It seems to last forever; that unthinkable conflagration. But OBSERVE! ... The INCREDIBLE VIOLENCE of the INFERNO is dissipating.

The seconds become minutes, the minutes become days and the days become years...

But still it is not yet time for the ELEMENTS, and the photons that would be LIGHT are still being absorbed by the PLASMA that fills the Universe.

The Creator must be PATIENT and wait for his Cosmos to cool...

And cool it DOES, as it expands and condenses over the centuries, until AT LAST, after 370,000 years, the IMPOSSIBLY vast cloud of atomic HYDROGEN forms, photons are free to propagate unhindered and finally: his punishment is lifted.

HE CAN SEE!

But IT IS DARK! The only light is the dim glow of Microwave Background, a fading reminder of the BLAZE OF CREATION.

But it is not only mass than has been forged in the primal conflagration, it is the FRAMEWORK of Time and Space itself, DRAGGED into being by the energy that demanded ROOM TO BE!

THIS is the framework that will be the STAGE of the THEATRE COSMIC!

The immense REAL-SPACE in which the Playwright's mind will be enacted.

EMPTY for now, of all save gaseous Hydrogen and Helium, and yet it is FULL OF CHARACTER, for each cubic centimeter is permeated with the RING OF CREATION, and each potentiality is constrained by the TONALITY of that Ring.

The echo of that primal note, for ever and ever; a single unquenchable reminder of the EGG: THE FOUNDATION OF REALITY.