A story about... Nothing © 2000 Damon Diehl, Marg Frey, Greg Gbur, Bryce Graves-Hurst	MARG	GREG	BRYCE & DAMON
				DAMON & BRYCE
			BRYCE	GREG & DAMON
				DAMON & GREG
			DAMON	GREG & BRYCE
				BRYCE & GREG

That potential was realized all at once (not at any particular time, as there was no fixed origin of time at that point) with a cataclysmic explosion of creation. And then there was something.

Time passed. That something settled down, with inexorable purpose, into accumulations of what would later be called matter, and that matter eventually settled itself down into stars and later planets. Later than that, those planets arranged themselves carefully about the various stars, and as their atmospheres settled, the base matter on the surfaces of those planets worked hard to organize itself into something that could do something useful.

Eventually, after many false starts and not a few mass extinctions, life managed to stabilize itself on the planet.

That life worked dilligently to improve its status. It evolved and, later, began to learn and create. Soon (at least on the time scales we have been considering) one particular group of creatures pulled ahead of the rest and, learning at a much faster rate, developed what they would call civilization.

Fire was invented. Soon after that came art, the printing press, and airplanes. Deep philosophical discussions were initiated, during which these creatures wondered at exactly why they were there in the first place. None could find a satisfactory answer. They wondered, and searched, and postulated. Meanwhile they developed their civilization, and with each generation they wondered anew. Some wrote highly speculative short stories on the subject. One such story suggested that this great mystery of purpose was the fuel that drove them all, and that perhaps the purpose was to continue wondering. Many creatures regarded this as bunk, preferring other versions of the same story.

Much later, the Creator who had put an end to the nothing was standing surveying His handiwork. ...