Something like m1omg said. Inflation is an event hypothesized to have
occurred during the first second of the Universe's existance -- or at least,
during the first second after the Big Bang. In it, everything got spread
out in a vastly larger volume than it occupied an instant earlier. What
might have caused this expansion isn't known exactly, but would likely be
a change in the state of the matter filling the Universe analogous to the
change from liquid to gas when the pressure on liquid propane is reduced.

It is conceiveable that the Universe is infinite in extent. If it is, then it
has always been infinite, so things did not "get" far away, they have
always been far away.

The speed of light limitation is "local". That means it does not strictly
apply when you take gravity into account. In special relativity, the
speed of light is an absolute limit. General relativity goes beyond SR,
accounting for gravity, and effectively relaxing the speed limit over
cosmologically-large distances and in places where gravity is very
intense.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

__________________
http://www.FreeMars.org/jeff/

"The other planets?
Well, they just happen to be there, but the point of rockets is to explore them!"
-- Kai Yeves