It was better than they could have ever hoped to find on the very first planet that they visited.
Even one simple word was enough to prove that someone had been here before, and that someone had been here long enough to leave traces. It was an archaic script, but the computer still recognized it well enough to translate it, though if they found more writing, they might find that it was only a similar ancient script and their initial translation was wrong.
For now, the guests on the ship were unaware of the development, and the fact that something had been found so easily would be kept from them for a while so that they didn't start rumours that the whole trip was staged.
The level of coincidence was too high. Finding a sign in the first seconds of the search of an alien planet was trillions to one odd favouring good luck.
