The object before them really did look a lot like an early near-Earth satellite. Its cylindrical, barrel-shaped body had the rugged design sensibility of the industrial age, and the components extending from its four sides looked like solar panels.
But after Yu Lian rode the titanium dragon closer, he was astonished to discover that those transparent "panels" weren't made of silicon, the kind that could absorb sunlight. Instead, they were liquid metal, rippling faintly in the sunlight. At first glance, they looked like a silvery lake. The cylinder that formed the "satellite's" main body, on the other hand, was made of ordinary space alloy, the kind even a modestly sized smelter could produce. Its overall design was also very old-fashioned, with external fixtures clearly visible on the outer shell, forming all sorts of protrusions and pipes. It certainly had the feel of a bygone era.
"This wasn't made by the Empire," Feifei said over the communications channel in his helmet.
Of course it wasn't. The Empire had always claimed to be the Enlighteners' foremost successor, and its space facilities bore the Enlighteners' typical grand, imposing architectural style—what people called the theocratic court aesthetic. Even a signal relay station would be built in extravagant splendor. If some primitive civilization just beginning to observe space saw one through a telescope, they'd probably think some passing deity had left behind an artifact.
An Imperial signal relay station wouldn't have this green, mismatched look.
Still, the superluminal signal that Besaifules had sensed earlier had definitely come from here.
"Did we get the signal?" Yu Lian asked.
"It's already in the decoder, but it doesn't use any known signal encoding method... This pattern looks familiar, though. I feel like I've seen it somewhere before." Feifei sounded puzzled, then added helplessly, "I'm not good with this