TRENOC RESPONSE TO CONTACT

Trenoc society since its first true establishment had followed a sedate advancement, though technological pace did quicken in the decades prior to contact, the idea of extraterrestrial contact was not really part of modern culture. Contact, therefore, generated a great response in the citizens of the Trenoc race, and led to a few very chaotic years where a stable society rapidly changed to accept a more dynamic universe.

            Prior to the time of contact, Trenoc society was enjoying a period of advancing technology, mostly from expansion of existing church ‘universities’ which provided at no cost the advanced scientific training and knowledge to give a very technologically minded society. This effect was further enhanced by mechanization which greatly reduced the population tied up in manufacturing industries, a similar process can be observed during the first part of the twenty first century on Earth, where existing automation was taken one step further by more intelligent computing. On the whole, Trenoc Society was in a golden age of advancement, and it would only take a while for this already advanced society to take another great leap, which would bring contact.

            At the time of contact, the Trenoc had established a great deal within their own solar system, they had successfully colonized a second world, and had established outposts and research facilities throughout their system. The single real trigger for the contact was the superluminal research facility, that although had most of its brains back on the home planet, had necessarily built all its experimental craft out in the Oort cloud where the gravitational curvature caused by the sun and the planets was considerably less. Like a lot of other research fields of that time, this particular facility was also enjoying an influx of highly qualified and educated staff, and soon craft were being produced that could nearly reach the light barrier, this would be the trigger.

            All of the federation civilizations were contacted at a point similar to this, the reason is not only proof of technological worthiness and sophistication, which also indicates an advanced society, but also the fact that this marks a stage where a civilization is able to go wandering within the galaxy, and would soon enough meet new races. So prior to the first extensive steps of a nascent star faring civilization, it is contacted, this not only allows an opportunity to share wisdom, and to finally break the loneliness, but also as an acceptance into a new way of existing. Rather than a young race discovering that there sophisticated societies out there, far more advanced than themselves, and therefore the uncomfortable and also dangerous question of why they had been ignored, contact is a sort of baptism, a rite of passage that helps the transition of a society from one way of existence, the potentially alone in space, to another where there is life everywhere, which less trivializes it but more celebrates it.

            The medium through which the Trenoc were contact was through slight distortions in space-time, or so called gravity waves. The good thing about this medium is that only societies which have developed star faring technologies have developed sufficiently accurate gravity sensors, this not only acts to confirm the competence of a civilization, but also to prevent leakage of the signal to any more immature races.

            The decoding of the message was relatively straight forward, but the initial response of Trenoc society was huge. Earth had long enjoyed a type of entertainment known as science fiction, which existed and permeated the culture, so much so that when contact arrived for humans the response was less of surprise but more of intrigue to why this had not happened sooner, Trenoc society although had speculated and created many works of similar content, never really established itself in the public imagination and so contact was far more shocking to the society as a whole.

            Part of the Trenoc’s far history was the Soroteth, a kin race to the Trenoc, but which had advanced so much earlier to the Trenoc themselves, and in there last act they practically formed the modern Trenoc society, though science fiction never gained any particular belief in Trenoc society, the idea of an eventual return of the Soroteth was, this contact was first interpreted as this, a return of the saviour race. The religious units within the main churches (as Trenoc ‘churches’ were the hubs of everything in Trenoc society, as well as centres for religion) were ecstatic at this prospect, and redoubled their beliefs in the predictions of the eventual return of the Soroteth. No less than a few hours after it had been announced to Trenoc society, was a religious festival announced, as this would be a herald for a new time in civilization.

            This initial response would quickly be proved wrong by scientific communities who would rapidly reveal the true meaning and origin of the message senders, fortunately before any real public response there was a conflict between the religious and the scientific societies, and although some celebration was performed, mostly the announcements had really just served to catch everyone’s attention, and lively debate was going on about the ‘real’ meaning in the message.

            The response of Trenoc society was far from uniform, the most religious were convinced of a second enlightenment, and increased their religious practices with religious fervour, especially the church of the age of enlightenment. The most devout members would take part in daylong parades along city streets, burning fragrant resins and chanting. The scientifically minded would spend every moment by their terminals waiting for news on the decryption, or trying to decipher it themselves. In the social places there was discussion of no other subject, and normal schedules and routines were all but abandoned to discuss the signal.

            In a matter of days, the efficient decryption offices that had rapidly been set up to deal with the message had decoded much of the message, and the public was hanging on every discovery and decryption they made. The message was found not only to contain, the maps of the nearest stars and planets, and also other extraneous information, but also the factor that the senders of the message had already contacted a society from Trenoret, this would be a bombshell, which would cause as much as a stir as the original interception of the message.

            It was general consensus of the public that the church would make a fuss about the signal, but the decryption in the end proved not to be as mundane as feared, and not too far from the spectacular concepts that floated around after it had been intercepted. The message itself was almost undeniable proof of the existence of the Soroteth, and more particularly the advancement that they had achieved (some still believed at the time that the Soroteth never really had advanced). Far from flattening religious hopes, the message would finally bring faith and technology into a unilateral push towards further contact, and would fuel the surge in starship construction projects afterwards.

            In the following years after contact people would still be fascinated by the message, and its influence permeated society thoroughly, and this enthusiasm would peak again at the launch of the contact vessel the Valen.

            In hindsight, the effects of contact were almost perfectly designed to help a society through the transition between two very different existences, it motivated people to explore, and to see the surrounding space not for its hostility but for its promise. It instilled not a fear of the contacting race but a respect, and a friendship, which would then go on to form the base of the Federation.