Minutes from the Cromulan symposium on Sol-3

Cromulon-7
I'd like to bring this extraordinary symposium to order. Present here are Cromulon-8, Cromulon-5, Cromulon-3, Cromulon-2 and, of, course, Cromulon-7, acting as convenor. Apologies from Cromulon-6; they could not be here due to inclement weather interfering with their transmitters. Cromulon-3, would you care to summarise your findings that led us to call this symposium?

Cromulon-3
Thank you 7, yes. Approximately 30 cromulons ago our progressive scan for extracromular life turned up an intriguing candidate in the Sol system. This was extremely surprising to us as we had previously scanned the system and found nothing of interest. However, we detected an unmistakably life-like electromagnetic pulse coming from Sol-3. For that reason, we immediately called for this extraordinary symposium to discuss it.

Cromulon-2
Wow! You've found life?

Cromulon-3
Well, not so fast. The signal is suggestive but not conclusive. The need for rapid action means we must work with incomplete information. However, what we've found so far is, we must admit, very exciting.

Cromulon-5
Could you describe the pulse please? Why is it life-like?

Cromulon-3
Of course. It has a very distinctive sweeping pattern. The beginning of the pulse is quite weak and in a very narrow range of frequencies, but it immediately began to both broaden and strengthen. Between our noticing the signal and this emergency symposium it has already increased in power by at least ten doublings. The signal itself appears to contain self-similarity at both a large and small scale. It has an extraordinarily low entropy, the lowest of any signal we've investigated so far.

Cromulon-5
So it's not likely to be a false alarm like last time?

Cromulon-3
That's correct.

Cromulon-7
Let's move on, shall we? Thank you for the summary, 3. Cromulon-5, would you care to describe what you have discovered in your analysis of Sol-3's composition and behaviour?

Cromulon-5
Yes. As we're sure you know, 30 cromulons is not very much time to do good analytical work. However, despite this limitation, we have determined a number of interesting things about the composition of Sol-3. It is primarily oceanic, much like 3 is and 4 was.

Cromulon-2
Please...

Cromulon-5
Anyway, it orbits Sol at a period of about 0.3 cromulons, which we are calling 1 sol. It rotates on its axis approximately 365 times per sol. The pulse that 3 mentioned is emanating primarily from two regions concentrated on alternate sides of one of its ocean regions. We believe that these represent its primary transmitting organs, though our understanding is incomplete in this regard as less powerful transmissions are also observed from other sites.

Cromulon-3
Have you found any behavioural explanation for the strongly periodic nature of the transmission?

Cromulon-5
As we said, we are working with limited time. Have you made any progress in decoding it?

Cromulon-3
Not yet, no. Honestly, we're not even entirely sure that what we're dealing with is information at all. It may just be some kind of very complex probe pulse. The only reason we suspect it's anything more is because of this curious periodic structure.

Cromulon-2
What do you mean?

Cromulon-3
Well, the first thing is that the signal has a characteristic power dip every axial rotation. The transmitting organs appear to modulate most strongly in transmission strength and frequency when they are exposed to solar radiation. We believe this may mean their energy source is primarily solar.

Cromulon-5
No, it's not that. We examined Sol-3's composition and it is currently not feasible for that amount of transmission power to be derived from their solar resources. We believe this periodic effect to be behavioural in nature.

Cromulon-3
We thought you didn't have time to analyse its behaviour.

Cromulon-5
We had time to analyse, but you asked if we had an explanation. Those are two different things.

Cromulon-7
5, we appreciate that you have done the best you can with the little time available. Would you care to share with us what you have been able to determine about Sol-3's behaviour?

Cromulon-5
Thank you, yes. By careful analysis of its surface-level electromagnetic and kinetic activity we have determined that there are two primary oscillations. The first of these we are calling the alpha wave. It appears to be approximately but not absolutely synchronised with axial rotation. We believe this to be its primary carrier oscillation, used to modulate other oscillations throughout the body.

Cromulon-3
And you said there was a second primary oscillation?

Cromulon-5
Yes. You may not have detected this, but another oscillation occurs approximately every 7 axial rotations, split into two phases in the ratio 5:2. We are calling this the beta wave. As we notice the two phases differ substantially in kinetic output, and the low-kinetic-output phase coincides with a reduction in intensity of alpha wave activity, we hypothesise this is some form of sleep-wake energy cycle.

Cromulon-2
So it is alive!

Cromulon-5
No. Not exactly. These processes are certainly analogous to behavioural structures we have, but that is not enough for life. We have found many smaller oscillations at different scales, but so far no evidence of coherent oscillations longer than a third of a cromulon in duration. If it is, as 3 said, life-like, it is certainly no more capable of intelligence than Cromulon-1.

Cromulon-2
But 1 could become more intelligent.

Cromulon-5
Or it could end up the same as 4.

Cromulon-2
Please. We don't want to talk about 4.

Cromulon-3
I'm sorry, but it is relevant in this case. Perhaps these small-scale oscillations will stay small as in Cromulon-1, or perhaps they will develop into coherent activity. But there are a lot of kinds of coherence. Are we sure it would be a good thing for Sol-3 to become coherent, even if that comes with the possibility of it becoming unstable and destroying itself?

Cromulon-2
No! We said we don't want to talk about it!

Cromulon-3
There's nothing we could have done.

Cromulon-5
We could have not gotten involved.

Cromulon-7
Okay, let's try to get things back on track here.

Cromulon-2
What if it's lonely?

Cromulon-5
That's not—

Cromulon-8
We will speak now.

Cromulon-7
Go ahead, 8.

Cromulon-8
We are reminded that life may cease without warning. For so few, this is a great loss. So we search for others like us. There may be many things that live, of which our kind is only one. If they are not like us, what will we find? Even we sometimes struggle to comprehend these rapid events. 9 can no longer join us for that reason. Could 1 be likewise unable to communicate with us? If Sol-3 lives, perhaps it lives in its own way. We may learn to understand it, or we may wait until it learns to understand us.