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In fact, these warnings are why I believe that this gap exists at all. I have seen the holes in the night sky - voids oddly free from the smear of galactic starlight. Too large and too organized - perhaps - to be explained by the careless actions of species merely tinkering with FTL technology. In a way, I can almost see it: vast fleets of FTL-capable ships carrying civilizations on an endless voyage, spreading the poison of causal violation further and further in an attempt to outrun their own extinction. One year of existence, traded for a innocent star cluster. Eighty thousand years, for a spiral-galaxy the size of the milky way.
The image is horrible. It is horrible because it forces me understand the cruel logic that the probe - and its less sympathetic counterparts - operate under. Best to snuff out civilization before it reaches FTL, to prevent such a bargain from even being made.
But more importantly, it is horrible because I can see it as legitimate solution. As it stands, humanity is already doomed. Our first, careless foray into acausal technology has already marked us for removal - either by the RAIN's jump, or the hunters that will come prowling in her wake. We have already committed the first violation against causality - and there is no way of truly undoing that mistake.
But perhaps humanity might still be able to outrun it. Perhaps we can show them how.
Unsurprisngly, MERRYGATE saw no problem with this idea. Her moral calculus is sharp-edged: tuned by her primary function and sharpened by the events she has witness over the past few months. Her head tracked my eyes as she made her case, and I felt the touch of static on my face.
"We have encountered two alien civilizations so far - the one we are presently sterilization and the one who presumably built the probe. One of them will attempt exterminate us within the century, and the other likely wishes for the same to happen in a few millenia. Neither of them would consider this to be a difficult moral question, companion. And neither should we."
She might be right. But still, I could not escape the feeling of dread. Would it be fair to work towards this? To spread our mistake throughout the stars to secure our own survival? Where success - at best - would tie the survival of humanity to the erasure of hundreds of untold innocents? If we ever stumbled - and let the universe finally collect its due - the damage would be immeasurable.
> YES. You will work towards this goal. Humanity's survival is paramount. In a universe like ours, this is doubly true.
> NO. You will reject this goal. There is a difference between revenge and murder.
- [UNSIGNED], EXECUTIVE AUDITOR, TRS NOVEMBER RAIN, AD. 2242, JUNE 10, PERSONAL JOURNAL
