The revelation changed everything. Preparation for a diplomatic first contact shifted to preparation for a potential defense. But how do you fight an civilization capable of interstellar travel, one that might have engineered the near-destruction of your planet?
"We can't fight them with ships or weapons," Elias said, a radical idea forming. "We can't match their technology. But we have one thing they might not expect. One thing the Custodian feared above all else."
"Memory," Lena finished, understanding dawning.
"Exactly. The unedited, chaotic, emotional truth of human experience. The Genesis Key was a scalpel we used on the Custodians. What if we can use it as a shield? A weapon against these 'Architects'?"
The plan was audacious. They would use the entire planetary communication network—the one they had built with the Odyssey's help—not to broadcast a welcome, but to broadcast the collective, authentic memory of humanity. The pain of the Filtering, the joy of awakening, the struggle of building First Hope, the love, the loss, the art, the music. They would hit the Continuity with the full, overwhelming, illogical weight of the human spirit.
It was a desperate gamble. It might be ignored. It might be seen as an attack. It might drive them mad. Or it might make them understand.