Earth, proudly twinned with Rigel, went the joke.
When intelligent life on Rigel was first discovered, it was a sensation. The newly christened Really Improbably Large Interferometer had just picked up on the barest traces of radio signals from the planet. In mystery, there was speculation, possibility, hope.
As investigation progressed, every bit of information was a revelation. Rigel has an oxygen atmosphere! Rigellians must have discovered radio pretty recently! Rigel must get fantastic meteor showers from a billion year old lunar collision!
But excitement dimmed to the brutal reality of physics. At 1137 light years away, Rigel was to be looked at, not touched. We scanned, and listened and analysed every scrap of information. We broadcast, lasered and launched every signal and probe, of welcome and jubilation. But that was the end of it, there was nothing left to do but wait. We had to make do with a millennium-old image of our neighbors, who couldn’t have even yet received any indication of Earth’s existence.
We quickly realized we were still alone in the universe. For what does “alone” mean, if not “no one to talk to”.
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