Patreon Exclusive Story: Together We Stand Alone (Patreon)

My fellow citizens. I address you today with a heavy but unwavering heart. At 09:27, United Nations Standard Time, on the 27th of November 3927, we received the final reports from the last of our extragalactic expeditions from Andromeda and Centaurus A. This marks the last of the datasets necessary to fulfill the criteria set out under the Extragalactic Exploratory Charter of 3529.

As the incumbent UNSA First Director and acting General Secretary, I am constitutionally obligated to reveal the findings of these expeditions, with the transcripts and full length reports of said findings available on pubsci alpha.

Under careful and close investigation, corroborated by followup manned expeditions, extensive audit, peer review, and meta analysis, the UNSA alongside leading academic NGOs can now confirm the conclusions set forth by the 3452 studies on the absence of extraterrestrial civilizations. Our findings coincide with the 3452 models within a significant degree of statistical significance. No outliers exist in the data gathered over the past 398 years throughout the 37 distinct EEC missions. No exceptional datasets exist to counter the 3452 model. No existing model can match the data gathered, which leads us to the same conclusions we reached over 398 years ago.

We are alone.

…

I can understand the existential dread all of you may be feeling at this point in time. I can empathize and sympathize with each and every one of you listening, from the great megalopolises of Earth, to the orbital rings of Pluto, and the habitats of Homesphere One and Two. The human condition is one that wishes, craves, and desires community. We find meaning in one another, and comfort in companionship. We seek to communicate our deepest thoughts and emotions, we wish for (comfort) in mutual understanding. We are a species founded on civilization, it isn’t unnatural then, for us to feel lost as the only civilization in existence.

To feel a sense of grief, at the loss of those that never had a chance to be, is human.

But this isn’t the end.

Let us not be burdened by the existential anguish over our solitude, but be enriched by it! For we are the torchbearers of civilization, the only light in this ever present dark. We exist as a continuous line, an unbroken chain stretching back from the intrepid explorers of Enduring Liberty through to the first homo sapiens who decided to crest that first hill. Our art, culture, history and science are a testament to our legacy, and we shall not falter to maintain its continuity for as long as there are stars in the night sky.

We cannot afford to rest, we cannot afford to take a step back, we cannot afford any more internal conflict when we know what’s really at stake.

For the very first time we finally understand the significance of our existence, that humanity has a responsibility greater than any other known to exist. We have a responsibility to uphold the light of civilization, as the sole torchbearers in this unending sea of dark.

My fellow citizens, let us take this news not with self-pity and disillusionment, but with dignity and unity. Dignity in our place as the only sapient beings within this empty and meaningless void, and Unity in our defiance against the entropy which surrounds us.

Let us be unburdened by solitude, but instead be fueled by it, and be the progenitors of a galaxy of our own design.

Together, we can be something greater than the sum of our parts. Together, we can imbue the galaxies, the universe itself with our own meaning.

My fellow citizens, let us take this gift of sapiency, and the civilization from which it sprouted, and make it our own. Let us, as humanity, enshrine our legacy from now till the end of time itself.

Our forebears are watching us from high above, let’s not drop the torch now.

To the stars we once sought meaning and hope, now, we imbue the stars with our own hope and desires. A hope not contingent on the companionship of others, but in the brotherhood of humankind.

Dr. Jacob Angelaus-Li

United Nations General Secretary and First Director of the United Nations Science Advisory

“A Final Call to Union”