Vasilia turned in her chair, starting her terminal with a few listless taps; it booted to a prompt-- she was more comfortable with a command line than with the nannying graphic interfaces-- and a few strokes started her simulation program.

"I have," she said, watching the initial random population -- represented as a hundred-by-hundred grid of colored squares, of various brightness and hue to represent their default strategy and status-- start to shift and interact. "I have been a roboticist for twenty six decades, and I studied it for two decades before I was qualified for the title. It has brought me a great deal of joy. But; I had never considered an end to that work." She finally looked back at him, her interjection of pre-emptive argument perfunctory and without bite- "I am aware that it was a short sighted view. You hardly need to tell me."