Book All Tomorrows
Book All Tomorrows
Book All Tomorrows
KOSEMEN
All
Tomorrows
C.
M.
Kosemen
1
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
2
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
To
Mars
After
millennia
of
earthbound
foreplay,
Mankind’s
achievements
on
a
noteworthy
level
began
with
its
political
unification
and
the
gradual
colonization
of
Mars.
While
the
technology
to
colonize
this
world
had
existed
for
some
time,
political
bickering,
shifting
agendas
and
the
sheer
inertia
of
comfortable,
terrestrial
usurping
had
made
this
step
seem
more
distant
than
it
actually
was.
Only
when
the
risks
clearly
began
to
present
themselves,
only
when
Earth’s
environment
began
to
buckle
under
the
strain
of
twelve
billion
industrialized
souls,
did
Mankind
finally
take
up
the
momentous
task.
All
through
the
decades,
traveling
to,
and
later
settling
on
Mars
had
been
envisioned
as
quick,
relatively
easy
affairs;
complicated
but
feasible
and
manageable
in
short
term.
As
the
push
finally
came
to
a
shove,
it
was
realized
that
this
was
not
the
case.
It
had
to
go
step
by
step.
Atmospheric
bombardment
by
genetically-‐tailored
microbes
slowly
generated
a
breathable
atmosphere
in
a
cycle
that
took
centuries.
Later,
a
few
cometary
fragments
were
knocked
off-‐course
to
bring
forth
seas,
oceans;
water.
When
the
wait
was
finally
over,
remnants
of
Earth’s
flora
and
fauna
were
introduced
as
specially-‐modified
Martian
remakes.
When
everything
was
ready,
people
came
from
their
crowded
world.
They
came
in
one-‐way
ships;
fusion
rockets
and
atmospheric
gliders,
packed
to
the
brim
with
colonists,
sleeping
in
dreams
of
a
new
beginning.
The
first
steps
on
Mars
were
taken
not
by
astronauts,
but
by
barefoot
children
on
lush,
biosynthetic
grass.
3
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
A
lander
ferries
the
first
people
to
the
pre-‐terraformed
eden
of
Mars.
4
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
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ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
6
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Civil
War
The
Martian
turnover
was
expected
to
occur
in
two
ways;
either
through
long-‐
term
economical
gains
or
by
a
much
shorter
but
painful
armed
conflict.
For
almost
two
hundred
years,
the
former
method
seemed
to
take
effect,
but
this
gradual
stretch
eventually
did
break
in
a
most
destructive
way.
Almost
since
its
establishment,
Martian
culture
was
suffused
with
an
explicit
theme
of
rebellion
against
Earth.
Songs,
motion
pictures
and
daily
publications
repeated
these
notions
again
and
again
until
they
became
internalized.
Earth
was
the
old,
ossified
home
that
held
humanity
back,
while
Mars
was
new;
dynamic,
active
and
inventive.
Mars
was
the
future.
This
ideology
eventually
reached
its
semi-‐paranoid,
revolutionary
apex.
Roughly
a
thousand
years
from
now,
the
nations
of
Mars
banned
all
non-‐essential
trade
and
travel
with
Earth.
For
Earth,
it
was
a
death
sentence.
Without
the
resources
and
industries
of
Mars,
the
Terrestrial
Heyday
would
quickly
devolve
into
a
pale
shadow
of
its
former
glory.
Since
a
trade
of
essential
goods
continued,
nobody
would
starve.
But
for
every
citizen
of
Earth,
the
Martian
boycott
meant
the
loss
of
up
to
three
fourths
of
their
yearly
income.
Earth
had
no
choice
but
to
reclaim
its
former
privileges,
by
force
if
necessary.
Centuries
after
her
political
unification,
Terra
geared
up
for
war.
Most
thinkers
(and
fantasists)
of
previous
times
had
imagined
interplanetary
war
as
a
glorious,
fast
paced
spectacle
of
massive
spaceships,
one-‐man
fighters
and
last-‐
minute
heroics.
No
fantasy
could
have
been
further
from
the
truth.
War
between
planets
was
a
slow,
nerve-‐wracking
series
of
precisely
timed
decisions
that
spelled
destruction
on
biblical
scales.
Most
of
the
time
the
combatants
never
saw
each
other.
Most
of
the
time
the
combatants
were
not
there
at
all.
War
became
a
duel
between
complicated,
autonomous
machines
programmed
to
maximize
damage
to
the
other
side
while
trying
to
last
a
little
longer.
Such
a
conflict
caused
horrendous
destruction
on
both
sides.
Phobos,
one
of
Mars’
moons,
was
shattered,
and
rained
down
as
meteorite
hail.
Earth
received
a
polar
impact
that
killed
of
one
third
of
its
population.
Barely
escaping
extinction,
the
peoples
of
Earth
and
Mars
made
peace
and
re-‐
forged
a
united
solar
system.
It
had
cost
them
more
than
eight
billion
souls.
7
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Star
People
The
survivors
agreed
that
massive
changes
were
necessary
to
ensure
that
such
a
war
never
occurred
again.
These
reforms
were
so
comprehensive
that
they
entailed
not
political,
economical
but
biological
changes
as
well.
One
of
the
greatest
differences
between
the
people
of
the
two
planets
was
that
over
time,
they
had
almost
become
different
species.
It
was
believed
that
the
solar
system
could
never
completely
unify
until
this
discrepancy
was
overcome.
The
answer
was
a
new
human
subspecies,
equally
and
better
adapted
not
only
to
Earth
and
Mars,
but
to
the
conditions
of
most
newly
terraformed
environments
as
well.
Furthermore,
these
beings
were
envisioned
with
larger
brains
and
heightened
talents,
making
them
greater
than
the
sum
of
their
predecessors.
Normally,
it
would
be
hard
to
convince
any
population
to
make
a
choice
between
mandatory
sterilization
and
parenting
a
newfangled
race
of
superior
beings.
However,
memories
of
the
war
were
still
painfully
fresh,
and
it
was
easier
to
implement
these
radical
procedures
in
the
wake
of
such
slaughter.
Any
resistance
to
the
birth
of
the
new
species
did
not
extend
beyond
meager
complaints
and
trivial
strikes.
In
only
a
few
generations,
the
new
race
began
to
prove
its
worth.
Organized
as
a
single
state
and
aided
by
the
technological
developments
of
the
war,
they
rapidly
terraformed
and
colonized
Venus,
the
Asteroids
and
the
moons
of
Jupiter
and
Saturn.
Soon
however,
even
the
domain
of
Sol
grew
too
small.
The
new
people
who
inherited
it
wanted
to
go
further,
to
new
worlds
under
distant
stars.
They
were
to
become
the
Star
People.
8
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
9
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
10
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
11
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Two
star
people
watch
a
holographic
movie
as
they
lounge
under
the
remnants
of
their
colonized
world’s
indigenous
flora.
For
them,
it
is
a
life
of
continual
bliss.
12
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
An
Early
Warning
During
those
times,
a
small
discovery
of
immense
implications
warned
humanity
that
it
might
not
be
alone.
On
a
newly
colonized
world,
engineers
had
stumbled
across
the
remains
of
a
puzzling
creature,
considered
so
because
it
had
every
hallmark
of
terrestrial
animals
on
an
alien
planet.
Justifiably
named
Panderavis
pandora,
the
colossal
fossil
belonged
to
a
bird-‐like
creature
with
enormous
claws.
Later
research
determined
it
to
be
a
highly
derived
therizinosaur,
from
a
lineage
of
herbivorous
dinosaurs
that
died
out
millions
of
years
ago
on
Earth.
While
every
other
large
land
animal
on
that
colony
world
had
three
limbs,
a
copper
based
skeletal
system
and
hydrostatically
operated
muscles;
Panderavis
was
a
typical
terrestrial
vertebrate
with
calcium-‐rich
bones
and
four
extremities.
Finding
it
there
was
as
unlikely
as
finding
an
alien
creature
in
Earth’s
own
strata.
For
some,
it
was
irrefutable
proof
of
divine
creation.
The
religious
resurgence,
fueled
at
first
by
mankind’s
apparent
loneliness
in
the
heavens,
got
even
more
intensified.
Others
saw
it
differently.
Panderavis
had
shown
humans
that
entities;
powerful
enough
to
visit
Earth,
take
animals
from
there
and
adapt
them
to
an
alien
world,
were
at
large
in
the
galaxy.
Considering
the
time
gulf
of
the
fossil
itself,
the
mysterious
beings
were
millennia
older
than
humanity
when
they
were
capable
of
such
things.
The
warning
was
clear.
There
was
no
telling
what
would
happen
if
mankind
suddenly
ran
into
this
civilization.
A
benevolent
contact
was
obviously
preferred
and
even
expected,
but
it
paid
to
be
prepared.
Silently,
humanity
once
again
began
to
build
and
stockpile
weapons,
this
time
of
the
interplanetary
potency.
There
were
terrible
devices,
capable
of
nova-‐ing
stars
and
wrecking
entire
solar
systems.
Sadly,
even
these
preparations
would
prove
to
be
ineffectual
in
time.
13
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
A
reconstruction
of
Panderavis
shows
the
creature’s
rake
like
claws,
with
which
it
dug
furrows
in
the
soil
to
find
its
food.
Opportunistic
local
animals
walk
alongside
Panderavis,
looking
for
morsels
left
over
from
its
feasting.
14
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Qu
The
first
contact
was
bound
to
happen.
The
galaxy,
let
alone
the
Universe
was
simply
too
big
for
just
a
singular
species
to
develop
intelligence
in.
Any
delay
in
contact
only
meant
a
heightening
of
the
eventual
culture
shock.
In
humanity’s
case,
this
“culture
shock”
meant
the
complete
extinction
of
mankind
as
it
had
come
to
be
known.
Almost
a
billion
years
old,
the
alien
species
known
as
Qu
were
galactic
nomads,
traveling
from
one
spiral
arm
to
another
in
epoch-‐spanning
migrations.
During
their
travels
they
constantly
improved
and
changed
themselves
until
they
became
masters
of
genetic
and
nanotechnological
manipulation.
With
this
ability
to
control
the
material
world,
they
assumed
a
religious,
self-‐imposed
mission
to
“remake
the
universe
as
they
saw
fit.”
Powerful
as
gods,
Qu
saw
themselves
as
the
divine
harbingers
of
the
future.
This
dogma
was
rooted
in
what
had
been
a
benevolent
attempt
to
protect
the
race
from
its
own
power.
However,
blind,
unquestioning
obedience
had
made
monsters
of
the
Qu.
To
them
humanity,
with
all
of
its
relative
glories,
was
nothing
more
than
a
transmutable
subject.
Within
less
than
a
thousand
years,
every
human
world
was
destroyed,
depopulated
or
even
worse;
changed.
Despite
the
fervent
rearmament,
the
colonies
could
achieve
nothing
against
its
billion-‐year-‐old
foes,
save
for
a
few
flashes
of
ephemeral
resistance.
Humanity,
once
the
ruler
of
the
stars,
was
now
extinct.
However,
humans
were
not.
15
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Qu
triumphant
in
the
fall
of
Man.
To
his
left
floats
a
nanotechnological
drone,
to
the
right,
a
genetically
modified
tracing
creature.
16
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Man
Extinguished
The
worlds
of
humanity,
gardens
of
terraformed
paradise,
seemed
strangely
empty
to
the
Qu.
Often
there
were
no
raw
materials
available
other
than
people,
their
cities
and
a
few
basic
niches
of
ecology,
populated
by
genetically
modified
animals
and
plants
from
Earth.
This
was
because
humans
had
erased
the
original
alien
ecologies
in
the
first
place.
Offended
by
another
race
trying
to
remake
the
universe,
the
Qu
set
forth
to
punish
these
“infidels”
by
using
them
as
the
building
materials
of
their
vision.
While
this
led
to
a
complete
extinguishment
of
human
sentience,
it
also
saved
the
species
by
preserving
its
genetic
heritage
in
a
myriad
of
strange
new
forms.
Populated
by
ersatz
humans,
now
in
every
guise
from
wild
animals
to
pets
to
genetically
modified
tools,
Qu
reigned
supreme
for
forty
million
years
on
the
worlds
of
our
galaxy.
They
erected
kilometer-‐high
monuments
and
changed
the
surfaces
of
entire
worlds,
apparently
to
whim.
One
day,
they
departed
as
they
had
come.
For
theirs
was
a
never-‐ending
quest
and
they
would
not,
could
not
stop
until
they
had
swept
through
the
entire
cosmos.
Behind
them
the
Qu
left
a
thousand
worlds,
each
filled
with
bizarre
creatures
and
ecologies
that
had
once
been
men.
Most
of
them
perished
right
after
their
caretakers
left,
others
lasted
a
little
longer
to
succumb
to
long-‐term
instabilities.
On
a
precious
few
words,
descendants
of
people
actually
managed
to
survive.
In
them
lay
the
fate
of
the
species,
now
divided
and
differentiated
beyond
recognition.
17
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
A
mile
high
Qu
pyramid
towers
over
the
silent
world
that
once
housed
four
billion
souls.
Such
structures
are
the
hallmark
of
Qu,
and
they
can
be
seen
on
every
habitable
world
they
passed
through.
18
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Worms
Their
world
lay
under
a
scorching
sun,
its
intensity
made
monstrous
through
the
interventions
of
the
bygone
Qu.
The
surface
lay
littered
with
husks
of
dead
cities,
baking
endlessly
like
shattered
statues
in
a
derelict
oven.
Yet
life
remained
on
this
unforgiving
place.
Forests
of
crystalline
“plants”
blanketed
the
surface,
recycling
oxygen
for
the
animal
life
that
teemed
underground.
One
such
species,
barely
longer
than
the
arms
of
their
ancestors,
was
the
sole
surviving
vertebrate.
Furthermore,
it
was
that
planet’s
last
heir
of
the
star
people.
Distorted
beyond
recognition
by
genetic
modification,
they
looked
for
all
the
word
like
pale,
overgrown
worms.
Tiny,
feeble
feet
and
hands
modified
for
digging
were
all
that
betrayed
their
noble
heritage.
Aside
from
these
organs,
all
was
simplified
for
the
life
underground.
Their
eyes
were
pinpricks,
they
lacked
teeth,
external
ears
and
the
better
half
of
their
nervous
system.
The
lives
of
these
ersatz
people
did
not
extend
beyond
digging
aimlessly.
If
they
encountered
food,
they
devoured
it.
If
they
encountered
others
of
their
kind,
they
sometimes
devoured
them
too.
But
mostly
they
mated
and
multiplied,
and
managed
to
preserve
a
single
shred
of
their
humanity
in
their
genes.
In
time,
it
would
do
them
good.
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ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Two
Worm
parents
with
their
young.
20
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Titans
On
the
endless
savannah
of
a
long-‐extinguished
colonial
outpost,
enormous
beasts
roamed
supreme.
More
than
forty
meters
long
by
terrestrial
measurements,
these
behemoths
were
actually
the
transmuted
offspring
of
the
Star
People.
Several
features
betrayed
their
human
ancestry.
They
still
retained
stubby
thumbs
on
their
elephantine
front
feet,
now
useless
for
any
sort
of
precise
manipulation
except
for
uprooting
trees.
They
compensated
this
loss
by
developing
their
lower
lip
into
a
muscular,
trunk
like
organ
that
echoed
the
elephants
of
Earth’s
past.
As
bestial
as
they
seemed,
the
Titans
were
among
the
smartest
of
the
reduced
sub-‐men
that
remained
in
the
galaxy.
Their
hulking
stance
allowed
for
a
developed
brain
and
gradually,
sentience
re-‐emerged.
With
their
lip-‐trunks
they
fashioned
ornate
wood
carvings,
erected
hangar-‐like
dwellings
and
even
began
a
form
of
primitive
agriculture.
With
settled
life
came
the
inevitable
flood
of
language
and
literature;
myths
and
legends
of
the
bygone,
half-‐remembered
past
were
told
in
booming
voices
across
the
vast
plains.
It
was
easy
to
see
that,
within
a
few
hundred
thousand
years,
Humanity
could
start
again
with
these
titanic
primitives.
Sadly,
as
a
catastrophic
ice-‐age
took
over
the
Titans’
homeworld
the
gentle
giants
disappeared,
never
to
return.
21
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
22
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
23
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
24
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
25
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Mantelopes
Not
all
devolved
people
lapsed
into
complete
bestiality.
Some
held
on
to
their
minds,
while
losing
all
of
their
physiological
advantages
to
the
genetic
meddling
of
the
Qu.
A
singular
species
was
a
prime
exemplar.
They
had
been
bred
as
singers
and
memory-‐retainers,
acting
much
like
living
recorders
during
the
reign
of
Qu.
When
their
masters
left
they
barely
survived,
reverting
into
a
quadrupedal
stance
and
occupying
a
niche
as
grazing
herd
animals.
This
change
was
so
abrupt
that
the
newly
evolved
Mantelopes
endured
only
due
to
the
forgiving
sterility
of
their
artificial
biosphere.
The
Mantelopes,
equipped
with
full
(if
slightly
numbed)
Human
minds
and
completely
disabled
animal
bodies,
lived
agonizing
lives.
They
could
see
and
understand
the
world
around
them,
but
due
to
their
bodies
they
could
do
nothing
to
change
it.
For
centuries,
mournful
herds
roamed
the
plains,
singing
songs
of
desperation
and
loss.
Entire
religions
and
oral
traditions
were
woven
around
this
crippling
racial
disability,
as
dramatic
and
detailed
as
any
on
bygone
Earth.
Fortunately,
the
selective
forces
of
evolution
made
their
agony
a
short-‐lived
one.
Simply
put,
a
brain
was
not
advantageous
to
develop
if
it
could
not
be
put
into
good
use.
A
dim-‐witted,
half
minded
Mantelope
grew
up
faster
than
a
smart
one,
and
grazed
just
as
efficiently.
The
Mantelopes’
animal
children
overtook
them
in
less
than
a
hundred
thousand
years,
and
their
melancholic
world
fell
silent
for
good.
Nothing
was
sacred
in
the
evolutionary
process.
26
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
27
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Swimmers
Perhaps
because
their
life
cycle
involved
an
aquatic
larval
stage,
the
Qu
had
transmuted
a
large
number
of
their
human
subjects
into
a
bewildering
array
of
aquatic
creatures.
Taken
care
of
by
specially-‐bred
attendants,
these
post-‐human
water
babies
came
in
every
shape
and
size
imaginable.
There
were
limbless,
ribbon
like
varieties
of
eel-‐people,
huge,
whale
like
behemoths,
decorative
people
who
swam
by
squirting
water
out
of
their
hypertrophied
mouths
and
horrifying
multitudes
of
brainless
wallowers
that
served
as
food
stock.
All
of
them
were
perfectly
domesticated.
All
of
them
went
extinct
when
their
masters
left.
All
save
a
few
lightly
mutated,
generalized
forms.
These
swimmers
still
resembled
their
human
ancestors
to
a
large
degree;
they
had
no
artificial
gills,
their
hands
were
still
visible
through
their
front
flippers,
their
feet
were
splayed
affairs
that
functioned
like
a
pair
of
tail
flukes.
Recognizably
human
eyes
peeked
through
their
blubbery
eyelids
and
they
spoke
to
each
other,
though
not
in
words
and
never
in
sentient
understanding.
For
millennia
they
swam
the
oceans
of
their
ecologically
stunted
world,
feeding
on
diversifying
kinds
of
fish
and
crustaceans;
survivors
of
the
food
stock
originally
imported
from
Earth.
With
the
intervention
of
the
Qu
gone,
natural
selection
resumed.
The
swimmers
became
more
streamlined
to
better
catch
their
fast
prey.
The
prey
responded
by
getting
even
faster,
or
evolving
defensive
countermeasures
such
as
armor,
spikes
or
poison.
Their
evolution
back
on
track,
the
swimmers
drifted
further
and
further
away
from
their
sentient
ancestry.
They
would
wait
for
a
long
time
indeed
to
taste
that
blessing
again.
28
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
29
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Lizard
Herders
They
were
the
lucky
ones.
Instead
of
unrecognizably
distorting
them
as
they
had
done
to
most
of
their
subjects,
the
Qu
had
merely
erased
their
sentience
and
stunted
the
development
of
their
brains.
Distantly
resembling
their
ancient
forebears
on
Earth,
the
primitives
led
feral
lives
for
an
unnaturally
long
time.
They
never
regained
sentience
after
the
Qu
left,
despite
having
every
incentive
to
do
so.
This
was
partially
due
to
the
total
absence
of
predators
on
their
garden
world,
resulting
in
no
advantage
for
intelligence.
Furthermore,
the
Qu
had
made
some
small
but
integral
changes
to
their
brains,
tweaking
with
the
structure
of
cerebellum
so
that
certain
features
associated
with
heuristic
learning
could
never
emerge
again.
Once
again,
the
reasons
for
these
baffling
changes
remained
known
only
to
the
Qu.
The
dumb
people
eventually
settled
in
a
symbiosis
with
some
of
the
other
creatures
that
inhabited
their
planet.
They
began
to
instinctively
“farm”
some
of
the
large,
herbivorous
reptiles,
ancestors
of
which
were
brought
from
Earth
as
pets.
Soon
the
balance
of
this
mutualism
began
to
tip
in
the
reptiles’
favor.
The
tropical
climate
of
the
planet
gave
them
an
inherent
advantage,
and
they
underwent
a
spectacular
radiation
of
different
species.
They
encountered
no
competition
from
the
only
large
mammals
on
the
planet;
the
brain-‐neutered
descendants
of
the
starfarers.
Faced
with
a
reptilian
turnover,
the
only
adaptation
the
sub-‐men
could
muster
was
to
slip
quietly
into
bestial
oblivion.
30
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
A
lizard
herder
scans
the
world
with
blank
eyes
as
his
stock
grow
stronger
and
smarter.
The
future
does
not
seem
to
belong
to
him.
31
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Temptor
In
the
Temptors’
case,
the
remodeling
was
done
with
an
almost
artistic
enthusiasm.
How
they
managed
to
survive
in
their
bizarre
form
was
not
clear;
their
ancestors
were
used
as
sessile
decoration
and
through
some
miracle
of
adaptation
they
had
endured.
No
human
would
have
recognized
them
as
their
descendants.
The
females
were
beaked
cones
of
flesh
some
two
meters
tall,
rooted
in
soil
like
grotesque
carnivorous
plants.
The
males
on
the
other
hand,
resembled
contorted,
bipedal
monkeys.
Unlike
their
mates
they
were
perfectly
ambulatory;
dozens
of
them
ran
around
the
females’
mounds
like
so
many
imps.
Some
would
gather
food,
others
would
clean
the
females
while
others
would
stand
on
guard
for
danger.
Although
their
actions
looked
purposeful,
the
males
had
no
will
of
their
own.
In
Temptor
society,
females
controlled
everything.
Using
a
combination
of
vocal
and
phermonal
signals,
they
guided
the
masculine
hordes
into
any
number
of
menial
tasks,
while
mating
with
the
strongest,
the
most
obedient
and
the
dumbest
to
produce
even
better
drones.
On
certain
periods
they
would
also
give
birth
to
a
few
precious
females,
who
would
be
carried
away
by
subservient
males
to
root
themselves.
It
was
a
terribly
efficient
hegemony
that
would
certainly
give
rise
to
civilization
in
a
matter
of
centuries
had
fate
not
intervened.
As
a
stray
comet
obliterated
the
Temptors’
mound
forests,
one
of
Humanity’s
best
chances
for
re-‐emergence
was
cruelly
swept
away.
32
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
A
male
and
female
Temptor
illustrate
the
sexual
discrepancy
that
is
characteristic
to
their
species.
Note
the
female’s
elongated,
pit-‐like
vagina.
When
mating,
the
males
descend
into
it
like
subway
commuters.
33
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Bone
Crusher
Through
the
deliberate
modifications
of
Qu
and
the
blind
molding
of
evolution,
the
heavens
came
to
be
populated
with
creatures
that
would
put
the
myths
of
their
ancestors
to
shame.
Their
ancestors
were
pint-‐sized
pets
of
Qu
that
were
bred
for
the
dazzling
colors
of
their
tooth-‐derived
beaks.
When
their
masters
left,
most
of
these
pampered
creatures
died,
with
no
one
or
nothing
left
to
take
care
of
them.
But
some,
belonging
to
the
hardiest
breeds,
survived.
In
less
than
a
geological
eyeblink
of
a
few
million
years,
the
descendants
of
such
creatures
radiated
into
the
evolutionary
vacuum
of
their
garden
world.
One
lineage
led
to
a
profusion
of
human
herbivores.
These
were
preyed
upon
by
a
variety
of
enamel-‐beaked
raptors,
each
evolved
to
deal
with
a
specific
prey.
Among
these
generalized
niches
were
entire
assemblages
of
specialized
animals,
resembling
anything
from
ibis-‐billed
swamp
sifters
to
splendorous
forms
with
bizarre
crests
that
flared
out
of
their
toothy
beaks.
There
were
even
secondarily
sentient
forms,
in
the
shape
of
the
ogre-‐like
bone
crushers.
To
an
observer
of
today
they
would
indeed
be
the
stuff
of
nightmares;
three
meters
tall
and
hairy,
sporting
vicious
thumb
claws
and
enormous
beaks
that
suited
their
scavenging
diet.
Despite
their
shortcomings,
these
corpse
eating
primitives
were
one
of
the
first
species
to
attain
intelligence,
and
although
primitive,
a
level
of
civilization.
All
of
this
proved
the
fallacy
of
human
prejudice
in
the
posthuman
galaxy.
A
creature
could
feed
on
putrefying
meat,
stink
like
a
grave
and
express
its
affection
by
defecating
on
others,
but
it
might
as
well
be
your
own
grandchild
and
the
last
hope
of
mankind.
In
eventuality,
however,
not
even
the
bone
crushers
fulfilled
this
promise.
Their
dependency
on
carrion
for
food
limited
their
population
severely,
and
their
mediaeval
civilizations
crumbled
after
a
few
uneventful
millennia.
34
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
35
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Colonials
Their
world
had
given
the
toughest
resistance
against
the
Qu
onslaught.
So
tough,
in
fact,
that
they
had
turned
back
two
successive
waves
of
the
invaders,
only
to
succumb
to
the
third.
The
Qu,
with
their
twisted
sense
of
justice,
wanted
to
make
them
pay.
Even
extinction
would
be
too
light
a
punishment
for
resisting
the
star
gods.
The
humans
of
the
rogue
world
needed
a
sentence
that
would
remind
them
of
their
humiliation
for
generations
to
come.
So
they
were
made
into
disembodied
cultures
of
skin
and
muscle,
connected
by
a
skimpy
network
of
the
most
basic
nerves.
They
were
employed
as
living
filtering
devices,
subsisting
on
the
waste
products
of
Qu
civilization
like
mats
of
cancer
cells.
And
just
to
witness
and
suffer
their
wretched
fate,
their
eyes,
together
with
their
consciousness,
were
retained.
For
forty
million
years
they
suffered;
generation
after
generation
were
born
into
the
most
miserable
of
lives
while
absorbing
the
pain
of
all
that
they
were
going
through.
When
the
Qu
left,
they
hoped
for
a
quick
extinction.
But
their
lowliness
had
also
made
them
efficient
survivors.
Unchecked
by
the
Qu,
the
colonials
spread
across
the
planet
in
quilt-‐like
fields
of
human
flesh.
After
an
eternity
of
tortured
lives,
the
human
fields
tasted
something
that
could
almost
be
described
as
hope.
36
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
A
section
from
a
Colonial
field
shows
the
misery
that
compromises
their
entire
lives.
Note
that
these
disorganized
creatures
can
reproduce
through
both
asexual
and
more
familiar
methods.
37
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Flyers
They
were
not
uncommon
at
all
in
the
domain
of
Qu.
At
least
a
dozen
worlds
sported
human-‐derived
flying
species
of
one
kind
or
another.
Most
resembled
the
bats
or
the
pterosaurs
of
the
bygone
past,
dancing
through
the
aether
like
angels.
(Or
demons,
depending
on
the
point
of
view.)
There
were
a
few
bizarre
kinds
relied
on
swollen
gas
glands
for
floatation
as
well.
Sadly,
most
of
these
creatures
were
already
too
specialized
to
be
anything
but
flyers.
They
had
forsaken
their
humanity
for
the
conquest
of
the
sky;
they
had
little
potential
for
further
radiation
beyond
their
limited
roles.
The
only
exception
proved
out
to
be
a
monkey-‐like
species
that
flew
on
wing
membranes
stretched
across
the
last
two
fingers.
Their
advantage
was
a
unique,
turbine
like
heart,
artificially
developed
during
the
regime
of
Qu.
No
other
human
flyer
in
the
galaxy
had
such
an
adaptation.
The
starfish
shaped
organ
sat
in
the
middle
of
their
chests,
directly
funneling
oxygen
from
the
lungs
to
the
bloodstream
in
a
supremely
efficient
way.
This
meant
that
the
Flyers
could
develop
energy-‐consuming
adaptations
such
as
large
brains
without
having
to
give
up
their
power
of
flight.
Not
that
the
flyers
were
going
to
reclaim
their
sentience
right
away.
Instead,
they
literally
exploded
into
skies,
filling
the
heavens
with
anything
from
bomber-‐sized
sailors
to
impossibly
fast
predators
that
raced
with
sound.
Their
world
was
pristine
and
there
were
plenty
of
niches
to
play
in.
Intelligence
could
wait
a
little
more.
38
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
An
ancestral
Flyer
in
her
native
element.
Although
ungainly,
these
creatures
have
an
artificial
metabolic
advantage
that
gives
them
tremendous
evolutionary
potential.
39
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Hand
Flappers
Some
flying
posthumans
re-‐approached
sentience
in
an
entirely
different
way.
Without
the
augmented
metabolisms
or
the
gravitational
advantages
of
their
siblings
on
distant
planets,
they
had
no
choice
but
to
give
up
their
power
of
flight
in
order
to
develop
further.
The
Hand
Flappers
were
one
such
species.
Their
wings,
once
used
for
butterfly-‐
like
flutters
in
the
unearthly
gardens
of
Qu,
had
shrunken
and
reverted
back
into
their
manual
condition.
Their
legs
were
likewise
re-‐adapted,
but
they
bore
a
splayed
awkwardness
from
their
perching
ancestry.
Only
a
singular,
and
an
almost
sadistically
simple
flaw
held
them
back
from
developing
civilization.
In
the
course
of
their
secondary
atrophy,
the
wings
of
the
Hand
Flappers
had
become
useless
as
hands
as
well.
Their
flag
like
appendages
were
very
useful
in
signaling
and
mating
dances,
but
they
couldn’t
hurl
missiles,
construct
shelter
or
even
manufacture
basic
stone
tools.
All
that
they
could
do
with
their
useless
hands
was
to
display
each
others’
sexual
availability,
so
the
Hand
Flappers
did
just
that;
flashing
and
dancing
their
way
to
oblivion.
40
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
A
Hand
Flapper
on
the
edge
of
his
mating
territory.
During
their
almost
comical
exaggeration
of
sexual
display,
his
kind
has
begun
to
lose
their
edge
at
adaptation.
Theirs
will
be
a
boisterous,
ecstatic
but
ultimately
ephemeral
existence.
41
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Blind
Folk
When
the
Qu
came
they
dug
in,
and
dug
in
deep.
Inside
several
continent-‐sized
shelters
under
their
besieged
world,
they
waited
for
the
invaders
to
pass
them
by.
It
was
a
futile
gamble.
The
Qu
located
the
shelter-‐caves
and
remade
their
inhabitants
without
effort.
The
shelters
became
home
to
an
entirely
different
ecology,
a
realm
of
perpetual
darkness,
fueled
by
the
trickle
of
water
and
nutrients
from
the
world
outside.
A
surprisingly
complex
ecology
developed
on
this
scant
resource;
gigantic
pale
insects;
the
descendants
of
common
household
pests,
competed
with
Dali-‐esque
birds
and
rodents
over
fields
of
overgrown
fungi.
Predators
were
not
uncommon;
almost
crocodilian
fish
patrolled
the
underground
streams
and
vast
blind
bats,
echolocating
with
unnerving
precision,
took
their
toll
on
the
residents
of
the
cave
floor.
The
kilometer-‐high
ceilings
of
the
shelters
glowed
in
the
dark
with
protean
constellations
of
bioluminescent
fungi,
and
in
some
cases,
animals.
People
were
present
here
as
well,
albeit
in
unfamiliar
forms.
They
were
more
often
heard
than
seen,
as
they
tried
to
find
their
way
in
the
dark
with
banshee-‐like
screams.
These
albino
troglodytes
lived
in
a
realm
where
sound
and
touch,
not
sight,
was
the
gateway
of
perception.
They
had
developed
long,
tactile
fingers,
enormous
whiskers
and
mobile
ears
to
live
in
the
dark.
Where
their
eyes
should
have
been,
there
was
nothing
but
a
patch
of
haunting,
flawlessly
smooth
skin.
Their
perfect
adaptation
to
the
world
of
darkness
had
erased
the
most
basic
feature
of
human
recognition.
As
adapted
as
they
were,
they
were
doomed.
Before
the
Blind
Folk
could
develop
any
kind
of
intelligence
to
crawl
out
of
their
geographical
graves,
the
glacial
constriction
of
their
World’s
continental
plates
snuffed
out
the
shelters
one
by
one.
42
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
A
startled
Blind
father
with
his
year-‐old
daughter.
Although
he
knows
better
to
sit
still
in
order
to
confuse
sonar-‐equipped
predators,
the
youngster
screams
and
soils
herself
in
terror.
Their
attenuated
fingers
are
hallmarks
of
a
lifetime
spent
in
darkness.
43
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Lopsiders
The
Qu
were
grotesquely
creative
in
their
redesign
of
the
human
worlds.
One
group
of
misfortunate
souls
they
transported
to
a
planet
with
thirty-‐six
times
the
amount
of
“normal”
gravity,
and
made
them
over
for
life
in
this
bizarrely
inhospitable
realm.
The
results
of
these
experiments
resembled
nightmare
sketchings
of
Bosch,
Dali
or
Picasso.
They
looked
like
cripples
squashed
between
sheets
of
glass.
Three
out
of
their
four
limbs
had
become
paddle-‐like
organs
for
crawling;
only
one
of
their
arms
remained
as
spindly
tool
of
manipulation.
This
singular,
wizened
limb
also
doubled
as
an
extra
sensor,
like
the
antennae
of
an
insect.
Their
faces
were
different
horrors
altogether.
All
pretensions
of
symmetry;
the
hallmark
of
terrestrial
animals
from
jawless
fish
onwards,
were
completely
and
utterly
done
away
with.
One
bulging
eye
stared
directly
upward
while
the
other
scanned
ahead,
in
the
direction
of
the
creature’s
vertically-‐opening
jaws.
The
ears
were
likewise
distorted.
Monstrous
as
they
looked,
these
ex-‐men
thrived
in
their
heavy-‐gravity
environment.
Once
again
there
was
the
usual
explosion
of
species
into
every
available
niche,
and
the
Lopsiders
consolidated
their
chances
for
a
renewed
sentience.
44
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
A
Lopsider
feeds
some
indigenous
pets
native
to
his
high-‐gravity
world.
The
domestication
of
native
fauna
is
the
Lopsiders’
first
step
on
the
long
way
towards
civilization.
45
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Striders
While
the
Lopsiders
were
redesigned
to
live
under
extreme
gravity,
another
species
had
been
adapted
for
life
under
the
exact
opposite
conditions;
on
a
Jovian
moon
with
one
fifth
of
Earth’s
gravity.
It
was
a
world
of
wonders,
where
even
the
grass
grew
almost
ten
meters
tall
and
the
trees
were
beyond
belief,
towering
to
sizes
attained
only
by
the
skyscrapers
of
antiquity.
In
these
surreal
forests
lived
equally
spectacular
fauna;
the
descendants
of
pets,
pests
and
livestock
of
humans,
who
in
turn
had
been
reduced
to
animosity
as
well.
One
could
see
them
in
the
league-‐tall
forests,
almost
dancing
among
the
trees
as
they
reared
higher
and
higher
to
browse.
Their
arms,
legs,
and
necks
had
been
stretched
impossibly
thin,
great
flaps
of
skin
blossomed
throughout
their
bodies
to
dispense
waste
heat.
Sometimes
they
would
even
change
their
color
in
order
to
reflect
light
and
keep
cool.
Overheating
was
a
great
problem
for
their
grotesquely
tall,
thin
bodies.
Although
imposing,
these
Giacomettian
wraiths
were
over-‐developed
as
to
be
sickeningly
fragile.
Even
on
their
gravitationally
forgiving
world,
a
fall
could
shatter
their
bones,
and
slipping
down
from
a
branch
would
prove
to
be
fatal.
Sometimes,
on
the
open
plains,
even
a
strong
wind
could
bring
them
down
like
the
toppling
masts.
They
survived
entirely
due
to
the
merciful
conditions
of
their
garden
world,
which
were
about
to
change
drastically.
About
two
million
years
after
the
Qu
left
their
towering
works
of
human
art,
a
lineage
of
fearsome
predators
evolved
from
the
terrestrial
poultry
that
had
gone
feral
on
the
planet.
Resembling
attenuated
versions
of
their
dinosaur
ancestors,
the
predators
swept
through
the
garden
world
like
wildfires,
extinguishing
any
species
too
fragile
to
escape,
or
resist.
The
peaceful,
delicate
striders
were
among
the
first
to
go.
46
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
47
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Parasites
Humanity
had
diverged
into
two
separate
lineages
on
their
world.
On
one
hand
there
were
several
races
of
almost
Australopithecine
cripples,
degraded
by
the
Qu
for
managing
to
turn
back
their
initial
wave
of
invasion.
Yet
simple
atavism
was
too
light
a
punishment
for
them.
Their
twisted
relatives,
the
parasites,
made
up
the
second
part
of
their
sentence.
There
were
actually
several
kinds
of
parasitic
ex-‐people,
ranging
from
tortoise-‐
sized
ambulatory
vampires
to
the
more
common
fist-‐sized
variety
that
lived
attached
to
their
hosts.
There
was
even
a
tiny,
endoparasitic
kind
that
infested
the
wombs
of
their
female
victims
like
ghastly,
living
abortions.
All
of
these
evolutionary
tortures
were
played
out
under
the
careful
scrutiny
of
the
Qu
for
forty
million
years.
The
punishment
was
so
baroque,
so
elaborate
that
most
of
the
artificial
parasite-‐host
relationships
died
out
when
the
Qu
left.
Some
sub-‐men
learnt
to
cleanse
their
tick-‐like
relatives
by
drowning,
burning
or
even
eating
them.
Others,
like
the
vaginal
parasites,
died
out
as
their
aggressive
method
of
parasitism
effectively
sterilized
their
hosts.
Yet
one
or
two
varieties
did
manage
to
cling
on
to
their
hosts
with
abdominal
suckers,
muscular,
gripping
limbs
and
sterile,
pain-‐soothing
saliva.
But
their
success
did
not
lie
entirely
in
the
strength
of
their
parasitical
advantages.
They
also
learnt
to
regulate
their
dumb
hosts,
not
killing
them
by
over-‐infestation
and
thus
ensuring
their
own
long-‐term
survival
as
well.
In
any
case,
totally
single-‐sided
relations
were
rare
in
any
ecology,
natural
or
artificial.
In
millennial
cycles,
the
cousin
species’
vicious
parasitism
began
to
give
way
into
something
more
beneficial
for
both
sides.
48
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
A
parasitic
person,
shown
real
size.
Although
their
fate
seems
inhumane
in
every
aspect
to
an
observer
of
today,
their
very
survival
shows
that
such
subjective
values
are
ineffectual
in
matters
of
long-‐term
survival.
49
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Finger
Fishers
Their
ancestors
were
trapped
on
an
archipelago
world;
a
planet
sprinkled
with
many
small
continents
and
countless
islands
over
interconnected
networks
of
calm,
swallow
seas.
Like
a
magnified
Aegean,
this
place
was
a
terrestrial
paradise
in
many
respects.
Except
that
after
the
Qu,
no
minds
were
left
to
enjoy
it.
On
this
vacant
biosphere,
evolution
was
quick
to
begin
her
blind,
unpredictable
dance.
Once
feral,
the
descendants
of
degenerate
humans
adapted
themselves
to
every
available
niche,
no
matter
how
exotic,
how
outlandish.
One
group
learnt
to
pluck
fish
from
the
lazy
shores.
Millennia
passed
and
they
settled
more
into
their
piscatorial
lifestyle.
Elongated
fingers
became
ambulatory
fish-‐hooks,
teeth
modified
for
a
generalized
diet
became
needle-‐like
affairs,
lined
up
neatly
in
a
long,
thin
muzzle.
In
less
than
a
few
million
years,
the
Finger
Fishers
established
themselves
as
a
prominent
lineage.
There
was
scarcely
a
beach,
an
island
or
an
estuary
that
was
devoid
of
their
pale,
lanky
forms.
As
prolific
as
they
were,
the
Fishers
were
still
no
better
than
animals.
Their
“humanity”
would
come
only
after
another
spasm
of
outlandish
adaptations.
50
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
51
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Hedonists
Even
the
blissful
existence
of
the
Finger
Fishers
would
have
seemed
bothersome
to
the
Hedonists;
for
their
kind
was
not
evolved,
but
designed
for
a
life
of
pleasure.
The
Qu
had
kept
them
as
pampered
pets;
set
loose
in
a
tropical
island-‐world
of
succulent
fruits,
bountiful
trees
and
calm,
lapping
lakes
full
of
sweet,
bacterial
manna.
Furthermore,
the
Hedonists
were
left
as
the
only
animal
life
on
this
place.
They
had
no
choice
but
to
enjoy
it
to
the
fullest.
In
normal
conditions,
any
given
species
would
quickly
crowd
out
such
an
utopian
environment.
But
normal
conditions
had
never
been
the
point
of
the
Qu
redesign.
They
had
altered
their
subjects
so
that
they
could
conceive
only
after
mating
an
enormous
number
of
potential
suitors,
continually
over
a
period
of
decades.
While
this
took
care
of
the
population
problem,
it
also
made
the
species
less
adaptable.
Without
any
point
in
sexual
competition,
natural
selection
would
progress
only
at
a
glacial
pace.
Fortunately,
their
stable
microcosm
remained
free
of
environmental
catastrophes
even
after
the
Qu
left.
All
these
changes
had
also
made
the
Hedonists’
day.
Their
lives
were
juxtaposed
routines
of
browsing,
sleeping
and
mind-‐blowing
sex;
troubled
neither
by
the
concerns
of
disease
or
pregnancy.
Aloof
and
carefree,
they
enjoyed
the
most
pleasurable
times
of
all
mankinds,
albeit
with
the
intellectual
capabilities
of
three-‐year-‐olds.
It
didn’t
really
matter,
though.
Who
needed
to
think
when
having
such
a
nice
time,
after
all?
52
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
The
favorites
of
the
Qu.
A
female
Hedonist
lies
alone
on
a
beach,
contemplating
absolutely
nothing.
Without
any
pressure
from
the
world,
their
days
make
themselves
as
they
go
along.
53
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Insectophagi
Nondescript,
quaint
human
species
abounded
in
the
post-‐Qu
galaxy.
Hundreds
of
them
lived
out
simple,
unnoticed
lives,
never
developing
to
become
sentient,
never
learning
their
true
heritage
as
star-‐born
human
beings.
Most
of
them
went
extinct,
not
to
be
missed
or
even
remembered.
Those
that
lingered
on
managed
to
survive
in
shady,
quiet
niches,
never
again
making
any
impact
on
the
celestial
scheme
of
things.
One
such
species
was
the
Insectophagi.
They
had
quietly
adapted
themselves
for
a
diet
of
colonial
insects
and
small
animals;
they
had
faces
covered
with
leathery
plates,
claw-‐like
hands
to
dig
out
prey
and
worm-‐like
tongues
to
scoop
them
up.
All
in
all,
they
weren’t
special
in
any
particular
way.
But
a
combination
of
galactic
invasions,
coincidence
and
pure
luck
would
later
make
them
the
longest-‐enduring
of
all
ur-‐starmen.
The
meek
would
inherit
the
cosmos,
though
not
just
yet.
For
now,
the
Insectophagi
were
concerned
only
with
the
location
of
insect
colonies,
and
the
onset
of
the
mating
season.
54
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
55
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Spacers
It
must
be
remembered
that
the
Star
People
did
not
succumb
entirely
to
the
Qu
invasions.
While
their
worlds
fell
away
one
by
one,
some
Star
People
took
refuge
in
the
void
of
space.
One
after
another,
entire
communities
scrambled
into
generation
ships
and
cast
themselves
off
into
the
darkness,
hoping
to
go
unnoticed
by
the
beings
that
had
overrun
their
galaxy.
Desperate
times
made
for
desperate
measures.
As
the
Star
Men
had
observed
during
their
initial
colonization
of
the
galaxy,
life
in
generation
ships
inevitably
lead
to
mass
insanity
and
anarchy.
This
time
however,
humans
had
to
adapt
themselves
-‐or
face
extinction.
Entire
asteroid
fields
were
confiscated
and
hollowed
out
to
make
space-‐ships
of
unseen
size.
These
hollow
shells
cradled
bubbles
of
precious
air
and
water,
but
no
artificial
gravity
of
any
kind.
It
was
discovedred
that
a
purely
ethereal
existence
would
ease
the
stress
of
interstellar
exhile,
provided
that
its
inhabitants
were
adapted
for
life
inside
such
an
environment.
Furthermore,
people
were
forced
to
change
themselves.
In
an
atmospherically
sealed,
gravity-‐free
environment,
their
bones
were
left
free
to
grow
longer,
thinner,
spindlier.
The
circulatory
and
digestive
systems
were
pressurized
to
avoid
heart
problems
and
congestion.
The
latter
change
had
another
advantageous
side
effect;
humans
could
navigate
through
the
void
with
jets
of
air
-‐expelled
from
modified
anuses.
Such
experiments
were
numerous,
and
usually
plagued
with
failure.
Yet
they
did
succeed
in
creating
a
future.
Sealed
tight
in
their
moon
sized,
air
filled,
weightless
havens,
the
descendants
of
the
Star
People
managed
to
evade
the
scourge
of
Qu.
It
was
an
endless
diaspora.
Even
after
the
Qu
left,
they
would
find
themselves
too
divergent
to
have
anything
to
do
with
their
ancestral
lifestyles.
The
survivors
of
the
initial
hurdle
would
never
set
foot
on
a
planet
again.
56
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Forty
million
years
from
today,
Spacers
like
this
individual
are
the
only
truly
sentient
human
beings
that
survive.
They
are
so
comfortable
in
their
weightless
refuges
that
the
fates
of
their
bestial
cousins
elsewhere
do
not
concern
them.
They
are
also
painfully
rare;
their
entire
population
in
the
Milky
Way
Galaxy
does
not
exceed
a
few
dozen
arks
and
a
hundred
billion
souls.
57
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Ruin
Haunters
A
particular
human
species,
singled
out
by
its
lucky
access
to
the
heritage
of
its
stellar
ancestors,
would
eventually
get
to
play
a
leading
role
in
the
shape
of
things
to
come.
They
had
gotten
through
the
Qu
invasion
with
relatively
little
degradation;
yes,
they
had
been
reduced
to
the
level
of
apes,
but
their
recovery
had
been
quick.
Apparently,
the
Qu
had
not
worked
as
hard
at
suppressing
their
intelligence.
Nor
had
they
made
a
comparable
effort
to
wipe
away
the
material
traces
of
the
Star
Men.
Even
after
millions
of
years,
enormous
ruins
of
the
global
urban
spaces
littered
the
continents
of
their
world.
Thus
did
the
Ruin
Haunters
earn
their
names.
With
developed
minds
and
unrestricted
access
to
the
wisdom
of
the
ancient
cities,
the
exponential
pace
of
their
development
was
only
natural.
One
by
one
they
deciphered
and
built
upon
the
secrets
of
the
bygone
Star
People,
until
they
almost
equaled
their
galactic
ancestors
in
wisdom
and
skill.
All
of
this
development
happened
in
an
unnaturally
short
period
of
time,
and
sometimes
the
old
technologies
were
not
even
understood
as
they
were
blindly
replicated.
Needless
to
say,
such
a
pace
of
development
put
premature
stresses
on
the
social
and
political
structures
of
the
Ruin
Haunters.
They
barely
survived
the
five
consecutive
world
wars
that
raked
their
planet,
two
of
which
were
thermonuclear
exchanges.
They
made
it
through,
their
baptism
with
fire
had
hardened
and
awakened
them.
The
wars
united
them
politically
and
pushed
their
technological
capabilities
even
beyond
the
level
of
the
Star
Men.
Co-‐incidentally,
they
also
developed
a
dangerous
form
of
autochthonous
madness.
The
Ruin
Haunters
had
come
to
believe
that
they
were
the
sole
descendants
and
the
true
heirs
of
the
Star
People.
And
they
were
ready
and
willing
to
do
anything
in
order
to
claim
their
fictitious,
bygone
Golden
Age.
58
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Only
a
thousand
years
after
the
Qu
departure,
a
Ruin
Haunter
wanders
among
the
shattered
remains
of
a
city
of
the
Star
People.
The
dominating
form
of
an
even
greater
Qu
pyramid
can
be
seen
in
the
background.
59
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Sentience
Reborn
If
any
sort
of
periodical
arrangement
can
be
brought
to
the
history
of
mankind,
the
post-‐Qu
era
of
emerging
human
animals
can
be
likened
to
a
series
of
millennial
dark
ages.
However,
like
any
“dark
age”
situation,
these
periods
of
silence
had
finite
life
spans.
One
by
one,
like
stars
emerging
from
the
fog,
new
civilizations
were
born
out
of
the
shattered
remnants
of
mankind.
In
some
rare
cases,
the
recovery
was
swift
and
straightforward.
In
most
other
situations,
it
came
only
after
a
lengthy
series
of
adaptive
radiations,
extinctions
and
secondary
diversifications.
Within
these
lines
of
descent,
there
was
as
much
distance
between
the
initial
post-‐humans
and
their
intelligent
descendants
as
between
the
first
Cretaceous
fuzzballs
and
Homo
sapiens.
Sooner
or
later,
human
intelligence
returned
to
the
cosmos.
But
except
from
their
shared
ancestry,
these
new
people
had
nothing
in
common
with
“people”
of
today,
or
even
each
other.
60
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Extinction
Not
all
human
animals
made
it
through.
In
fact,
it
must
be
realized
that
the
majority
of
post-‐Qu
humans
died
out
during
the
eras
of
transition.
Extinction,
the
utter
and
absolute
death
of
an
entire
family,
entire
community,
entire
species,
was
rampant
in
the
galaxy.
There
was
nothing
cruel
or
dramatic
in
all
of
this.
Extinction
was
as
common,
and
as
natural
as
speciation.
Sometimes
a
species
simply
failed
to
adapt
to
competition,
or
the
abrupt
change
of
conditions.
In
other
occasions,
their
numbers
dwindled
across
imperceptible
gulfs
of
time.
This
way
or
the
other,
human
animals
faded
out.
In
all
of
this
death,
however,
there
was
new
life.
As
one
species
vacated
a
certain
niche,
others
would
soon
step
in
to
take
its
place.
Adaptive
radiations
would
follow,
filling
in
the
blanks
with
myriads
of
diverse
and
varied
forms.
Despite
the
fallen,
the
flow
of
life
would
proceed,
blazing
in
constant
turnover.
61
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
The
fossil
of
an
extinct,
aquatic
human
from
a
forgotten
colony
world.
Unbeknownst
to
the
universe,
his
kind
adapted,
flourished
and
died
out
soon
after
the
Qu
retreat.
His
tale
serves
to
tell
us
that
all
that
is
alive
will
inevitably
perish,
and
it
is
the
journey,
not
the
conclusion
that
matters.
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ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
63
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64
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
A
Snake
person
at
home,
enjoying
a
book
while
smoking
and
“listening”
to
vibrational
ground-‐music.
Through
the
open
door
can
be
seen
the
chaotic
tangle
of
the
city.
65
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
66
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
A
young
male
Killer
tours
one
of
the
myriad
ruined
fortresses
in
his
country,
testimony
of
their
species’
bloody,
protean
history.
The
planet
of
the
Killer
Folk
is
an
archaeologists’
paradise.
It
has
more
buried
dark
ages,
ruined
cultures
and
fallen
kingdoms
than
any
other
world.
67
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
68
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A
Breeder
huntress
on
a
garden
reef.
Living
tools
are
an
indispensable
part
of
these
beings’
daily
lives;
she
manages
to
breathe
underwater
through
an
oxygen-‐filtering
crustacean
fitted
over
her
blowhole.
She
holds
a
mollusk-‐derived
rifle
that
shoots
out
specially-‐
modified
fish
teeth,
and
her
companion
is
a
brain-‐augmented
fish
that
has
been
hardwired
to
return
kills.
Buildings
made
from
calcified
shells
glitter
in
the
background,
ablaze
with
bioluminescence.
69
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
70
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71
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72
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
A
modular
colony
treats
a
specialized
digester
unit
with
sprays
of
anti-‐ulcer
medication
produced
by
the
medical
drone
held
in
its
“hands”.
Note
the
differing
segments,
each
of
them
mutated
human
beings
in
themselves.
73
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
74
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
A
Pterosapien
poses
by
the
bizarre
buildings
of
a
seaside
resort.
At
ten
days
long,
this
will
be
the
only
holiday
in
her
ephemeral
life.
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ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
76
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
An
Asymmetric
nobleman
poses
nude
to
reveal
his
bizarre
anatomy.
Normally,
these
creatures
dress
up
in
elaborate
garments
that
resemble
heaps
of
interconnected,
enlarged
stockings.
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ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
78
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
A
Symbiote
poses
on
one
of
his
several
hosts.
In
the
background
can
be
seen
some
of
their
rural
housing,
with
man-‐sized
doors
for
the
mindless
hosts,
and
the
smaller
holes
for
their
intelligent
patrons,
79
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
80
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
A
Sailor
goes
hunting
with
his
harpoon-‐wielding
companion
in
the
background.
Extremely
violent
by
nature,
these
people
frequently
resort
to
savage
hunting
campaigns
to
quell
their
bloodlust
in
modern
life.
Notice
their
tongue-‐derived
‘hands,’
and
the
accompanying
flying
creature,
actually
one
of
the
Sail
Peoples’
distant
cousins.
81
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
82
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Satyriac
audience
goes
wild
as
the
performer
hits
the
climax
of
his
song.
Such
events
are
an
everyday
part
of
the
Satyriac
life.
83
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
84
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
A
Bug
Face
celebrity,
arguably
the
most
beautiful
girl
on
their
planet,
poses
before
a
coastal
village.
In
the
distance
can
be
seen
gasbag-‐like
tree
creatures,
relics
left
over
from
the
mysterious
alien
invaders.
85
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Asteromorphs
(Descendants
of
the
Spacers)
Initially
refugees,
the
Spacers
were
quick
to
master
the
vastness
of
interstellar
space.
Their
isolated
space
arks
joined
together
and
multiplied
to
form
a
gigantic,
interlocked
artifact
that
was
large
enough
to
contain
entire
worlds.
But
no
planets
lay
inside
the
Asteromorph
capital;
only
cavernous,
gravity-‐free
bubbles
where
the
inhabitants
could
finally
develop
to
their
fullest.
Freed
from
the
constraints
of
weight,
their
bodies
grew
spindly
and
insectile,
with
individual
digits
extending
into
multitudes
of
thin,
versatile
limbs.
Other
than
these,
the
only
developed
organs
were
their
derived
jet
sphincters;
which
went
on
to
become
the
principal
means
of
locomotion.
But
above
all
were
their
brains,
their
bulging,
swollen
brains.
With
no
hindrance
from
gravity,
the
human
brain
could
grow
into
unprecedented
sizes.
Each
generation
devised
experiments
that
produced
offspring
with
greater
cranial
capacity,
giving
rise
to
beings
who
went
through
their
everyday
lives
thinking
in
concepts
and
structures
scarcely
comprehensible
to
people
of
today.
The
physiological
limitations
of
the
human
mind
had
been
long
since
debated.
Now,
it
was
established
that
these
limits
were
indeed
real,
and
individuals
who
could
break
them
would
likewise
conquer
new
grounds
in
philosophy,
art
and
science.
Everything
changed.
Yet
some
aspects
of
humanity,
such
as
the
basic
desire
to
expand,
remained.
To
this
end
the
Asteromorphs
built
great
fleets
of
globular
sub-‐arks
and
spread
their
influence
across
the
heavens,
into
every
stellar
cluster
and
every
star
system.
Within
less
than
a
thousand
years,
the
galaxy
was
straddled
by
a
new
and
far
more
alien
Empire
of
Man.
Strangely
enough,
its
dominion
included
none
of
the
newly
emerging
post-‐human
species,
for
its
masters
had
completely
lost
interest
in
planets;
those
stunting,
gravity-‐
chained
balls
of
dirt
and
ice.
The
newborn
arks
settled
comfortably
in
the
outer
rims
of
star
systems,
quietly
observing
the
lives
of
their
struggling
relatives.
For
the
first
time
in
history,
there
were
actual
Gods
in
the
myriad
human
skies.
They
were
silent
and
weren’t
even
noticed
for
most
of
the
time,
but
their
watchfulness
was
ultimately
going
to
pay
off.
86
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
87
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88
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89
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90
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Machine
Invasion
It
took
a
long
time
for
the
Gravital
to
prepare.
Propulsion
systems
were
perfected
and
new
bodies
capable
of
withstanding
the
interstellar
jumps
were
devised.
But
when
they
finally
decided
that
the
time
was
nigh,
nothing
survived
their
slaughter.
The
invasions
followed
a
brutally
simple
plan.
The
target
worlds’
suns
were
blockaded
and
their
light
was
trapped
behind
specially-‐constructed,
million-‐mile
sails.
If
the
dying
worlds
managed
to
resist,
an
asteroid
of
two
finished
them
off.
Enormous
invasion
fleets
were
built,
but
it
was
rarely
necessary
to
deploy
them.
The
Machines
had
caught
their
cousins
completely
off-‐guard.
The
great
dyings,
all
of
which
occurred
in
a
relatively
quick,
ten-‐thousand
year
period,
stretched
the
boundaries
of
genocide
and
horror.
Almost
all
of
the
new
human
species;
unique
beings
who
had
endured
mass
extinctions,
navigated
evolutionary
knife-‐
edges
and
survived
to
build
worlds
of
their
own,
vanished
without
a
trace.
Even
the
Qu
had
been
loyal
to
life,
they
had
distorted
and
subjugated
their
victims,
but
in
the
end
they
had
allowed
them
to
survive.
To
the
machines
however,
life
was
a
luxury.
Such
thorough
ruthlessness
was
not,
ironically,
borne
out
of
any
kind
of
actual
hatred.
The
Gravital,
long
accustomed
to
their
mechanical
bodies,
simply
did
not
acknowledge
the
life
of
their
organic
cousins.
When
this
apathy
was
mixed
with
their
un-‐
sane
claims
as
the
sole
heirs
of
the
Star
Men,
the
extinctions
were
carried
out
with
the
banality
of
say,
an
engineer
tearing
down
an
abandoned
building.
Under
the
reign
of
the
Machines,
the
Galaxy
entered
a
brand-‐new
dark
age.
91
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
A
rare
instance
of
a
direct
invasion
by
the
Machines,
on
one
of
the
shore
cities
of
the
Killer
Folk.
Most
of
the
time
the
inhabitants
of
the
Second
Empire
were
wiped
out
globally,
without
the
necessity
of
such
confrontations.
92
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
93
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
94
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
The
Bug
Facer
archetype,
flanked
by
two
of
his
twisted
descendants.
To
his
left;
a
phallus-‐
bearing
polydactyl,
bred
as
a
sacrificial
offering
in
one
of
the
many
different
Machine
religions.
To
the
right;
a
one-‐off
work
of
art;
designed
to
play
its
modified
fingers
like
a
set
of
drums
while
ululating
the
tunes
of
a
certain
pop
song.
95
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
96
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
97
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
98
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
99
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
100
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
101
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
A
nude
Terrestrial
shows
the
highly
divergent,
yet
still
bizarrely
human
anatomy
that
is
the
characteristic
of
this
species.
These
particular
Terrestrials
maintain
a
religious
hegemony
over
their
clueless
subjects;
dressing
up
in
elaborate
veils
and
headgear
to
assert
their
‘divine’
inheritance.
102
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
103
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
A
machine
citizen
of
the
New
Empire.
She
sports
a
dazzling
pair
of
branching
arms
that
suit
both
the
latest
fashion
trends
and
her
job
as
an
artisan.
Machines
following
fashion
might
seem
unusual
to
a
reader
of
this
era,
but
never
forget
that
these
beings
are
human
intelligences,
only
in
different
bodies.
104
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Second
Contact:
With
successive
waves
of
machine-‐aided
discovery
and
colonization,
the
New
Empire
grew
exponentially.
Such
was
the
growth
of
wealth
and
progress
that
its
description
would
need
the
use
of
concepts
that
remain
unexplored
today.
To
talk
with
a
man
of
today
about
the
comings
and
goings
of
the
New
Empire
would
be
akin
to
giving
lectures
of
20th
century
geopolitics
to
a
hunter-‐gatherer.
This
magnificent
entity
was
not
blind
to
the
universe
around
it.
It
tuned
in
its
eyes,
ears
and
sensors,
and
probed
the
events
of
the
surrounding
galaxies.
The
New
Galactics
suspected
that
the
surrounding
nebulae
might
also
have
their
indigenous
folk,
and
it
was
wise
to
contact
them
before
a
misunderstanding,
or
conflict
could
occur.
On
a
darker
side,
these
observations
also
served
as
lookouts
for
potential
invaders.
Even
then,
the
memory
of
the
Qu
was
not
forgotten.
The
discovery
was
eventually
made.
One
of
the
neighboring
galaxies
was
showing
patterns
of
activity
that
were
the
unmistakable
signs
of
a
sentient
organization.
Some
thinkers
reviled
in
the
discovery
of
a
new
civilization,
while
others
feared
a
return
of
the
Qu.
Fortunately,
this
second
encounter
with
an
alien
species
proved
to
be
a
peaceful
one.
Perhaps
the
intelligences
of
both
galaxies
were
finally
mature
enough
to
meet
without
quarreling.
The
other
Galaxy
was
dominated
by
connected
unions
of
different
beings,
presided
over
by
various
kinds
of
Amphicephali;
bizarre
creatures
that
resembled
giant
snakes
with
heads
on
both
ends,
one
of
which
bore
a
secondary,
retractile
body
that
they
would
use
to
interact
with
the
world.
Apparently,
they
had
undergone
alternating
series
of
regressions,
evolutionary
radiations
and
self-‐imposed
genetic
makeovers,
just
as
humanity
had.
With
all
of
their
wild
difference,
the
Amphicephali
were
welcome.
They
were
the
first,
but
surely
not
the
last.
105
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
An
Amphicephalus
ambassador
with
spaceships
typical
of
their
kind.
Her
strange
body
plan
betrays
an
evolutionary
history
as
complicated
as
that
of
humanity.
106
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Earth
Rediscovered:
The
purpose
of
this
work
is
not
to
describe
the
limitless
progress
that
followed
the
cross-‐galactic
contact.
One
could
go
indefinitely,
chronicling
how
the
united
galaxies
re-‐encountered
and
subdued
the
Qu,
how
they
cradled
their
suns
with
artificial
shells,
multiplying
their
inhabitable
zones
a
billion-‐fold,
how
they
criss-‐crossed
interstellar
space
with
wormholes
and
made
travel
a
thing
of
the
past.
Ultimately,
descendants
of
those
beings
even
conquered
Time
itself,
prolonging
the
existence
of
their
minds
indefinitely
via
rejuvenating
technologies.
For
a
time,
all
men
were
gods.
But
from
(y)our
vantage
point,
one
discovery
truly
stood
out
in
this
orgy
of
advance.
Compared
with
gargantuan
achievements
like
the
taming
of
space
and
the
construction
of
the
star-‐shells,
it
was
a
mere
blip,
a
revelation
of
long-‐forgotten
trivia.
This
was
the
re-‐discovery
of
Earth;
the
birthplace
of
humanity,
where
the
omnipresent
Asteromorph,
the
star-‐gliding
Machine,
and
the
millions
of
humble
resident
races
could
all
trace
their
origins.
It
was
made
quietly,
by
a
singular
researcher
combing
the
vestiges
of
forgotten
history,
decade
after
decade.
Millions
of
years
of
wars,
invasions
and
extinctions
had
buried
the
evidence
thoroughly
and
comprehensively.
When
she
finally
came
across
irrefutable
evidence,
nobody
was
around
to
celebrate.
That
would
come
later.
107
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
By
the
time
of
Earth’s
rediscovery,
humans
have
diverged
considerably
from
their
ancestral
forms.
108
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
Return:
The
discovery
sparked
a
certain
amount
of
interest,
though
nowhere
as
much
as
other
breakthroughs
had.
To
most
humans
of
the
cosmos,
their
ancestral
birthplace
was
simply
an
interesting
piece
of
information,
a
piece
of
trivia
with
which
they
had
lost
all
ties.
Still,
a
ship
was
sent
forth,
and
it
landed
without
ceremony,
for
now
there
was
no
intelligence
left
on
Earth.
Too
far
away
from
the
main
centers
of
population,
it
had
been
completely
ignored,
gone
stagnant
and
feral.
But
still,
it
was
Home.
When
the
explorers
stepped
out,
human
feet
trod
on
old
Earth
once
more;
after
an
absence
of
560
million
years.
Mankind
was
back
home.
109
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
110
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
All
Tomorrows:
I
must
conclude
my
words
with
a
confession.
Mankind,
the
very
species
which
I’ve
been
chronicling
from
its
terrestrial
infancy
to
its
domination
of
the
galaxies,
is
extinct.
All
of
the
beings
which
you
saw
on
the
preceding
pages;
from
the
lowly
Worm
to
the
wind-‐riding
Sail
People,
from
the
megalomaniac
Gravital
to
the
ultimate
Galactic
citizens,
lie
a
billion
years
dead.
We
are
only
beginning
to
piece
the
story
together.
What
you
read
was
our
best
approximation
of
the
truth.
Why
did
they
disappear?
Perhaps
it
was
a
final,
unimaginable
war
of
annihilation,
one
that
transcended
the
very
meaning
of
“conflict”.
Perhaps
it
was
a
gradual
break-‐up
of
the
united
galaxies,
and
every
race
facing
their
private
end
slowly
afterwards.
Or
perhaps,
the
wildest
theories
suggest,
it
was
a
mass
migration
to
another
plane
of
existence.
A
journey
into
somewhere,
sometime,
something
else.
But
the
bottom
line
is;
we
honestly
don’t
know.
Ultimately,
however,
what
happened
to
Humanity
does
not
matter.
Like
every
other
story,
it
was
a
temporary
one;
indeed
long
but
ultimately
ephemeral.
It
did
not
have
a
coherent
ending,
but
then
again
it
did
not
need
to.
The
tale
of
Humanity
was
never
its
ultimate
domination
of
a
thousand
galaxies,
or
its
mysterious
exit
into
the
unknown.
The
essence
of
being
human
was
none
of
that.
Instead,
it
lay
in
the
radio
conversations
of
the
still-‐human
Machines,
in
the
daily
lives
of
the
bizarrely
twisted
Bug
Facers,
in
the
endless
love-‐songs
of
the
carefree
Hedonists,
the
rebellious
demonstrations
of
the
first
true
Martians,
and
in
a
way,
the
very
life
you
lead
at
the
moment.
Many
throughout
history
were
unaware
of
this
most
basic
fact.
The
Qu,
in
dreams
of
an
ideal
future,
distorted
the
worlds
it
came
across.
Later
on
the
Gravital,
with
their
insane
desire
to
recreate
the
past,
created
the
biggest
massacres
in
the
history
of
the
galaxy.
Even
now,
it
is
sickeningly
easy
for
beings
to
get
lost
in
false
grand
narratives,
living
out
completely
driven
lives
in
pursuit
of
non-‐existent
ultimates,
ideals,
climaxes
and
golden
ages.
In
blindly
thinking
that
their
stories
serve
absolute
ends,
such
creatures
almost
always
end
up
harming
themselves,
if
not
those
around
them.
To
those
like
them;
look
at
the
story
of
Man,
and
come
to
your
senses!
It
is
not
the
destination,
but
the
trip
that
matters,
and
what
you
do
today
influences
tomorrow,
not
the
other
way
around.
Love
Today,
and
seize
All
Tomorrows!
111
ALL TOMORROWS – C. M. KOSEMEN
The
Author,
with
a
billion-‐year
old
human
skull.
112