On the second day, a ping. The kind that arrives polite and persistent, like a hand on a shoulder.
“Unscheduled approach,” Jalen said. “No traffic. Docking bay two lights offline.” eaglecraft 12110 upd
Outside, the planet’s resonance rose. The station’s hull vibrated. The screens painted waves like fingerprints. Instruments recorded organisms’ DNA matching fractal harmonics—and then, underneath, something else: signatures of machines that had once belonged to explorers long gone, their patterns integrated into the planet’s chorus. The planet had been listening for centuries. On the second day, a ping