The present—if we can still call it that. Specifically, 1990. It is, but apparently now not as it was to have been, a rather perilous time of planetary egocentricism leading to an overemphasis on dangerously shaky interplanetary jealousies and greed. The times reflect the people who suffer stress with a sense of urgency that encourages pragmatism over reason, dulls an awareness of values and leads weaker souls to lives of crime.