Perhaps the shock to their worldview from suddenly having to communicate with an alien civilization was simply too great, or perhaps Rosetta and Bercetia had been constrained by their old ways of thinking and limited knowledge. They seemed never to have considered the possibilities Gawain had raised—but that did not mean they lacked the intellect for it. Once the fog before them had been dispelled with a single remark, they quickly recognized the suspicious elements behind the matter.
Granted, they did not truly understand technologies so far beyond their comprehension as FTL Communication, high-precision deep-space detection, or space travel. But matters at the conceptual level were not entirely unimaginable. Even if they could not imagine them at all, they could still find ways to follow the subjects Gawain, Enya, and Milmina were discussing and think within the bounds of their own understanding—specific technologies might be difficult to grasp, but the principles behind technology were simple and universal.
Technological development inevitably followed certain laws. A normally and healthily developing civilization would certainly possess a complete, traceable technological path. Behind every specific technological product, there had to be a complete set of prerequisite theories and derivative products—if a people knew how to smelt metal, then they must know what a furnace was, or possess something with a similar function. And if they did not, it could only mean that there was something wrong with the origin of their smelting technology.
All signs indicated that the civilization which had sent the signal was highly suspicious in this regard—of course, at this stage, it could only be called "suspicious."
"These are only our conjectures," Gawain added slowly when he saw the figures around the round table lost in thought. "After all, we do not know what kind of civilization lies on the other side,