A Numeral Star Chart

Because the initial exchange of information between two civilizations could only take this form. There was no such thing as sending over a sentence or a single character; even if they did, the other side would be unable to recognize it.

It was like one person sending another a sentence. It was not truly a sentence at its foundation, but a string of binary numbers. Only after a computer translated that string of values did it become a sentence. That was translation through a corresponding dictionary.

Communication between civilizations worked the same way. They had to know what something like 0001110110 represented, and what characters corresponded to those things, before they could understand the other side's writing system. Physical phenomena were indeed a common language of the universe, but signals exchanged between civilizations could not carry complex physical phenomena. They only contained 0s and 1s. Therefore, for faster communication, physics and mathematics had to be used together. Ideally, both sides would also have display equipment, with spaceships facing one another and showing their corresponding characters and objects.

Just as humans had done with the Nair Civilization back then.

But now, humanity and that unknown signal source did not have such conditions, so communication would be difficult.

If communication was difficult and there was a risk of the other side discovering the Great Fleet, what should they do?

Yue Yuan had just left the cockpit and entered the hall where the scientists were gathered when he saw the situation. Two choices emerged in his mind: first, destroy the target; second, turn around and leave before the other side discovered humanity's Great Fleet.

It was not fear, but caution. Humanity did not want other civilizations to know why they had come here, nor did they want to expose their purpose of searching