Chapter 12: The Lunar Gate
Aeternum's hull vibrated as it pierced the Moon's upper thermosphere. The silence of space was deceptive—outside, a storm of radiation and debris swirled, remnants of long-abandoned mining colonies and failed expeditions.
Anderson floated near the command console, the quantum map Elira had given them unfolding into a 3D lattice above the dashboard. "That's the Gate?" he asked.
Mirror nodded. "Luna Station Theta. Not a station—it's a fortress."
Built into the far side of the Moon, invisible from Earth, Theta had been Dr. Z's last known destination. But it wasn't abandoned. As they approached, warning lights flickered on across the station's surface—turrets emerged, shields activated, and one word pulsed in scarlet across their console: UNAUTHORIZED.
"Brace for contact," Mirror said.
A blast rocked the ship. Shields held, barely. Ferryman's voice cut in. "Sending override code now. If Z left a backdoor, this is it."
Static. Then silence.
And then—the turrets powered down.
"Welcome back, Dr. Zorin," a mechanical voice intoned.
Anderson blinked. "It thinks I'm him."
Inside the station, the corridors were eerily preserved. A museum of forbidden tech. Memory nodes lined the walls. Cloned plants breathed in zero gravity. And at its center, a chamber filled with suspended crystalline coffins—versions of Dr. Z, failed uploads, discarded copies.
Then they found it: the Core Room. A massive black sphere pulsing with quantum data. The voice returned.
"Anderson. Mirror. You have come not to find me—but to become me."
The floor shifted. Energy surged.
From the shadows, a figure stepped forward. Not a projection. Not an AI.
Dr. Z.
Alive.
Changed.
He smiled faintly, his eyes glowing like Mirror's. "Welcome to the edge of evolution."