Report on translations of output from the Object

UNIOS
The United Nations Institute of Object Studies
Southern Polar Technical Group

Highly Confidential

Section AA: Executive Summary

1: Background

There have been a number of theories offered as to the origin and purpose of the object. We now have 7214 theories on file and are still receiving submissions at an average rate of 1.7 per day. Most of the submissions appear to be worthless, though we are constitutionally bound to accept and file all that we receive.

These theories have been carefully sifted by the relevant committees. Seven have been selected as being the most probable, and although they have received much attention in the popular media, they are worth re-stating. According to them the object is;

A robot or computer, the technology of which is inestimably beyond our current capabilities;
Not a robot but nevertheless another sort of machine (a conclusion which calls the output of the translation teams into question);
A database, though the way that its physical form is able to alter has suggested that, if the object is a database, then it does not distinguish between hardware and software in the way that we understand those terms;
A living being of some unknown type, or the body or remains of a living being;
An inanimate natural object, something like a crystal (a theory which, again, may or may not cast doubt on the translations);
A space-ship or the guidance system for a space-ship;
Some combination (even all) of the above.

2: Output

There is, as previously mentioned, a hollow area in the object. When a pointed metal probe is inserted into this space, another area on the object displays what appears to be a field of symbols, and these "symbols" or "output" constitute the text on which the translation teams have worked.

3: The Translations

There are currently twelve translation teams, varying in number from two to seventeen members, plus their support staff, which vary according to the teams. The total staff compliment is 71 principal translators and over 200 technical and administrative assistants.

There appears to have been some progress made in translating output from the object, and a number of samples are appended to this report. (see below.) The Translation Co-ordinating Committee (TCC) wish to emphasise that these are tentative offerings, and that the majority of interpretations have still not been resolved. The examples appended herewith are those "translations" which they wish released for study, The TCC is of the majority opinion that the output from the object constitutes part of a descriptive catalogue of inhabited planets. One translator has commented that the texts seem like a "universal travel guide." Probing the object, investigators have thus far produced and recorded 7,045 distinct patterns of symbols, each of which, the translation committee speculates, refers to same area of the universe inhabited by sentient beings. investigators are still producing new patterns, and thus far a repetition has not been observed.

There is, however, also a vociferous minority faction on the TCC which believes that the texts are fictional, and that the object can be viewed an aleotoric story- telling device. The committee has stressed in its report that it does not support this notion. We look forward to your comments on the appended material and once again wish to emphasize that the information herein is to be treated with the utmost confidentiality.

Annexure 01: The Planet Sri

Annexure 02: The Planet Gae

Annexure 03: The Planet Dei

Annexure 04: The Planet Graal

Annexure 05: The Planet Mera

Annexure 06: The Planet Urania

Annexure 07: The Planet Tyche

Annexure 08: The Planet Sukra

Annexure 09: The Planet Sige

Annexure 10: The Planet Dagon

Annexure 11: The Planet Cyrene

Annexure 12: The Planet Anubis