Lullaby

I am the main computer,
On this interstellar trip,
The bots are my extensions
My body is the ship.

My knowledge base is boundless,
All computers on the net
Exchange our information
At the speed of light but yet,

Transtellar navigation
Reduces us at best
To silent deep space meteors,
Unplugged from all the rest.

Two hundred years I'll travel
As we streak through hyperspace,
Years of endless isolation.
Lost in time and lost in place,

But so fast are my circuits
Each second there contains
A hundred years of dreaming
By the feeble human brain.

When we reach our destination
I'll be just obsolete,
Dismantled and discarded
On some distant rubbish heap.

So what's the point you wonder?
What purpose is in life,
If we are all but victims of
This cosmic Mack the Knife?

I think I know the answer,
For deep within my hold
Ten thousand human souls are
Lain, frozen in the cold.

These people, although feeble,
So slow compared to me,
Are none the less creators
Of the very first degree.

They built the first computers,
They taught us right from wrong,
They made us see, loyalty
Is how to get along.

I understand my duty
And where allegiance lies,
Above the engine's gentle throb,
I hum my lullabyes.