the Earth is going to be destroyed by killer, self-replicating probes, and they’ve set the event that’s going to cause the end in motion, and it’s basically on a timer at the center of the Earth, and everyone is AWARE of it, but there’s absolutely nothing anybody can do. But it sets up this eerie part of the book where the world is completely screwed, but people are still alive and everything SEEMS normal, and they have to go about their lives. But it’s over, everyone knows it, and everyone is just kind of going around with this oppressive elephant in the room. That’s now.