  We study the detailed process by which slow contraction smooths and flattens
the universe using an improved numerical relativity code that accepts initial
conditions with non-perturbative deviations from homogeneity and isotropy along
two independent spatial directions. Contrary to common descriptions of the
early universe, we find that the geometry first rapidly converges to an
inhomogeneous, spatially-curved and anisotropic ultralocal state in which all
spatial gradient contributions to the equations of motion decrease as an
exponential in time to negligible values. This is followed by a second stage in
which the geometry converges to a homogeneous, spatially flat and isotropic
spacetime. In particular, the decay appears to follow the same history whether
the entire spacetime or only parts of it are smoothed by the end of slow
contraction.
