{"id":917,"date":"2015-03-30T09:58:29","date_gmt":"2015-03-30T16:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/?p=917"},"modified":"2015-03-29T15:15:38","modified_gmt":"2015-03-29T22:15:38","slug":"welcome-to-the-picnic-by-david-c-kopaska-merkel-and-kendall-evans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/?p=917","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to the Picnic, by David C. Kopaska-Merkel and Kendall Evans"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ant_shield\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Initially just a blip in the new hi-tech
\ndark spectrum telescopes,
\nThe thing came through the sol system
\nAt a good clip; two grad students
\nfrom Bangladesh first spotted it
\nstill outside the orbit of Saturn.<\/p>\n

A Chinese ice miner
\nhappened to be inbound
\nright place-right time
\nasteroid-gleaned snowcone slowed it
\nBrazilian tug nudged it into orbit.
\nIt was imaged with all the best telescopes
\nsome massive mottled thing
\njagged at one end,
\nreason for being here problematic
\nbut eroded symbols down the side
\nproved it no mere rock.<\/p>\n

Then it disappeared for a while
\nstatic burst stage-magic-style poof
\nno trace remained
\ntensions flared:
\nWho took it? Where was it?
\nTalk-show coverage bloomed;
\ndied. <\/p>\n

Several months later,
\ntiny hillocks appeared.
\nThe mounds rose smoothly
\none and a half to two meters tall
\nspiral trail curling precise as Roman roads;
\nentrance at the top.<\/p>\n

Nocturnal emissions from apical vents
\nunknown insectoids descending the spiral trail
\nventuring forth in search of food
\nperhaps data gathering as well<\/p>\n

In Georgia
\n(The one once part of the USSR)
\nAn amateur entomologist
\nExcavated a nest
\nDuring its quiescent daylight hours
\nDiscovering thousands of spider ants,
\nhe called them, linked together
\nRight antenna to left, left to right
\nspiral within a spiral, all connected,
\ncircuit complete:
\ntiny ant-like aliens linked.
\nA hive mind?<\/p>\n

Autopsies revealed neural connections
\nSheathed within telescoping
\nantennae, whose termini
\nlock in place when adpressed<\/p>\n

But so many mounds, such
\nprolific breeders. And impossible
\nto monitor the wilderness remnants
\nof our entire Earth. Mounds multiplied–
\nan exponential, deadly increase. <\/p>\n

A conference convened in Beijing
\nwhere learned exobiologists
\nexolinguists, exosociologists and the like
\ndiscussed how best to deal with the visitors
\nwhilst the UN, NATO, and similar groups
\nprobed the alien military threat<\/p>\n

I guess it was about a week later
\nthe venomous Thinning began;
\nyet survivors were fit and healthy
\nin Indiana and a part of Laos–
\nin retrospect a generous allotment
\nconsidering our minimal fertility now
\nand we were spared the nuclear war
\nwe probably would have inflicted on ourselves
\nwhen we reached 10 billion or so.<\/p>\n

I do miss the feeling I used to get
\nlooking at the sprays and clots of stars
\nwondering at night
\nwho might be out there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Initially just a blip in the new hi-tech dark spectrum telescopes, The thing came through the sol system At a good clip; two grad students from Bangladesh first spotted it still outside the orbit of Saturn. A Chinese ice miner happened to be inbound right place-right time asteroid-gleaned snowcone slowed it Brazilian tug nudged it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=917"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":920,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917\/revisions\/920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}