A lot of people have spent a lot of time looking at the probe data. The first batch of raw observations from Sigma 957 arrived on Earth in July of 2312 and within weeks the volume of analysis had exploded across the Roam. It was clear that this was a very unique planet and perhaps the closest chance we had of finding intelligent life like our own in the galaxy. However odd the Tanzen looked (or then, "lifeform AA01") they were hunting and gathering bipeds, living in social groups and using fire and other tools. It seemed like they would be our kin.
This was all shortly before I started graduate school in Potsdam. At the time I was fixated on Crabs, which gave me a properly skeptical perspective. The spacefaring Crabs were far more technological than Tanzen after all, and they were nothing like us. I was far more interested in that mystery. The movies from Sigma 957 were tantalizing -- showing creatures so familiar in shape doing things we could imagine ourselves doing, if we were about 10 times more naturally graceful -- and yet the details had to be teased out.
They eventually were. The probe's science program was focused on answering fairly specific questions about the order of intelligence exhibited by these new lifeforms. It gathered data around their artifacts and tools, problem-solving and cognitive abilities, and their social interactions. For all they do, it became clear that they do it without any apparent kind of language. The conclusion from the longest and most contentious debate was that these are beings with a lot of talents, but not sentience.
That finally got my attention. Perhaps there was something in how the Tanzen operate that would shed light on the far more advanced Crabs. But when I started to look into the question in detail I ran into a huge roadblock -- the probe data. It wasn't very good.
The probe had decided to work primarily with aerial sensors. Little bug-like things that would buzz around making close-range observations, plus some larger platforms that covered a wider area from a greater height. It was also tightly organized around answering the questions that the probe had been programmed to answer. If your line of research required anything too far afield it simply didn't exist. It was possible to do a lot of good science with the loads of data that was collected, but for finding subtle answers it was a bit hit and miss.
The probe continued to collect data the entire time it waited for our arrival. I've spent many evenings here combing through its Tanzen observations. Sadly it's not that much more useful. The probe settled down into a pattern of collecting statistical data around basic questions of large-scale movement and census. It wasn't very creative. As result we have lots of data, but not much of it is any better than the first data from 13 years ago.
My sensors are much better placed. I may not have made any major discoveries, but I can at least be proud that my data will end up being orders of magnitude more useful for doing real science. Even if I don't put the Tanzen story together, my observations will be essential to someone solving it.
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