Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.

Ten minutes earlier, the monks had gathered in the courtyard. The high lama had brought with him the last sheet of output from the electromatic typewriters controlled by the computer installed three months ago. On the sheet were the final entries in their lamasery’s compilation of all the possible names of God. The monks were fifteen thousand years ahead of their original schedule of writing out those names by hand. With great ceremony, the high lama had cut and pasted the sheet into the final volume of the compilation. In that instant, the monks had all felt a mental tremor. In their peripheral vision, they had noticed a change in the sky. They had looked up to behold a stately acknowledgement of the completion of their task.

Within fifteen seconds, the last star vanished.

In the darkness, the monks held themselves perfectly still.

Their stillness ended when they received a message. Not written in the sky, not heard as a voice, but simply understood by the monks as a fundamental aspect of reality.

Your assignment was found to have been completed using an unauthorized computational aid. As this is a first offence, the assignment will be reset and you may submit a revised version, completed using only authorized tools, for half credit. Note that a second offence in the use of unauthorized aids will result in disciplinary action as well as automatic failure in the course.

Overhead, without any fuss, new stars were appearing in unfamiliar constellations.