Chapter 3 🔭 The answer from deep space

Many different signals began to arrive at all sensors available on the planet. The residents of Litea began to analyze the data with anticipation, and after a few minutes it became clear that these signals were being analyzed by themselves.

Meanwhile, the signal source changed its trajectory and began to move in the direction of the Litea.

The scientific community was horrified. For all the time spent on the development and construction of the Intergalactic Lighthouse, no one thought about the meeting with their own kind.

The object was approaching

Invisible rays of various kinds probed the planet in different ways. They were powerful, unexpected, and seemed to penetrate to the very essence of matter. Each pulse left behind a barely noticeable flicker in the atmosphere, as if an invisible brush was tracing mysterious symbols on the celestial canvas.

Scientists of the Litea frantically checked the data: spectral analysis showed that the rays involved ranges that had not previously been used on the planet. Some sensors detected bursts of gravitational waves, while others detected anomalies in magnetic fields. Computers did not have time to process information: data streams crashed down like an avalanche, forcing the systems to issue error after error.

There was a tense silence in the main control center of the Intergalactic Lighthouse. Professor Elarion Hart, the project leader, clenched his fists, looking at the holographic projection of the approaching object. It pulsed with crimson light, changing shape every few seconds, then stretching into a perfect sphere, then breaking up into dozens of small fragments, which then merged back together.

"It's not a ship,— he whispered, without taking his eyes off the projection. "This is... something else."