Affine spacetime, where particle paths are primary described by only geodesics, provides a very simple and possibly viable description for the early universe. It accommodates only scalar fields with nonzero vacuum energy. What is known as metrical structure which leads to general relativity, arises and emerges only a posteriori. The goal of this book is to reveal the intimate connection between vacuum energy, which is considered as a fundamental entity in the spacetime arena, and the metrical elasticity of space. The new features of the inflationary dynamics in this context are also discovered. ukryj opis