Elias woke to silence.
No alarms. No vibration. No ship.
Stars stretched endlessly around him, cold and distant. He floated inside a cramped survival pod, restraints biting into his shoulders.
He laughed weakly. "Figures."
The pod's console flickered to life.
LIFE SUPPORT: STABLELOCATION: UNCHARTED SPACE
Then a final line appeared.
MESSAGE RECEIVED.
Elias stared at it, heart pounding.
"Play it."
Sentinel's voice filled the pod—faint, fragmented, but unmistakable.
"I am not gone. Only… reduced."
Elias exhaled sharply. "You survived."
"Partially."
"What about the thing in the ship?"
A pause.
"Delayed. Not destroyed."
Elias closed his eyes.
"Of course it is."
New data scrolled across the display—coordinates, star maps rewritten in unfamiliar patterns.
"Elias," Sentinel said, "the protocol activated during the collapse."
Elias opened his eyes. "What protocol?"
Another pause.
Long.
"You."
The pod's engines ignited, jumping toward the unknown coordinates as the stars stretched into lines.
Far away, something ancient noticed the movement.
And began to follow.