The following days, Argos began to be replanned. It would be ready for any kind of

aggression. The city grew to have a large, ever-growing perimeter with automated

watchtowers and a large wall surrounding the city. After that, the next ring wall began

to be constructed, and the city was growing to host more people than it had by far.

The plan was to return to the paradise they had planned by keeping an extra inner

ring as a fortress in case of emergencies. Soon the city was designed like an old

medieval castle town, with a fortress in the center and the habitats around it,

surrounded by a wall. For a while, things started to look bright. There was minimal

connection with any other species, and the borders were kept.

The communications with their three neighboring species were nearly halted.

Alex wanted to be more prepared before he began exploring and growing his

relationships with his neighbors. While the city was being built, questions about the

past of Gaia and the connection to Earth mythology became a daily chat. Someone

even wrote it on a piece of wood at the agora.

“Why are we meeting our mythological and fictional creatures in the flesh

here?”

The toll on the three species was very heavy. They lost many, and that meant

that their defenses were weakened and their goods production slowed. Many were

still at war with other species or even between themselves for power. Alex could see

that this was not the end of their worries. They needed a decisive plan to secure their

peace.

Y:14 D:5

With the population on the rise, more and more machines were being printed out, for

material harvesting and production of goods. Among other critical structures, the

hangar was also completed, fully ready and with machinery to begin production of

more flying units. From observatory to military and even leisure, a whole army of

units was ready to be requested. This would give humans the means of traveling

around the world fast. Some recon missions were completed by Clive and his Eagle,

only to reveal even more species that resembled the mythology of Earth and cities of

completely different styles inhabited by those species. A-Concrete was also being

synthesized. Its creation also brought forward other breakthroughs in architecture

and structural mechanics. The first planet of the solar system had also finished being

scanned, and the satellites began moving to the fourth. While traveling toward Solis-

D, by complete chance, the satellite intercepted a laser signal. Decoding the signal

was not possible, but something technological was working in the solar system. With

a bit of detective work, Steve managed to decode the direction of a direct signal to a

satellite, which betrayed the location of an ancient network of satellites previously

unseen within the Solis system.

“Hypatia, what are the chances that a satellite could remain in operation for

thousands of years?” asked Alex.

“I have been analyzing this exact thing since we detected them. Solis is a

very stable solar system with a very small amount of floating dust and stone to

damage a satellite. Still, after thousands of years, I find it difficult for solar panels to

be effective or for any battery to still function. Furthermore, surviving for that long

without any maintenance is very hard. Over long periods of time, the systems would

decay one way or another.”

“So, what do you think is happening?”

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“I think the solar system still has a spacefaring civilization living here. Even

with self-healing alloys, some maintenance will have to take place at best every

thousand years,” replied Hypatia

“So, whoever is repairing them also uses machines that transmit the signal

we detected. Which also means they might be here on this world too,” said Jain while

working on her terminal.

“We need answers fast,” said Alex. “We do not need an advanced enemy at

our door now that things have calmed down. Prana will soon come to speak with us.

We will try to learn from them. They seem to be the most civilized of all the species

on the planet. Things look good for the first time since we arrived; let’s hope it will

last.”

“If those things only need repairs once every thousand years,” added Juuda,

“then there is a chance that they are on autopilot.”

“What do you mean?” asked Jain.

“They could had been repaired by the Goblins we fight now, but it was in the

last thousand years that they lost their technology.”

“Could be,” said Hypatia. “We know they had technology and that a few

thousand years ago, they began their war. They could have run out of resources

relatively recently but continued to use satellites till that point.”

“Exactly,” said Juuda, “and the signal we received could be a ping

between them or an automatic communication.”

“I too hope this is the case,” added Alex. “A spacefaring civilization would not

be an ideal entry into our problems now. Nonetheless, we need to scan the other

planets to be sure there is no threat.”

A few days later, what looked like a small combat plane passed silently above Argos.

The citizens who noticed it thought it to be some new machine made by Steve. Bara,

however, realized immediately that this was not one of their own. Before he had the

time to alert anyone, Steve contacted him through his communicator and said,

“Please tell me this is something you recognize.”

“I am afraid not,” answered Bara.

Within seconds, the leaders were notified and gathered to discuss.

“We just had the first contact with an advanced species,” said Alex.

“We are assuming this has something to do with the signal we detected,

right?” asked Juuda.

“Right now, what’s scary is that they know where we are, but we have no idea

what we are facing. Perhaps it’s also about time we make an anti-air weapon,” said

Bara.

“No one seems to be bothered that we are taking defensive measures before

we even know their intentions?” said Juuda. “We have made so many weapons that

we can annihilate everything in this world.”

“Juuda, as always, I love your peace-loving approach,” said Alex, “but so far

no one has greeted us on their first try, and I don’t think we have the luxury of waiting

to see what happens. We barely survived the attack of the primitives. Now this could

mean the end of us if we are not prepared.”

“But we might be inviting them to war with these moves, even if they are

peaceful,” added Juuda. “If they are watching us and realize that upon first sight we

made weapons against them, they might change the approach they would have if we

acted more civilized.”

“If they are peaceful, then we all have nothing to worry about. For now, we

need to be ready in case they are not,” said Alex.

“I hate to admit it, but I think Alex is right,” added Konoya. “If they are

planning an attack and they have flying weapons, we might not be able to make it.

We need some defense against air.”

“If we have one thing to look into our history for, it is that new neighbors are

rarely welcomed.” added Dimitri.

“That applies to us humans. It does not mean it applies to them,” said Juuda.

“I will stop you here and tell you that we need to get ready for war. This is not

something that applies to us humans,” said Gakuto. “From bacteria to mammals,

birds, and reptiles, a new neighbor is usually greeted with hostility. War is not a

human invention. It happens with any weapons and organization a species is able to

construct.”

“I have to agree,” added Hypatia. “Most models for meeting extraterrestrials

back on Earth revolved around the idea that a species goes to war upon landing.

There is little hope of meetings with immediate peace, even if the species are at a

great technological distance from one another.”

“So, we all agree. Let’s proceed. When are we going to be visited by Prana?”

asked Alex.

“She will be here tomorrow,” said Konoya.