[ WP ] An aliens perspective as it attempts to decode the golden record

`` Commander! Commander!'' shouted a Fli-Karkazatz scout over the radio. 
 
 `` Shut up I can hear you loud enough over the radio, no need to shout. What is it? A pirate enclave?'' 
 
 `` No sir, not at all, this sector's clean.'' 
 
 `` Then what are you bothering me with *now*?'' 
 
 `` Sir... it's an.. artifact.. I think it's from the Ancients, the markings match, even though this.. probe seems... old. Like.. primitive?'' 
 
 `` The Ancients!? Recover that thing and get it back to the carrier, we need the science teams on that *right now*!'' 
 
 -- - 
 
 The Ancients. 
 
 That is how the Humans are known this day, millions of years after their extinction. 
 
 They planted the roots of galactic civilization, sending thousands if not hundreds of thousands of space probes, artifacts, to faraway stars before their inevitable destruction by the hand of a large Gamma Ray Burst. These artifacts contained records of all human sciences: chemistry, physics, biology, etcetera. 
 
 These probes all contained the same things: The mathematics behind superluminal travel, a complete explanation of their mathematical system so that any aliens encountering these probes may read them, and a miscellaneous technology. 
 
 The former two were what created the Galactic Community, uplifting 126 different races and allowing them to meet eachother. 
 But never did these records contain anything about their culture, about *who* they were, *what* wiped them out. 
 All that those who inhabited the galaxy today know is that whatever it was, their mathematics could n't save them. 
 Some theorize they were exterminated by another ancient race, others theorize some major cataclysm occurred before they could actually construct one of their FTL propulsion devices to flee from it, and send out these probes instead. 
 Nobody knew. 
 
 The latter one was what made these probes so sought after by the Galactic Community nowadays, Ancient technology was always much beyond that of their own, exploring areas of science not even thought of by most races. Geothermal energy, fluorescent lighting, etcetera. 
 
 But when the young Fli-Karkazatz scout brought this particular probe on board, it was instantly obvious something was off about this particular probe 
 
 It looked much more primitive in its design. This was n't one of those probes the ancients send out with their technology. 
 All that it had were some dead scientific instruments, and a golden disk with instructions. 
 
 It baffled the Galactic Community; it did n't even use the same storage device as all the other probes. 
 
 But what this Golden Record contained, was beyond what anyone could imagine: music and photographs. 
 
 For the first time in the history of the Galactic Community the voice of an Ancient was heard in the form of music, for the first time in history the face of an Ancient was shown. This disk was a cultural treasure trove; art and music of all kinds, and pictures of Ancients all around their planet. 
 
 And that's when those part of the Galactic Community realized why the Ancients were so advanced: They had more cultures, more different ideas and perspectives, than the entire known galaxy had sentient races. 
 
 And that was n't all. 
 
 -- - 
 
 Footnote: 
 
 In case anyone wants to see more of this kind of content, you should check out [ r/HFY ] ( http: //www.reddit.com/r/HFY ), we got lots of this stuff!
