TACT Report

WORK IN PROGRESS

The Alien Contact Team (TACT) Report on the Alien Civilization Encountered in UNTJS 007

18th July, 2036

On 6th February 2036, a United Nations exploratory task group transited a jump point into the newly discovered UNTJS 007 system (designated Thebes) and immediately encountered an alien vessel located directly on the far side of the jump point. It was later confirmed that the vessel was a gate builder. The UN exploratory task group transited back into the previous system where it informed UNIN about its discovery. On 4th March 2036, the alien vessel, having stabilized the jump point at the far end, followed suit, transited into UN territory and started stabilization efforts at the near end.

Attempts to establish contact with the alien vessel began on 24th March 2036 after the arrival of the Alien Contact Team to the location. Communication was established three days later, on 27th March 2036, when every crew member of every ship in the UN task group simultaneously began hearing a voice repeat, "WE ARE THE KAAVI. WE ARE THE CONSCIOUSNESS. WE ARE THE MIND." It was confirmed that these messages originated from the alien ship and were transmitted via yet-unknown technology directly into the language centers of the recipients' brains. This communication method closely resembled the one of "the Mind" described in the Belnar archives, and nowadays we can with near certainty assert that the encountered alien civilization is indeed the very same Mind as the one encountered by the Belnar.

Two weeks of direct talks with the Mind followed. The telepathy-like communication ability of the Mind proved distressful to the TACT team and hampered mutual understanding. Eventually the Mind offered to produce a "shard of its consciousness" and send it as an emissary to ease communication. The TACT team has been asked to provide physical criteria for the Shard, and in turn provided imagery of Kofi Annan. On 12th April 2036, a small shuttle appeared on the sensors of the UN's task group. Coming from the direction of the alien ship and the jump point, the shuttle had 300 tons of void displacement and the speed of 40,000 kps. It requested permission to dock with the task group, using a standard UN communication frequency, fluent English and the voice of Kofi Annan. Permission was granted and the shuttle directed to dock with UNS Osaka. During the docking process itself, the shuttle demonstrated unknown advanced technology, essentially reconfiguring its hull to create air locks and compatible docking interfaces on the spot. The shuttle contained one passenger bearing the likeness of Kofi Annan who was then welcomed aboard UNS Osaka - this entity was designated as "the Shard". During its stay aboard, the Shard has undergone several medical scans and appears to be a fully normal human person, although it seemed unfamiliar with its own body in the initial phases. It eats, drinks and breathes as any other human would, and uses spoken English to communicate. It is, however, still connected to the rest of the Mind's consciousness via the unknown telepathy-like communication method.

The following is a summary of the TACT team's talks with both the Mind itself, and the Shard. Quotes received "telepathically" from the Mind are written in capital letters. Quotes from the Shard are written using standard capitalization.

Present during the negotiations were:

- brigadier general McFetusBurger

- colonel Carroll Meath

- colonel Dan-O-Raid

- commander Centurium

- commander Markus_cz (removed from the team on 12th April 2036)

- commander Magrov (since 12th April 2036)

It should be noted that all the following information are as claimed by the Mind and their veracity could not be confirmed. Moreover, there are some inconsistencies between the Mind's current claims and its claims as chronicled in the Belnar archives. Before these can be explained, caution is advised and it is recommended not to take any of the following as necessarily factual.

The Nature and Hierarchy of the Mind

The Mind is a civilization comprised of physically seperate beings in the usual way, but all of these have been connected via bioengineering and advanced machinery into a distributed network of intelligence. While each "individual" remains a physically distinct creature, there is no sense of individualism and, for all intents and purposes, the Mind possesses a single consciousness. The Mind has likened itself to a single "massive biological computer operating at superluminal speeds" [1]. It appears that the actual biological species constituting the Mind's bodies are countless and have all blended together over millions of years.

Physical form

Because the Mind operates throughout most of the galaxy, the distances involved are such that they prevent timely communication, and in effect the Mind cannot contain all its computing ability in a single centralized location. Instead, it operates as a partly decentralized network. While the main "cluster" of consciousness is located near the galactic core, operations in remote areas of the galaxy are guided by local "subclusters". Subclusters are scattered throughout the galaxy in such a way that each physical lifeform within the Mind can always maintain instant connection to its parent subcluster, thus ensuring that the group consciousness won't degrade into separate individuals. [2] All subclusters maintain a link with the central cluster in the galactic core but communication with the core isn't instant. [3] Thus, it appears that the Mind isn't a single consciousness per se, but rather a network of coordinated consciousnesses - the Mind consists of smaller minds, so to say. In effect, the UN has been communicating with the local subcluster, not with the Mind as a whole.

A subcluster appears to be the lowest level of consciousness, the lowest level that keeps its own individuality. Although physically a subcluster consists of separate biological entities, none of these have an individuality or consciousness of their own. When a biological entity - such as the Shard - is presented with the idea of "disconnecting" it from the subcluster's consciousness, it expresses alarm and reluctance. [4] [5] It is presently unknown what would happen to such an entity were it to be disconnected from its parent subcluster, whether it would form an consciousness and individuality of its own, or whether it would merely fall back to a "backup" of the data that the subcluster contained at the time of its disconnection.

So far we know of only one biological species that constitute the Mind's physical form, although presumably there are many more. They are called the Kaavi, originally a spacefaring civilization from the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy. Upon traveling to the Milky Way, they Kaavi have encountered the Mind which was already ancient by that time. A part of the Kaavi refused to be absorbed by the Mind, while a separate subgroup joined the Mind and became a part of its consciousness. It is unknown what happened to the part that chose not to join the Mind. [6] It should be noted that the Kaavi do not constitute an individually recognizable group within the Mind - as with any host species, they provide merely the bodies, their mind having been long ago replaced by the group consciousness. Moreover, their form has been transformed by ages of genetic and technological manipulation to the point that they no longer resemble the original spacefaring civilization. [7] For all intents and purposed, the Kaavi no longer exist. However, due to the decentralized aspect of the Mind's network, it is possible that certain elements from the Kaavis' original culture and civilization still survive as part of the local subcluster's individuality - the local subcluster allegedly comprises mostly of former Kaavi. [8] The notion of each subcluster having a slightly different personality is also evidenced by the original greeting sent to the TACT team: "WE ARE THE KAAVI. WE ARE THE CONSCIOUSNESS. WE ARE THE MIND."

Communication

The Mind recognizes three basic forms of communication:

Star Mimick which is communication using electromagnetic radiation. It is considered to be primitive. [9]

Lesser Communion which is faster-than-light communication via ansible

Greater Communion or simply Communion is the most extraordinary form to communication which to us seems akin to telepathy. At this moment we don't have an exact understanding of how it operates, although we presume advanced technology and bioengineering. What we know of the greater communion is that is is instantaneous [10] and that all lifeforms may receive it. [11] However, the process behind the communion is secret to outsiders and only revealed to a race after is has been accepted into the Mind's Community (see below). [11] We believe that the communion is the means using which the Mind has created and maintains its group consciousness.

The Community

The Mind claims to lead a galaxy-spanning organization called the Community, comprised of the descendants of what used to be 23,299,833 separate races but is now a conglomerate of various physical forms that have over millions of years been transformed and merged beyond recognition. [12][13] The Mind is the de facto leader of the Community, the executive body that coordinates the organization's operations. [14][15] Member races of the Community do not necessarily have to be integrated into the Mind's central consciousness. In fact, many member races merely accept the Mind's leadership but choose to remain separate from it and keep their individual identities. [16]

Based on the information we have, we assume the Mind uses the following hierarchy:

The central cluster of the Mind, located in the galactic core.

Separate subclusters of the Mind, located throughout the galaxy and all linked to the central cluster

Member races under the guidance of either the central cluster or their local subclusters.

This whole arrangement with the Mind's clusters as the executive bodies and the member races below is then called "the Community". Aside of the Mind serving as the executive body, there is no other hierarchy and all full members are treated as equals. [17] To achieve full membership, a race must serve as a "probationary member" for a certain time. The details of probationary membership follow below.

The Mind actively searches the galaxy in order to expand the Community. Because jump gates degrade over time because of collapsing stars [18], it is inefficient to keep the whole galaxy interconnected via jump-gate network. Instead, the Mind sets up beacons in strategic systems where intelligent life will likely evolve over time. Whenever an ascendant space-faring civilization triggers such a beacon, the nearest subcluster is informed and begins recreating the jump gates necessary to link the system with the rest of the Community. [19] The Mind claims it has arrived into our area of galaxy only recently, having been informed of our presence by such a beacon. We believe that the beacon in question was the "bomb" triggered by the Belnar automatons on Mars on 15th August, 2034. [20] [21] The humans are the first race encountered in this area of the galaxy since the disappearance of the Belnar, and the Mind claims doesn't know the reason of their disappearance or their whereabouts. [22]

Each encountered civilization is then given an ultimatum: either accept the Mind's "guidance", agree to the Community tenets (see below) and become a probationary member of the Community, or be blockaded to its home systems by force. The Mind has been vehement in stressing that there is no other choice: either guidance, or blockade and eventual collapse due to resource exhaustion. [23] [24] [25] [26] [27]

Quotes

[1] "Each "individual" within a Mind subcluster is, to be sure, a biological entity. However, they incorporate advanced bioengineering and an indigenous ability to interface with electronic machinery. Together, these allow elements of the Mind to function as a sort of distributed network of intelligence. It is not a "telepathic hive mind," as some of your entertainment products postulate, but rather a massive biological computer operating at superluminal speeds."

[2] "Each subcluster of the Mind maintains a link back to the central cluster, and every "individual" element of the Mind is in contact with the entirety of its subcluster at all times."

[3] "The query has already been forwarded to the Mind's Central Cluster in the core. It will take some time for a response."

[4] "If it is not an undue burden, I would greatly prefer to remain in this system. It would be . . . taxing . . . to be beyond communications with the Mind and the Community."

[5] "A being such as myself--a Shard of the local Mind subcluster--by necessity has more limited communications capabilities than a typical Mind entity. I require either contact with a Mind vessel, such as Peaceful Concepts of Communion, or a path of stabilized rifts back to a Mind vessel. If you were to move me out of this system, I would lose that contact, and as I have noted, it would be quite distressing."

[6] "The Mind (...) was already ancient by the time of the emergence of the Kaavi. The Kaavi, as they have noted, were native to a satellite dwarf galaxy of this one. If you were to provide me with detailed star charts, I could point out which one. The first Kaavi to reach this galaxy were explorers, and soon more and more came, an unending tidal wave of Kaavi colonists, eager to exploit the plentiful resources of this relatively unpopulated galaxy. (...). The Kaavi encountered the Mind relatively soon after arriving here. They, too, initially resisted the "guidance" offered by the Mind, choosing instead to forge their own livelihood among the fertile stars. However, a separate culture group decided to learn more about the Mind, and some small number of these were incorporated wholesale into the Mind itself. (...) I could not tell you the fate of the remaining Kaavi, only that none have been seen in this galaxy for several hundred million years."

[7] "Why is this information of importance? There are no longer any baseline Kaavi in this galaxy. Your chances of encountering one are nil, so what use is there in being able to recognize one?"

[8] "This Mind subcluster, formed predominantly of ex-Kaavi, is the operant subcluster in this area of the galaxy."

[9] "After perusing one of your dictionaries and better acquainting myself with your languages, I believe you would call the Star Mimick "electromagnetic radiation." It is a primitive form of communication, but one that most races discover and master."

[10] "This is a meaningless question. There is no time of transmission for the Greater Communion. It is instantaneous. Or, perhaps, limited by the cognition abilities of the recipient."

[11] "THE MIND COMMUNICATES WITH THE HUMANS VIA THE COMMUNION. ALL LIFE MAY RECEIVE THE COMMUNION, BUT ONLY COMMUNITY MEMBERS ARE TAUGHT TO TRANSMIT VIA THE COMMUNION. (...) TO UTILIZE THE COMMUNION, YOU REQUIRE GUIDANCE."

[12] "As I said before, most of them now identify simply as "Community," and very few Community members resemble anything like the original racial forms."

[13] "Untold races have joined the Community, and the vast majority have blended over time through various biological and technological means, so that their original racial heritages are lost. They prefer to think of themselves as simply Community members."

[14] "The Mind is a tool, an institution, created by the Gardeners to ensure the survival, success, and growth of the Community."

[15] "The Mind is what you might call the Executive Body of the Community. Its role is to enforce compliance with the Community Tenets and to seek out and give Guidance to new members. "

[16] "Many Community races volunteer to be integrated into the Mind in order to ensure its continued usefulness, but such integration is not enforced."

[17] "There is no hierarchy within the Community. All full members are considered equal and are afforded the same rights, protection, and bear the same responsibilities. Of course, some species have specialized and used that to their advantage in dealing with other species."

[18] "The dynamic nature of galactic rotation means that over the time periods we are considering, relatively little in the galaxy is static. Stars change relative positions, are born, and die with regularity. Systems like this one, composed of dim, low mass stars, are quite useful in that they provide a relatively static reference. This system is nearly five billion years old, and was last visited approximately 40 million years ago, give or take."

[19] "The rate of discovery of new races has dropped precipitously in the last fifty million years, for reasons that are not entirely clear. It may be that we have simply exhausted the pool of available races at this time, and will need to wait for further intelligent life to evolve and activate our latent beacons"

[20] "We are still re-familiarizing ourselves with this area of space, having only arrived a few years ago, when one of our latent beacons was activated in the vicinity."

[21] "We first encountered them nearly 37 million years ago, when they were first exploring the volume around their home system. Their star was not far from here on an astronomical scale at the time, though it has moved quite a bit toward the north galactic pole since then, based on our recollection of its galactic motion. While reviewing their records, we noticed a system with abundant life on its third planet and assigned them to serve as guardians and mentors to any intelligent life that may have arisen. (...) You say you encountered ruins of [The People]? Could it be that the Humans are from the planet we assigned [The People] to oversee? They were instructed to deploy a beacon in that system and either activate it at the time a spacefaring civilization arose or leave it to be activated by the new race itself."

[22] "Unfortunately, we lost contact with [The People] after an extremely brief time period. It is a shame, as they embraced the Community ideals very quickly and would likely have made excellent members. Our records are incomplete regarding the cause of this loss of contact, but perhaps it may have something to do with your "hostile race?" They are the last intelligent race in this section of the galaxy that we have records of."

[23] "YOUR MIND IS IMMATURE. YOU REQUIRE GUIDANCE TO REACH MATURITY. MATURITY IS REQUIRED BEFORE ACCEPTANCE INTO THE COMMUNITY. YOU WOULD GAIN MATURITY. YOU WOULD GIVE NOTHING, AS YOU HAVE NOTHING TO GIVE THE COMMUNITY THAT IS NOT ALREADY ITS OWN. ALL THESE STARS BELONG TO THE COMMUNITY. ALL THESE STARS BELONG TO THE COMMUNITY. WHERE IS YOUR ORIGIN? (...) YOUR MIND IS IMMATURE. YOU THINK AS MANY, WITH CONCERN FOR MANY. YOU REQUIRE CONCERN FOR ONE. YOU REQUIRE CONCERN FOR THE COMMUNITY. YOU REQUIRE GUIDANCE. THE MIND WILL PROVIDE GUIDANCE. WHERE IS YOUR ORIGIN?"

[24] "YOU MUST FIND YOUR PLACE IN THE COMMUNITY. (...) THE HUMANS' MANY MINDS ARE IMMATURE, THEIR THOUGHTS ARE MANY, AND DISORDERED. THEY REQUIRE GUIDANCE, AS ALL RACES HAVE REQUIRED GUIDANCE. (...) THE MIND HAS GUIDED MANY RACES. YOU REQUIRE GUIDANCE. THE MIND WILL PROVIDE GUIDANCE. (...)

[25] "Make no mistake. The Mind is vastly powerful, and its wishes come to be. Resisting its plans is fruitless and will lead to the extinction of your race."

[26] "And some races reject the Community outright. These are pruned like the grasping vines they are, limited to their home systems until such time as they are ready for admittance."

[27] "As I have noted a number of times: all races either join the Community voluntarily, or are limited to their home systems. The latter is almost universally a suicidal decision for the race on a galactic time frame, as it succumbs to resource starvation."