The first system failure hit without warning.
Lights flickered.
Then died.
Emergency illumination bathed the ship in red.
"Power fluctuation!" Rhea shouted. "Something's draining us!"
"From where?" Elara demanded.
"I don't know—it's not external—it's like—"
She stopped.
Frozen.
"Elara… the signal…"
Arin's voice was barely audible now.
"It's changed."
The waveform on the screen twisted, reshaping itself into something disturbingly familiar.
A pattern.
A pulse.
Like a heartbeat.
Then—
It spoke.
Not in sound.
But in thought.
Elara staggered back as something invaded her mind—cold, vast, ancient.
A presence.
Not hostile.
Not friendly.
Just… aware.
YOU HAVE COME.
The words weren't heard. They existed inside her.
She gasped, gripping the console.
"Did you hear that?" she asked.
Arin nodded slowly, eyes wide with terror.
Rhea whispered, "We need to leave. Now."
But Elara couldn't move.
Because the presence was still there.
Watching.
Studying.
YOU ARE LATE.
"Late for what?" Elara whispered.
The ship trembled.
Outside, the graveyard shifted again.
The broken vessels began to align.
Forming something vast.
Something impossible.
A structure.
A machine.
Or perhaps…
A monument.