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Time, the great equalizer

Gives and takes all away

Aeons go by, stars dim and fade

But the only constant is change

Borne forth from a fragile seed

Germination phase

Life explodes to conquer all this barren domain

Sentient machines

Observe from afar

Experiments to harvest all the ones that remain

Endless cycles, wars ebb and flow

Impossible planet-cracking weapons are loosed

Empires fall and the mighty brought low

Internecine conflict

Rips the galaxy apart

All sides obey the only law

Survival at all costs

Lurking unseen

Hidden from all

The hunters in the dark

Waiting for a signal

They send extinction to the weak

Any communications sent

Used to triangulate position

More technologically advanced

Prey upon the young

The wise seal themselves off

Isolate through camouflage

Exploration forbidden

Defenses built up

For all time

Strive to stay alive

We must provide

A sign

A monument or a tombstone

Who will remember us?

When we leave this all behind

Give them a sign

Maybe we were wrong

Maybe the universe doesn't mean death

Can we find others?

Can we try to make something good?

Suspicion will be our undoing

Scarcity will force our hand

Power isn't the only way

Peace can make us whole

We refuse to be a cult of death

We refuse to be destruction

As we reach out to the stars

A change is made to our consciousness

Digitize our very souls

Send them through space and time

The only laws we now obey

The pillars of the fabric of reality

Even these we twist and bend

Masters of our own fate