The signal wasn't just outside anymore. It had infiltrated everything. It wasn't just a message or an energy field—it was alive. The sound of it reverberated through Kaelen's bones, like the beating of a massive heart that belonged to something far older than humanity could comprehend.
"Laz, what did you do?" Kaelen shouted, but Laz wasn't at the console anymore. He was slumped over, his eyes wide and unblinking.
Mira grabbed Kaelen's arm. "We have to get out of here!"
The walls shook. The temperature plummeted, and the air became thick with the hum of the signal. It was closing in on them, wrapping around them like a living entity, and Kaelen could feel it now—inside him. The whispers. The pull.
And then, just as they turned to leave, a door at the far end of the engine room opened.
A figure stepped out.
It was the crew member from the original Vigilant—the one who had left the warning video. Her face was pale, her eyes black and empty. She was the one who had been in Pod C-7.
She spoke, her voice distant, almost mechanical.
"It's too late. It has already begun."