18, 2012 Catherine rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, kindle, science-fiction

My favorite character in this book was a sentient squid. I think that says something about the author's failure to create interesting and sympathetic characters. More physics than I ever want to read in a novel. Page after page of these lifeless, essentially unlikeable people droning on about quantum physics. It would have been quicker - and far more interesting - to go to the original sources the author helpfully provides at the end of the book. The plot seemed so interesting as described in it...more

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About Stephen Baxter

Stephen Baxter is a trained engineer with degrees from Cambridge (mathematics) and Southampton Universities (doctorate in aeroengineering research). Baxter is the winner of the British Science Fiction Award and the Locus Award, as well as being a nominee for an Arthur C. Clarke Award, most recently for Manifold: Time. His novel Voyage won the Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History Novel of the...more

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Quotes from Manifold: Time

“This is what I have learned, Malenfant. This is how it is, how it was, how it came to be.” — 1 person liked it

“In the afterglow of the Big Bang, humans spread in waves across the universe, sprawling and brawling and breeding and dying and evolving. There were wars, there was love, there was life and death. Minds flowed together in great rivers of consciousness, or shattered in sparkling droplets. There was immortality to be had, of a sort, a continuity of identity through replication and confluence across billions upon billions of years.
Everywhere they found life.
Nowhere did they find mind—save what they brought with them or created—no other against which human advancement could be tested.
With time, the stars died like candles. But humans fed on bloated gravitational fat, and achieved a power undreamed of in earlier ages.
They learned of other universes from which theirs had evolved. Those earlier, simpler realities too were empty of mind, a branching tree of emptiness reaching deep into the hyperpast.
It is impossible to understand what minds of that age—the peak of humankind, a species hundreds of billions of times older than humankind—were like. They did not seek to acquire, not to breed, not even to learn. They had nothing in common with us, their ancestors of the afterglow.
Nothing but the will to survive. And even that was to be denied them by time.
The universe aged: indifferent, harsh, hostile, and ultimately lethal.
There was despair and loneliness.
There was an age of war, an obliteration of trillion-year memories, a bonfire of identity. There was an age of suicide, as the finest of humanity chose self-destruction against further purposeless time and struggle.
The great rivers of mind guttered and dried.
But some persisted: just a tributary, the stubborn, still unwilling to yield to the darkness, to accept the increasing confines of a universe growing inexorably old.
And, at last, they realized that this was wrong. It wasn't supposed to have been like this.
Burning the last of the universe's resources, the final down-streamers—dogged, all but insane—reached to the deepest past. And—oh.
Watch the Moon, Malenfant. Watch the Moon. It's starting—” — 1 person liked it

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