My Ultimate Sign-in System Made Me Invincible

"4.3 million," he said.

"Yes. The number has fluctuated significantly across the galaxy’s history. At peak, approximately 900 million civilizations existed simultaneously. The reduction is primarily attributable to the universal war and its aftermath, combined with standard civilizational collapse rates across a period of billions of years."

"How many have achieved spacefaring capability?"

"The array classifies spacefaring in tiers," Lucy said. "Tier one is local system travel — the ability to reach and operate within their own planetary system. 2.1 million civilizations meet that threshold. Tier two is interstellar travel — crossing between star systems within a reasonable operational timeframe. 380,000 meet that threshold. Tier three is full galactic range — the ability to traverse the galaxy freely. 47,000 meet that threshold."

"And beyond tier three?"

"That is the practical ceiling for civilizations native to this region of the universe," Lucy said.

Liam looked at her. "This region specifically."

"Yes. The region containing the Milky Way is approximately 50 billion years old. That is young relative to the broader universe, which is ageless. The compounding of technological development, resource accumulation, and civilizational expansion that anything beyond full galactic range requires simply hasn’t had time to occur here. The most advanced native civilization in the Milky Way achieved full galactic range approximately 800 million years ago and is considered an extreme outlier even within the galaxy."

"What exists above tier three?"

"The array documents four additional tiers. Tier four is intergalactic range. Tier five is universal range. Tiers six and seven the array labels in ways I don’t yet have adequate context to fully interpret." She paused. "No civilization native to this region has reached tier four. The civilizations at those tiers originated in parts of the universe orders of magnitude older than this region. Their presence here, when it occurs, is incidental to operations conducted at scales this region hasn’t reached."

"How many of them have presence in the Milky Way?"

"The array documents 11 entities at tier four or above that have interacted with the Milky Way in the last billion years. None originated here. None have permanent installations the array can detect." She paused. "Three of them have flagged this region for monitoring. The array doesn’t record why."

Liam absorbed this. "The black forest model. How accurate is it for the Milky Way?"

"More accurate for some regions than others. The galactic core and mid-ring regions are significantly more contested. The civilizations that survived the universal war and have had the full fifty billion years to develop are concentrated there. The outer arms — where the solar system sits — are comparatively sparse. Civilizations here are younger, smaller in scale, and operating at lower capability tiers."

"So we’re in the quieter neighborhood."

"Relatively. The solar system’s position in the Orion Arm puts it in one of the quietest regions of the galaxy. There are 34 civilizations within a 5,000 light year radius of the solar system. Of those, 12 have achieved tier-two capability or above. None have reached tier three."

"Do any of them know about Earth?"

Lucy paused fractionally. "Three have catalogued the solar system. One did so approximately 200 million years ago and has not returned. One catalogued it 80,000 years ago. The third catalogued it 6,000 years ago and has revisited twice since."

Liam’s eyes narrowed. "Which one revisited?"

"The array designates them by catalog number. Tier-two classification, operating from a system 1,200 light years from Earth. Their revisits were 3,000 years ago and 400 years ago respectively. The array doesn’t record their biological template — they are not carbon-based."

"What were they doing?"

"Observation only. No surface contact documented in either visit. Their pattern across 47 catalogued interactions with other civilizations shows consistent preference for observation and eventual contact rather than interference. They have never initiated conflict with a civilization below their own tier."

"Good to know. Hostile civilizations in the local neighborhood?"

Lucy highlighted three points on the display. "Three carry hostile classification. The closest is approximately 2,200 light years away. Tier-two. They have initiated conflict with four neighboring civilizations in the last 10,000 years. Two of those civilizations no longer exist."

"The other two?"

"One survives in a significantly reduced state. One developed tier-three capability during the conflict period and the hostile civilization withdrew."

"Capability is the deterrent."

"Consistently. The array’s historical record across every documented conflict in the Milky Way shows the capability gap between parties is the single most reliable factor in determining outcomes. Civilizations that reach tier-three before being targeted survive at a rate of 94 percent. Those targeted before reaching tier-two survive at 11 percent."

Liam looked at the display for a moment.

"What about the nine outer arm tier-three civilizations," he said. "The array flagged them as statistical outliers. External influence suspected."

"Yes. Developing full galactic range in the outer arms requires either extraordinary circumstances or a developmental path the array classifies as statistically improbable given the resource density and civilizational density of this region." She paused. "The array’s inference across all nine cases is that something accelerated their development. Something from outside this region, operating at a tier this region hasn’t produced on its own."

"They were helped."

"That is the array’s conclusion. The nature of the assistance isn’t documented. Only the statistical anomaly and the inference drawn from it."

Liam was quiet for a moment. "Have any of those nine made contact with the solar system?"

"None. The closest of the nine is approximately 18,000 light years from the solar system. None have catalogued Earth in the array’s record."

"Resources," Liam said. "What does the Milky Way look like for what we’ll need — the Ganymede base, the outpost network, the wormhole infrastructure eventually."

Lucy shifted the display. The galactic map changed, dense clusters of highlighted regions appearing across several spiral arms.

"The array identifies 14 primary resource-rich regions within practical range for our current fleet capability. The closest is approximately 400 light years from the solar system — an asteroid field orbiting a dead star system with material concentrations your current manufacturing processes require at significant scale. Sufficient raw material to support Nova Technologies’ construction output for approximately 4,000 years without meaningful depletion."

"Unoccupied?"

"The system is unoccupied. The nearest catalogued civilization is 900 light years further out and has shown no movement toward that region in the last 50,000 years."

"Second closest?"

"A binary system with an unusually dense planetary ring structure around the larger of the two stars. High concentration of materials useful for energy infrastructure. Also unoccupied. The array notes it was claimed by a civilization 2 billion years ago that no longer exists."

"Third?"

"A region the array designates as a stellar nursery — a dense cloud of forming star systems approximately 800 light years from the solar system. The material concentrations there are substantial but the environment is active. Construction operations would require hull tolerances beyond our current standard configuration. Viable but not without modification."

Liam nodded slowly, looking at the spread of highlighted regions across the map.

"Of the 14, how many are genuinely uncontested? No active claim, no nearby civilization with the capability to reach them within a timeframe that matters?"

Lucy ran the filter. "Nine. The remaining five either sit within range of a tier-two civilization’s documented expansion pattern or carry historical claim flags from civilizations that may or may not still exist. The array can’t confirm current status on the historical claimants without a direct survey."

"Nine is enough to start," Liam said.

He looked at the display for a long moment, at the solar system’s small position in the quiet outer arm, at the 14 highlighted regions scattered across the galactic map, at the 34 civilizations within 5,000 light years, at the three that had noticed Earth already.

"Pull up everything the array has on the civilization that revisited 400 years ago," he said. "I want to know everything."

Lucy highlighted the catalog entry and the display shifted.

"Everything," she confirmed, and began.