The space around the ship was dead. Not in the sense of a lack of stars, but a lack of movement. No signals, no waves, no reflections. It was as if someone had cut this fragment of the galaxy out of the rest of existence and left it to its own devices.
Kael sat motionless in his chair. His hands rested on the armrests, but he didn't touch the panels. The ship responded as if it sensed his intentions before he even thought them.
Lira was the first to notice. "Systems stable. But something's wrong." Rex looked up from the scanner. "What exactly?"
"The response delay has dropped to zero. There's no lag. It's as if the ship is part of us."
Zara snorted quietly. "Great. I've always dreamed of a ship that could read my mind."
Taro looked at Kael. "You can feel it, can't you?" Kael nodded. "I don't control it. I just know what it's going to do."
A brief silence followed. Alert, not heavy. Rex broke it first. "Okay. Something threw us in here, something let us out, and something else is about to get pissed. The question is when."
As if to confirm him, the sensors reacted. A single pulse. Weak. Distant. Lira enlarged the image. "Passive contact. Not scanning. Observing."
Zara smiled broadly. "So, a predator." Kael stood and walked to the main screen. The image was blurry, but the shape was visible. Slender. Long. Too smooth for a combat ship.
"It's not the syndicate," he said. "And it's not a corporation." "How do you know?" asked Rex. "Because they're not afraid of us seeing them."
The object disappeared. It simply ceased to exist. It didn't fly away. It didn't jump. It vanished.
Taro cursed softly. "Active spatial masking. At this level, technology from thousands of years ago." Lira looked at Kael. "Or something you awakened."
Kael didn't deny it. Suddenly, the navigation systems switched on themselves. A point appeared on the map. Flashing. Close.
Zara leaned over the console. "Don't tell me the ship chose the target itself." "Not itself," Kael replied. "I didn't do it consciously."
Rex spat to the side. "So subconsciously. Even better." The dot expanded into an image of a planet. Small, rocky, with a thin atmosphere.
Lira expanded the data. "No records. No names. No history." "Safe," said Zara. "Dead," corrected Taro.
Kael looked at the planet and felt uneasy. Not fear. Something worse. Familiarity. "This isn't a hideout," he said. "It's a stop."
Rex narrowed his eyes. "So someone's waiting for us there." "Not someone," Lira replied. "Something."
The ship began its descent. Without a command. Smoothly. As if it had known this course for a long time.
Zara loaded her weapon. "Okay. This is it. We go in, or we fuck... we back off." Kael placed his hand on the console. This time deliberately. The ship slowed down.
"We're descending," he said. "But carefully." The planet's atmosphere accepted them without resistance. Clouds were low and heavy. The surface covered with black dust.
When they landed, no one spoke. Kael opened the ramp. The cold and silence hit them. Absolute silence.
Zara stepped out first. "I don't like this." Rex followed. "Me neither. Not at all."
Something moved on the horizon. Gently. Like a shadow without a source. Kael felt the same sensation he had at the gate. This place remembered. And it had just remembered them.
The dust under their feet was fine as ash. Every step left a mark that didn't disappear. The air was cold, but not dead. Kael felt a slight vibration, as if the planet were breathing very slowly.
Zara walked ahead, weapon raised loosely, finger already on the trigger. "This place is watching me." Rex muttered, "Everything's been watching us lately."
Lira scanned the area. The device went crazy. Data overlapped, disappeared, reappeared elsewhere. "It's not interference. It's intentional."
Taro stopped at a structure protruding from the ground. It looked like a fragment of a column, but the material was unlike anything known. Neither metal nor stone.
"This isn't a city ruin." Kael moved closer. When he touched it, he felt an impulse. Short, precise. Like a response. "It wasn't built."
Zara turned her head. "Then what was it?" "Grown," Kael replied.
The ground in front of them rippled. It didn't explode. It didn't crack. It simply parted, as if something underneath had decided to come out.
Rex raised his weapon. "Contact." A figure emerged. Humanoid, but too perfect in proportion. Smooth, translucent skin. Light pulsed beneath it.
It had no weapon. No eyes. The voice appeared in their heads simultaneously. "Bearer of decisions. You have arrived."
Zara cursed. "I don't like telepathy." Kael stepped forward. "You were waiting for me."
The figure nodded, movement too fluid. "Not for you. For the choice you will make." Lira whispered, "This is one of them. The guardian or the observer."
"No," replied the creature. "I am memory." Rex snorted. "Memory doesn't come out of the ground and talk in your head." "Your definitions are primitive," it answered.
Zara raised her weapon. "One more word and I'll shoot." The figure turned to her. The light beneath its skin dimmed. "Aggression detected."
Kael raised his hand. "We did not come to fight." "True." "We did not come to surrender either." "True."
The silence thickened. The figure raised its hand. Space around them changed. Images appeared. Galaxies from thousands of years ago. Gates. Wars. Worlds fading like sparks.
"You chose closure." Kael felt the weight of that decision again. "Yes."
"It delayed the end." Zara looked at the visions. "And that means it will come anyway." "Yes." Rex clenched his jaw. "Then what was the point of all this?"
The figure turned to Kael. "Because now someone must ensure it is not hastened." Lira froze. "You want to keep him here." "No."
The light in the creature changed color. "We want you to leave. But not just as a human." Kael felt the familiar tingling in his head. The echo of the artifact.
Zara stood beside him. "If you try to change him, I'll destroy you." The figure looked at her. "He has already been changed."
The ground beneath them shook. More figures appeared on the horizon, identical but motionless. Taro whispered, "It wasn't a hideout." "It was an invitation," Lira finished.
Kael took a deep breath. "All right. I'm listening." The figure nodded. "Good. Because the next stage begins now."
The silence after those words was heavier than anything before. Even the wind died down, as if the planet held its breath along with them.
Kael stood still. Tension in his neck, the familiar tingling in his temples. This wasn't a takeover. It was an invitation to something already begun.
Zara took half a step forward, weapon raised. "I don't like this. Not one bit." Rex nodded. "You talk about changes, stages, and ends of the world. And I don't hear a single reason why we should stay here."
The figure looked at them without eyes, but Kael felt its attention clearly. "You don't have to."
Lira narrowed her eyes. "But he does." "Yes."
Zara turned abruptly to Kael. "No." One word. Short. Hard. "You're not leaving us here. You're not giving yourself up to some fucking ancient memory just because the galaxy is fucked."
Kael looked at her calmly. "They didn't say I had to stay here."
The figure raised a hand. Space rippled again, but the images changed. No wars. No gates. People. Worlds. Small colonies. Children playing under an artificial sky. Ships flying peacefully through the lanes.
"These are timelines where closing the gate was enough." The images changed. Destroyed. Burned. Deserted. "And these are the ones where no one watched the echo."
Rex tightened his fingers around the rifle grip. "Echoes of what?" The figure turned to Kael. "Echoes of decisions. Closing the gate didn't destroy the technology. It scattered it."
Kael felt a jolt of understanding. "Fragments." "Yes."
Lira sucked in her breath. "Artifacts. The ones the syndicates are looking for. The corporations. Everyone." "Exactly."
Zara spat into the dust. "So this whole mess isn't going to end." "No," the creature replied. "But it can be slowed down. Controlled."
Kael closed his eyes. He saw a map of the galaxy. Not physically. He felt it. Points of tension. Places where fragments were active. "You want me to find them."
"No." He opened his eyes. "We want you to sense them. And make your own decisions."
Zara looked at him intently. "And the price." The figure was silent for a second. That was enough. Kael spoke first. "Over time, I'll stop being normal." "Yes."
Rex snorted. "Fucking awesome." Lira looked at Kael. "But you'll still be yourself." "Yes," replied the creature. "Unless you give it up yourself."
Zara moved closer. Almost face-to-face with Kael. "Tell me you're not doing this alone." Kael smiled briefly. A tired smile. "I never have."
Zara lowered her weapon slowly. "Then we're doing this together." Rex sighed heavily. "As always. The worst possible idea."
Taro finally spoke. "Technically, if he can see these fragments, we can get ahead of them." Lira nodded. "Or destroy them."
The figure took a step back. Light beneath its skin began to fade. "The decision has been made."
The earth shook one last time. The silhouettes on the horizon began to dissolve. Like shadows at dawn. "This place will no longer be accessible," said the voice in their heads. "The echo will accompany you."
Kael felt something closing. Not painfully. Definitively. Zara looked up at the sky. "I hate days like this." Rex laughed briefly. "Me too. But at least there's work to be done."
The ship waited where they had left it. Silent. Ready. Kael looked at his crew. One thing was certain. From this moment on, they were no longer just treasure hunters.
They were a problem. For the entire galaxy.