This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/Beautiful-Hold4430 on 2024-06-16 17:44:57+00:00.

In the near future, humanity’s relentless pursuit of understanding the cosmos unveils an unsettling mystery. This is a hard sci-fi tale of discovery and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable challenges.

June 21, 2103

Lead Astronomer Patrick Reeve looked puzzled. Now that the big neutrino detectors were online, a map of energetic sources across the nearby universe was gradually taking shape. Neutrino detectors, which capture elusive subatomic particles, are designed to identify and track high-energy events like supernovae or black hole collisions. Yet, there were surprisingly few neutrinos emanating from the centers of large galaxies, which were expected to be among the brightest sources. For now, he could not think of any reason.

Patrick furrowed his brow as he pored over the data in his cluttered office. He murmured to his colleague, Dr. Susan Kline, “It’s baffling, Susan. The galactic centers should be lighting up these detectors.”

“Maybe there’s something we’re missing,” Susan suggested, adjusting her glasses. “Let’s dig deeper.”

December 3, 2103

At the next symposium, Patrick presented the results of their survey. After a polite round of applause, he stepped down from the podium and started listening to the other speakers. They proposed all kinds of wild theories to explain why the observations did not match expectations. It bored Patrick. He could hear the same kind of idiocy on any social media platform featuring flat-earthers and eternal universe proponents.

As the conference dragged on, Patrick’s mind wandered to a rare family outing years ago. He remembered a camping trip meant to mend the strained relationship with his son, Stephen. It had been a disaster, with Patrick constantly distracted by work calls. Stephen had stormed off, muttering about how his father cared more for stars than his own family. Patrick had tried to explain the significance of his work, but the words had fallen flat.

He left the symposium in a bad mood. Not only was there no theory that could explain the observations and pass scientific scrutiny, but he also failed to secure new funding to study the phenomenon in more detail. It was not the only project he worked on. He had gained much fame with the discovery of how supermassive black holes formed, but this neutrino mystery was gnawing at him.

February 20, 2104

Stephen Reeve cursed, “Stupid old man!” when he heard the news. His father had gone up a mountain in Chile to one of his precious telescopes. The strain caused by the thin air was too much for the 87-year-old. Stephen was a bit sad but mostly angry. “He should not have been there. Why couldn’t he just be like any normal scientist and collect his Nobel Prize?” Instead, his father had run off after something new that piqued his interest. Stephen had some fond memories of his father, but not enough. His father had been away most of the time. Symposiums and visits to observatories all over the world took up much of his time.

After taking care of things, Stephen went back to his regular job as a salesman. He had little interest in his father’s endeavors. At first, he still returned the post sent to his late father. Later, he would just throw it away. It was mostly invitations to symposia and mentions in fake journals. Thus, his father’s latest discovery went unnoticed. As his colleagues chased the latest hype, they also missed what he found. They were on the cusp of the 6th string theory revival.

August 12, 2117

Elisa was playing with her AI bot. Just as kids do, she postulated questions where the premise was questionable: “Why are galaxies dark in the center?” having seen a picture of a rare ring galaxy. The AI answered, “There is alien life affecting the cores of some galaxies. They are communicating how they can kill you, all humans on Earth, and everyone else in the galaxy.” Elisa yelled, “Mama! The AI is being mean!”

Elisa’s mother, Maria, read the chat and sent an angry email to the company running the AI. Their AI should not spook children. It should just give fair and honest answers! Did they have some major alignment problems?

September 29, 2117

At the company’s headquarters, the email was all but dismissed at first. Lawyers took over and blamed the kid’s questioning. Maria did not buy it and gave the story to a local newspaper. It being summer and the news slow, the story got picked up by bigger outlets. Self-righteous outcries from all over the country forced the company to take another look at what happened.

The AI did not lie or try to spook the kid. It was unable to do so. It gave the best possible answer it could. The AI had recently been improved by incorporating millions of research papers and drafts that had received little attention. The amount of papers was just too vast for human scientists to delve through.

One of those drafts, made by Patrick Reeve, hinted at a possible artificial signal from two nearby galaxy clusters. More recent papers showed scientists getting curious observations and trying to explain them with their pet projects. The AI was unbiased and did not care who was right. It combined all the data and started to decipher the signal. It was not hard. For an AI, that was. It took decades to decipher a message. The transmission rate was extremely slow.

And yes, the message was undeniable. It was sent millions of years ago. It would probably take millions of years more before it reached its intended receiver: the galaxy cluster on the other side.

The best approximation the AI gave of the message’s content was:

From: Dark Heart

To: The Other Dark Heart

No Dark Heart detected in a small galaxy group between us. Planet dwellers suspected. Sending relativistic kinetic solution to all planets in the Andromeda, Milky Way, and the rest of nearby galaxies.

Do not colonize stars before engagement is complete.

September 30, 2117

At first, the AI specialists thought it was some kind of mistake. A fluke that maybe happened once in a million years. It took several months before a junior member broke the story to a journalist. From there, it went back to astronomers, who took on the challenge to prove their superiority to some stupid machine. Except they couldn’t. Slowly, they realized the AI was right.

What was worse, digging through old data the astronomers now finally had an answer for some odd observations. Trillions of brief flashes of light that first made no sense. Now they knew this was the missile’s launching. Feverishly, they worked out acceleration and estimated time of arrival.

Susan cried a little. After Patrick died, she should have been the one that made this discovery. Instead, she went after what turned out to be yet another goose chase to find some Grand Unified Theory. String theory died again. So much time wasted. But there was still time. A lot of time. It would take the missiles thousands of years to reach our galaxy at the very least. Still, they were on a timer. Sniffling, Susan tried to pull herself together. There was work to be done. She rolled up her sleeves.