In the far distance, this Tuesday, here in the land of the future dead (where time runs backwards, but everyone runs backwards too, so through double-negative they seem to be running forwards)... a volcano is erupting, emptying the towns under it, whose inhabitants rush by down this country road. Running through the outer villages, nearer the highway, their panic gives way to more serious business... for these people are Vampire Eaters... and one among them has discovered that there are few monsters of this sort camped in the exterior villages, which they haven't visited since the last eruption. This leads to a lot of excitement, as they try to chase down some undead victims for lunch.     He told me that these bees had come to Basra through a cave that led to the center of the earth, where there was a planet that someday I would visit.