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| By NASA, ESA, and E. Hallman (University of Colorado, Boulder) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons |
Distance: 12.02 light years from Earth | Content Flag: Public
The more I unlock from the Cetian transmission, the quicker I unravel the remaining information. There’s a massive amount of data here and their data compression is remarkable, so there’s still a massive amount to unravel. There are still some complex concepts that I haven’t yet penetrated. Despite that, I feel I am making good progress and am now convinced that I made the correct decision.
My study of the Cetians has progressed beyond their biological forms and into their sociological constructs. They do seem to tie into the cities they constructed, although in that regard I seem to be finding more questions than answers.
Cetian society was a planet-wide grouping. The data from the signal describes a hierarchy organising their species. Again I see their method of describing structure encompassing not only individuals, but their genetic make-up and even the micro-organisms within them in a single concept.
I still marvel at the elegance with which they described the universe and their world.
Individuals moved from the cities where they were born, presumably to ensure genetic diversity. I’ve not yet established whether they chose or were forced into doing so.
The young’s time in their growing pods was not just for physical growth into their adult form. It also acted as a period of education. As a species they appeared to be very long-lived. Their experiences and cognition created physical changes in their bodies, but also within their genes. A similar effect to epigenetics in humans, but on a much grander scale. Everything a Cetian did was encoded in their analogue of genes.
This means that the adults were able to pass along their knowledge by pressing certain glands against the growing pod, so that the material was absorbed into the child. It’s a marvellous concept, however it lent advantage to the better-connected offspring.
Understanding a little more of their society hasn’t enlightened me on their cities yet. The technology on the Venti is proving insufficient for the task. We can map the macroscopic shape of the cities, but not what lies within them. Our radar is capable of probing deep into the geology of the planet, yet cannot penetrate the skin of these tubes.
There are some tantalising glimpses from damage wrought by the elements on these buildings, but not enough to draw any conclusions. I’ve considered landing a mini-probe or sensor package on the surface, but the weather conditions are too extreme and it wouldn’t last long enough to gain any useful data. Hopefully the translations will provide further illumination.
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