I Learned The Aliens' Language, Now They Want My Body

Summary

In this installment of The Message From Deep Space, the player deciphers a long series of alien transmissions, gradually building a shared vocabulary and learning about the civilization that sent them.

Language-decoding highlights

• The player uses examples and true-or-false statements to establish that one word can describe a subset of another, then applies that relationship to concepts such as shapes, objects, beings, and units.
• New signals reveal parts of speech and sentence structure, including nouns, verbs, adjectives, and “helping words.” Recompiling the evolving dictionary lets the player test interpretations against later messages.
• The aliens introduce scientific vocabulary through diagrams and counting puzzles. The player identifies molecules by their hydrogen and carbon atoms, recognizes compounds containing carbon and hydrogen, and works through a reversible chemical reaction.
• Chemistry clues lead to a major revelation: both species use DNA and undergo essential chemical processes to form living beings. Later images describe reproduction and offspring.
• Further puzzles introduce abstract and concrete categories, numbers, “all” and “none,” averages, extremes, approximation, and comparisons of size. The player revises guesses when a word’s meaning turns out to be more specific than expected.
• The aliens teach words for before, after, and then. Some messages refer to other transmissions, making careful attention to their zero-based numbering important.
• Near the end, the language turns to knowledge and existence: what each civilization knows about elements, planets, and possible life elsewhere. The aliens know Earth exists, but do not know whether it has inhabitants or whether anyone has received their probes.

Story developments

• The human team learns that the aliens’ star cannot currently be matched to the stellar catalog, and the transmissions provide no clear direction in space. Finding the aliens’ home may require better telescopes and decades of cataloging.
• The aliens reveal that they sent a very large number of probes in hopes of reaching life elsewhere. Earth is one candidate among many, not necessarily a uniquely chosen destination.
• The episode closes with the possibility of a response and the realization that the two civilizations have learned a great deal about each other without yet being able to communicate directly.

Useful puzzle-solving approaches

• Keep a consistent vocabulary and use later examples to verify earlier guesses.
• Check grammatical roles and sentence order, not just individual word meanings.
• Watch for indexing differences and references to earlier or later transmissions.
• If an answer seems right but is rejected, check for a syntax mismatch before abandoning the interpretation.
• Use the game’s reference material and recompile the dictionary as new evidence appears.

Gamers and sources featured

• Aliensrock — player and video creator.
• Dan White — editor, credited in the video metadata.
• The Message From Deep Space — game featured.