Dm F0445 De -

The planet filled the viewport—a bruised purple marble, cracked with canyons of black ice. As the Odysseus descended, Aris saw them: the Pillars. They rose from the ice like the ribs of a fossilized god, each one carved with a spiral script that predated human language by eons. They weren't built on the planet; they were built into it, as if the rock had grown around them.

The text dissolved into gibberish.

"Artificial structures. Geometric. They match the Hecate 's final telemetry." dm f0445 de

Aris stretched his legs, the ship's AI, Lachesis , chiming softly. "Dr. Thorne, we are entering gravitational influence of DM F0445 DE. Surface temperature: -220°C. Atmosphere: None. Anomaly detected."

It was the silence that bothered Dr. Aris Thorne the most. Not the dead silence of space, but the synthetic, processed silence inside the Odysseus , broken only by the rhythmic hum of the cryo-pods. The planet filled the viewport—a bruised purple marble,

It had no form, only a shape that his mind refused to accept. It was the space between stars made flesh. It was the silence before birth. And it spoke, not in words, but in the absence of them.

Aris looked up. At the far end of the chamber, a single pillar stood apart from the others. It was dark, dormant. A panel on its base was open, wires ripped out. The Hecate 's mistake. They weren't built on the planet; they were

"We are the dream now. We are the lullaby. Do not send help. Send silence."

The walls began to sweat. Not ice melt—a black, viscous fluid that oozed from the carvings. It pooled at his feet, and in its reflection, Aris saw something standing behind him.