It was many minutes before I understood, but I finally did, and looking at the germinating liquid oozing into the soil seeding the Planet, I realized that it would be almost another four billion years before a civilization like the one we knew would finally be born. The temporal motorcycle’s program was set to take me there, to the point and time calculated by the scientists, but my role was not only to take the photographs, but also to bypass the temporal nodes. This time I used the classic motorcycle functions and got as close as I could to the object that was smoking and sizzling nearby. Scientists were still arguing after I brought them pictures of it evolving low overhead and sending up a thick trail of black smoke. Eliza was clutching my waist feverishly, and I think she was looking eagerly around, when suddenly I heard her squeaking like a mouse and pointing to a flower somewhere near us.
