The branch did not move wildly; it glided with a calmness that felt threatening, as if it already knew where to go even before the path opened up.
Sophia did not blink as that thin line diverged from the main flow they were guiding, cutting through space that was previously empty and untouched.
She could sense that this was not merely an anomaly. This was something waiting.
Beside her, Adrian Blackwood watched the path with equally sharp focus. "That is not part of the expansion," he said softly. "That is the destination."
Daniel zoomed in, trying to decipher the structure beginning to take shape at the end of the path.
"I find no previous references," he said. "This is not an old node, not a backup route, nor part of the core we have accessed."
Leonard Graves's voice came through the comms, lower than usual. "So we are opening something truly new."
Silence fell.
But not out of doubt.
But out of the realization that they had already stepped beyond every map they possessed.
