FIRST CONTACT WAS A REPEAT
The same four-second burst, every eleven minutes, for six days. Not a beacon — beacons do not change. On day seven the interval shortened by a fraction of a second, and NOVA started writing it down.
TRANSMISSION LOGREADY
What arrived, in order
The log is kept as it came in. Headers are still encoded; point at one or press it to decode it. Everything below the header is the decoded body.
Log
WE PICKED THE HIGH GROUND
The shelf gives line of sight to the primary and enough shadow to keep the instruments cold. Everything on the chart was measured from a single point, which is worth remembering when reading the chart.
SOMETHING OUT THERE WAS MADE
Debris with flat faces and clean edges does not form on its own. ZYRO logged four hundred pieces before the current carried the rest out of range. None of them match each other.
IT ANSWERS, AND THAT IS ALL
A ping returns in 1.4 seconds, every time, at the same amplitude. Nothing else we have sent has produced a second response. KAI is in favour of trying harder.
THE CHART ENDS HERE FOR NOW
Past the last relay there are no readings to report, so there is nothing to report. The sector stays on the map as an honest blank.