Museum Piece

It telepaths in from Zelenium 3, Which orbits a binary star, Having the advantage of being, In telepathic terms, not so very far. The host robot stirs As it becomes a whole Neuronic circuits active As the visitor takes control. Sensors adjusting So the ambient light Doesn't damage or overwhelm Any visitor's range of sight. Out into the open Where the visitor meets A totally the empty City Of sterilely clean streets; Sealed from the elements, Showing not a trace Of the builders of the city That ancient alien race. This empty world discovered, Inhabited no more Silent reminder of results Of total biological war. Restored by the federation This planet there to display An assumption of the life As it was lived in its heyday. The robot trundles on The only thing it meets Others of its kind carrying Visitors around the streets. There to learn a lesson Obvious and succinct A brilliant but warring species Whose file is marked extinct. The visitor learns the lesson As the robot moves slowly on Until, the lesson being finished, It telepaths off and is gone. Beyond the sealed city A world of growth and green. The plants have returned In a wild and natural scene There is a scurrying and hurrying On that jungle's floor And maybe, just maybe Echoes of a Tiger's throaty roar