459: Pick an unknown company employee to chat with

There was no loud bang, no flash of light.

On the screen, the energy topology map representing the Star Track field suddenly collapsed inward, then violently expanded, like a bubble that had been popped and instantly reshaped.

The topological structure became extremely complex, as if living geometric shapes were constantly forming and dissolving within it.

"My Goddess! I've never seen this structure! The information density has increased exponentially!" The assistant began to exclaim.

"Non-random encoding features detected! This feature is repeatedly appearing! Analyzing basic logic..."

Dr. Aria's hand gripped the edge of the control panel tightly. Her theory was correct! Behind the Star Track, there really existed a structure, a network!

What they had touched now might only be the slightest ripple on the surface of this network, but that was enough!

Ecstasy and deeper curiosity consumed her, a voice echoed deep in her mind.

"Say hello."

Since they had arrived here, they should say hello. This was the etiquette of explorers, and the first step to confirm whether the other party possessed 'consciousness' or 'intelligence'.

"Doctor! Energy readings are climbing! Resonator load has reached 120%! Unstable! Recommend immediate disconnection!" The security chief's warning sounded.

"Wait!" Dr. Aria sharply commanded, her gaze fixed on the flowing codes on the screen. "Send a message! Use a basic mathematical sequence, physical constants, plus our peaceful greetings! Quickly! Before the connection breaks!"

"Doctor! This is too risky! We don't know what's on the other side!"

"I have the highest project authority! Execute my orders!" Dr. Aria's voice was unprecedentedly domineering. "Say 'hello' to a possible deity, or ancestor, or any intelligent being."

A brief silence.

The technician's fingers rapidly tapped on the virtual keyboard, converting a carefully prepared encoded message — composed of prime number sequences, pi to a thousand decimal places, the constant of the speed of light, and other universal 'languages' of the Universe, along with a simple logical statement expressing a desire for exploration and peace — into a specific modulated signal, injecting it into the violently fluctuating resonant channel.

The moment the message was sent, the piercing alarm of the overloaded resonator echoed throughout the observation center.

The complex topological structure on the screen rippled like water into which a stone had been thrown, then abruptly shattered and disappeared.

The Star Track energy readings returned to normal.

"Resonator offline! Multiple crystal arrays melted! Energy feedback minor, control field stable."

Then, only the hum of the equipment cooling System remained in the observation center.

Success? Or disaster?

They sent it out, but... was there an echo? What was on the other side?

Dr. Aria slowly released her grip, leaving clear, sweaty fingerprints on the control panel.

She looked at the screen, which had returned to calm, her eyes gleaming.

She knew that, whether there was an echo or not, they had opened a door today—a door that might lead to endless mysteries, or to an endless abyss.

And that email, named "Hello," had drifted to the other side of the door.

Almost simultaneously, in a galaxy countless light-years away from New Eden.

This is Penacony, this is the golden hour, and this is the most famous resort and entertainment destination in the Interstellar Peace Corporation's known Universe, bar none.

The sky was perpetually bathed in warm, golden hues like a sunset, gentle breezes carried the scent of flowers, and soothing music flowed through the air.

On massive floating platforms were exquisite gardens, lounges, and infinity pools, where travelers from various planets relaxed, temporarily forgetting work stress and life's worries.

Of course, the massive ink-blue 'black hole' suspended beyond the atmosphere was also a spectacular sight.

Here, there was only joy.

On a viewing terrace with an excellent vantage point, Wang Yin leaned back in a comfortable lounge chair, holding a glass of low-alcohol sparkling wine that shimmered with starlight.

He wore the standard casual attire of the company's Technology Research and Development Department, his expression relaxed, even a little bored.

Sitting beside him was his friend Dai Xing, also from the R&D Department but in a different specialization. At this moment, Dai Xing was animatedly complaining about the new supervisor's anti-human project adjustment plans and utterly foolish aesthetics.

"...So guess what? He insisted we change that retro UI interface to early 21st century style, saying it would have more 'flavor' that way!"

"I really don't know what kind of weirdo born in that era this guy is!"

"My goodness, and that color scheme, looking at it for too long could literally trigger optical epilepsy! I heard the testing team has already filed a joint protest, I wonder if the big bosses upstairs will transfer this impostor away..." Dai Xing chattered on.

Wang Yin hummed in agreement, half his thoughts drifting to the magnificent sea of clouds below the terrace and the distant sunset.

The vacation was good, but after three consecutive days of relaxation, a hint of boredom began to surface.

He still had over half a month of vacation; he needed to find something fun to do.

Company work was stable, and benefits were generous, but day after day of maintenance, upgrades, testing, writing reports... frankly, difficult work was tiring, and simple work was sometimes quite dull.

He somewhat missed the days a few years ago when he was seconded to a remote Star Domain to maintain a relay station. Although conditions were tough, he occasionally caught strange, unidentified signals from the depths of the Universe, which was quite interesting.

Just as Dai Xing was complaining about the supervisor's hairstyle, Wang Yin's personal terminal, placed on the small round table beside him, suddenly lit up.

Although it was only for a second, Wang Yin noticed it.

His terminal was a customized version from the Technology Research and Development Department, with very detailed notification levels in silent mode.

That flash just now was a low-priority notification, usually from unimportant background processes completing or something classified as antique information by the firewall.

There was no other way, many people still liked to play with those ancient hand-cranked radios. Especially after the energy liberation, there were always big shots who would make super large loudspeakers.

Relying on their vast territory and advanced technology, they would broadcast light-year-level cosmic announcements day after day.

When there were too many, some would always slip through and be received and translated by the terminal.

At first, he thought it was some 'child' who had just entered the electromagnetic age excitedly shouting 'I'm here,' only to find out after much effort that it was one of their own.

He picked up the terminal casually. The desktop was clean, with only a few commonly used app icons. He pulled up the background notification bar and scrolled quickly.

Among a pile of messages like "System self-check complete," "Cloud storage sync successful," and "Schedule reminder: Department meeting tomorrow afternoon," he glimpsed one.

Sender/Protocol: Unknown / [An extremely ancient encoding protocol, marked 'artifact-level' in the company database, last recorded use was six years before year one of the Star Calendar, in 2000 AD.]

Priority: Low

Status: Received, awaiting decoding.

Content Snippet Preview: [Prime number sequence... physical constants... non-standard identifier with friendly sentiment...]

Remarks: Captured by deep space probe sub-network redundant node, low feature matching, suspected background noise or ancient civilization residual signal, no threat index, archived to "Historical Signal Miscellaneous - Awaiting Analysis (Low Priority)".

Wang Yin raised an eyebrow.

Ancient protocol? Basic mathematics and physical constants? And friendly identifiers? This combination was quite interesting.

It didn't look like a natural phenomenon, nor common interstellar communication. As far as he knew, the methods used by those big shots, dozens of Ranks above him, for exploring new civilizations were far more advanced or flashy than this.

Judging by the content of this message, it felt a bit like a civilization that had just touched the threshold of interstellar communication was throwing 'message in a bottle' into the Universe?

Wait, if that's the case, it seems that the messages human civilization sent when exploring extraterrestrial civilizations a hundred years ago had this kind of structure.

Could it be... "What are you looking at? More work?" Dai Xing noticed his distraction and leaned over to glance at his screen. "It's not the supervisor's endless calls, is it? We're on vacation!"

"No, not that." Wang Yin closed the notification bar, placed the terminal back on the table, and took a sip of his wine, the bubbles gently bursting on his tongue. "Caught a strange ancient signal, tossed it into the pending analysis pool. Probably some old antique equipment in a museum being maintained, and someone got mischievous again."

"Tsk, boring." Dai Xing lost interest and continued his great task of complaining.

Wang Yin smiled, turning his gaze back to the sunset.

But his thoughts, involuntarily, drifted to that notification, to that unknown source sending universal basic information and a 'hello' using an 'archaeological-grade' protocol.

Was it a child who had just learned to greet the stars? Or an old friend, forgotten in a corner, suddenly waking up and saying hello?

He shook his head, casting aside these trivial thoughts.

He was still on vacation, why think about these things?

Even if it was something interesting, it would be ages before he got back to his workstation and fished it out from the vast sea of 'low-priority pending analysis' projects to take a look.

If it were truly important, it would eventually reappear. Or, it would forever sink to the bottom of the data ocean.

He tilted his head back, finished the remaining sparkling wine, and said to Dai Xing, "Come on, I heard there's a light show at 'Crystal Lake' tonight, want to check it out?"

"Sure, let's go."

The two chatted and rose to leave. The terrace returned to tranquility, with only the eternal golden light and gentle breeze.

The personal terminal screen had long since darkened, that greeting from distant New Eden, having traversed the endless Void Realm, lay quietly in a remote corner of the company's vast database, awaiting a chance glance that might never come.

And at the source of the message, Dr. Aria stood in the messy observation center, gazing out at the eternal starry sky, her heart filled with unprecedented apprehension and anticipation.

She didn't know if that 'hello' had reached an unknown destination, nor what it might attract.

But one thing she was inexplicably certain of: one or more ancient and vast existences would eventually reveal the tip of their iceberg.

And they had just cast an insignificant pebble into the sea where that iceberg resided.

The ripples had already spread.

But how far these ripples would eventually reach, and what kind of tides they would cause, no one knew.