Sentence:  Mike stopped to cherish all his brother selves , the many threes-fulfilled on Mars , corporate and discorporate , the precious few on Earth - the unknown powers of three on Earth that would be his to merge with and cherish <WSD>now</WSD> that at last long waiting he grokked and cherished himself . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events