The Old Order Changeth

"No, he said there's no way to stop it."

"Then our time's about up. Half a million years is a good run, though. I think we've done well with the years."

"I agree, but that's for the judge to decide," Heard answered.

"We'll finally get to see what the Hadrokkons did. If their sunset dance was anything like ours."

"Probably not. Their tails were completely different." Heard could not imagine anyone not doing a sunset dance.

Gerald asked, "The manira are cute. Are they the next in line?"

Heard replied, "He said it would be the descendents of those," and gestured with his short clawed arm at some skittering small creatures dashing from the cluster ferns to a hole in the ground.

"OK; not what I would have expected at all. Did he say anything else?"

"No, that's all we needed. We'll learn the rest when we reach the timeless ourselves."

"21 days. Where will it hit?"

"Just offshore."

"Ouch. That will make a mess."

"The whole world, he said. Time for something new."

"I hope the manira make it. I love watching them."

"Are you ready to work on the final song?"

"I should walk with Dromo for an hour first. She inspires me. I want to do this right. It's quite an honor." Gerald swung his tail to a musical fragment in his mind, and then turned to run to the grove where Dromo liked to listen to the manira. "See you tonight!" he called over his shoulder.