A new signal appeared. Not from the artifact.
From deep within it.
HALCYON identified the pattern—it matched Lyra's neural signature.
We followed it, deeper than we thought possible. Through corridors of red light, past rooms that pulsed with our own faces frozen in silent screams.
At the center, we found it.
A core. A sphere. Inside—Lyra. Or a construct of her.
Eyes open. Suspended. Still breathing.
Her voice came through the static:
"I didn't leave. I expanded. I remember everything now."
The walls vibrated with data. Memories of lives I'd never lived. Futures we never reached. Earth, not destroyed, but forgotten.
She said the signal was not a message. It was a map.
Leading back to the origin. Or maybe forward.
But only for those who surrendered who they were.