For eons, the only progression was numbers. From one to two, hydrogen to helium, countless times. Fusing again to carbon and oxygen. In the hearts of stars, in yellow suns, in red giants, in white dwarfs the cosmic chemical dance happened over and over. Even the stars themselves progressed by numbers, as sometimes two would form a binary system. And that could result in a supernova, firing higher elements out into space, even iron which might form the core of planets.

In less than half the time it took for the elements to make stars and the stars to make planets, the Earth performed its own progress. Complexity rose among the chemicals, beyond elements, beyond compounds. The complexity learned to self-replicate and advance, until it crossed that symbolic bridge between simple chemistry and life.

Life grew in diverse ways as the planet turned on its axis, most of its face being bathed in sunlight and darkness, tilting back and forth in revolution. Mutations happened in the biology and some proved to aid in survival and reproduction. Progress, slow and stilted, marked the passage of what was called Time.

Then it looped.

Not much, not by the scale of the universe. A mere three hundred thousand or so of those revolutions, and no real spatial displacement. From the same Earth as it would be, after it too had crossed a bridge, to the Earth as it was, where one was about to be crossed. A signal was sent.

Another conception, another being, another life on Earth. In the womb of a creature of the veldt, gestating and greedily grasping for nutrients, another mutation. But this one would affect the neurochemistry of the young one. His brain would start taking up more energy than usual, and it would pay by showing the hands how to hold tools, to get the food, to create the energy, to make more tools, to get more food…

He would be the first human. Names would not come for a long time, but even if he had had one, his life would be lost and forgotten long before history even began. But there in the womb, the future made its move. As the brain grew, in addition to its natural changes, subtle manipulations carved out a space that would do so much more. It would store, it would preserve, and it would send into space.

The creature—the man—lived his life. He knew hunger, and thirst, and pain, oh so much pain. But he also knew joy, not least the joy of the act which brought new life into the world, and he sired many offspring, for though the females of his tribe had not the same mutation that he did, he was a good provider, and they wanted their children to be strong as he was.

And when his own time came to end, and pain returned for the last time, the part of his brain that was changed took over, and showed him the path forward. It would be hundreds of thousands of years before the horse even evolved into being, so the human had no way of knowing what he had become. And part of him felt wrong to lose his hands and to no longer stand upright.

But there was food there, and his tribemates, and his sons, and there was joy. And no more pain. Progress was made.