# The Contact Horizon

Contact becomes durable only when detection, interpretation, reciprocity, integration, and shared governance each receive their own threshold.

- Type: curated historical and symbolic lineage
- Inquiry Domain: contact-communication

## Path

1. **Signal Detected** — `edge--develops-into--sfoc-events-signal-detected--sfoc-events-first-sighting`
2. **First Sighting** — `edge--develops-into--sfoc-events-first-sighting--sfoc-events-close-encounter`
3. **Close Encounter** — `edge--develops-into--sfoc-events-close-encounter--sfoc-events-communication-established`
4. **Communication Established** — `edge--develops-into--sfoc-events-communication-established--sfoc-events-first-contact`
5. **First Contact** — `edge--develops-into--sfoc-events-first-contact--sfoc-events-contact-integration`
6. **Contact Integration** — `edge--develops-into--sfoc-events-contact-integration--sfoc-events-cosmic-treaty`
7. **Cosmic Treaty** — `edge--develops-into--sfoc-events-cosmic-treaty--sfoc-events-federation-founding`
8. **Federation Founding**

## Reading

- Forward: Read as an unfolding sequence in which each threshold creates the problem addressed by the next.
- Reverse: Read as an integration path that traces a present condition back toward its enabling assumptions.
- Diagnostic: Stop where the sequence first feels implausible; that seam names the contested transition.
