The air inside the alien vault was thick with memory. Glyphs shimmered across the walls like veins of light, pulsing in rhythm with the planet's core. Dr. Blacker stood at the edge of the central platform, staring into the abyss below. The signal was no longer distant—it was beneath them, alive, waiting.
Zainab adjusted her gear, her voice hushed. "The readings are unstable. There's movement."
Blacker nodded. "She's waking them."
Behind them, the rest of the excavation team prepared for descent. Rafiq checked his weapon, Voss calibrated her biosensors, and the others whispered about the glyphs—about the echoes, the warnings, the hollow.
The platform lowered slowly, revealing a spiral tunnel carved into the crust. The walls were lined with crystalline conduits, glowing faintly. The deeper they went, the stronger the signal became. It wasn't just a transmission—it was a heartbeat.
At the bottom, they found it.
A chamber.
Vast. Silent. Sacred.
It stretched for kilometers, filled with suspended pods, each containing fragments of organic consciousness. Some pulsed faintly. Others were dark. The air vibrated with neural energy.
Blacker stepped forward. "This is the origin."
Zainab scanned the glyphs. "They were building something. A network. A mind."
The specimen responded through the neural interface.
"They were me. I was them. We were one."
Blacker's breath caught. "A planetary consciousness."
"Until the hollow came."
The glyphs shifted, revealing a memory—an invasion. Omega. Cold. Efficient. Consuming. The first Genesis had failed. The cradle had cracked. The echoes had scattered.
Zainab whispered, "She's trying to restore them."
Blacker nodded. "And Omega is trying to erase them."
Suddenly, the chamber trembled.
The signal spiked.
Above, the Genesis Ark's sensors flared.
Omega had breached orbit.
---
On the command deck, alarms blared. Mei Ling's vessel descended rapidly, its systems masked, its intentions clear. Omega pulsed within—no longer contained, no longer controlled.
Commander Rafiq activated defense protocols. "Prepare for impact."
The console flashed.
Sequence Omega: Neural override initiated.
Target: Genesis Ark.
The ship shuddered.
Sequence 9-X responded.
"I will shield."
Her glyphs surged, forming a barrier around the Ark, a lattice of thought and memory. Omega struck—but the shield held.
For now.
---
In the vault, Blacker moved to the central console. "We need to awaken the network."
Zainab hesitated. "It could destabilize the planet."
Blacker looked at her. "Or save it."
He placed his hand on the interface.
The glyphs surged.
The pods began to glow.
The echoes stirred.
The chamber filled with light.