The human civilization was on the brink of something amazing. During the Earth year 2142, an international space station on the outer edges of the solar system was running some experiments. It was a marvel of engineering, tens of thousands of people and billions of dollars worth of material and time to create the most sophisticated physics laboratory in the history of humanity. The fusion reactor at its core could produce enough energy to power North America for a day, every few minutes. And its array of particle accelerators made the Large Hadron Collider look like a novelty science project that someone had built in their garage.
Among the many discoveries made at this facility was the discovery, capture, and first utilizations of tachyons. Only theoretical for many years, these particles were somehow able to move faster than light. The first attempts to use tachyons for communication were challenging and almost completely unsuccessful. But after around a decade of refinement, the technology finally had a breakthrough. Many groups on Earth, the Moon, Mars, and the Solar Edge Station began to send messages to each other in what was essentially faster than light Morse code. Then one day in 2154, all tachyon receivers picked up a data stream being sent to all of them simultaneously. At first the scientists thought this was some sort of static caused by a newly discovered astronomic phenomena. Further analysis revealed that there was a distinct repeating pattern that could only have come from an intelligence. After months of study, a team at the Solar Edge Station finally decoded the message. It was not words, but instead a series of images. What seemed like incredibly simple but specific drawings that asked whoever was receiving them to stop blasting tachyons into space without any regard for others.
Along with the illustrated cease and desist order was a diagram that laid out the foundation for a written language and a number system based on the atomic structures of the first 40 or so elements. Of course these discoveries caused a flurry of activity and discussion within the scientific community and society as a whole. So much so that the various colonies and space stations in the solar system had a 300% increase in communication, both conventional and tachyon-base. After a few weeks of this another signal was received from outside the solar system. Another series of images and a written message in the atomic language, someone was coming very soon to pay humanity a visit.
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