The path to Sector Zero was no corridor—it was a gauntlet. As the Curator rerouted power to create a direct passage, parts of the station blinked into unstable existence, glitching between reality and the influence of the Rift.
Nam and Lan sprinted through collapsing halls, past flickering lights and twisted gravity. The station was alive—dying, but still sentient enough to resist the invading entity.
"Left!" Nam shouted, as a corridor behind them crumpled into a singularity.
Lan pulled a grenade from her belt and tossed it into a cluster of Riftlings—small, skittering creatures that had emerged from the dimensional tear. The blast gave them seconds, nothing more.
"Sector Zero should be behind this bulkhead!" Lan yelled, pointing toward a sealed titanium door marked with ancient Earth emblems.
Nam slammed the override panel. "It needs two codes," he muttered. "Mine and..."
Lan didn't wait—she placed her palm next to his. "Use mine."
The interface hesitated, then blinked green.
The door hissed open, revealing a chamber unlike the rest of the station. Sleek, silent, and still powered, Sector Zero looked untouched by chaos. A massive control console sat at the center, surrounded by floating screens, each showing views of space, planets, and systems.
Nam rushed forward. "This is it."
He tapped commands rapidly, guided by the knowledge the Reclaimer Core had injected into his mind. The screens lit up, displaying a web of defense satellites, dormant weapons platforms, and energy nodes buried across forgotten planets.
Lan watched in awe. "This is what they sealed? An entire galactic defense grid?"
"Not just defense," Nam replied. "This network can alter gravitational fields, cloak star systems… even collapse Rift energy."
He hovered over a blinking red icon.
"But if I activate this… every power in the galaxy will know. Hệ Tinh Vân. The Confederacy. The Outrider Clans. They'll all come."
"Then let them," Lan said. "We're already out of time."
Suddenly, the station shook violently. The Rift creature had breached the inner hull.
"Do it!" Lan shouted.
Nam pressed the command.
A blinding pulse of light spread from the console, rippling across space. The defense grid awakened—ancient engines rumbled to life across forgotten moons and abandoned stations. Beams of blue energy lashed out toward the Rift.
The chamber trembled again, but this time it was the Rift that screamed.
The creature recoiled, tendrils snapping. Across the galaxy, silent weapons whispered back to life.
And for the first time in a thousand years, the Voiceless Universe answered.