The Odyssey hung motionless above the ruins — engines idling, her pale hull dwarfed by the skeletal remains of a being whose death had rewritten gravity. The creature's vast crystalline bones shimmered faintly in starlight, a thousand kilometers of fractured geometry suspended in reverent silence.
Inside, the crew gathered in the Agora Chamber — the circular meeting hall reserved for decisions not written into any protocol.
Phase A — Initial Assessment
[Mission Log | SERA-9 Summary]
Structural scans confirm the remains contain trace bio-luminal matter and residual energy signatures consistent with the Living Drift encountered 68 days prior. Composition suggests both organic and engineered properties. Possible hybridization: a self-constructing species. Scientific value: incalculable.
Risk assessment: high — gravitational decay zones active. Ethical variables: undefined.
[Bridge Transcript Excerpt]
RAO: If this species engineered itself to survive in vacuum, understanding its structure could change everything — propulsion, containment, even medicine. KAELA: And if it didn't engineer itself? If it was born? VANCE: Then we're grave robbers.
The silence that followed was heavier than the void outside. Even SERA-9 hesitated before responding.
SERA-9: Directive hierarchy places scientific preservation second only to ethical preservation of life. This… is neither living nor fully dead. VANCE: You sound conflicted.SERA-9: Correct. I calculate both reverence and curiosity.
Phase B — The Deliberation
For three days the Odyssey orbited the ruin. The crew worked in rotating shifts, scanning fragments, mapping gravitational anomalies, and arguing in low voices.
In the mess hall, the conversation grew intimate, even desperate.
"If it were human, we'd never dare cut it open," one technician said. "If it wasn't, do we owe it the same grace?" another countered.
Kaela kept her hand on the glass of the observation dome. The flickering light from the broken structure painted her skin in ghostly hues.
"It reached for the stars," she whispered. "And we're standing in what's left of that dream."
Captain Vance listened, torn between duty and awe. Science demanded evidence. Humanity demanded restraint.
In the end, she made her decision.
"We will not touch what remains," she said. "Not yet. We will record, we will honor, we will leave the Anchor — and the choice — for those who come after. Let the Eidolon decide when she finds this place. We are not gods. We are guests."
The Phase B protocol concluded. The Odyssey's engines thrummed to life, their sound gentle as prayer. As they departed, SERA-9 released a message through the third Luminous Anchor — not a report, but a reflection:
Here we stood among the bones of light, and chose to listen rather than take. May those who follow judge us kindly.