all these writers, Krauss, Penrose, Carroll imply that there was time and energy in the "void" preceding the big bang - Prologos
"The lesson is clear: quantum gravity not only appears to allow universes to be created from nothing - meaning, in this case, I emphasise, the absence of space and time - it may require them. "Nothing" - in this case no space, no time, no anything! - is unstable." - A Universe From Nothing, Lawrence Krauss 2012