4 billion years ago, a distant planet acquired intelligence.
They discovered the Drake equation, which says there should be others like them, and looked. They pondered the Fermi paradox, which asks why the others are silent, and became fearful. They developed the Dark Forest theory, which says all intelligent life are silent hunters, and became hostile ...
… and so, they launched weapons that would eliminate all other life in the galaxy.
Their weapons crossed the expanse of space for a hundred thousand years, and while they did, other planets acquired intelligence. They too discovered Drake, Fermi, and the Dark Forest. They also launched weapons.
They asked each other Fermi's question and answered it by ensuring each other’s destruction.
While they awaited the arrival of each other’s weapons, hope briefly blossomed. It encouraged them to escape their doomed planets, but fear created technology that hunted down each others’ refugees … the fleeing ships, the outposts, and even the capsules with the smallest amount of seed DNA required to start life anew on cold, distant planets. They eliminated them all … all but one … or two?
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