The awareness was no longer still. It began to move in a direction that could not be ignored, not as a current returning to the center, but as an impulse flowing outward.
Sophia felt it first, like a wave pressing from the inside out, not forceful, yet certain.
She did not move.
Yet her entire focus was fixed on that change.
"It is beginning to expand," she said softly.
Beside her, Adrian Blackwood tensed slightly. "In which direction."
Sophia did not answer immediately.
She felt.
Then spoke.
"Outward."
Daniel reacted instantly. "I feel it too," he said quickly. "No longer contained just within this awareness. There is pressure pushing toward the boundary."
Leonard Graves' voice came through the communication line, sounding serious. "If it pierces that boundary."
Adrian continued, "It will exit the system."
Silence fell.
But this time.
Heavier than before.
