Response

After a moment of silence, a scholar suggested, "Chief, now that we have completed the turn, no matter what the Nair Civilization says, we cannot turn back. Firstly, too many adjustments to the course will cause serious fuel consumption, and secondly, it will expose our problems. In my opinion, we should continue towards the Red Dwarf Star."

No sooner had he spoken than another expert expressed concern. "But isn't the Red Dwarf Star also part of the Nair Civilization? What if they refuse to let us dock because we didn't follow their instructions?"

"That's easy to handle," the scholar who had just spoken said with a smile. "First of all, judging from the reaction of the Nair Civilization, they should be a benevolent civilization, at least on the surface. Since they are a benevolent civilization, the possibility of conflict with us is not high. Therefore, we only need to explain our original purpose for going to the Red Dwarf Star, and this problem will be solved."

"That's true, but what specific reason can we use?" The expert shook his head, still finding the matter difficult. He continued, "Judging from the current situation, it was caused by our premature change of course. We can't exactly say that we were forced to turn around quickly because we were afraid of a large fleet at the Yellow Dwarf Star."

"Of course we can't say that," the scholar said, glancing at the expert. "You all know the real reason for our shift, so I won't go into details. But the reasons for our early shift and the situation we are facing now are not our fault."

The scholar paused, looked around at everyone, and then asked in return, "Think about it, if our communication with the Nair Civilization were real-time, could this situation have occurred?"

Oh. No one answered the scholar's question, because the answer was so obvious. And it was precisely because of this rhetorical question that everyone understood the scholar's meaning.

Communication delay!

Humans can use communication delays as an excuse. After all, six years have passed since they sent the inquiry and received the reply. Furthermore, the fact that the three patrol ships of the Nair Civilization stopped their advance upon encountering them and then provided them with various services can be used as a pretext. They could claim they encountered a malicious civilization and therefore turned back prematurely. As for why they reacted so quickly and aggressively, there are many excuses. Since humanity claims to be a space Exploration Team, encountering other civilizations during their previous voyages is normal. Therefore, they can use this as a pretext to say they encountered a malicious civilization, were deceived by them, and suffered serious losses, hence their current actions.

Such an explanation is probably beyond reproach.

After understanding the meaning, the group discussed it among themselves and all felt that this was a good solution.

Seeing that everyone was fairly in agreement, Yue Yuan, who had been listening all along, also spoke up, "Alright, that's settled then. Now let's discuss the next question: should we tell the Nair Civilization our true destination?"

No sooner had Yue Yuan finished speaking than a sociology researcher chimed in, "Judging from the current situation, this Nair Civilization seems to have no reason to lie to us, so I think we'd better tell them our real destination."

At this point, a Staff Department officer was about to say something when he noticed the sociologist looking at him and preemptively saying, "Let me finish."

Seeing that he had successfully interrupted the Staff Department, the sociology researcher continued, "I know that the Staff Department just suggested that we say 'we are heading back' to deceive the Nair Civilization and thus hide our true course."

From the perspective that 'the Nair Civilization is a malicious civilization,' this approach is indeed the optimal solution. However, judging from the information provided by the Nair Civilization in response, they may also be a benevolent civilization.

Therefore, from this perspective, I believe we should tell them our true destination, for two reasons.

"Firstly, now that we've arrived here, whether we like it or not, we'll inevitably have contact with the Nair Civilization in the future. Doing so will demonstrate our sincerity and lay the foundation for future exchanges."

Secondly, the Nair Civilization claimed that the Red Dwarf Star belonged to their territory. By answering truthfully, we can verify their claims and thus see if they are indeed the benevolent civilization they portrayed in their reply.

"Oh? What about the second point?" a physicist asked curiously. When it didn't involve physics, he usually just came to listen to how these guys analyzed things, but hearing the sociology researcher say this naturally aroused his curiosity.

Among the crowd, scientists from various fields who, like him, were also looking over with curiosity; they were clearly quite curious as well.

These scientists engaged in natural sciences are generally focused on their research in their respective fields and therefore rarely think about these things.

"It's very simple!" The sociologist smiled confidently and said, "After we inform the Nair Civilization that we are heading to the Red Dwarf Star, if in their next reply they make excuses and suggest that we turn to other Yellow Dwarf Star or other Star System, then we can be sure that the territory they are talking about is just boasting. This Red Dwarf Star is not within their sphere of influence at all, and there is no base of theirs there."

"In that case, it means that the Nair Civilization was not genuinely communicating with us. Their words about inviting us to the Yellow Dwarf Star in their reply may have had ulterior motives. Under these circumstances, we can define them as a malicious civilization and use this as a basis to speculate on their intentions and formulate a series of countermeasures."

"If we send them a message now, we will probably receive a reply in about seven years. In seven years, we will still be on our way to the Red Dwarf Star. If their reply is as described above, then we can choose to continue to the Red Dwarf Star or change course."

After we change course again, they will only be able to determine our approximate location, so we are safe for the time being.

"What if in their next reply they neither tell us to go to the Red Dwarf Star nor ask us to turn back to the Yellow Dwarf Star, but instead designate another star for us to land on?" someone asked.

"That's easy to handle. We can use the excuse of a long journey and insufficient fuel. As for whether to turn around and where to turn, that's another matter. In any case, our destination must not be according to the instructions of the Nair Civilization, so as to avoid risks as much as possible." The sociologist had obviously thought everything through long ago.