The Kaonan Sector (Short Story)

“The Kaonan sector is about to get a little noisier.”

“The Kaonan sector? It's only the Kaonans out there, right? And they're a stable, low-traffic civilization. If they were about to ramp up activity, they would have told us. Even if they didn't tell us, I have other sources, and they haven't heard anything.”

“It's not the Kaonans. It's those infants twenty light-years toward the core.”

“The monkey-people?”

“The ones who call themselves 'humans,' yes.”

“The monkey people haven't done anything for several hundred rotations. If you hadn't made regular reports otherwise, I would have assumed they went extinct.”

“No, they're not extinct. Earth went dark, but the humans are still there.”

“If they're still there, why did they ever go dark?”

“They were busy.”

“Very busy?”

“Busy enough to give a name to their busyness. They called it 'the Great Reorganization.' It took quite a long time.”

“So they're a planet of bureaucrats?”

“Not anymore. Most of them are quite embarrassed by the name, actually.”

“If all of them hate it, why do they use it?”

“Because it fits. All of the speculation that one of their great military powers might have a second civil war went for naught. At one point, their President tried to start a civil war, and found that the army was split into far more than the two factions he had suspected. They wouldn't sever their ties with their own local origins, nor would they fire on their countrymen. There was no revolution, either. The civil war that didn't happen represented a failure on the part of national-level powers, but there was no immediate abdication of power and no replacement regime. Regional governments simply grew in power, and then they too gave way to independence at the local level.”

“If it went so smoothly, why did the humans go dark at all?”

“Well, it did not go entirely smoothly. With the breakdown of any sort of large-scale authority, life in the urban centers went from being a somewhat ridiculous concept, and statistically somewhat miserable, to being utterly horrifying. In the outlying areas, life became somewhat technologically backwards, but it was not a nightmare like it was in the city. Naturally, the urbanites–those who survived–fled there. Just as naturally, things did not get much better for them. Humans living in cities, on average, learned no transferable survival skills whatsoever. They had no chance of making it on their own. Natives of the rural areas had formed smaller, close-knit societies of friends and family, had no use for them, and were loathe to take in outsiders in the midst of the turmoil. Even the rural collectives, which tended to have more members who were capable of surviving without depending on large-scale commerce, did not all make it.”

“So the monkey-people went dark because of a near-extinction event?”

“There was a drastic reduction in the population, but it wasn't as extreme as a near extinction. In any case, much of the drop in population has been voluntary or semi-voluntary. Their population had reached an unhealthy level before, and it wasn't as though nobody was aware of it. Before, some governments had attempted to put population-control measures in place, but those were failures. Humans did not react particularly well to some distant, impersonal entity telling them what they could and could not do with their bodies. However, when the same edicts came from a beloved or respected neighbor, responses tended to be more favorable. The leaders of the new micro-societies succeeded where the largest and most powerful governments had failed.”

“You seem to be telling me what didn't cause the monkey-people's four-hundred rotations of silence. At what point will you come to the cause?”

“I was just coming to it. You see, humanity had evolved outside of large, heavily-commercialized societies, but their technology had not. With more pressing concerns, people completely forgot how to make or use most of it, and the rest was difficult to operate or maintain. And, in any case, it was only one or two generations before most of humanity was content simply to talk among their fellows in their own small collectives. The human brain is optimized for small-group socialization, just as you would expect in a sentient being with significant intelligence and personality. In a way, humans have gone back to their roots.”

“And what has changed now?”

“Nothing more or less than the direction of human ambition. For a long time, humanity did not look to the stars as a destination, or a field of study, or anything other than scenery. Now, their gaze has returned.”

“Are they capable of reaching that destination?”

“Not right now, no, though they are almost assuredly capable of making contact. They are not the primitive, tribal people of a dark species. Their Great Reorganization did not cause them fall into the pattern of endless small-scale warfare that characterized much of their early existence. They have reestablished strong commercial ties, although not on a scale that would threaten to condense and consume their society into anything as unhealthy as urbanized civilization. They are close to eclipsing their previous technological peak, but this time, instead of using that technology to produce more and more commercial goods, they are using it to cultivate leisure and improved lifestyles. If they believed seeing the stars would improve their lifestyle, they could get there eventually, and if we gave them a reason, I believe they could achieve it within mere dozens of rotations. Their first round of interstellar transmissions are imminent.”

“So we must determine whether to respond.”

“That is it exactly.”

“Standard policy toward the monkey-people is to monitor their activity, remain undetectable, and under no circumstances respond to any of their communication.”

“First-year exopolitics.”

“You are not in position to change standard policy. Nevertheless, I value your expertise on the planet Earth, and I will hear your recommendation. Would you advise a change to standard policy?”

“Not right away. But I would advise that we listen. Perhaps the new humanity will have something to say that is worth consideration.”