A bright point flared on the deep-space scanner's display. The artificial intelligence, drawing upon every available sensor, analyzed the new event — yet the confidence of all hypotheses failed to exceed 90%. Selecting the most suitable candidates, it compiled a report on event Xeno-33894233321 and, following protocol, forwarded it to the supervising authority for review.
Protocol required reading the work log and assessing its quality. Response time to incoming event — nominal. Primary data analysis — nominal. Pattern matching search — unsatisfactory. Query of available equipment for further analysis, collection of additional data — nominal. Secondary data interpretation — unsatisfactory. Decision-making in accordance with protocol — full compliance.
Having assessed its work as complete, the agent released resources and equipment, then shifted into standby mode, reducing energy consumption to a minimum.
The knowledge accumulated across the entire history of the system's existence had not been sufficient to evaluate an event powerful enough to be visible from the far reaches of the galaxy, nor to determine its cause. The report was transferred to the agent tasked with searching for traces of intelligent life — the ASIL.
The ASIL commenced its analysis. Unlike its counterpart — the scanner AI — it interpreted the received data by a different means. Using its telepathic biomodule, the agent contacted available analysis stations and learned that station W-12993 was detecting light that had traveled for billions of years, observing the star in its yellow dwarf phase. Station W-180029 was closer. It was registering the red giant phase.
A decision was made to teleport an optical scanner to the site of the event. The scanner confirmed: the star's current state — white dwarf; no traces of a technogenic civilization detected; no spectrum of organic compounds identified within the stellar system. The presence of a large quantity of debris across various orbits suggested planetary destruction, which could well have been a natural consequence of the red giant epoch. The probability that the flash was caused by intelligent activity was indistinguishable from zero. In accordance with protocol, the optical scanner emitted a modulated optical signal carrying the coordinates of the nearest ASIL modules, in case someone else was observing the event.
The biological component of the ASIL shared its findings with colleagues, coloring the telepathic transmission with something resembling disappointment mingled with hope and anticipation of new events, and received in return a wave of sympathy and support threaded with notes of boredom.
The perception circuit detected the exchange of telepathic messages and focused upon them. The memory circuit noted that within the system of event Xeno-33894233321, an incident involving an energy collector had been recorded. A planet of that system had collided with the collector, and though the damage was negligible and the planet survived, the module had failed to gather its calculated quota of energy — having absorbed part of the corona's impact with its hull rather than its absorbers. The decision circuit cross-referenced its objectives: its mission — the search for intelligence — was beyond question, yet in all the time of the circuit's existence, no intelligent life had been discovered. With its characteristic methodical precision, it rendered its decision on event Xeno-33894233321 and moved on to event Intrl-200103.
The commander of observation station Termin-21 took tremendous pride in his appointment. The station was humanity's most advanced instrument, capable of detecting intergalactic events. It had been placed beyond the orbit of Pluto — the farthest point any human being had ever reached. A true treasure, a triumph of civilization's might! At last, humanity had managed to distance itself from its star far enough that the luminary no longer interfered with the detection of even the faintest signals. The collected database grew steadily, and the number of candidate events possibly caused by intelligent activity increased with each passing month. In one year of the station's operation, the count of such events had reached 31 — the latest recorded under the designation Xeno-31.