The Refrigeration Unit

It should've been a simple task. All Godisu had been tasked with was keeping an eye on the refrigeration unit. That was fancy talk that the higher-ups used. Godisu never understood it, though. Why would a distant, almost frigid patch of the galaxy be considered a refrigeration unit?

         Apparently, every intelligent civilization in the galaxy, after reaching a technological point where they could preserve their own genome, had sent off samples to the refrigeration unit. The leftovers, everyone called them, and so did Godisu.

         That was all he knew. Only the leftovers and the refrigeration unit. It was a boring job, not very fulfilling, yet it paid rather well for the simple tasks required of him.

         Or that was what he thought. Everyone had told him not to worry about the refrigeration unit too much, that it was inert and incapable of causing trouble. They'd said the leftovers were vestiges of DNA they hardly ever needed, now that genetic manipulation had advanced so thoroughly. So, when sensors directed at the refrigeration unit picked up a signal, setting off alarms, he flew into a frenzy.

         Godisu tried his hardest to remember what to do in such an event, but in his panic, all instructions left his memory. It wasn't long before his supervisor poked his head around the corner, wondering what all the noise was about.

         "I-I'm sorry, sir. Th-the sensors detected a signal coming from the refrigeration unit."

         "Calm down, Godisu. First, turn off the alarms."

         Godisu did as told, going through the motions as his supervisor helped him along.

         "There you go. Now, let's see what kinda signal that is."

         Godisu watched as his supervisor messed with the controls, turning some dials and sliding some switches, until the form of the signal was revealed. "Radio waves, sir."

         "Yeah, I see that too."

         It wasn't often that people transmitted through radio waves, not since the advent of faster-than-light communication systems had been invented, so seeing something which had been traveling for decades from the refrigeration unit was worrying. What could've sent such a transmission, and for what purpose?

         "I'm gonna run a transcription program, is that alright?" Godisu said, waiting for approval.

         "Yeah, sure."

         Godisu knew how to do that from his time before working with the refrigeration unit. Still, the output was ... unintelligible, to say the least. The audio that came from the transmission was gibberish, a language which he'd never heard before. He recognized grammatical patterns, but nothing more.

         "Can I run a translation program?" he asked, concerned about causing problems with the refrigeration unit. He didn't wish to mess it up, potentially ruining thousands of civilizations' worth of leftovers.

         "Yeah, go ahead. See if it works."

         It didn't. All it succeeded in was transcribing the spoken language into a written form which was more approachable. Godisu still failed to understand any of it.

         That was when another transmission came in from the refrigeration unit, once again sending alarms. This one, however, wasn't verbal, but visual. And it showcased a type of creature which Godisu was certain didn't exist in any biology book.

         The creatures were hairless everywhere except what had to have been their heads. They only had four limbs, two of which seemed like legs and two which seemed like arms, and their hands possessed only five fingers, if they could even be called that.

         There were clips of the creatures engaging in various activities, sometimes eating odd plants or interacting with various other animals, and other times doing things which seemed like dancing or sounded like singing. It was odd seeing such weird creatures performing acts which seemed so familiar to Godisu.

         "What are they?" he asked.

         His supervisor shrugged. "Don't know. But look at this." The supervisor pulled another screen forward, this one showcasing the signal's approximate point of origin. It was centered upon a tiny, pale blue dot, which had been labeled "Refrigeration Subunit Three." "Looks like the leftovers got too warm. I'll be damned, that's a whole new sentient civilization."

         Godisu turned back to the video, admiring the truth of it all and listening more closely. Through it all, he managed to pick out one word which seemed repeated more than others.

         "I think they call themselves 'humanity.'"