The Loren Nations, now in a state of total war, had little spare energy to devote to space. Interstellar communication also carried too many unforeseeable risks and required a lengthy process of deliberation. Not to mention that it would likely impact the faith systems of all mortals and pose a tremendous test to the stability of the gods—though theoretically, merely restoring interstellar signals would be far less stimulating to the gods than manned spaceflight, who could guarantee just how much "stimulation" it would cause?
After all, the Divine Authority Council's work had never ceased over the years. The Alliance Nations had been using every possible method to loosen and sever the Mind Imprint hanging over mortals' heads. This severing process was, in essence, dancing on a knife's edge: gradually cutting away the links between gods and humans at a dangerous critical threshold, steadily breaking the chains between mortals and gods without driving the deities mad, constantly skirting the boundary of "defiance." Once the process was complete, both humans and gods would gain freedom. But before it was complete... the gods remained perpetually at a "critical pressure point." Responding to interstellar communications at a time like this... who knew whether some blunt, dim-witted god might go mad with a single howl?
So this matter required long-term consideration. At the very least, they had to wait until the dust settled on this war, until the Alliance Nations had more energy to control public opinion and organize large teams of experts. Before then... the most Cecil could do was the preparatory work Gawain had mentioned: compiling a modern version of the Alien Dictionary and translating the signals they had received so far.
Once these arrangements had been settled, Gawain suddenly raised his head and looked toward a Holographic Projection across the round table—the