Type 2 Civilization

[on the Kardashev scale]

A red square flashed and the buzzing of a concerned computer stopped.

“Dr. Greene, there is a small object of interest, 40,000 km port of our flight path.” said a British and somewhat motherly voice.

Nathan R. Greene rubbed his chin and tried to make heads or tails out of it. “We haven’t passed anything since that debris field fifteen years ago. What do you mean an object of interest?”

“At first, it appeared to be a solid carbon asteroid, but since we’ve got closer it began broadcasting a signal.”

“What kind of signal?”

Greene sat down next to the long-broken pilot robot and tuned in. It was too weak to be a space marker. He cut the engines, drifted towards it, and locked his vast sensor array on the tiny thing. The computer spouted off details.

“Diamond nanofiber surface. One meter in diameter. Unknown internal mechanisms. Broadcasting a data stream in what appears to be over 70 thousand different languages. No apparent defense protocol nor known contaminants.”

Greene ran it through his translation matrix and scanned for an option his computer might comprehend.

“There’s an interface uplink. Let’s bring it in.”

“Dr. Greene, I suggest you try the neural transmitter.”

Greene took a metal headset out of a drawer and placed it across his forehead like a crown.