The Ticking Clock

Humanity is ablaze with excitement. An advanced alien race was already near our solar system and on their way to meet us. People took the news in various ways. Some people were excited to meet our alien friends while others feared a race with superior technology may be planning to invade and conquer. Businesses scramble to prepare for the unknown and many people find religion really quick trying to wrestle with the prospect.

But as if this was not enough, many reports of alien encounters began flooding the networks. Most are unverified but some were questionable. People reported talking with alien creatures in their dreams or during life-threatening events. Many of these stories involved the witness claiming to be gifted with knowledge or powers to prepare humanity for their arrival. Some of these stories go unexplained, but most were dismissed as simply hysteria due to the news of the impending first contact.

That is, until people started developing psychic powers that were verifiable and revealing information that no civilian could possibly know. Many governments are having trouble verifying these stories and dealing with the already growing mess of cults, drugs, smuggling, and human trafficking that skyrocketed with the news of the alien visitors.

To help contain the chaos, the UNS have agreed to block all outgoing signals from humanity towards the Signal's Origin except those which are explicitly authorized by the highest levels of government. Since then, there has been no officially recognized messages received from the unknown alien race. At least not publicly.

A civil war was broke among the belt colonies a few years back. The discovery of the signal opened up peace talks but civil unrest has started to bubble up again. Belters, Martians, and Terrans have had trouble getting along ever since the colonies were established, but in recent years the appearance of sapient androids and superpowered mutants has caused even more paranoia and unrest.