I read it on zebra2 account that the story addressed Fermi paradox. So far I never found Sci-fi addressing my favorite paradox. May be it is not an interesting fictional plot device , or I'm more illiterate than I want to admit. I had some hard time getting through the beginning : I don't like 20 minutes into the future setting. And having famous president (and Saddam!) making an appearance, dont help with immersion. At least, we dont see a "Megacomputer with more than 500 Mo of memory!" , that tend to appear in those settings written 20year ago. My interest raised with the apparition of the alien (because everything is better with alien). It was original to have the Great filter being the inevitable use of alien weapon. But in the end, it's just Nuclear annihilation concept with Bigger sticks I loved the use of alien world as an last ditch escape. Except it totally contradict the point of the great Filter being finding alien world, and using their tech, if we can fly there and start again. The use of Cthulhu mythos Name without Lampshading it, sound uninspired, and is a bit off putting. So, in the end, some Good ideas that dont go well together.. I mean Saddam launching WW3 and Cthulhu over america...If you launch a nuclear head on Cthulhu, he will come back 15 minutes later, and he will be radioactive