Nobody moved.
The message remained on the screen.
THE COUNTDOWN HAS ALREADY BEGUN.
Simple.
Direct.
Terrifying.
Adrian slowly sat down.
"No."
Silence.
"No, I've decided I don't accept this."
Nobody responded.
Because denial was becoming increasingly difficult.
The message existed.
The signal existed.
The countdown existed.
And somewhere out there—
something was coming.
Valentina immediately began scanning the transmission.
"Attempting source identification."
Seconds passed.
Then minutes.
Nothing.
Finally, the AI spoke again.
"I cannot locate the origin."
"Not even approximately?" Elena asked.
"No."
"That shouldn't be possible."
Valentina paused.
"I am becoming increasingly tired of hearing that phrase as well."
For once, Adrian nodded in agreement.
Iris stood and approached the screen.
"The previous signals never behaved like this."
Alessandro's eyes narrowed.
"Meaning?"
She looked at him.
"Meaning they were passive."
The room grew quieter.
"This one is interacting."
Nobody liked that distinction.
A passive warning was one thing.
A live intelligence watching them was something else entirely.
Elena stared at the glowing words.
"The countdown."
Her voice was calm.
"Countdown to what?"
The screen remained silent.
No response.
No explanation.
Nothing.
Then suddenly—
the display flickered.
Everyone tensed.
New images appeared.
Not text.
Pictures.
Photographs.
Seven of them.
The same seven individuals from Iris's records.
One by one.
Their faces filled the screen.
A young woman wearing an unfamiliar military uniform.
A man standing before strange metallic structures.
An elderly woman with silver eyes that seemed almost unnatural.
Others followed.
Different worlds.
Different eras.
Different histories.
Yet connected by one thing.
The signals.
The image shifted.
A timeline appeared beneath the photographs.
The first individual had appeared nearly two thousand years ago.
The second, fourteen hundred years later.
The third, three centuries after that.
The intervals became shorter.
And shorter.
And shorter.
Elena immediately noticed the pattern.
"They're accelerating."
Iris nodded grimly.
"Yes."
The room fell silent.
Because everyone understood what that meant.
The signals weren't random.
They were increasing.
Building toward something.
Like a chain reaction approaching its final stage.
Valentina's processors surged again.
"Analyzing historical correlation."
The timeline expanded.
Additional information appeared beside each individual.
World events.
Technological leaps.
Scientific revolutions.
Political transformations.
History itself had changed around them.
Not because they conquered civilizations.
Because they influenced them.
Guided them.
Accelerated them.
The realization settled heavily over the room.
"They weren't invaders," Elena said quietly.
"No."
Iris shook her head.
"They were catalysts."
The screen flickered again.
The seven photographs shifted.
Then stopped.
One by one—
they disappeared.
The first vanished.
Then the second.
Then the third.
Until only one remained.
The seventh.
A man perhaps thirty years old.
Dark hair.
Calm eyes.
The final known arrival.
The final catalyst.
Beneath his image appeared a single line.
STATUS: MISSING
Nobody spoke.
Then another line appeared.
LAST TRANSMISSION RECOVERED
The screen changed.
Static filled the display.
An old recording.
Damaged.
Fragmented.
The image stabilized briefly.
The man appeared.
He looked exhausted.
Injured.
Afraid.
And that frightened Elena more than anything else.
Because the previous records described him as one of the most powerful anomalies ever documented.
Yet here—
he looked terrified.
The recording crackled.
"…if anyone receives this…"
Static.
"…too late for us…"
The image distorted violently.
"…they're not gods…"
Everyone leaned forward.
The man coughed.
Blood visible at the corner of his mouth.
"…don't believe what they show you…"
The recording flickered.
Then stabilized one final time.
The man's eyes seemed to focus directly on whoever would watch this centuries later.
"Run."
Silence.
"Just run."
The transmission ended.
Black screen.
No further information.
No explanation.
Only fear.
Real fear.
The kind that couldn't be faked.
Nobody spoke for a long time.
Finally Adrian broke the silence.
"…I officially miss fighting criminal organizations."
No one laughed.
Because for the first time—
they all felt it.
Not danger.
Not panic.
Scale.
Whatever was coming—
it was bigger than anything humanity had faced before.
And somehow—
the countdown had already started.
Then Valentina spoke again.
Her voice unusually quiet.
"I found something else."
The room collectively groaned.
Nobody wanted more information.
Yet everyone needed it.
"What now?" Elena asked.
Valentina projected a final image onto the screen.
The star chart.
The mysterious system.
The distant location far beyond human reach.
But this time there was a difference.
A small point of light had appeared.
Moving.
Traveling.
Heading directly toward Earth.
Valentina's next words froze the room.
"It wasn't there six minutes ago."
Silence.
The point of light moved again.
Closer.
And for the first time—
the countdown no longer felt theoretical.
Something had already begun the journey.