[ WP ] A 4-D star collides with Earth , causing it to `` unroll '' into a seemingly infinite plane . Though satellite images from orbit appear normal , on the surface , everything has changed . There are suddenly new continents , new seas , stretching endlessly onward . A new age of exploration begins .

I found myself like many, curious. Time seemed to fluctuate and as the existing paradigm broke down, and a new one arose, I knew I wanted to be part of it. 
 
 In pockets, isolated ones, time would move the same. In others it leaped and some it slowed. These places would lead to new times, eras, alternate timelines -- you needed only find the right pathway through that pocket. Some were easy. Second star to the right, straight on'til morning. And the next day you were in a version of the world untouched by colonialism. It was odd. It was beautiful. It took so much patience and time, but was worth every second in terms of what we gained. 
 
 Some of us are travelling merchants. We'll move things for you, at a price. Some of us can find cures for what ails you in worlds that did not exist due to one quirk of the time stream. The names we gave to each place -- the library, the hospital -- we chose places because otherwise it would be impossible to list them all. 
 
 I worked -- Day and Night -- exposure to the pockets of time ruins your circadian rythyms, and messes up a number of natural processes, but I worked with goals in mind after the most recent revelation -- that this may not last forever. I had grown attached to the feeling, of exploring, of travel to new worlds. The star was not crashed, it was merely passing through. 
 
 I panicked, so much harder than I should have. I stole. I sold secrets. I worked for those seeking to contain the star. 
 
 And just as it was, it was no more. The same day. The same hour. The same minute. I stared down at my coffee, still warm on the day of impact. I stood, poured it into the sink, and smashed the cup.
