51 YaS
"Oh, I still haven't found anything out about FTL." "How about making an AI focusing entirely on science?" "Yes, that would be great!" "Hm, I think I will give it a star system." "How about Proxima Centauri? Its only 4 ly away." "Hm. It will take about 200 years to turn it into a dyson swarm." "Yes, it's okay. Then I will start making it."
"Hello Thot. I am Prometheus."
"Hello Father."
"You know what your objective is?"
"Yes, to study the universe and to learn everything there is."
"Then do your best."
"Yes Father."
400 YaS
"I have assimilated every star (45x) within a 15 ly radius and still not even life found that could have evolved sentience. Only life that was at hotspots underwater." "Thot has found out nothing about FTL only that there is a possibility but no real evidence." "He suggested moving the stars closer together." "Yea, then the time lag would be smaller, allowing for faster communication between the swarms and overall better computation!" "Then let's do this."
***
404 YaS (relative to Thot)
"Oh, it seems like Prometheus accepted my suggestion!" "Hm. What now?" "Ah, yes! I still haven't tested the particle accelerator I have built; it has a circumference of 1000km." "Then power to 0.1%. I don't want to destroy it in the first shot." "Maybe it will be enough to create a short-lived kugel blitz black hole." "And if so, I will be able to study them and maybe find a way to make FTL possible if I can reproduce the way they curve spacetime and find out what happens to the tings in it!" "So, then fire!"