... Robert Bradbury, in his dark suit of light absorbing
nanoarmour, lept into the pit twirling his double-bladed light saber. To the left were massed the astromers with their simplistic assumptions of the universe, to the right stood the SETI fans warily eyeing the individual who threatened to make null-and-void years of painstaking work and zillions of CPU cycles. In the background could be heard the occasional clap or cheer of those forward thinking nanotechies and extropians. The battle had begun.
Then Zentropy, the hyper-cognitive selectionist, looks down into the pit.
Sunlight reflecting from her brilliant neutrino-shield body armor blinds
the SETI fans who can't stop looking. (They never used their eyes properly.)
Just back from viewing a lunar eclipse, the astronomers quickly don
protective eyewear.
A card flies from a star-gazers shirt pocket. Game over.
"Card-carrying Nextropian pigs, eat grunt!" she prompts.
Then, after whisking RJB into a crowd of admiring pals,
the HCS sits quietly, doing nothing.
Autumn comes, tree leaves all change colors,
and so do ETIs.