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already somewhat familiar with them yourself. And that same argument—that there are perhaps an infinite number of universes, manifesting continuums of alternative values for the fundamental constants—was what allowed previous generations of Forhilnor scientists to dismiss the notion of a creator. As you say, if all the possible values exist somewhere, there is nothing noteworthy about the existence of one universe governed by the particular set of values that happens to make life possible.
    “But it turns out that there are no long-term parallel universes existing simultaneously with this one; there cannot be. The physicists of my world have attained what those of yours presumably currently seek: a grand unified theory, a theory of everything. I could find little on human beliefs about cosmology in your television and radio, but if you hold the belief you just stated, I will guess that your cosmologists are currently at the stage where they consider a hot, inflationary big-bang model to be the most likely scenario for the origin of the universe. Is that correct?”
    “Yes,” I said.
    Hollus bobbed. “Forhilnor physicists cherished the same belief—many reputations depended on it—until the fifth interaction, the fifth fundamental force, was discovered; its discovery was related to the energy-production breakthrough that allows us to accelerate ships to within a tiny fraction of lightspeed, despite the relativistic fact that their masses increase enormously as we approach that speed.”
    Hollus shifted his weight on his six feet, then continued. “The hot, inflationary big-bang model requires a flat universe—one that is neither open nor closed, one that will essentially last an infinite amount of time; it does, however, allow for parallel universes. But accommodating the fifth force required modification of that theory in order to preserve symmetry; from that modification came the coherent, grand unified theory, a quantum theory that embraces all forces including gravity. That grand unified theory has three important provisions.
    “First, that this universe is not flat, but rather that it is closed: it did indeed start with a big bang and will expand for billions of years more—but it will eventually collapse back down to a singularity in a big crunch.
    “Second, that this current cycle of creation follows no more than eight previous big-bang/big-crunch oscillations—we are not one in an infinitely long string of universes but, rather, are one of the very few that have ever existed.”
    “Really?” I said. I was used to cosmology presenting me with infinities or with values that were precisely one. Eight seemed an unusual number, and I said so.
    Hollus flexed his legs at their upper joints. “You introduced me to that man named Chen—your staff astronomer. Talk to him; he will likely tell you that even your hot, inflationary big-bang model, with its requirement for a flat universe, allowed for a very limited number of prior oscillations, if any had occurred at all. I suspect he will consider it quite reasonable to learn that this current iteration of reality is one of only a tiny number of universes that have ever existed.”
    Hollus paused, then continued. “And the third provision of the grand unified theory is this: no parallel universes exist simultaneously with ours or any of the previous or subsequent ones, save virtually identical universes with exactly the same physical constants that split briefly from the current one then almost immediately reintegrate with it, thus accounting for certain quantum phenomenons.
    “The math to prove all the foregoing is admittedly abstruse, although, ironically, the Wreeds intuitively came to an identical model. But the theory of everything made numerous predictions that have subsequently been confirmed experimentally; it has withstood every test it has been put to. And when we found that we could not retreat into the notion that this universe is one of vast