Golden Record
Three months ago.
Guided by the Terran Sphere's navigation data, Andre's flagship, Constantine the Great Battlecruiser, hopped through multiple Stargates and arrived at the LA001 Stargate at the fourth Lagrange Node of the Neptune.
Next, the rest of the Antonios delegation's fleet, escorted by the Terran Sphere defense fleet, went to dock at a base around Neptune. Andre's flagship proceeded towards the heart of the Solar System, escorted by the Terran Sphere's Guarding Fleet, making its way to the Dawn Ring.
Honestly, if it weren't for the Terran Sphere's thoughtful arrangements, this would be one tedious journey.
During the escort handover, some top Terran Sphere officials boarded Andre's flagship. The leader, a curly-haired man named Reyn Cooper, introduced himself as Chairman Yue's envoy, who was there to accompany Andre's group to the City of Dawn.
The fleet started off in standard cruise mode, moving in Neptune's direction. Cooper explained that they were in Neptune's gravity well, so they'd need to go to Neptune using the standard cruise mode, then slingshot out of its gravity well before activating the warp drive.
Andre just smiled and didn't comment.
He understood that fuel conservation wasn't the point here; likely, Chairman Yue had specifically planned this route.
Watching Neptune get bigger, Andre couldn't help but recall the Nero Planet, which always shimmered blue. When humans first discovered Nero, the expedition team thought it was another icy planet. Once the probe landed, they discovered Nero was a rocky satellite, its blue color due to the Nero ore coating it.
"Ah!" Like father like son, Anton and Andre seemed to have the same reaction when the blue planet came into view. Andre widened his eyes, "This planet's just like Nero!"
"Nero?" Cooper seemed confused.
"Nero's the second satellite of Garden Planet," Anton explained to Cooper. "It's blue as well."
"Oh? A blue satellite?" Cooper was intrigued.
"Yes, exactly. Nero's a blue satellite," said Anton.
"I've heard Garden Planet is habitable, but even its satellite..." He shrugged.
Anton guessed what Cooper was thinking and smiled. "No, not as you think. Nero doesn't have seas." "The blue color comes from Nero ore, a blue mineral on its surface."
"It's a crystal formed from ancient volcanic eruptions, with some copper sulfate," Andre added. "Supposedly, the first expedition team really thought Nero had oceans." He laughed, "Still, the oceans on Garden Planet are real. We weren't lucky enough to find two habitable planets in one single star system."
"I bet it's a beautiful planet. I'd love to see it someday," Cooper said, shrugging. He pointed to Neptune, explaining, "Neptune doesn't have seas either. It's a dark blue ice planet with an atmosphere rich in hydrogen and helium. The blue hue is due to some methane in the air. But don't let its tranquil blue appearance fool you. This planet has never-ending storms with winds gusting 2,000 km/h and temperatures near -218 degrees Celsius—totally uninhabitable. Basically, Neptune's one big blue nightmare."
Neptune grew bigger in their view as they approached, and they could make out storms swirling on it. Even if these storms weren't as well-known as Jupiter's eternal storm, Andre realized each one could instantly rip apart an entire fleet.
Then they saw something like a thin veil flicker at Neptune's edge under the faint sunlight, which then disappeared, replaced by a subtle ring instead.
"It's Neptune's ring system, found by the Voyager 2 probe back in 1989," Cooper told them. "Neptune's rings aren't as obvious as Saturn's; they're tough to spot even with telescopes on Earth. But we've since learned that Neptune has not just one, but five rings made of dust and ice."
Planetary rings are pretty common; throughout our cosmic exploration, humans have discovered thousands of planets with rings, some even prettier than Saturn's.
Anton was clearly more fascinated by the Voyager 2. He asked excitedly, "Wait, did you say Voyager 2? Isn't that the one with the golden record?"
Cooper chuckled, "Actually, you're referring to Voyager 1, which was launched a bit after Voyager 2. Voyager 1 was the first unmanned probe; despite being launched later, it was the fastest craft humans had made and the first to fly out of the Solar System. It wasn't until 2032 that Voyager 1 completely lost contact with Earth, drifting into the vast cosmos. Voyager 1 carried a golden record featuring greetings in 55 languages, 27 classic Earth songs, and various pictures. Oh, and it also had Earth's coordinates and info about the Solar System on it. Even though it was just copper coated in gold, people liked to call it the Golden Record."
"But... Why? I mean, why put all that info on the golden record?" Anton asked, a bit curious.
Cooper shrugged. "Back then, humans believed they weren't alone in the universe. They launched that probe hoping that aliens would pick it up; those details were to present Earth and our culture to them. Yet, after exploring one-third of the Milky Way, we've found no alien civilizations, not even advanced life forms. Maybe we're truly alone in this universe."
A fleeting look of sadness appeared on Cooper's face.
"I suppose it's lucky for us," Andre said. "Since the record shows the coordinates of Earth and the Solar System, if any of them intercepted Voyager 1, who's to guarantee they're not hostile?"
"You're absolutely right, Mr. President; your concern isn't unfounded. Even then, some scientists thought it was overly naive," Cooper smiled. "But in hindsight, it makes sense. Humanity was young, and that golden record was just a child's hopeful wish for the unknown. Speaking of which," he said to Anton, smiling, "the golden record is on display at a museum in the City of Dawn. Feel free to stop by. Plus, museum experts have recreated the ancient tech to play the record, so you can actually listen to the greetings and music. And if you like, you can grab a copy of the golden record to take home as a souvenir."
"How did they find the golden record?" asked Anton.
"Back in 2032, we lost all contact with Voyager 1," Cooper said. "Even at 17km/s—the fastest craft in human history back then—it was way too slow for the immense universe. Experts estimated it would reach the Oort Cloud by the mid-24th century. If the spacecraft does not crash into objects in the Oort cloud, it will take about 30,000 years to travel through the Oort cloud and then 10,000 years to pass through a spot 1.6 light-years away from the star Gliese 445 in the constellation Camelopardalis. Eventually, Voyager 1 would drift endlessly through the Milky Way. However, that's not how things turned out. In the year 3223, over 1,200 years after contact was lost, a team deep into the Oort Cloud accidentally stumbled upon some old spacecraft debris. It was Voyager 1. Analysis showed Voyager 1 unfortunately collided with something in the Oort Nebula and broke apart."
"At least the golden record didn't get smashed," said Anton.
"That's the strange thing," Cooper grinned. "No golden record was found there."
"Really?" both Andre and Anton were intrigued. Anton asked, "So, is the one in the museum a replica?"
"Not at all; the museum's got the authentic one. They didn't find the golden record at the site. Scientists studied the impact marks and believe the collision occurred in the 29th century, about 500 years after Voyager 1 entered the Oort Nebula. Computers were used to reconstruct the crash, and engineers calculated the most probable debris trajectories. Probes were sent in seven directions, and six fragments were recovered, but the container with the golden record was nowhere to be found."
"Maybe it got hit again and changed course," Anton suggested.
Cooper spread his hands. "The chances are super slim. The universe is a lot more emptier than we imagine."
"I know," Andre replied. "When humanity launched probes into the outer Solar System, many feared they wouldn't make it past the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. That's a common misunderstanding. The pictures of the Solar System we see are artistically enhanced. In those pictures, every planet is visible, and the asteroid belt looks like a stream of rocks circling the Sun. In reality, that's not the case. If we depict the Solar System to scale, you'd only see a small yellow star and vast emptiness."
"That's right," Cooper agreed. "Back then, people really believed the asteroid belt was filled with fast-moving asteroids and rocks. But actually, probes going through it almost never encounter a single asteroid. The same goes for the Oort Cloud. Voyager 1 was highly unlikely to collide with anything. In fact, its original design assumed almost zero chance of collision in the Oort Cloud. So the odds of multiple collisions are practically nonexistent."
"In that case, where was the golden record found?" Andre frowned.
Cooper smiled slightly. "At the time, it was a famous unsolved mystery. Excuse me, even today, the golden record is still a mystery. Lots of bizarre theories popped up. One even suggested that Voyager 1 actually met an advanced alien civilization—they took it apart and took the golden record. This theory became mainstream among the public for a while. Some people were excited because if it were true, then aliens existed, and we weren't alone. Some were terrified; imagine a powerful alien race lurking at the edge of our Solar System in the vast Oort Cloud, maybe watching us all along."
After a pause, Cooper continued, "But reality is always more astounding than imagination. Just when the golden record mystery had become ancient lore, in the 37th century—more than 1,700 years after Voyager 1's launch—humans had found the Lagrange Network, Stargates were everywhere, and the first interstellar expansion was on. An Explorer squad stumbled upon a box in the Hercules ZR Star System, 22.7 light-years from the Solar System. It was the golden record inside the box. A century later, after the Stargates were built, the golden record was finally sent back to Earth. Leading archaeologists authenticated it as the very golden record that Voyager 1 carried. To commemorate this, the Terran Sphere Government renamed the Hercules ZR Star System to the Traveler System."
"Weird, why haven't we heard about this before?" asked Anton.
"No surprise," Cooper said, spreading his hands. "Back then, during the crazy gold rush, something like the golden record didn't catch much attention. And even if people did hear, they'd think it was just a hoax created by chauvinists on Earth. Then came endless wars and communication breakdowns—you were even less likely to hear about it."
"Makes sense," Andre said. "If I heard about this, I'd think it was a hoax too. Otherwise, there's no way to explain how the golden record popped up 16 light-years from the Solar System. Even if the record's real, there's only one explanation—you found it when you discovered Voyager 1's wreckage in the 33rd century, kept it secret, and then cooked up this story 400 years later."
"Actually, it's not just a story—this really happened," Cooper said. Some scientists suggested that the golden record possibly traveled through an unknown Lagrange point to the Traveler System. However, there are many flaws in that theory. Saying it's a hoax sounds more plausible than that theory."
"An unknown Lagrange point?" Anton raised an eyebrow. "Hold on, if I'm not mistaken, by the 33rd century, we had found abnormal space resonance, but we hadn't mastered mass delivery technology yet, right?"
"Right, we hadn't," Cooper replied, shaking his head. "At that time, human research on Lagrange points was limited to electromagnetic waves. But theoretically, low-mass objects could pass through resonance points under natural conditions. We just didn't find that point."
Pausing briefly, Cooper mused, "We're still pretty clueless about the Lagrange Network."
