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Record of Encoded Subspace Transmissions sent between Doolittle-Class Science Vessels Sealion and Hawking sent over Priority Encryption Channels (Case Foxtrot)

Date of Original Transmission: 2202-02-12
Date of Declassification: 2212-02-28

Doolittle>Hawking: Do you remember the things I told you never to talk about?



Hawking>Doolittle: It's been nearly a year and a half now. Why bring this up? You told me what the risks were. You spent a whole day convincing me that to go through proper legal procedures would ha-

Doolittle: None of us have committed a crime. We reported to the officers on board our ships, and convinced them that we had to keep this a secret. In any case, we have extensive discretionary ability when we're conducting these sorts of missions.

Hawking: Something being legal doesn't make it right. We have a duty to-

Doolittle: I have a duty to every human being within several thousand miles, and out here the meaning of that duty changes considerably. You know as well as I do what the consequences would have been if we went to the Board of Directors immediately. They wouldn't have understood the risks involved. All it would have taken is one of them to decide that a public leak could secure re-election and we would have been facing a panic scenario. You know what those guys are like. One person. One person who determines that it would be politically beneficial for the public to think a bunch of space robots are coming to kill them in their sleep.

Hawking: I don't-



Doolittle: It's why we kept that incident on Titan a secret, but happily told them about the electrical reactions we found in Saturn's atmosphere. The Board is perfectly capable of understanding things that generate a short-term profit, but for anything more complicated for that, they hire people like us.



Doolittle: Hey, here's an asteroid with more Platinum than all of our current reserves combined. Perfectly capable.



Doolittle: But when we found proof that we weren't the only life-forms capable of interstellar travel? I didn't want us to be on the hook for a thousand questions we didn't have the answers to. A thousand questions a bunch of self-serving plutocrats and demagogues would have then found answers to.

Hawking: Kayaan, You're being-

Doolittle: They would have answered those questions wrong. Society would be destabilised forever because of a life-form that probably doesn't exist anymore. And in any case, it doesn't matter... I'm going back there.



Hawking: Titan?

Doolittle: I'm reasonable sure that my team is going to find something actionable. Something with a price tag on it. At that point, you can present whatever conclusions you have to the Board. Consider your words carefully, because they will change the world.