Chapter 127: Stuo Civilization

The electromagnetic signals received by the Outlook Observation Array translated into quite a large amount of data.

Based on the direction of the electromagnetic signals, it was basically confirmed that they were sent by the unknown extraterrestrial civilization approaching the Human Civilization residential areas of the Solar System.

The HCC immediately began trying to decode the electromagnetic signals.

For such decoding work, Human Civilization had the most suitable person in charge.

That was the Strong Artificial Intelligence from the Brain Intelligence Project.

The Strong Artificial Intelligence mobilized the massive computing power from the numerous Computing Power Towers spread across Human Civilization.

It allocated a huge portion of Human Civilization’s computing power to this task.

With what could be called a saturation attack of computing power, the barely encrypted information was quickly decoded.

This large volume of data only contained a small part meant for direct communication with Human Civilization.

Most of it resembled the “dictionary” section in messages sent by Human Civilization, helping decode their language and build communication foundations.

Compared to the communication content itself, the Researchers at Negentropy Research Institute focused more closely on analyzing the “dictionary” part.

Because theoretically, a civilization’s language itself holds many clues about that civilization.

Unfortunately, whether this civilization treated the “dictionary” with extreme caution or had refined it through many exchanges remained uncertain.

The “dictionary” ensured Human Civilization could understand their message but still offered little insight into the civilization’s true nature.

“Respected unknown civilization, greetings.”

“We are the migratory ‘Stuo Civilization’ wandering through the cosmos.”

“We observed your existence and wish to establish communication.”

“We are approaching your star system and ask if we could engage in an exchange between our two civilizations.”

This was the entire message translated from the information sent by this extraterrestrial civilization, self-identified as the Stuo Civilization.

Beyond introducing themselves, expressing greetings, and stating their desire to communicate, it contained nothing else.

This suggested the Stuo Civilization, though technologically advanced compared to Human Civilization, remained very cautious during initial contact.

At Negentropy Research Institute, the research team heads, institute directors, and Qin Yu received the decoded extraterrestrial message as soon as the Strong Artificial Intelligence completed the task.

“Director Qin, how should we respond? Should we attempt a reply immediately?”

The head of Geological Research Institute sought Qin Yu’s opinion.

It wasn’t about lacking ideas, but such decisions affecting Human Civilization’s fate rested solely with Academician Qin Yu.

Qin Yu paused, looking over the decoded message.

The Stuo Civilization’s message represented the best possible scenario for Human Civilization.

At least it wasn’t an immediate trigger for an Interstellar War over survival.

In this situation, continued contact and communication were inevitable.

But with no mutual understanding—especially Human Civilization’s total ignorance of other space civilizations—communication carried risks.

A minor misstep could turn something normal to humans into a justification for war.

The same applied vice versa.

They had to be extremely cautious throughout this exchange.

“Should we wait two months until they receive our previous message before replying?” proposed another research team head.

But an institute director immediately shook his head.

“That wouldn’t be wise. Our reply timing reflects our decoding and decision-making speed. Their message may be probing these capabilities.”

In contacts between unknown civilizations, pretending weakness wasn’t advisable.

Morals and laws were irrelevant between civilizations with different ethical bases.

The only factors preventing an Interstellar War were necessity and risk.

Strategic misjudgments must be avoided.

Of course, a civilization’s own strength was paramount.

Had Human Civilization’s technology far surpassed the Stui’s, any approach would be acceptable.

But currently, that wasn’t the case.

If they perceived no threat from humans, the Stuo Civilization might eliminate Human Civilization based purely on their own moral standards.

“Reply now,” Qin Yu finally decided.

The other heads at Negentropy Research Institute raised no objections.

“Greetings, Stuo Civilization. We received your first message.”

“Upon receiving this reply, you should have also received our earlier transmission.”

“We acknowledge your arrival and are honored to meet your civilization in space.”

“We gladly seek exchanges. Could you clarify what specific forms your proposed communication would take?”

“Additionally, for smoother dialogue, could we establish basic mutual understanding before formal cooperation?”

This reply contained only the message itself, omitting the “dictionary.”

As before, the electromagnetic signal transmitted from Europa on Jupiter repeated three times toward the designated area, then stopped.

The wait for the Stuo Civilization’s response began again.

During this time,

although the specific contents of the message sent by the Stuo Civilization had not been publicly disclosed,

the news that the HCC had received a message from the Stuo Civilization wasn’t hidden from the wider public.

This came as a welcome comfort to people anxious and unsettled by humanity’s first true contact with an extraterrestrial civilization.

The worst-case scenario hadn’t happened.

There was now a possibility for peaceful communication and a foundation for dialogue between Human Civilization and this suddenly arrived extraterrestrial civilization, avoiding an immediate interstellar war.

“……If we could truly make contact and achieve some level of communication with another civilization… it should be a good thing for us, shouldn’t it?”

“It should be a good thing… well, more precisely, one with both potential risks and rewards. I don’t need to elaborate on the risks; many people are so nervous they couldn’t eat or sleep, which shows they understand the dangers quite well. Let me talk about the rewards… Here’s the main point: this extraterrestrial civilization’s past technological development couldn’t have followed the exact same path as ours, right? If we can achieve some level of complementary exchange, we’re on the brink of a massive technological explosion.”

“Further, if both sides can build a certain level of trust, we could even collaborate in scientific fields. The thinking habits of our two intelligent species can’t be identical, can they? Problems that seem incredibly difficult to us might be simple solutions for them, and vice versa.”

“I think you’re all being overly optimistic… Genuine cooperation builds on equal footing. Look at us now—is there any equality in our strengths? Even without outright conflict, if we can’t offer them value, why would they bring us significant benefits?”

“All of you are focused on interacting with this current extraterrestrial civilization, but I keep thinking about something else… Now that they’ve visited our Solar System, is it still safe? Logically, if one civilization has found us, sooner or later a second one will arrive… What if this first civilization doesn’t fight us, but the next one does?”

Debates on this topic naturally exploded across the networks once more.

People’s opinions on this event were hard to perfectly align.

Some believed this exchange and contact with the extraterrestrial Stuo Civilization represented an opportunity for Human Civilization.

Others felt it marked the beginning of the end, signifying humanity was no longer hidden or safe.

These viewpoints weren’t entirely mutually exclusive.

The single, confirmed fact—that other civilizations indeed existed in the universe beyond Human Civilization—

delivered an enormous shock to humanity’s existing understanding of the world, the cosmos, sociology, and philosophy.

With the knowledge that other civilizations existed in the cosmos,

Human Civilization naturally began searching for its new place, or niche, within the broader galactic ecological landscape.

It wasn’t just about updating humanity’s view of the universe; it forced a fundamental reassessment of humanity’s view of itself.

“……Seriously, where do you think our civilization stands in the universe? Are we still… irrelevant in the grand scheme?”

“Completely irrelevant? Probably not… We still came through the ‘homeworld phase,’ logical deduction suggests there must be civilizations out there still confined to their own planets. We’re definitely further along than those civilizations… However, since we haven’t traveled beyond our Solar System yet, any civilization we do encounter at this stage is bound to be more advanced than us.”

“Honestly, I’m way more curious… What kind of civilization is this Stuo Civilization? What do their intelligent species actually look like?”

In this atmosphere thick with tension, unease, yet mingled with sparks of anticipation,

time continued to flow onward.

…

Another two months passed.

By the end of the tenth month since Human Civilization’s first message was sent towards the Stuo Civilization interstellar fleet,

the Outlook Observation Array once again picked up structured electromagnetic signals within the realm of the Oort Cloud.

This naturally wasn’t a secondary reply to Humanity’s earlier response,

but the long-awaited reply to humanity’s first ‘greeting message’.

“……Human Civilization, Greetings.”

“In our previous message, we stated the purpose of the Stuo Civilization.”

“We observed Human Civilization existing within the cosmos and came filled with the joy of potentially communicating with another civilization.”

“The Stuo Civilization believes civilizations grow powerful through mutual exchange. Inherent differences between civilizations can become the ‘key’ unlocking another civilization’s problems.”

This reply from the Stuo Civilization also did not re-include the previous ‘dictionary section’.

Apart from expressing fundamental goodwill, it didn’t reveal much new information.

Judging from the time Humanity received this reply,

it was almost certain that the Stuo Civilization deciphered the human message immediately upon receipt and responded promptly.

This indicated that, at least in terms of computational power and similar fields, the Stuo Civilization wasn’t just for show; their civilization as a whole was indeed quite capable.

Human Civilization did not immediately send another reply to this message.

Constantly communicating out-of-sync like this wasn’t sustainable for either civilization.

This asynchronous exchange also kept both civilizations locked in an overly cautious state, making it impossible to share deeper information.

After being confirmed by Qin Yu, Human Civilization chose to keep waiting instead, holding out for the Stuo Civilization’s reply to humanity’s second message.

Naturally, humanity didn’t just sit idle during this waiting period.

Continuous monitoring of the Stuo Civilization interstellar fleet’s trajectory was maintained.

Laser Weapons and kinetic weapons positioned on the Lunar Surface and Mars remained on standby, ready for pre-launch at any moment.

The ongoing transformation project of the Lunar Surface – part of the plan to potentially push the Moon into the Sun – continued its work.

Although peace seemed possible at this stage,

Human Civilization couldn’t let that possibility deter it from maintaining capabilities that could pose a threat to the Stuo fleet.

Similarly,

within the Negentropy Research Institute,

work on the new generation Electric Propulsion System, under Qin Yu’s leadership, also pushed steadily forward.

Maybe the impact wasn’t profoundly felt everywhere else,

but in this critical field of propulsion technology – literally concerning humanity’s survival at this moment –

the arrival of the Stuo Civilization provided an immense jolt of adrenaline for every Researcher involved.

Perhaps no research effort in Human Civilization’s history, outside the Doomsday Crisis itself, had ever felt this intensely driven?

With Qin Yu marshaling the Negentropy Research Institute’s considerable resources, driving progress,

and with the existential threat of the fleet effectively chasing them from behind,

the development pace of the new-generation Electric Propulsion System inside the Institute

progressed rapidly.

…

Human United Era (HUE),

Year 48, March.

The Outlook Observation Array, persistently monitoring a designated patch of space within the Oort Cloud,

once again detected structured electromagnetic signals originating from the Stuo Civilization.

Immediately,

a Strong Artificial Intelligence translated the signal’s content based on the established rules.

Inside the Negentropy Research Institute,

Qin Yu, along with the heads of relevant research teams, quickly received the translated text.

“……Human Civilization, Greetings.”

“We appreciate Human Civilization agreeing to the Stuo Civilization’s proposal for cultural exchange. We believe this will be a mutually friendly and beneficial exchange.”

“Regarding Human Civilization’s question about which specific areas this ‘exchange’ would cover:”

“We hope for exchange in the fields of history, philosophy, sociology, and specific technological domains.”

“We wish to exchange knowledge of technologies that interest both sides. Simultaneously, we believe understanding different civilizations’ histories and operational structures can offer valuable perspective and inspiration for our own civilization’s future development.”

“Regarding Human Civilization’s suggestion that we first establish mutual foundational understanding: the Stuo Civilization agrees with this approach.”

“To demonstrate respect for each other’s civilization, we can take the initiative to share some fundamental aspects of the Stuo Civilization.”

“The Stuo Civilization is a carbon-based group civilization. Our civilization is composed of diverse carbon-based intelligent individuals. We do not know if Human Civilization can understand this kind of societal and civilizational structure.”

“Our homeworld lies in the distant void. We, who are presently approaching your galaxy, have journeyed continuously from a faraway place.”