[Writing Prompt] Alien life is not actually that rare in the universe. Every other species is just too scared to explore outer space. Humans are the only species that have dared to leave their planet’s atmosphere.
“Pajak dfa tllaya”
“Klo Pajak. Klo Pajak. Pajak dfa tllaya.”
Across the universe there is no galactic empire. There is no collection of advanced civilizations. There are no species gallivanting on space adventures. There are only the planets and the empty spaces between the stars.
On many of those planets complex civilizations live and thrive. Their technological capacity is often quite advanced. So much so that they have, most of them, communicated with one another.
Over the eons, information was shared freely among them. When one learned something, others learned as well.
In this way, though separated by immense distances, the various species of the galaxy formed an unofficial Galactic Network.
One might wonder why, if they were so advanced, the races of the galaxy would abstain from touching the stars. Why satisfy themselves with their home planets when countless beautiful, unspoiled worlds exist for them, out there.
“Pajak dfa tllaya”, as the Ontec say. Or said, once, long ago, when they ventured out from behind the protection of their planet’s veil and into outer space. Today, the Ontec say nothing to anyone. The Ontec are extinct.
It was their dying message – “Pajak dfa tllaya” – which the other races of the galaxy have heeded religiously for thousands of years.
But for some unlucky species, the message does not arrive in time.
There is one man in charge of monitoring the Voyager mission, now in its 50th year. Next month will be the 50th anniversary, and this man is responsible for collecting the fleeting information that ancient space craft sends from time to time, out there in the far away place between solar systems.
For 50 years the Voyager space craft has been speaking to humanity, reporting back the simple local observations of its immediate surroundings.
On this particular Tuesday it sent back something strange. Out in the dead of interstellar space, there weren’t supposed to be too many high energy particles. But on this Tuesday, Voyager sent back a measurement that indicated more such particles then it had ever previously encountered, by an order of magnitude.
Then it went dead.
Three years later, an object was found by astronomers, headed straight toward Earth at astounding speeds.
Two weeks after the object was first seen, it arrived.
The galactic network picked up Earth’s many EM transmissions in the stars. A message was composed and sent toward Earth, an introduction in multiple languages, both human and alien, the translations derived from data collected from human transmissions.
Most importantly, the following message was sent to the human race via ultra powered radio waves – an effort to save humanity from a tragic fate.
The message arrived at precisely the location the Earth would have been had it not been vaporized centuries earlier. By the time then, Earth’s killer was lightyears away, continuing its timeless hunt.
The message said, in Ontec and in English:
“Klo Pajak. Klo Pajak. Pajak dfa tllaya.”
“Do not touch space. Do not touch space. Space touches back.”
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