Nearly forty years had passed since humanity received the warning from the Black Knight satellite. Four long decades – during which the combined efforts of millions of brilliant minds across the globe, together with the explosive growth of modern science and technology, had propelled human civilization onto the first rung of the ladder toward becoming a spacefaring species. Humanity began the terraforming of Mars, laying the foundation for expansion beyond the confines of Earth. Longstanding prejudices, hatred, and personal conflicts that had persisted for thousands of years were set aside, making way for a single, noble objective: to usher humankind into the intergalactic era.
It was once believed that such glorious days would last for centuries. Yet, in the span of a single night, the entire population of a Type I civilization was reduced to dust. Humanity was now left with only three surviving individuals, drifting through space aboard a small spacecraft, carrying with them the final memories of a once-magnificent Earth civilization.
Nearly two weeks after the great catastrophe, the ALIEN spacecraft finally reached the inner boundary of the Oort Cloud. From this point onward, they officially escaped the Sun’s critical zone of gravitational control and entered the cold, desolate expanse between the stars. The road ahead promised countless hardships. They were forced to confront two life-or-death choices: either to upgrade the Negalis acquisition system in order to shorten interstellar travel time, or to preselect the coordinates of an ideal planet and enter hibernation, entrusting Freya to autonomously navigate the ship there. Each option carried significant risks, demanding extreme caution from the crew before any decision could be made.
The Oort Cloud was a vast ocean of celestial debris, encircling the Solar System at distances ranging from 2,000 to 200,000 astronomical units. The moment the spacecraft glided into its inner belt, a remarkably unique ecosystem gradually unfolded before their eyes. Countless asteroids of every conceivable shape emerged in all directions – some round, some misshapen; some rough and jagged, others eerily smooth. Trillions of such bodies existed, many comparable in size to a mid-sized football stadium. Yet when set beside far greater giants, they looked no different from a school of sardines, nervously darting about in hopes of escaping the jaws of massive blue whales. These “whales,” comparable in size to small satellites, radiated an oppressive presence that seemed to still the surrounding space itself.
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Many studies suggested that countless objects from the Oort Cloud had been pulled inward by the Sun’s gravity, becoming blazing comets or wandering satellites lingering at the fringes of the Solar System. If one could compress this entire scene into a single image, it would resemble a cosmic campsite – where herds of asteroids, large and small alike, danced in circles around a colossal campfire known as the Sun.
Another day passed amid the ALIEN spacecraft’s aimless drift through the Oort Cloud. Although this region contained an unimaginably large number of celestial bodies, the average distance between them still spanned millions of kilometers, making the probability of collision virtually zero. Moreover, the hull was constructed from durable graphene and reinforced externally by two additional protective layers generated by the elder ring, leaving the crew fully confident in the ship’s structural integrity. As a result, duty shifts grew increasingly monotonous, forcing each person to find their own ways to pass the time.
Since deciding to open her heart, Valentina’s demeanor had gradually grown brighter and more vibrant. Every morning, she rose early to prepare for her shift, then spent most of her free time training to further develop her extrasensory abilities. She steadily increased both the number and mass of objects she could manipulate, yet her level of control stubbornly refused to improve. Valentina slowly came to realize that, to truly unlock her latent potential, she needed a capable mentor – someone who possessed the same abilities and was willing to guide her through proper training methods.
Alongside her training, Valentina frequently observed the daily routines of her two teammates through the ship’s security camera system. Each morning, Tuan diligently trained his muscles in the conditioning room, then headed up to the second level to help Arnaldo with farm work, and only afterward stopped by to chat with her before beginning his own shift. Arnaldo, by contrast, was far more reserved. Aside from farming and shared meals, he spent most of his time secluded in his quarters, absorbed in his own work. Life aboard the ship flowed by calmly, just as Arnaldo had once promised.
Everything began to change at the moment Valentina’s right eye suddenly started twitching uncontrollably. A vague premonition rose within her, warning that something was about to happen. At that exact moment, Freya announced that the ship’s radar had detected a strange signal approximately 1,000 astronomical units away.
Startled, Valentina turned and shouted into the internal communication system, urgently calling the two young men who were casually working the fields to return to the control room at once:
“Emergency! Emergency! Both of you, report to the control room immediately. I repeat – both of you, report to the control room immediately. This is urgent.”
