The trees had no say in this at all.  They had been wondering what all the noise was, but, because they were unable to actually leave the spot where they were planted, were unable to look just beyond the knoll to see what was happening.  They could sense something was wrong—terribly wrong.  The tallest of them tried to peer above the ridge but was unable to see anything except the unusual swaying of the topmost branches of all of the trees on the other side.  One by one, the crown of each tree shook, then leaned to one side, then disappeared entirely.  Then the foreign noise would start again.  The tall one could not think what this sight might imply.  It had been going on for days.  First, the noise was all that was heard.  When it started, the action was much too far away to even summon much attention from this sector of trees.  It kept getting closer until, at last the tall one could get a small glimpse of the destruction.  Destruction it was.  There was no doubt about that.  Although trees cannot scream, they certainly give off vibrations.  The vibrations coming from all of the trees that were in the area where the noise, strange shaking, and motion were coming from were of pure fear followed by nothing.  The trees in this sector had never experienced other trees sending messages containing nothing.  It was loathsome and horrifying.  If only it could be understood.  If only something could be done to prevent that noise from coming their way.  They were just trees.  What could they do?  Although they didn’t know it, there was nothing they could do.  They were doomed to local extinction.  This was an extinction that they could not fathom.  Interestingly, the creatures causing these phenomena could not understand the implications either.  Neither the trees nor the noise making creatures knew that, in the not too distant future, both species would cease to exist.  The entire planet would be occupied by non-thinking, non-feeling organisms or perhaps by nothing at all.

~ Bob Zaboo