It is now 3.8 billion years in the ancient past. The final great meteor bombardments have ended, earths youthful proto sun shines in the sky. So it begins..... Earth, barren and sterile lies before the great Progenitor race. The first race in our galaxy to reach sentience has arrived. Great machines, huge, reach into the sky, dwarfing the 3000 foot high peaks nearby. The vast engines of terraforming have been initiated. Temperatures are raised above freezing and the ice oceans of earth are thawed. Liquid water is broken down, the excess hydrogen slowly floating skyward and dispersed into space while more and more oxygen is freed into the water and air. Unfortunately it will not last. Before all but the earliest effects, the great Progenitor's disappear. As fast as they arrive, their great efforts are dismantled and taken back into space. With a sun whose luminosity is less then 50% of todays, the earths oceans will freeze over once more. Fortunately, a few stray microbes from the efforts of terraforming will survive. They will Huddle near the hot deep sea vents and slowly evolve. Billions of years in the distant future those tiny creatures will evolve into the lifeform known as man. ************** All Xfrog modelled, rendered in Bryce 5. First time trying those pesky and time consuming volumetric clouds. Most nasty, even simple low quality test renders take forever.