Lucy looked at where the ape had gone in awe. "And so it begins, again. Well, I guess I'll have to change my plans." She turned and walked back the way she had come, deliberately not putting out the fire.
Ten minutes later, she came across Reggie and Mike, who were standing over Jebadiah's grave. There was a wooden cross at it's head, although it was hardly necessary. This whole world was a monument to him. Several feet away, a dimensional gate stood, marking the way back to Earth.
"I've changed my mind." She told them. "I'll be going back to Earth with you after all."
"Really." Mike looked around at the transformed red planet. Several billion years of evolution had occured in only a few days. The Regman had been right, even he did not put on a show this good. The reaction Lucy had set off with the excess energy from the death of the part of her that had been Or'b had played out now, and the future developement of this world would occur at a normal rate. "What changed your mind?"
"When I was down by the river, I saw an ape using fire. I won't make Or'b's mistake. I won't interfere with the destiny of others."
"An ape using fire." Reggie thought about this. "What does that mean. What will happen to this world?"
"In a few million years? Probably they'll do the same damn silly thing all over again."
Mike blanched, remembering the horror that had only just ended. "You mean this could happen...again?"
"Well, Reg told you about the paradox this world existed in before I brought it across to your side of the death barrier, didn't he." Mike nodded. "Well, since the realm beyond death is infinitely large, theoretically speaking, there must be an infinite number of such worlds as this was, existing in a paradoxal balance between life and death. So yes, this could happen again, if someone recreated Jebadiah's theories and equipment." She grinned and winked. "Free will's a bitch, ain't it. Still, perhaps it's always happened this way. And at least Or'b can count sheep now instead of grains of sand."
She put one arm around Mike, and the other around Reggie. "Come on, Regman. I want you to take me back to Earth and get some of this icecream you keep telling me about, and see if it's really as good as you say."
The three new freinds turned and vanished into the dimensional forks. The silver pillars remained for a moment, and then vanished as well, leaving only the songs of birds and the bloom of life to fill Jebadiah's new world.