The human race first announced its existence with radio waves. The Veni detected these signals and began growing their standard, fake FTL travel hub in an orbit well outside that of Neptune. What soon followed was the detection of the first atomic explosions. The station was about halfway complete, leaving them with plenty of time. However, they soon detected ripples in the Eververse that indicated the development of gravity manipulation. This leap had been made quickly, and to the Veni's surprise, as no previous race had mastered this so quickly. The ripples grew deeper and stranger, prompting the Veni to send more of itself to investigate. Suddenly, the Veni felt rushed for the first time in forever.
Thus humanity fell under the purview of the Veni by convention as its discoverers. Most intelligent lifeforms followed a similar developmental trajectory, albeit with some variations: first mastering fire, then language, followed by farming and writing. From these rudimentary skills, species would graduate to more complex achievements like mechanics, electricity, atomics, gravity manipulation, understanding true spacetime dynamics, and finally, near-light speed transportation. This sequence might vary slightly from species to species, but each advancement almost invariably led to the next. Each stage, however, also presented an opportunity for self-destruction. Tragically, most species met their end at some point along this progression. Some managed to rise again, only to face downfall at a later stage.
The Veni were not worried about such self-destructive races as they usually isolated themselves. The challenge was that in most emerging lifeforms, a species required a certain amount of savagery and cunning to survive and thrive. By the time that was no longer true, it was only a relatively short span of time until they had access to the stars - a period too brief to gain civilization. And so, with the full control of creation at their command, they would blunder out into the universe.
Yet, in an unlikely short range of time, fluctuations in the fabric of the Eververse signaled that humans now knew how to manipulate gravity. Suddenly, the problem was looming much faster than anticipated.
If humans had been under the Xen's purview, they would have sterilized the planet, their mindset being that there were already too many species. The Quag would have subjugated them, leaving humans resentful yet content but contained. The Veni preferred a strategy that had been successful in its two previous usages. Those species had become great additions to the Veni empire. The solution was to slow down the humans, to give them some centuries to civilize in the splendor and security of unlimited energy and resources before they made that last mental leap that unlocked the passage to the stars.
The Hoax had been building itself since the first radio signals were detected. Now they turned it on. A satellite on the outskirts of the human's solar system, 55 AU from their sun, responded and raised its temperature to 3 degrees Kelvin. The rest was up to the humans. When they were advanced enough, they would detect the satellite. And with a little more advancement, they would be able to venture out to it. When they were finally able to discern its purpose, they would waste hundreds of years working on the Holy Grail of faster-than-light travel, which was impossible to attain. All the while, they would become more civilized and better prepared to join the true universe.