"If you are listening to part seven, the loop has failed again. The anomaly at the AN27 marker cannot be contained. Do not attempt to decompress part eight. Whatever you do, Elias, stay away from the light."

Instead of blueprints or coordinates, a single audio file appeared. Elias hit play.

Kael looked at the screen. "Elias... the file is still unpacking. There’s a part8.rar appearing in the directory."

In the silence of the Eventide scout ship, the name felt like a heavy weight. His crew had found the drive floating in the debris of the Oort Cloud, tucked inside a black box that absorbed light rather than reflecting it. Parts one through six had contained nothing but static and what sounded like rhythmic breathing.

"Part seven is the decryption key," whispered Kael, the ship’s systems engineer. His eyes were bloodshot. "The 'EMNLD' in the string? It’s not a random code. It’s an acronym used by the old Earth Defense protocols. Extinction Managed Near Lunar Distance ." Elias felt a chill. "And the 'AN27'?"

The cabin lights flickered and turned a deep, bruised purple. Outside the viewport, the stars began to drift together, forming a shape that looked disturbingly like an eye.