First Contact, Species-215 (Colloquially known as The Scourge)

Notes have been added to provide expert context.

S-215 Transcript #1 (First Contact):

BEEP BEEP

BEEP BEEP BEEP

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

*Fibonacci sequence continued until 13.*

Earth Station B, operator 6, Mark Simmons responds: 

Clear. Identify.

FRIEND*

*Message received in direct english

*Word in S-215 lexicon carries second meaning of TOOL

Hello friend. Location?

*S215 responds with coordinates of Ross 248, located approximately ten light-years from Earth.

You are Rumbigeals?

*Rumbigeals (S11) are the known residents of Ross 248 and were originally contacts twenty-three years prior to S215.

NOT RUMBIGEALS. FRIEND.

What is your species name?

*Pause in responses lasts thirty-one minutes.

MOURNERS. WE ARE THE MOURNERS. YOU ARE HUMANS.

Hello mourners, humanity welcomes you.

WE ARE GLEEFUL TO MEET YOU.

Your english is excellent. What is your business?

*First contact conversation ends here. Operator Mark Simmons noted the high lingual capacity of this alien species and speculated that they had analyzed humanity’s early interplanetary broadcasts.

S-11 Transcript #18,216 (Initiated approximately five hours later):

MS: Good meetings Rumbigeals, which operator am I speaking to?

Operator two of fifteen.

*Mark Simmons notes that fifteen is the total number of operators, not the number currently on shift. This is against protocol.

MS: Zorle! This is Mark. How are the new spawnlings?

Challenging but rewarding. Thank you for inquiring.

MS: Good, that’s how they’re supposed to be! Just a moment.

*It is here that Mark Simmons is joined by Earth Station B’s director. The two discuss Zorle’s unusually curt responses for nine minutes, forty-three seconds.

Mark? Are you there Mark?

MS: I’m here Zorle. Just wanted to check on you. Is everything okay?

I am good Mark. We are good.

MS: I’m glad.

Thank you for checking in. I have to go.

MS: Have you heard of a species called the mourners?

No.

MS: Okay. Thanks anyway.

*Six minutes pass

Wait. Yes. I know the mourners.

*Mark Simmons notes that all his messages from here on were subject to approval from the station director.

MS: What do you know about them?

Nomads. Travellers. Rovers. Wayfarers. Peaceful drifters. Not a problem.

MS: They sound like a nice group of people.

If you are lucky they will pass through your system and trade with your species.

MS: Yeah, I’ll cross my fingers. Be well, Zorle.

*Be well in Rumbigean is considered a permanent form of goodbye.

I wait for our next hello Mark.

*On completion of this conversation, Earth ceased communication to S-9. No messages were ever again received from the Rumbigeals.

S-215 Transcript #2:

*All messages to S-215 from this point forward were prepared, reviewed, and submitted from within Earth Station A’s situation room. Mark Simmons was brought in to type the messages and to retain communicative continuity.

Hello. Mourners are you there?

WE ARE HERE MARK. WE ARE CLOSER NOW.

Closer to Earth, you mean?

YES, WE ARE CLOSER. WE HAVE MUCH TO SHARE.

How much closer are you?

*Coordinates list unoccupied solar system Lalande 21185, approximately 8.31 lightyears from Earth.

*Chief of Security Lorne Richards types the next message.

How fast are you able to travel?

*No response after thirty minutes. The keyboard is returned to Mark Simmons.

Can you tell us anything about what you intend to share with us?

WE CANNOT RUIN THE SURPRISE.

Is it information?

IT IS A NEW WAY TO LIVE.

*Additional messages were forwarded to S-215, but no response was recieved.

Final notes:

Approximately 48 hours after this conversation, Earth’s governmental bodies approved an additional $12.9 trillion dollars in starship development and $4.5 trillion in weapons research. 9 additional species ceased all communication in the coming months. For further information, review documents on The Scourge, The Abandonment of Earth’s Southwestern Hemisphere, and Policies Regarding Encounters with Half-Dead.