Sarah awoke from cryrosleep. The glass slid down and the bed tilted up. She stumbled out of it feeling tired and woozy. “Computer, Coffee.” She ordered feeling bleary eyed. The experiments with cryrosleep had revealed that she would feel tired when awaking, but to actually experience it was something else.
“You have a mission update.” The computer replied as it poured the cup of coffee.
“Coffee first, then mission update.” Sarah said, picking up the glass. She slid into the table and sipped the coffee for a long minute as she got her bearings. She was Sarah Nike, technically 132 years old, even though a hundred of that had been in cryrosleep. She had spent ten years of her life preparing specifically for this mission. Technically longer, as she had dreamed of this moment from her seventh birthday when the transmission had been received from this planet. “Cease all communications. They will hear you.”
Humanity had done as it was told, ceasing communications was pretty hard but with the stakes being the potential annihilation of humanity, they had changed everything. All radio transmissions of any kind were banned. Lasers were now the standard method of communication over long distances. Lasers were also the standard method of ship propulsion, with solar sails letting humanity keep expanding across the solar system. Lasers could be tightly controlled within the limits of physics meaning that it would be harder to spot the beams. Humanity had gone silent, yes. However, humanity knew from long experience that living in terror wasn’t a life. They would fight back, regardless of the outcome of Sarah’s mission. Her mission was to win humanity allies and take back as much information as possible about their new enemy.
With her cup of coffee done, she spoke to the computer. “Ok, give me the mission update.” She said.
“There is a ship off our port bow.” The AI reported.
“Very well then, open up with our tightbeam communicators send the welcome packet.” Sarah said.
The reply was terse, “Why are you here?”
Sarah wondered if they had read the packet before responding, but supposed they probably wanted to hear it from her. “We couldn’t talk long distance, so humanity sent me for a in person visit.”
“What part of ‘Cease all communications’ was unclear?” The ailens replied.
Sarah supposed they hadn’t shot her out of the sky yet, so she had that going for her. “The ‘they will hear you’ part. Who are they? We need to know.”
There was a long pause, long enough for Sarah to wander from the table to the single viewing port to put her eyes on the ailen ship. It wasn’t how humanity designed their ships. Humanity’s ships were black, except for the reflective solar sails that were only deployed when a course correction was required. This one looked more like an asteroid. “You have come a very long way. There is no more harm in telling you than you have already done. Our name for them is night-stalkers. Roughly two and a half thousand years ago, we received a transmission from a solar system. It was broadcast far and wide by them. It greeted the species of the universe and stated that it wanted friendship and peace. A hundred and fifty years later, as we were preparing a reply, the sun went supernova. The species was obliterated.”
Sarah nodded, “The dark forest problem.” She said simply.
“The dark forest problem?” The aliens asked.
“In short, that life that makes it’s self known is destroyed. That is why the universe is so silent.” Sarah explained.
“It’s not so much a problem as a reality. A reality you were foolish to defy.” The ailens said.
Sarah paced across her small ship for a moment. “Does that mean you are going to destroy us?” Sarah asked, a hint of fear in her voice. She had expected to die on this mission, but there was a moment of doubt, hoping that humanity had gambled correctly.
“No. But that doesn’t mean there are those who will. Are you here to destroy us?” The ailens asked.
Sarah breathed a sigh of relief. “No. We do, this meeting is the proof that we need that our plan will work. The forest is no longer dark.”
“What do you mean?” They asked.
“Tell me, how many species of plants and animals are there on your homeworld?”
“Many.”
“You are technologically superior to them, they could advance and destroy you.” Sarah said.
“We can monitor them and destroy them before they become a threat. We don’t want to just kill them.” They responded.
“Exactly, you don’t want to just kill them. We don’t kill them either. The fact is that life has to coexist with other life, even life that it preys on. Because of that, destroying others is a choice. A choice that one might or might not make. A choice you haven’t made. A choice that we haven’t made. We know so much more now and that knowledge gives us confidence.” Sarah explained.
“Knowledge of what?”
“If there were only two species in the universe, then the chances are that they would be very far apart. However, we are close together. Not only us, but there are at least two more in the neighborhood. There are probably more. We know that if we hide like you have, it’s only a matter of time before the enemies who want to destroy both of us come. We are close enough that even if we never speak of each other, whatever finds one will find both. Science is a network, the larger the network the more probable and advancement. We have a better chance working together than we do separately.”
The aliens were silent again. “Very well, we will help you.”