It was another peaceful morning in the African Congo. Slowly and peacefully the sun arose golden and beautiful. Everything was silence except for the early morning chirping of the exotic birds. Slowly yet peacefully the darkness faded out of the sky and the opening of another beautiful day was taking place. Everything was in its place, all the creatures of this "other world" the Congo were rising peacefully together under the golden sun. And the nocturnal (nightly) animals were getting ready for their sleep. Everything seemed as it had been since the beginning of time at this end of the world but on the opposite side?

Evan Harding was getting ready for bed. He had gone with his father to work since he had summer holidays. His father was a paleontologist; he studies the fossils of extinct species, at least, that's what Evan got out of it. Evan was seven years old and loved his fathers work. Extinct animals had always interested him. Anyway, his mother tugged him in bed and read him a story about some jungle for away in Africa. As his mother got to the good part of the story he fell asleep?

Ian Malcolm, a man of about 47, was an early pioneer in chaos theory and was a familiar figure at the Santa Fe Institute. Malcolm's promising career had been disrupted by a severe injury during a trip to Costa Rica; Malcolm had in fact been reported dead in several newscasts. When Malcolm had first returned from his so-called "death" he had stated: "I was sorry to cut short the celebration in mathematics departments around the country, but it turned out I was only slightly dead. The surgeons have done wonders, as they will be the first to tell you. So now I am back?in my next iteration (repetition), you might say."

Malcolm, as usual, was dressed entirely in black. Black shirt, black pants, black socks, and black shoes, which gave him more of a rock star appearance rather than a mathematician in chaos theory. Ever since the accident Malcolm had carried a cane which showed even more severity to his injury. His comeback had been rather successful. And he had continued to develop his Malcolm Effect theory along with a new idea about humanity. It wasn't really a theory yet but just an idea. Malcolm had a discussion about this at the same Santa Fe Institute some time earlier. "Human beings are so destructive," Malcolm said. "I sometimes think we're a kind of plague, that will scrub the earth clean. We destroy things so well that I sometimes think, maybe that's our function. Maybe every few eons, some animal comes along that kills off the rest of the world, clears the decks, and lets evolution proceed to its next phase. Then life will restart itself all over again, from scratch, and after several millions of years there will be an other specie that will do the exact same thing." He tapped his fingers on the stand in front of him as if thinking, and continued. "So as a result, our planet is not in danger but we humans are. Evolution will survive but we humans on the other hand, will not?"

It about 9:00 pm now, Malcolm had finished his lecture and was getting ready to go home. His new view of humanity was not excepted very easily. Most people opposed his idea, but he knew in fact that there was a great possibility that he was in fact right, which if it were true would change the face of human life, as we know it?

Evan Harding was asleep now; his mother left the room and went to her bedroom alone. Her husband Dr. Harding (Evans father) stayed at the fossil cites in Montana because there was a lot of digging to do, since he had recently found a complete Raptor skeleton and didn't want to loose this incredible finding. Anyway, Evans mother, Sarah undressed and got her silk nightgown out of her closet and put on. She went in bed and soon fell asleep in her dark lonely room?

Malcolm walked crippled down the stairs of the Santa Fe Institute main lobby, while leaning on his cane. He had called a taxicab and was waiting at the main entrance for it. The dull yellow taxicab came down Canyon Road and halted in front of Malcolm. The Driver yelled out the window inquiring if he was the one that called for the cab. Malcolm replied "Yes" and got into the old taxicab. Malcolm gave the driver his apartment address and the cab took off. The cab stopped at a big old building, which looked kind off creepy in the dark. "That'll be 8 dollars," the driver said. Malcolm gave him the money and silently got out of the car with his cane strolling down to the entrance of the building. He opened the door went down the rich decorated lobby, past the check in counter, and up the elevator. The elevator stopped on the 5^th floor and Malcolm went down the hall to apartment number 510. He opened the lock and went in the room. It was a well-decorated rich looking apartment with everything glittering as if it were just waxed. "I see the cleaning lady came by today," Malcolm mumbled to himself. There was a huge bookshelf along one of the walls completely filled with books about all sorts of subjects. Biology, Paleontology, Mathematics, Chaos Theory filled most of the shelves, and in one corner there were books which Malcolm had wrote himself. One book of about 900 pages, which Malcolm wrote, was entitled "The Modern Evolution of Life." Malcolm took it of the shelve, sat down on his lounge chair and began to read?

"Extinction has always been a great mystery. It's happened five major times on this planet, and not always because of an asteroid. Everyone's interested in the Cretaceous die-out that killed the dinosaurs, but there were die-outs at the end of the Jurassic and Triassic as well. They were severe, but they were nothing compared to the Permian extinction, which killed ninety percent of all life on the planet, on the seas and on the land. No one knows why that catastrophe happened. But I wonder if we are the cause of the next one. Human beings are so destructive, that sometimes I wonder if that is our place in this world. That every few eons a certain specie comes along and is destined to destroy the rest of the species in the world and then, history repeats itself, again?