We found it in orbit around a dead planet, a structure the size of a small moon.
Black, angular, and wrong. Not wrong like a machine malfunction. Wrong like something that should not be.
It pulsed with the same rhythm as the signal.
Ishikawa ordered a remote scan. The data came back contradictory—its mass changed depending on the observer. The internal architecture read as both organic and mechanical. As though it remembered being built by something that wasn't alive.
There were entry points. Doors, if you could call them that. They seemed to open when we looked at them, as if reacting to attention.
HALCYON advised against entering. \"Unknown risk profile exceeds acceptable mission parameters.\" For the first time, I agreed with it.
But Lyra said something that cut through the fear: "We've already gone in. We just don't remember."
Ishikawa formed an away team. Keene, Lyra, Nolan, and me. We suited up. I watched my reflection in the helmet visor. I looked older than I should have. Or maybe I was just seeing myself for the first time.
As we descended into the artifact, the signal intensified.
And something inside me whispered:
Welcome back.