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THE PLANET WAS ABSOLUTELY FLAT. ITS ENORMOUS GRAVITY HAD LONG AGO CRUSHED IT
INTO ONE UNIFORM LEVEL THE MOUNTAINS OF ITS FIERY YOUTH--MOUNTAINS WHOSE
MIGHTIEST PEAKS HAD NEVER EXCEEDED A FEW METERS IN HEIGHT. YET THERE WAS
LIFE HERE, FOR THE SURFACE WAS COVERED WITH A MYRIAD GEOMETRICAL PATTERNS
THAT CRAWLED AND MOVED AND CHANGED THEIR COLOR. IT WAS A WORLD OF TWO
DIMENSIONS, INHABITED BY BEINGS WHO COULD BE NO MORE THAN A FRACTION OF A
CENTIMETER IN THICKNESS.
AND IN THE SKY WAS A SUN THAT NO OPIUM EATER COULD HAVE IMAGINED IN HIS WILDEST DREAMS. TOO HOT TO BE WHITE, IT WAS A
SEARING GHOST AT THE FRONTIERS OF THE ULTRAVIOLET, BURNING ITS PLANETS WITH
RADIATIONS WHICH WOULD BE INSTANTLY LETHAL TO ALL EARTHLY FORMS OF LIFE.
FOR MILLIONS OF KILOMETERS AROUND EXTENDED GREAT VEILS OF GAS AND DUST,
FLUORESCING IN COUNTLESS COLORS AS THE BLAST OF ULTRAVIOLET TORE THROUGH
THEM. IT WAS A STAR AGAINST WHICH EARTH'S PALE SUN WOULD HAVE BEEN A FEEBLE
GLOWWORM AT NOON.