Oberron
Ghosts Neighbours
category: notion
Ghosts Neighbours
The first time the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, a radio astronomical research agency) notification alarm rang, it created havoc in the dorms. Nearly a year of sleepless nights searching for the extraterrestrial reading, they realised the sensors had been triggered by a leaky microwave oven, in the rest room near the sensing room.*
So when it rang again, almost on the day of the anniversary of the first alarm. Every one thought it was a bad joke. However they quickly realised the sensors were actually, partially powered off for maintenance and so should not have triggered an alarm at all.
So began a decade long scientific investigation. For budget reasons, it was nearly stopped a dozen times. Yet, years later humanity made first contact with an unknown very refined civilisation.
The ancient Chinese had called them "鬼" (guǐ), ancient Mesopotamia “gidim” and Western Europeans referred to them as ghosts.
The most visible members of those neighbours had simply, for millennia, been mistaken by humans as our dead ones…
*this part is actually inspired by a true story: