AN: So I've joined the Grand Library of Ashurbanipal, you guys can find me by my Discord tag of Echidna.
If you guys have any questions, you can ask there.
Invite link: VVnUGnfHce
This Entry is NON-CANON as it doesn't follow the inspired inventor's timeline. Think of this as an AU that's an amalgamation of everything, sort of like how Type Moon made that cooking with the Emiya family. However, the things that are raised inside this chapter like Supercausality are canon.
_____________________________________________
Intergalactic space.
"..."
I stared at the object in front of me.
About 12 hours ago, one of my Von Neumann Exploration Probe found an anomaly within deep interstellar space within a galaxy some 23 billion lightyears away from the planet where I reincarnated on.
It was an anomaly because it's something much denser than the surrounding interstellar medium. Normally the probe would've dismissed it as an asteroid or a rogue planet, except its shape is far too different for it to be anything but intelligent design.
The dumb AI contained within the probe then alerted me of this unforeseen and potentially earth-shattering revelation of finally there being another spacefaring alien race out there, somewhere.
This leads to my current situation.
The alien probe is isolated inside a sterilized, low-light, vacuum chamber to prevent oxidization of any potential metals, it's also presently levitated slightly in the air using a magnetic field.
With a silent motion, the door to the vacuum chamber opens. In the interest of preserving such an alien artifact, I wore a dark-grey environmental skinsuit that's flawless and without holes down at the nanoscopic scale. This skinsuit is so isolating that a human could live out the rest of their natural life inside the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone without any uptick in the risk of cancer assuming they never take it off.
Slowly but surely, I approach the object in question. The inside of my helmet lit up to create a Heads-Up Display.
The probe in question is built around a large dish some 8-meters across. Around the dish are multiple protrusions— metal scaffolding— that are tipped by what I can only assume to be measuring instruments. Overall, it looks like a larger version of something like the Voyager spacecraft from my old world.
Perhaps a convergent design? It is quite possible that all early spacecraft made by intelligent hands have similar designs.
Touching the probe gently with my right hand, I activated [Unlimited Alchemy] to give me a general overview of the materials used to build this thing.
Iron, steel, carbon, gold— all of the usual suspects. Whoever made this probe came from a small terrestrial planet with a weaker gravity than Earth's, and based on the semiconductors and measuring instruments, probably had a technology level parallel to late-20th century Earth.
Looking around the thing, I ducked my head underneath a metal antenna and had to close my eyes as a ray of reflected light passed through my retinas.
Opening my eyes once I've moved a couple of centimeters, I found a large golden plate attached underneath the metal dish to be responsible for the reflection of light.
Approaching it, I found scratching engraved upon the circular plates.
With a single tab of the interface on my left forearm, the flashlight on the sides of my helmet lit up so I could better observe the engraving.
It's... really strange engravings from a single brief glance. There are these lines that come out of a singular point as though it's a star. Next to it is these two circles each containing a 'keyhole' that is placed next to each other, connected via a single line with a tiny protrusion downward at the middle. Further upward, there is this really decorated circle. Next to the circle are these squiggly lines that vaguely resemble something from a really condensed line graph.
Fascinating. It appears whoever made this is able to see it visually.
Carefully, I traced my hands across this golden record and found an abnormally large amount of uranium-238. Based on the radioactive decay of the element, it's been about 980,000 years.
Using [Unlimited Alchemy], I took down the plate and gently levitated it midair using a hastily [Technopathy] constructed magnetic field manipulator.
Flipping it over, I found the plate—
Wait, this is a music disc!
Inspecting the fine grooves on the plate with a careful eye, I concluded whoever made this definitely has the ability to hear things.
So the alien race who made this probe must have touch, sight, and hearing.
My mind dragged me back to how my old world also sent multiple of these probes out into space in hopes of an alien receiving them.
I feel a sense of immeasurable honor. Finally, I've been given the chance to do the First Contact with legitimate spacefaring aliens.
Materializing a holographic panel, I used it to cease all Von Neumann drone activities within the galaxy where this probe was found in.
Best not to interact with them until I've deciphered this plate-record thing.
Flipping the golden record over, I figured some of these engravings must be information on how to play it.
Part of my mind can't help but feel like it would've been more efficient if I had just aimed some of my subspace sensors toward the space where the probe had been in to potentially find this alien civilization... yet I find that prospect to be immensely disrespectful considering the amount of thought that must've gone into this record to ensure aliens like myself would figure it out.
This is the sole link between myself and another alien race. An intelligent alien race that's capable of space travel.
I wonder if they have things like Skills or Magic but it doesn't appear so, seeing as this probe doesn't have a trace of any magical metals like magisteel, orichalcum, or mithril.
It's a bit odd how the planet I was reincarnated on has the highest concentration of magic in the entirety of the space I've surveyed, with the second place having a mere drop compared to the ocean that is the first place.
Automatically, the floor extended upward to create a chair for me to sit on.
It is truly an honor. Considering how this is the only thing my Von Neumann probe has detected, it is quite likely this civilization hasn't discovered Superluminal Travel, meaning that I would essentially be the one to introduce them to the universal stage.
I found myself going into all kinds of sci-fi and space opera scenarios before stopping. The human form is clearly reserved solely for the planet I'm on if other, more primitive aliens like the Narbarians are any indication.
Internally, I feel thankful that I'm alone right now with no one seeing me, especially when my face is starting to hurt from how large my smile is and how long it's stayed that way.
I feel like a prisoner on the last day of their incarceration, or a child coming back from summer break to finally meet their friends again.
I feel like a human who's been denied social contact finally being able to talk with someone else.
Truly, I feel like crying tears of joy.
Finally.
Finally, the Great Silence is over. I imagine having conversations with alien philosophers, debating aspects of spacetime and physics with alien scientists, and enlightening cultural exchanges with their artists.
In a way, the search for alien life is a lot like the search for God. I search for life in an attempt to find the truth.
There are a lot of dead worlds within the habitable zone of their star, and what few worlds that do have life, most only have creatures that are as intelligent as apes. This made me create two Great Filters on the cosmological staircase of life; one on the development of self-replicating chemistry, and one on the development of truly self-aware and intelligent creatures.
Every million light years I had the Von Neumann probe stop and sense for potential gravitational wave anomalies that suggest attempts at communication, tachyonic signatures, subspace signals, or patterns within the passive neutrino cloud streaming across intergalactic space in hopes of getting something— anything— that proves there's intelligent spacefaring lifeform or an empire spanning multiple star systems attempting to communicate with the outside world.
So to see another race getting past that...
To see another alien race with technology beyond stones...
I felt a sense of cosmic kinship.
Without waiting anymore, I took a serious analytical look at the golden record, every specialty within [Inspired Inventor] active to aid me in this quest for the truth of this disc and how fast I'm supposed to play it.
Part of my mind notes how incredible it is for aliens to actually use discs to play music with, but only to get a slap from my logical side seeing how the circle is a really simple and universal shape.
Immediately, [Molecular Engineering] figure out that the 'keyhole' is in fact representative of a hydrogen atom, with its single electron and a single proton.
Next, the specialty then helped me realize this is a diagram representing a Hyperfine Transition of a hydrogen atom, where their particles transition between parallel and antiparallel spins. During this transition, particles release electromagnetic radiation whose wave is measured at 0.7 nanoseconds and is about 21 centimeters long per period.
The point of this is probably first to establish a common denominator for units of measurement, after all, who's to say the aliens even know how long a meter is? Or how would I know their unit?
Next, I paid attention to the 'star'. It's almost like one of those perspective puzzles, where the object looks extremely out of whack unless you look at it from a certain angle...
Angle...
Hovering my left hand over the 'star', a perfectly recreated holographic copy seeped up from the record as if gravity was reversed and into my waiting palm.
Holding it, the two-dimensional image quickly expanded into three dimensions as the computer decipher where each line is supposed to point to.
Truly, holograms are one of my most useful tinkertechs.
I then had the station supercomputer try and match this 'perspective puzzle' with all the stars within that galaxy. That center is probably where the planet of these aliens is from.
Afterward, I returned to focus on the golden record.
How do I play this record? How long is each rotation?
Before I could continue anymore, an alert was issued on my HUD telling me the computer had found a 98.9% match. The computer had isolated the possible placement of the planet with a 67-lightyear cubed region of space.
I was visibly excited.
Finally!
I was so excited that I almost forgot I was still holding the golden record as I stepped out of the vacuum chamber where the alien probe was stored in.
Eh... I'll hold onto it, it's not like the rest of this space station has any air in it anyway. I don't need air.
The space station I'm on is in the shape of a wagon wheel a kilometer wide. Since this wheel is spinning, it creates an illusion of gravity through centrifugal force.
Reaching one of the 'spokes' of this enormous wagon wheel, the Mathematic automatically called for an elevator.
The wall opened up, revealing a well-lit box. It's nothing as fancy as the Citadel or any within Metropolis since I doubt I'll ever use this station ever again.
In fact, let's make this a monument after I'm done instead of just scraping it. Or maybe I'll give it to this alien race as a welcoming gift, to also show that I mean no harm.
The technology on this station isn't anything too impressive. I mean, it's not even pressurized due to how hastily I had it built due to the appearance of this alien probe. I think the magnetic field manipulator could possibly interest this alien race, but nothing's a guarantee until I know how advanced they are.
Going in, the box automatically moved upward towards the communication area.
As I neared the top, I started to float before the Mathematic clung to the floor using magnets.
I felt a force pushing me to the right before suddenly disappearing when I finally reached the center point of this station.
Due to the simple fact that there's no air in here, the typical sound of metal hitting metal that should've come from my magnet boots doesn't exist. I won't lie, it felt a bit weird walking using magnet boots as the only thing that's stopping me from floating away in this zero-g environment. It's a bit like walking across a sticky surface, where you'll have to input extra force just to walk a few steps.
Looking around me, I'm greeted by the sight of a rather bland cylinder room with a chair at the center. The room is around a dozen meters across and two meters tall, with me standing on the curved side or 'height' of that cylinder.
Lacking any windows, it would've been almost catastrophic had it not been for its size.
Disabling the boot, I grabbed onto the rungs on the floor and started climbing up, quickly reaching the center of this room.
Sitting down, the room darkened as my field of vision was suddenly bombarded with multiple holographic panels displaying all kinds of information.
Giving them a quick gloss over and seeing how nothing was out of place, I dismissed them all.
Opening another holographic tab, I aimed a tachyon sonar at the region of space where the planet was supposedly located and started sweeping.
Special Relativity would dictate that any object traveling faster than the speed of light would be traveling through time. This is known as the Tachyonic Antitelephone thought experiment, otherwise called: Tolman's Paradox.
The thought experiment basically states how from the perspective of a relativistic ship experiencing time dilation, an FTL message they receive would occur before the event actually happens.
However, that's like trying to use Newtonian Physics to describe the quantum world: it just doesn't work.
You can't use the Theory of Relativity to describe objects moving faster than the speed of light, more so when it's stated that no information COULD travel faster than light.
A new theory is required.
A theory that would become the third pillar within a hypothetical Theory of Everything, beyond the Theory of Relativity and the Theory of Quantum Mechanics, this is one that would describe things and particles moving faster than the speed of light.
The Theory of Supercausality.
The Theory essentially states that all subluminal particles are affected by Conventional Causality, that is, they're affected by General and Special Relativity and superluminal particles are affected by Supercausality.
Supercausality states time for all superluminal particles and observers is the same no matter what. In simpler terms, if displayed on a Minkowski diagram of spacetime, one second is the same for all observers no matter their speed so long as they're above lightspeed. Instead of traveling backward in time ala Tolman's Paradox, the FTL message travels forward irrelevant of the time dilation made by Special Relativity.
To use the simplest metaphor possible, one could think of whenever somethings enter superluminal speeds, it would quite literally enter a totally different realm, another dimension detached yet subtly connected to the conventional world in a way analogous to how the micro world is detached yet still affects the macro world.
The Reference Frame of the Universe, I named this dimension 'Supercausal Spacetime', but I mostly refer to it as just 'spacetime' since I doubt anyone other than me would know what Supercausality even is.
Within the Theory of Supercausality, Tachyons are more than mere particles. Instead, they're an entire class of particles like Quarks or Bosons that encompasses all FTL particles. I had to expand the Standard Model to include new imaginary particles.
Disturbingly, Supercausality raises some scary implications concerning the nature of reality, namely, that time is somehow an illusion.
It disturbed me so much that I took the rest of the day off.
After around a minute of constant tachyonic sweeping, I found 24 stars, 678 objects larger than 1,000 kilometers across, but zero habitable planets or any evidence of an interstellar empire.
That's strange. Based on the radioactive decay of the uranium within that plaque, it's been only 980,000 years since that probe launched into space.
The alien race that sent this out into space must've had expansionist tendencies out in space, as you wouldn't have spent money on an endeavor you find wasteful.
I'd expect a multisystem empire already, with possibly the home system already having a Dyson Sphere.
Immediately, my mind supplied me with the fact that it's quite possible the aliens have died out.
The happy mood I had was swiftly washed away. In its place is a void of sedated melancholy.
Then, I decided to expand my search to the billions of stars within a thousand-light-year radius. Using [Technopathy], I had all nearby Von Neumann probes within a 400-lightyear distance congregate at my location.
If I'm going to sweep an entire section of this ring galaxy, I'm going to need a more robust scanner. This space station doesn't have enough mass to build a scanner capable of detailing and cataloging billions of stars within minutes.
Opening another holographic panel, I was about to alert Shizue of the fact that I'm going to be late before realizing that she was in Ingrassia, with Rimuru.
I'll leave a note for Arcueid then. That should be enough right?
I felt an involuntary shiver at the lie I couldn't even fool myself with. My mind started coming up with things I could make up to the True Ancestor as a 'sorry' before colorful fireworks of light appeared in the far distance, heralding the arrival of 733 cylinder-shaped Von Neumann probes.
Extending my [Technopathy]'s control over every inch of the probes, I started by unraveling the entire metallic frame of these cylinders so I could better access their insides.
I then started procedurally unmaking the probes piece by piece by taking out what I need akin to a child taking the pieces out of an already created lego build to create something else.
I'm going to need multiple tachyon sonars.
Despite the noninteractive nature of the baryonic matter in relation to anything faster than light, large masses like moons or planets still leave an 'imprint' of sorts upon Supercausal Spacetime due to their gravitational attraction. This means that so long as one could read these imprints, one could efficiently acquire information about a large region of space.
Albeit the accuracy leaves much to be desired. Despite my best effort, anything with less than 0.3% of Earth's gravity might as well be indiscernible from the background due to how little gravity they expel outward.
I call them tachyon sonars simply because their principle is similar to the sonars you'd find in Submarines.
As I was making them, I sunk some charges of [Inspired Inventor] into specialties that would aid me in rapidly assembling more tachyonic sonars, letting me build them progressively faster and faster.
Eventually, I made close to a hundred tachyonic sonars to sweep everything within the desired section of the galaxy. Every second, millions upon millions of worlds are being cataloged and studied, their composition, their speed, their resources, their everything— all of it laid bare to these sonars.
3.09250%
I watched as the hologram displaying the percentage of stars finished being scanned rise up. My mind started wandering as I tuned out each of my specialties.
8.02788%
15.37541%
Internally, I began to mentally prepare myself for the possibility that they are truly gone.
23.84813%
31.56651%
For social creatures such as myself, having a silent universe is a curse.
39.44183%
45.60730%
I could potentially uplift one of the primitive races, but it feels irresponsible. It's like giving birth to a child, what am I supposed to do afterward? Raise them to my own moral standards? Become their God-King?
62.99833%
Alien races aren't like humans.
75.71834%
In literature— modern literature— being human is often synonymous with being able to empathize with your fellow human.
Empathy, while useful in social animals, aren't always something that evolves parallel with intelligence. One of the most memorable examples documented by the Von Neumann probe was this race of superintelligent aquatic squid-like aliens. They evolved to be so smart because the moment they're born, the squid must quickly learn how to survive since predators are quite literally everywhere— including their parents.
Every time these aliens give birth, it's in the hundreds. If I made them human, if I gave them empathy, the parents would die of exhaustion from trying to save each one of their children.
79.03177%
But then again, I could always just change their physiology, but at what point do they stop being alien and instead become one of my Creations? A race of biological AIs?
It's just like the Ship of Theseus. Whatever 'alien' I create is lacking that element of authenticity, there's no unique culture that comes as a result of thousands of years of independent evolution.
86.52447%
Ah... that's right. When I observed how similar this 'new world' is to my old one, I was disappointed.
I want culture shock. I want to be surprised by alien customs and works of art. I want to see complex alien societies beyond simple tribes.
94.50465%
I want... to feel in awe again. That sense of child-like wonder.
When one expands their knowledge by too little, they would feel that it becomes predictable. When they expand their knowledge by too much, they feel anxiety and fear. There's this sweet spot in terms of discovery that would trigger one's sense of wonder and amazement.
The science I'm discovering— the Theory of Supercausality and the likes— all of these are predictable thanks to the effect and behavior of tinkertechs. I want that sense of awe and amazement. I want more than a simple golden record that contains probably less than a gigabyte of data. Just thinking of the cultural development of a race of aliens almost a million years old has me excited.
100%
>No compatible planets found.
I felt I'd been stabbed when I read the text.
How...
My lips thinned into a line as I look down.
I felt depressed.
The only planet that even has liquid water is this one that's currently spiraling out of control through interstellar space, the water trapped underneath a thick sheet of ice. Obviously, the lack of viable energy sources beyond the ridiculously weak geothermal can't possibly support any forms of spacefaring civilizations.
I slightly entertained the thought that perhaps, by some random chance, this probe came from another universe. Potentially, another alien race from this hypothetical 'other universe' caught the alien probe and sent it here.
Or perhaps it's a Boltzmann brain scenario. Where instead of a brain suddenly appearing out of random chance, it's an entire probe.
"..."
Occam's Razor would suggest otherwise.
But, truly, where is the alien race who sent this? Even if their planet died out through asteroid impact or a nuclear war, the planet itself would still be habitable and perhaps teeming with life. Earth experienced numerous calamities and mass extinction and the biosphere still persists.
Life finds a way, after all.
A sudden sense of drowsiness hit my head as my muscles suddenly felt weak. Trying to move them, I found my legs and fell asleep.
How long have I been sitting here? I opened up a holographic panel that displays time, showing that three days have passed.
Jeez, I lost track of time. Did it really take that long for the sonars to scan those billions of stars? I guess I should take a break...
That's when it hit me: I haven't talked to anyone for the past three days beyond giving them a note.
My eyes widen at that realization. I moved my mouth to curse but since there was no air in this station, the only thing that came out of my mouth was silence.
Shit.
[Silenced Emotion: 10%]
Thanks to [Silenced Emotion], I only felt a tiny bit of fear at the chaos that Arcueid could cause during the time I'm gone.
I'm supposed to be her romantic partner, yet here I am, neglecting her as though she isn't important. As though she didn't help me through what's arguably the roughest period of my time here.
I felt immensely guilty despite [Silenced Emotion] being turned on. With a single use of [Technopathy], I opened up a Doorway to the Citadel.
In order to cross truly vast distances, Doormaker would have to make several different Doorways and layer them together tightly like a sandwich, making the illusion that it's really all a single Door.
Wait for me, Arcueid, I'll make it up to you by whatever means necessary!
_____________________________________________
Later
When I said 'by whatever means necessary', I should've really added an asterisk. Especially considering how I'm the one who usually makes the contract.
Arcueid, upon hearing that, had displayed a mysterious smile, one that wouldn't look out of place on someone who's about to get their rightful revenge. I won't even be embarrassed to say I felt unsettled by her smile.
As it turns out, in order to be a 'proper' romantic partner, Arcueid decided my punishment would be to go shopping with her for an entire day, because apparently, that's what a proper girl would do. Maybe I should've curated the books she consumed instead of letting her roam freely.
Either way, this leads to my current situation, that is, I'm sitting on one of the sofas inside the store, bored out of my mind while Arcueid tries on dozens of clothing from each store on this obviously high-end street. Around me are numerous bags full of different clothing she bought at other stores.
"What do you think?" Arcueid asked as she walked out of the changing room, wearing navy blue jeans and a loose green blouse that ends in strips. The True Ancestor even did a little pose that made her look admittedly quite cute.
Still, if there's one thing I hate more than anything, it's clothes shopping. Even before I reincarnated, when I was little, my parents would take me to places like Old Navy or Hudson's Bay to shop for clothing every September before school starts since I'd grown out of clothing that came from the previous year. It's just so boring, the hours I spent while trying on this clothing could be better used.
Even when I had grown up, unless the clothes I had on me is somehow ripped or otherwise, I'll never step foot in a clothing store.
"It's fine, I think a blue blouse would fit you more."
I'm tempted to zone out and have one of the inactive split personalities I created with [Psychology] take over, but that would make this punishment redundant.
"Hrmmm." The vampire narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "I don't know, I like this green blouse."
"Arcueid, you know that I've seen you conjure up clothing from thin air right?"
"Mhmm"
"So why are you out here buying clothing?" I left out the part where she's using my bank account but since I own galaxies, Arcueid could buy the entirety of Metropolis and it wouldn't even put a dent in my wealth, whether or not I'll allow her to is an entirely different story.
"Why not? It's fun isn't it?"
I gawk at Arcueid in a bit of surprise. Fun? Since when is wasting time on such things fun? Fun is expanding your influence further and further. Fun is doing things no other human has done before. Fun is exploring entirely new ecosystems. Fun is conversing with alien philosophers, artists, and scientists, and reflecting upon the two specie's differences— wait.
"Hmm, I see." While outwardly I appear to be calm, inwardly I was full of astonishment. It's surprising how Arcueid started to enjoy wasting time like this. Based on her past in her own world, you'd think she'll still value efficiency...
I then raised my arms up in a placating gesture, causing the hard plastic bags to slide down my arm like droplets of rain hitting slanted rooftops, "I get that, but why do I have to carry these bags? I have a pocket dimension for a reason."
"Oh, that's just part of your punishment," Arcueid smirked, before moving to one of the racks and picking out some casual clothing.
"'Part'?"
Coming over, Arcueid dropped the clothing onto my lap.
I tilted my head in confusion at the gesture, she's not asking me to—
"Try it out." Arcueid then strode towards a two-seat sofa before sitting, putting one leg over the other and giving me an expecting look, "that's the other part of your punishment. Your wardrobe is literally just white lab coats, you're getting new clothing and I expect you to wear it."
Looking down at the clothing in my lap, [Material Science] instantly recognized the material as a type of synthetic silk, one I gave out for free by posting the blueprint online.
"That's because I have the Block-Form Singularity Mathematics. I can form anything clothing I want. I don't need any extra clothing, the lab coat is just for style!" I protested, but it doesn't seem to have any effect as Arcueid placed a hand above her chest.
In a tone filled with drama, "Oh, what a cruel partner I have. Here I am, helping her pick out some fashionable clothing yet she had gone and completely rejected it!"
I made a sound that sounds like I'd been shot. "...fine."
Getting up, I walked over to the changing room and put on the clothing. In order for the apparel to actually fit, I commanded the Mathematic to retreat into the pocket dimension I always carried with me, exposing my naked form.
It was only when I was halfway through putting on the clothes Arcueid chose for me that I realized exactly WHAT she had given me.
I felt my body grow hot from the embarrassment as I walked out of the changing room, biting my lower lips in frustration. Blood rushed into my cheeks causing them to turn red.
In the end, I still decided to wear it. In spite of how strange it is.
"Well...?" the words had to crawl out of my throat. "What... do... you... think...?"
The clothing that Arcueid had given me consisted of a white short mini-skirt, a tight grey inner shirt, and a large light-grey fluffy wool jacket with a high collar.
My legs felt incredibly exposed. All variants of the Mathematics covered up everything except my head and maybe my hand in case I needed to use [Unlimited Alchemy].
I could almost feel that people were judging me despite there being next to no one in the store itself other than those who worked here, and even then, they're at the other end of this place.
God, how do people in my old world deal with this?!
Arcueid's face lit up like a Christmas tree when she saw me hunched over clutching the skirt to try and get it to lower.
"That looks cute on you!" She said it in such a straight tone it was as if she was declaring a fact instead of an opinion, "We're definitely buying that and you're wearing it the next time we go out."
Oh, come on...
_____________________________________________
Later, an empty room inside the Citadel.
After that rather embarrassing punishment, I was finally alone once more. I should've realized beforehand that some alcohol would've been enough to appease Arcueid considering her low tolerance.
I still feel my cheeks heating up whenever my mind recalls the details of the past 6 hours.
"I gotta give Arcueid props. She knew she couldn't use pain as a motivator, so she used guilt and embarrassment."
Arcueid is sly as hell when she wants to be.
Now that she's gone, the lack of a distraction caused me to once again be reminded of the mysterious gold record.
Materializing a holographic panel in front of me, I found that the gold disk is supposed to complete one rotation every 1.96 seconds.
With a combination of [Technopathy] and [Electronics], I built a music player large enough to play the whole thing out of materials present in my pocket dimension.
The music player is the size of an entire dining table. With another command, I had the music player transported across billions of lightyears through the Doormaker before carefully locking it onto the mount located in the middle of the disk.
I pressed the only button on the box and the disc started spinning.
Immediately, I heard an alien's voice rung out, their language completely alien to me. I felt like that time when I went to China for a business meeting again: I was out of my depth.
I think they're greeting me. Earth alone has plenty of wacky cultural traditions, just imagine how wackier it would be if it's coming from an alien race.
"..."
Being able to decipher alien language from just a few words with absolute accuracy is highly unrealistic. Language, in its most basic form, is the transfer of keystones connecting to certain concepts. For example, when you tell someone you want to 'eat an apple', 'eat' describes a motion of consuming something through the mouth, 'an' is connected to something that's alone, singular, 'apple' is a shortcut used to describe a special kind of fruit.
In a way, you can think of words within a language as shortcuts. Language forms within a complex society because there's a collectively agreed upon 'pool' of definitions and words relating to certain concepts, and when you talk you're exchanging those shortcuts to that pool and referrals to concepts.
In the same way, an alien would find the word 'apple' indecipherable if they don't know about the fruit unless I can establish common grounds, I cannot translate their language.
Thankfully, convergent evolution applies even to languages. Since they too must be intelligent terrestrial carbon-based lifeforms, things like 'eating' or 'numbers' would be a universal constant for life.
Not to mention how Math and Science are requirements for the creation of a rocket, thus a computer would be able to decipher what this alien is saying soon enough, just not as fast as fiction would like you to believe.
It took a few hours, but it's finally done.
I rewind the record back to the directed upon starting position, and pressed play.
"This is Chief Commanding Officer of the Vnni Union of Free Sovereignty of the Vaarstar system. We cast this slip of information out into the Beyond-Sky. According to our best discoverers, it is likely to survive at least eight hundred million orbitals. By then, it is quite likely our civilization has been altered to an almost unknowable level, and the surface of Vaar has changed profoundly."
If you translate the word 'train' (as in the locomotive) directly to Chinese Mandarin, you would literally get 'fire car'. Such subtle and major nuances are lost in translation. It is quite likely this disk would convey far more information, far more feeling, and far more prettiness if I actually spoke their language.
"Our discoverers have concluded there likely exists 500 billion stars within the Star Disk, and that some, maybe many, are inhabited by intelligent others and perhaps even star-treading civilizations. Should one intercepts Wanderer and possess the means to decipher the data disk, here is our message: within this data disk is a small sliver of our culture, our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts, and our feelings. It is a memento of us. We of the Vaars are trying to survive our time, so we may live into yours. We Vaars hope that someday, after solving all of our disputes and obstacles, to join a community of galactic civilizations. This data disk represents our longing dream, perseverance, and philanthropy in a vast and bright Beyond-Sky."
"..."
There's something extremely vulnerable about the message. I felt my eyes tear up as I stared at the record.
Within the record is the last proof that intelligence once existed somewhere. The last evidence that a civilization once existed. It encapsulated the hopes and dreams of countless other sapients just like myself.
It is... something profoundly beautiful.
My hands clenched hard. Normally I wouldn't display such emotions but...
I'm touched. I'm honestly touched by this gesture. It is just so beautiful, and I never use that word lightly.
It was only when it started playing what was probably 'music' that I realized it was still going.
I listened to the music. It consists mostly of simple noises— probably notes— and seemingly random changes in pitches. I'm hearing alien music.
It's certainly different.
Next came a... are those atmospheric noises? Indeed, it appears this alien race recorded the sound of rain and thunder. Around the one-minute mark, the record changed, now playing a song that was undoubtedly made with some kind of percussion instrument. Next came something that clearly came from string instruments.
The record continued for another hour, and I was lost in the sea of sounds coming from the player, the sound coming from a long-gone alien race, their greatest songs.
Half-heartedly, I placed a few charges of [Inspired Inventor] in [Music], and I found numerous more ways to enjoy this record. I could tell the subtle nuances of each song, the gradient of vocals, and the different ways to enjoy them like a master musician listening to a peer's work.
I can hear the blood, sweat, and tears it must've been for an alien to make these sounds and string them together into something coherent. I think I could write a thick 500-page book on the details within just one of these songs alone.
A holographic display appeared in front of me. It showed images of their planet, purple sky, black plants. The photos were barely visible using purely visual light, so I tried using different wavelengths of the Electromagnetic Spectrum and found that layering infrared allows me to see more details.
Interesting, it seems that being able to see infrared developed in this race of aliens.
Oddly enough, I'm reminded of the Yautjas from the Predator franchise.
Base Delta One- melt the world
AN: Heavily inspired by the Voyager records and Vsauce's "Messages For The Future".
I've hit a bit of a writer's block concerning how I'm going to do the final battle.
I'm curious, what do you guys think is Scientia's moral alignment? Like Lawful Good, Lawful Evil, Chaotic Neutral, etc, which one does she fall into?
Also, I realized a continuity error: in the previous Entry, Arcueid hasn't drunk Falmuth Knights' blood yet considering it's during Rimuru's visit to Ingrassia.
I got Qin Shi Huang from the 18 million celebrations... from a random 10-pull... After I wrote how he was one of the most brutal tyrants of his times...