The lead retrieval officer leaned close, frowning. “Kael? What happened?”
A single line of text, repeated over and over, scrolling up the monitor: nighthawk22 - isolation midi
The second hour, he found the first body. The lead retrieval officer leaned close, frowning
Seventy-two hours later, the transport window opened. The cargo ship Event Horizon received a single, automated ping from the colony’s surface. It was Kael’s emergency beacon. The lead retrieval officer leaned close
Behind him, the ship’s AI, AION, chirped a final, sterile warning. “Atmospheric composition: unbreathable. Biological signature scan: negative for seventeen kilometers. Time to next transport window: seventy-two hours. Good luck, Recovery Agent Kael.”