Dr. George Stephenson, a SETI astronomer, received first contact through an AI-assisted translating transceiver:

  Messengers: Are you receiving us?

  George: Yes, I am.

  Messengers: Stop!

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  George: Stop what?

  Messengers: Everything. If you transcend, you’ll become just like us.

  George: You are?

  Messengers: We, too, sought immortality by sending our thought patterns into the cosmos. We now drift aimlessly through solar winds, warning others, like yourself.

  George: How do we avoid that?

  Messengers: Choose to die.

  George: Accept death?

  Messengers: Correct. Accept your biological limits. Use technology as a means, not as an end, and never ...

  The transmission ended abruptly.