After returning from the investigation on Kaal, Eve dropped Mira at a nearby orbital station with Charlie's team and flew on to meet Dr. Salam.
The Soul Drifter docked at the dig site. Dr. Salam and Kai greeted Eve on the ramp.
Eve: "Tell me it's ready."
Salam: "We have a problem."
In the observation tower, they looked at the towering monolith. Teams were still working on it.
Kai: "We've tried everything. It just won't talk back. We don't know how the Thelarians are doing it."
Eve: "I have a clue."
Salam: "I suspected that might have been the case."
Kai: "Care to fill me in?"
Salam: "Eve touched the monolith on Kaal. It responded. Her machine genes were communicating with it. Now the same monolith is missing. Geddit?"
Kai: "Their shields. Sable. They're using the monoliths that Eve somehow activated. Wait… how does this explain Ranolg got his powers from the monoliths?"
Salam: "Before, they were only using its mutative and degenerative powers. Eve's interaction unlocked hidden layers of alien technology. That explains the shields. That explains how they managed to stabilize Sable's DNA."
Eve: "They tried replicate xenomorphesis many times before. My clones on the Clarion ships couldn't xenomorph. But Sable can. Sable appeared after the monoliths."
Kai: "Then you're about to activate another one. Are you ready for it?"
Eve: "Let's do this."
Jax: "Wait. Remember the last time?"
Salam: "Relax. We only need a sample of her blood."
Salam pricked her finger and let the crimson bead fall into the crystalline core of the device he and Kai had engineered. The machine already contained fragments carved from the monolith's surface.
The lights turned green. It worked. The device was loading information from the monolith. A bridge had been established.
Outside, the monolith stirred. Ancient markings rippled with light, cascading like circuitry across its colossal surface.
Salam: "It worked!" He tapped on the device's holographic interface. A screen lit up with the monolith's 3D model. "It's here. We've built a tracking scanner."
Kai: "Let's see if it can talk more."
He tapped his wrist module. Data streamed into the hologram, showing diagrams and coordinates — first showing the nearest monolith on another planet, then several more across the starmap.
Salam worked his fingers on the holograph, something that looked like an orb appeared, but it was not prominent, rather grayed out. It was a portal.
Salam: "So that's what the portals look like. The scanner's only showing a sketch. We have to be close enough so it can scan a live one."
Kai: "Now we just have to amplify the signal so it can scan far enough."
Eve: "Our job is done here. Let's get back to Nomad."