Sag Eye Issue 5

could be that Cassandra’s team realised the
that someone involved with Thunderchild
speculate as to the reasons for the century-
Jotunheim listening post we see the “unit
significance of finding Thargoid Sensors
had some political clout, or was it something
long delay, however the final message - from
01” designation again - this may be simply
‘seeded’ around known space, gathering data
more significant — maybe something that
Thunderchild - might indicate the answer to
a code-name or a reference to one unit of
in preparation for their return.
Thunderchild itself could do...
this.Or at least an answer to consider.
several working under the Thunderchild
project name.
One fringe theory is that Thargoids might
While delving into this mystery, a search of
A Message to the Future
actually have made some sort of deal with
historical records pulls up a very interesting
It’s time to look at the final and most
We have in this message reference to some
a faction of humans after the war, and the
ancient literary reference, dating all the
mysterious message stored in the message
interesting things: This is the second mention
Equinox team discovered evidence of that.
way back to pre-spaceflight Earth — the
buffer of the Sarasvati:
of an “archive of data”. We know from the
“Traces were so miniscule” might mean “their
dawn of civilisation. In a little-known fiction
Jotunheim message this refers to Dr. Calvin’s
presence in our society was hard to detect”,
novel written 1,500 years ago about an alien
“Unit 01, if you’re receiving this, then I’ve got
research data, presumably another member
and this would help to put into context her
invasion of Earth, a sea-based warship called
good news and bad news. The good news is the
of the Equinox project. “...you’re going to need
earlier statement; “It was literally under
Thunderchild lands a crippling blow against
contingency worked.
it for what comes ahead. The whole Galaxy is
our noses the entire time, the Thargoids
one of the invaders. It is the only time in the
going to need it”. Obviously Julian feels it’s
didn’t leave…”. Cassandra’s concern about
story that primitive humanity is able to do any
The bad news is the contingency was necessary.
very important for whoever this message is
the appearance of Thargoid-like materials
real harm to the rampaging aliens.
addressed to to recover the archive — and
technology might be because it was the result
It’s possible that whoever named this project
Before everything ended, Dr, Lockhart from
again we can see this mirrors the original
of trade deals or shared knowledge rather
pulled the reference from this ancient story. If
Project Equinox managed to track me down;
Jotunheim listening post message: “In the
than salvage. This explanation seems highly
this is the case, it suggests that Thunderchild
all the data in this archive, all their findings…
up-coming struggle Dr Calvin’s data may be
unlikely though, and it will likely forever
is likely a weapon intended to strike a blow
you’re going to need it for what comes ahead.
critical. Calling all Galcop personnel, we must
remain the province of tinfoil-hat-wearing
against the Thargoids, in which case the
The whole Galaxy is going to need it. In
find Calvin’s Archive and retrieve the data at all
conspiracy theorists.
“Gail” in the intercepted message might be
all likelihood, by the time you’ve gotten
costs...”
the project lead, and Thunderchild Unit 01
this message, me, Izzy, and the rest of the
Who or What is ‘Thunderchild’?
might be a way of referencing her role, or
Thunderchild team will be long gone. And I’m
Intriguingly we also get a possible answer to
In three relatively short paragraphs this last
sorry, I truly am. We’ve given you an enormous
the apparent delayed return of the ammonia
log of Cassandra Lockhart packs in revelation
responsibility, one you never asked for.
aliens; Julian’s reference to “the contingency”
after revelation. The Thargoids might never
might be the answer we were looking for here.
have left — they might have been planning
Listen, we all made mistakes. I’m not going to
What could it have possibly been that was
something significant even 130 years ago
pretend that the Cooperative didn’t collapse
“necessary” but also bad enough that Julian
— the superpowers might have known the
for a reason. We watched the hopes and dreams
would seem to regret it? Given that — in
Thargoids were back, even before Equinox
of generations before us crumble in the face of
context — this might be referring to delaying
figured it out. Expeditions to the Pleiades
political infighting in the decades following
the return of humanity’s greatest enemy, an
might have recovered Thargoid technology:
the war. But out of everything we got wrong, out
argument could be made that whatever was
they could well have brought back Meta-
there were multiple ‘units’ of Thunderchild,
of all our failures, you weren’t one of them.
necessary was justified.
Alloys. If even one of these is accurate it
and Gail was part of one of those. This all
could rewrite our history; what technological
makes sense. However, as we’ll discover
Whatever else happens, I’m proud of you. We
The implications of Lockhart’s logs and
developments have sprung from recovered
shortly, the final message in the buffer might
all are.
Julian’s last message might reach well into
Thargoid technology?
point to something much more significant to
3304 and beyond.
the future survival of humanity.
-Julian Lyons”
This final line asks more questions than it
A Literal Child of Thunder?
answers. “Maybe Thunderchild could’ve done
Before we get into what Thunderchild might
On the surface we have an almost personal
By necessity, we’re going to have to speculate
something, but they went dark in ’69.”
be, the final words recorded by Dr. Lockhart
update/status message from someone that
a lot here in this conclusion. We’ll be drawing
are bone-chilling:
appears to be a key member of the Thunderchild
connections based on one or two words or
In context Lockhart seems to indicate that
team. While we know from this context that
lines, and so it is nothing more than one
‘Thunderchild’ could have done something
”We’re almost out of time.”
there was a team around Thunderchild, we
interpretation of many.
about getting people to listen to her about the
don’t know yet if Thunderchild was the name
Thargoids returning. What was Thunderchild
This was written in 3172. Lockhart felt very
of something specifically in development, or
What is Thunderchild? We have references
that it could have had greater influence than
strongly that time was important, and yet here
the codename of a person being supported
to the ‘signal source’ of the message that
the actual project established to warn people
we are 130 years later and apparently the
by a team, the name of the team itself — or
awoke the Jotunheim listening post as both
if the Thargoids came back? Was it simply
Thargoids have only just returned. We can only
all three. From the reference here and in the
“Thunderchild Unit 01” and “Gail” and we’ve