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As they nurtured this new humanity to
gentle coexistence with their world, some of Union’s planners and administrators began to look
beyond: out, towards the depths of space. Old records spoke of inhabited worlds and distant
stations — of ancestors, who escaped to the stars.

Never a priority to Union before, the stars beyond the sky took on new meaning: humanity might
not be alone. With approval from the united communities of Earth, whose representatives formed
Union’s Central Committee, Union began to work on reaching those stars. Around Earth, Union
found dormant satellites strung in orbit, ancient shipyards hanging in space. On Luna, Union
found dusty colonies, empty but for mummified remains of the people who once lived there. And
back on Earth, Union found charts, logs, flight plans, trajectories. Union found and thawed the
old telescopes, radio towers, and laser communication suites preserved in ice on mountaintops
and in high places all over the world. They pointed them to the stars, turned them on, and
waited.

The first messages arrived almost immediately, and with them came Union’s third great trauma.
It was the voices of Old Humanity, thousands of years ancient and long dead, carried on radio
waves garbled by radiation, time, and transit, crying out to their home for help. Lost souls that
begged for aid, for guidance, for their loved ones. Thousands of years of messages, recorded
and playing on endless, decaying loops for the survivors to hear.

This was the voice of Old Humanity Union had never expected: a desperate cry for help, a lonely
gasp as the air ran out. A plea, unanswered, as the light grew dim.