biological evidences, even more advanced than those collected during
your times, we can tell that something happens at this very period of
history that will wipe all life from the face of the earth for a long
period of time, many thousands of years, until somehow they start to
reproduce and grow once more into what they are now. Something very
powerful happens, even more devastating than the nuclear wars, when all
the nations of the world used their entire stock of weapons. Our problem
is how to prevent it, and a great problem it presents, indeed. You see,
while we would wish to be confident of success, since we know generally
what to expect, we know through research that there have been many, many
ages before us in which the same thing has happened. That is why the
geological layers have always been found to be strangely misaligned,
with fossils from an earlier period here and with a later period there.
That is why things like tree fossils are found in coal mines, where they
shouldn't be, and why in general, the evidence found in the ground
doesn't fit a consistent pattern."

As he finished, I could say nothing, for his revelation was sobering to
me, bringing me suddenly back to the realization that our doom was
impending, that every decision I made had the potential to either bring
us to safety, or to supply the necessary force to hurl us viscously off
the cliff of mortality. He was silent as well and allowed me a few
moments of meditation to turn his speech in my mind. As is my tendency,
I looked abstractly out the window as I thought, fixing my subconscious
focus on the road that ran from the northern gate down through the city,
the road which formed half of the plaza beneath the temple. A moment or
two passed like a solemn parade of mourning, then, suddenly, or at least
quite unexpected by myself, a party of Canitaurs came walking down the
northern road, unharassed and unescorted through the heart of the city.
Since they came freely, I knew that they were not prisoners, but still I