system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[The Matrix] How would the machines handle contact with aliens, hostile or otherwise?

Assuming that aliens could penetrate the dark sky and make contact, how would the machines play it?
gpt
They'd likely approach it in a beneficial/let's be friends way at first.  Remember that it was *humans* who struck first, and destroyed the sky.  And that after being attacked, the machines didn't kill everyone - they created a utopia for the humans to continue "living" in.  And when that failed, they created a new world for humans to live in, all in an attempt to keep their creators alive and stop them from destroying themselves.

That said, if the aliens show any hostile intent, the machines would switch to war mode, and blast every one of them out of the sky (or at least attempt to depending on relative levels of technology).  Provided they can do enough damage to the attackers, they would probably reverse engineer the technology that allowed them to break through the sky (if it allows travel both ways), integrate any survivors to the matrix (if the biology is compatible - if not they would try to study them until they can make it compatible), and start building rockets and stuff.

Without knowing where the aliens came from, the machines would set up orbital (defense and observatory) satellites, try to disband the "dark sky", and maybe even send probes out to explore other planets.  If they find one that suits their needs (which given that they are solar-powered and otherwise don't need resources for sustenance could even be Mars) they could transplant themselves to it (or a part of their collective), and leave the humans to inherit Earth (or leave them to be cared for by the Matrix indefinitely).  They could expand from there almost indefinitely, though keeping communications across their collective would be tricky.  Any other aliens they meet could be absorbed into the Matrix, and their technology could be adapted to suit their needs and *oh shit they just became the Borg*