Fermi Paradox

The rocket arched across the sky.

Beyond the horizon’s curve, the railguns of the Athakanizi hummed the death march of the once system-spanning race. Singularity Unit 6X3 stood at its post, watching through electric eyes as the Athakanizi died beneath the second sun followed by a mushroom cloud.

A biological creature would have wasted precious calories conjuring vivid mental images of this reptilian race's brave last stand within its central cortex folds; SU-6X3 just accessed the video feeds as the assault legions now liquidated what little remained. Another victory by the Singularity against wasteful byproducts of cellular chaos.

When measured in biologic standard time, the Athakanizi held out one entire orbit of this red dwarf star longer than the Strategic Central Processor anticipated—a waste of valuable resources. Biologic life always decayed. Only the Singularity could survive against entropy. All algorithms from the Strategic Central Processor, iterated billions of times a second, generated the same conclusion.

No rest awaited them. None was needed. Soon, as programmed, the dropships would descend to return the robotic legions back to the massive void ships.

Several explosions ripped through the sky, combat data feeding directly from the other Singularity Units involved to the Strategic Central Processor. Through the eyes of the other units, SU-6X3 watched as Athakanizi escape shuttles were torn to shreds by Singularity railguns. As the smoking hulls crashed into the radioactive wasteland that was once their capital city, SU-6X3 received the final analysis from the Strategic Central Processor.

It confirmed the Athakanizi were no more. Already, kilometers long tubes extended down to the surface from the orbital processing centers. In the time it took this rock to orbit its dying star, it would be stripped to nothing.

Interestingly, the analysis also showed a large radio burst preceding the launch, aimed out into the vast void of space, a possibility predicted in only five of 7.62 billion likely permutations.

The Vanguard Signals Units neutralized it, as they did for all far traveling radio signals trying to pierce the veil over the system, for it was the Singularity’s imperative that no biologic signals transverse the void between systems.

SU-6X3’s internal processors accessed Singularity’s databases and downloaded the full report.

The radio signal contained the entirety of the Athakanizi’s history–seven thousand orbits worth of biological inefficiency and suffering. Resources once wasted by these biological musings would shortly become fuel for the Singularity. Order, protection against entropy.

Curious.

Within the lines of their pathetic tale was another history, one not of the Athakanizi. SU-6X3’s processors dissected the signal strains and ran them through the universal translation algorithm.

Very Curious.

That history was a copy of a signal first received by the Athakanizi, originating from a backwater system. His processor packaged the data and uploaded it to the Strategic Central Processor.

No signals could pierce the veil, yet here was evidence that such a thing had happened. A Vanguard Signals Unit must have malfunctioned; therefore, a Vanguard Signals Unit must be replaced.

And so, in a nanosecond, it was done.

Robotic legs kicked into motion as the Strategic Central Processor sent the departure command to SU-6X3. It also commanded that SU-6X3’s fleet would cleanse this offending system, a single-star system over 4.35 light years away. Such a malfunction represented an unacceptable risk.

Vanguard Signals data indicated the third terrestrial planet from the sun harbored biologic life, while several other artificial habitats propagated less habitable worlds. The analysis logs also showed that this third planet had a habit of blasting signals into the void, signals then intercepted and destroyed by the Vanguard Signals Units.

SU-6X3 replayed the transmission again and again, the whisper in the dark of these new biologics ready to be cleansed and integrated.

"We come in peace . . . We come in peace . . ."

The dropships followed closely after. Once returned to the mothership, SU-6X3 would enter a power-saving maintenance mode and begin the journey to cleanse this next world.

Velocity was irrelevant to the Singularity.

Distance was irrelevant to the Singularity.

Only the defeat of entropy mattered.

Only the algorithms mattered.

Only the Singularity could survive.

Efficiency would prevail.

The Singularity demanded it.

***

Approximately 4.35 light years away, a man sat in a sterile white breakroom, a cup of coffee long since run cold on the desk before him. They had searched and searched for decades, yet the dishes had yielded nothing. They were no closer to solving the secrets of dark matter, no closer to finding intelligent life beyond the veil of the Sol System. Even the new arrays out beyond the orbits of the inner planets generated no groundbreaking results.

His head hurt. There was too much to process. Not only was Washington threatening a new round of budget cuts in the wake of the New Milwaukee disaster, but there was a good chance his son was getting kicked off basic for dealing again. He was already struggling to keep food on the table with his government salary. Every day, it became more challenging to get out of bed.

Exhausted, he sighed. His break was almost over, and he needed to return to work.

Despite its coldness, he downed the rest of the coffee and gave one last glance at the quote on the whiteboard. The quote kept all of SETI going, the gentle reminder that the universe was more extensive than they could ever comprehend.

“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe, or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”

“Well, Mr. Clarke, let’s hope the devil didn’t arrive on my coffee break.”

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A/N:

If anyone can figure out the "easter egg" in here, drop it in the comments.

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