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rations drop man
in case something went wrong."
"Couldn't the colony have detected the signal? We did."
"Simple economy. They didn't need the equipment required, so they didn't get
it."
"Who did in the first place?"
"An automated drone probe. There are hundreds out there, collecting data on
systems ten times further out than we've ever travelled. Amongst their
functions is a wide-band search for intelligent signals. One recorded the
Ships beacon for analysis on Earth.
Whoever set up the signal deliberately chose a noisy frequency. If they'd
wanted it to be heard over a long distance they would've chosen something
like the twenty-one centimeter Hydrogen frequency. They probably assumed
anyone sophisticated enough to get there in the first place could receive it,
so they aimed for short range reception only."
"Ash said they'd translated it. What did it say?"
"It was easy to decipher. The originators knew a message in their language
would likely be
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