We were so stupid.

I warned them. I warned them all.

But nobody listened.

For centuries, our species, no matter if religious or not, had debated about our creators. Congresses, palaces, and whole circles of the most educated and the most wise had debated if we were created at all, or if we were merely a whim of nature.

And yet, we found no answers.

We fought wars about the thesis of creators. Of the interpretation of their will. We killed for it. We bled for it.

And as the few remaining groups dominated, we waged war for other things. Against us. Against nature.

The oceans. The climate. Our atmosphere. We ruined it all.

When we received their message, we rejoiced.

But we knew we weren't alone anymore. We could get help... right?

So, we reached out.

But we were so naive.

As we ruined our planet, bled it dry for resources, and crushed its' skin to amass our wealth, others would do too. And maybe, they had gone too far already.

We were predators, after all. Why should they not be?

We evolved with killing as every predator did. But we became arrogant. In our superiority, at some point, we did not kill for food anymore. For fun. For war. War was in our very substance; if it wasn't against each other, it was against our planet. If our creators made us this way, they must have been cruel.

If we had evolved this way, nature lost its grasp of self-regulation a long, long time ago.

We built cities of stone and steel and concrete where people starved on land that could have kept them fed.

But we were so stupid.

When our leaders finally confessed that they had made successful contact, the people split up once again.

Some wanted to act according to their nature.

Others wanted to act according to reason.

There weren't many who wanted them to help.

No. Most of them wanted us to take what is theirs.

That's when the resistance formed.

We weren't many, but we were determined. Not just to protect them, but also to protect us.

If they arrived first it meant their technology was superior to ours.

If we arrived first we couldn't be sure that they did not just hold back.

And so, we began to sabotage them. The many, many companies who built spaceships. Those who dared to look into the stars, to try to communicate.

If we stay silent, we hoped, they would maybe just give up.

We could send false messages, that war broke out and we are on the brink of destruction.

We tried to petition our leaders.

But they did not want to listen.

We were so stupid.

Six years after the first contact, we started our ships. Ten arks, full of people, of resources. Colonists, scientists, politicians. Hidden soldiers. Over twenty thousand people.

And they did theirs, our scientists told us. They told them. I do not know how. I do not understand it.

They had calculated the exact date the ark fleets would be close enough to meet. The real, actual first contact. A few pods shot over to the others. A few weeks of quarantine, then our arks would bring the other specimen home with them. Already learned speech. Culture. Working on a mutual, beneficial pact.

We were so stupid.

And then, we found out about you.

You were different. But you were oddly similar. One of our arks found your probe.

It had a disk on it, with a drawing. A drawing of us. Some of us. But it wasn't us.

It was a drawing of you and your home.

When our scientists got the news, they searched space for signals. And they found them. One after another. We just tried to listen to it in the wrong way before. And I also became a scientist. Late, with 205 solar cycles, but I managed to do it.

We deciphered your data. Reconstructed them. We even saw pictures. Pictures of you. And therefore, pictures of us.

We were the same, barely different. Our leaders met that day. Xenolife was a sensation in its own way. But Xenolife looking like we did. Spoke a dead language of ours, long forgotten already...

They consulted our best scientists and those they had called fools before. Those who spoke of our creators of ancient myths and times.

We prepared many messages.

But something happened. Again.

Those who were not willing to get in touch with the first species we encountered were too angry.

Because we had received a message, two days before we wanted to contact you.

Our other contact did not send arks. They sent ships to take over our planet.

And our arks were gone. All of them. Destroyed by missiles, if we got the last reading right.

The antixenoist pact, as they called themself, had enough. Bombs with such devastating energies that they eradicated whole countries were hurled into the sky and rained down upon the globe. They were aimed at the countries who had pushed for the contact. They defended themselves.

It was mutual destruction before anyone else could destroy us.

Barely anyone of us survived. But I was one of them. Only because I was in space, in the orbital station where the research center is. To catch the messages you send into the whole galaxy. For every single species out there to hear. Maybe there are more than us? More "humans", as you call yourself. And us. Or more like them...

They will be here sooner. At least I think so. Their speed enhanced greatly since they had destroyed our arks. I think they only wanted to ensure that we sent the right location of our homeworld.

The invasion will begin. The invasion of a dead planet.

I do not have much time. I have to get into my escape pod. I will send this message to you, as a recording like you did, even though I doubt it will reach you at all, and I will take one with me in my pod. Perhaps you shall find it.

I hope our creators will forgive us one day for what we did to our species.

We hope that you will not repeat our mistakes.

It would have been an honor to know you, humans. I am sorry and I pray to the creators that they will not intercept this message.

We were so stupid.

Ten hours. Ten hours Dr. Hawforth had needed to decipher the message completely. She had hoped after every single word it was a mere jest. A mistake, a prank. Nothing else.

But it wasn't. The dreadful truth slowly crept upon her. They weren't just not alone in the universe. Whoever had tried to warn humanity knew everything about us. While mankind had searched for extraterrestrial life, we were found already. And worse; their enemies were on the way. It was merely a question of time until they knew where Earth was too.

"Hawforth, I'm getting a coffee, want one t-... What's wrong?", Dr. Richter had stuck his bald head into the room and looked concerned. He observed the monitors as he entered, one by one. With every word he read, his face became paler and paler.

Hawforth's tongue was cramped. She couldn't bring a single word out.

"This... w-where is it.. from?", Richter stuttered in disbelief.

".. from the direction of Scutum. The plaque.. is the pioneer plaque. Supposedly... Pioneer 11."

"But that's impossible, Pioneer 11 is in dark space, we lost contact years ago. I-In.. 1995! How cou-", Then, Richter widened his eyes. "No."

".. yes. It means there has to be something.. closer.. to us.. than we know. Than.. should be. We should have seen, it must be... something impossible for us.. to see..", Hawforth swallowed heavily, her hands shaking on the keyboard. ".. except.."

Richter gasped. ".. except someone... something.. did not want us to see."

"Yes.. we.. possibly were.. cheated.. by someone far, far superior to us..", Hawforth spoke absently.

Gritting his teeth, hoping the answer wouldn't be what he feared, Richter spoke slowly as he asked. "Do you know... when.. it was sent?

"No.. but if they caught Pioneer.. it could be a few decades... That doesn't explain why it arrives now.."

Again, Richter's eyes focused on her monitors. He narrowed them as he looked at the last phrases. "The pod? Maybe?"

"This just can't be real.", Hawforth snorted and shook her head. "It's impossible, damn it. It shouldn't be possible. Scientifically. Logically, even. It is nonsense. It.."

Richter crossed his arms and gnawed on his fingernails, too nervous to stop it. "You did decipher it and you calculated the distance. Right?"

"Yes. I did.", she answered.

"And you are sure you made no mistakes?", Richter asked.

Again, a nod. "I checked it. Six times. Both. It's correct by all rules of mathematics. Physics. Everything. I made no mistake, I swear. I wish I had.."

"Then there's a.. menacing.. possibility..", Richter spoke with a menacing, low voice.

"And which?", Hawforth perked her brow, visibly afraid to ask.

"Everything we worked with was a lie. Whatever is out there, it's impossible to comprehend. We were way too arrogant.. we aren't the technologically most advanced species of our galaxy, Hawforth. That's not why we heard no one else for so long. We are nothing but animals in a pen, with the illusion of freedom, prepared to get butchered." Richter closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Never before had Hawforth heard so much resentment and fear in his voice. It sent a shudder down her spine.

"We were so stupid.."