Phew! It's finished. Nearly 13,000 overly pretentious words for your consumption. This is what has been eating up all my blogging time recently, so I hope you consider it worth it. Yours in a choice of formats:

• The original text file
• As PDF, including a preface and explantory text (recommended version)
• As a Word document, for those with Adobe-phobia. Should work in OpenOffice.Org et al.
• As quick-and-dirty HTML exported from word, for those who can't ever be arsed to leave their browser.

Please let me know what you think, by e-mail or in comments :-)

Update: accurate criticisms received so far:

• Arthur C. Clarke does, indeed, want his book back. But all creativity is synthesis of absorbed information into new forms, so if you were totally unable to discern my influences I'd be surprised and probably disappointed. But I believe it's sufficiently original to stand on its own.
• The beginning is dull, because it's so obviously just there to set up the scene, which is contrived. But there's a joke about it being silly and contrived, so that's okay.
• It's not really got a plot. It's just an argument. Nothing happens.
• The characters aren't developed or explored. Sorry if that bothers you, but really they're just vehicles for the words.
• There is no climax. A criticism that currently applies to my life as well, but I'm enjoying it anyway.
• It's not very accessible. Yeah, a play that expects you to have already read The Selfish Gene is probably going to alienate a few people. Sorry about that again.