Plot

Behind every man alive today there are thirty spirits, for this is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living. Since the dawn of time, there have been approximately one hundred billion people on Earth. This is an interesting number. In a strange twist of fate, our galaxy, which is the Milky Way, contains about one hundred billion stars. So, for every person who has ever walked the Earth, one star of our Galaxy shines. Each of these stars is a sun, often much brighter and more magnificent than our closest little star we call the sun. Many - perhaps most - of these alien suns have planets orbiting them. Surely, then, there are enough "Earths" in the sky for each member of the human race - including the first humanoids - to have their own paradise or a world-sized hell. How many of these potential havens or hells are inhabited or by what kind of beings is not for us to guess. The closest of these is a million times farther than Mars or Venus, which are still distant targets for generations to come. But we break the barriers of distance, and perhaps one day we will meet among equal, if not more powerful, stars. Humanity is very slowly realizing this possibility because, as some believe, it will never become a reality. However, more and more people are asking the question: Why hasn't such a meeting happened yet, since we ourselves are about to conquer the cosmos? Why? Here is one possible answer to that very sane question. But please remember that it is only a fiction. The truth - as it happens - will turn out to be much more extraordinary.—GG