The first thing that vanished was the drone.
Dr. Aris Thorne hadn't even noticed it was there, a constant, low vibration humming just below his hearing. It was the planet's background noise, the electromagnetic buzz of living things. Then, one day, it stopped. All that was left was the buzzing in his head, a persistent echo he'd brought back from Jakarta. A ghost in the machine.
His cabin clung to the cliff's edge on the Black Isle Draw Zone's edge. It was part timber and part sheer determination, holding on tight against the Atlantic winds. One side of the main room tried to be a home with a dented kettle, old postcards pinned to a corkboard, and an armchair worn into the shape of a family. The other side had become an obsession. Diagrams from the Global Obelisk Research and Containment Initiative (GORCI) were tacked over maps. Their edges curled. Whiteboards covered in equations stood next to a sink. In the middle of it, a fifty-centimeter model of the Jakarta Obelisk sat on a table. It was made of brushed steel and shiny obsidian, a reminder of the day the world knew it wasn't alone.
Aris ran a hand through his hair. It was turning gray early. He was only thirty-eight, but he looked older. He was tired to the bone, burdened.
He was trying to study images. They were from the Black Forest Draw Zone, but the data blurred together. A familiar pressure started in his head.
Not now, damnit. Please, not now.
He squeezed his eyes shut as darkness turned into shapes. Hexagons inside hexagons, spinning in a pattern. It was the Obelisk's logic. It felt as if a video file burned into his brain. The drone in his head sharpened. It felt like a needle drilling into his skull. He was a living hard drive for alien code.
The flashback didn't feel like a memory. It felt real.
***
Jakarta. It was hot and sticky, and the air smelled sweet from frangipani flowers. Aris was younger. His hair was still black. Aris laughed at a joke his assistant, Ben, told. They were putting together equipment. Something heavy was falling.
"The Chinese?" Ben asked, looking up.
Too big, wrong direction, Aris said. Probably a meteor.
Then the shadow covered them.
It fell and everything went dark because the light turned purple. The city went silent.
Then they saw it.
It was a pillar. It was five kilometers high and etched. Human construction looked like a toy. The city's skyscrapers were toys.
It stood still for fifty-seven minutes. It was silent.
Then, the sound started. The top of the pillar began to spin fast. Hurricane came to Jakarta. Wind tore everywhere.
Spheres fell from the spinning. They were six meters in size. They were silver and seamless. They didn't crash into the city. Instead, they went through everything, into the ground.
What are they? Ben whispered.
They're seeds, Aris said. They're setting up a perimeter.
People grabbed their chests. A woman looked at Aris before getting dusted.
Aris felt it. It was a cold pain. Ben was dusted away.
No!
Aris grabbed tephra from the lab. He wondered what the Obelisks were doing and what the harvest would bring.
***
Aris gasped. He still remembered that day. It was terrifying. The buzz in his head faded, but a headache formed.
He splashed water on his face. He didn't know who he was anymore.
It was just a memory, he said. It's fine.
But it wasn't. The Obelisks made sure of it.
The GORCI terminal flashed red and beeped.
BREAKING: GORCI PRIORITY ALPHA: SPHERE RELEASE CONFIRMED.
His heart skipped a beat. He tapped the screen. A map showed a spot blinking red.
The New Forest, Hampshire. 50 km South.
The location was in a forest and Aris knew it was another Obelisk.
The phone rang.
Thorne. His voice was rough with sleep.
Aris. You've seen the alert. Commander Eva Rostova said.
I've seen it, he said. Why the New Forest?
That's your job. Now, I need you here. A team is coming. They will be at your location in twenty minutes.
Aris felt sick. The thought of being near the Obelisk scared him. I can't. You have my data. You have Kaito. You don't need me.
You're the only one who survived an Obelisk and you are okay. Your brain recorded data our machines couldn't. Your flashbacks are not a bug. They are your superpower. Now, be ready.
She hung up.
Aris stood there. He looked at the Obelisk on the screen and then the model. If Jakarta was a harvest of people, this was different which was about a forest. He wondered what would happen.
He touched the tephra at his throat. It was warm. The buzz seemed to change from a bad vibe to a conversation.
He felt scared.
But under the fear, he felt curious also. He wondered how. If the Obelisks change reality, they must have weak spots.
He opened a drawer and grabbed his jacket and a datapad. He put on the jacket as he was ready for anything. He was Dr. Aris Thorne. Survivor of the Jakarta Draw.
The forest was still the forest outside.
He saw the New Forest now and the silver seeds and whatever horror that would come. He saw Ben's last look.
He put the datapad on his belt. The terminal blinked.
Outside, the forest was quiet.
Inside, the screaming had already begun.