§400

Epilog

"In Heaven you have heard no marriage is...."

JOHN CROWE RANSOM, "The Equilibrists"

Prolog:

N!

Nova Factorial

Stellar explosion so vast and swift that light falls centuries behind.

This is our setting: the nova of life.

It springs from the microcosm to the planet

In eons;

From the planet to the universe

In centuries;

And its duration is the inverse function of its magnitude.

§

Section, symbolic

Date of the emergence of man: propulsion to the stars.

All that had gone before is ancient.

Number the new years: Section 1, Section 100, and on; Communicate through sophisticate Galactic

Though colloquial convenience lingers.

Modify man's genes for space

But hide the strange divergences. Make myths of those...