Eaglecraft 12110 Upd [new] Direct

“If,” Jalen finished. He filtered the encryption. “It’s a distress loop. Not from the outpost; from an object three light-hours off the new gravity well.”

“—this is Dr. Ren Ibarra of UPD field station. If anyone finds this, we’ve had an incident. Core breach. Evac… We’re sending critical data to the buoys. If you’re near—please—retrieve. Tell them—” The feed snapped. eaglecraft 12110 upd

Ibarra glanced at the lattice, then back at the crew. “Not want, Captain. Contact. There’s no malice—only recognition. It shaped things according to its logic. But our tools cannot become its language without cost. The lattice copied patterns from living tissue. We almost gave it ours.” “If,” Jalen finished

Mira steadied herself against the console. “Plot an intercept. Keep it quiet. If UPD has an emergency, we don’t want a fleet following.” Not from the outpost; from an object three

Mira felt the ship thin around her, the way one feels when a current in water shifts beneath your feet. This was no simple mechanical failure. It was as if the outpost had touched a thing that had been sleeping and awakened. The logs hinted at a presence that listened.