Sensing the gravity in Valentina’s voice, Arnaldo and Tuan rushed into the elevator and sprinted straight to the command room. When the doors slid open, their clothes were still smeared with mud and soil.

  “What happened, Tereshkova? Did you detect something?” Arnaldo asked.

  “I need you to pinpoint the source of this signal for me. The radar just picked something up about 1,000 AU away, but it suddenly vanished,” Valentina replied curtly.

  “I’ll take care of it.”

  Arnaldo immediately rolled up his sleeves and dove into the control panel. Moments later, confusion spread across his face.

  “That’s strange. The signal source is actually inside the Oort Cloud? I thought it would come from Voyager 1 or 2 out near the outer edge of the Kuiper Belt. Could it be… that there’s a civilization out there that’s been hiding all this time?”

  He paused for a few seconds, then lowered his voice.

  “Or this could be a trap. We still haven’t identified who the ENEMY mentioned in that message really is. And the signal disappearing so suddenly like that… it doesn’t look normal at all.”

  Valentina shook her head, her voice firm.

  “No, I don’t think it’s a trap. My intuition tells me that something important is waiting for us there. We shouldn’t ignore this opportunity.”

  Under Arnaldo’s skeptical gaze, Tuan interjected:

  “I trust Vale’s intuition. She’s predicted things accurately many times before. I think it’s connected to her extrasensory abilities. In my opinion, we should at least go and take a look.”

  “But this isn’t a game, you two!” Arnaldo frowned. “What makes you so sure her intuition is right this time? What if it leads all three of us straight to our deaths?”

  Valentina met his eyes head-on, determination unmistakable in her gaze.

  “Nothing is ever certain, Mendéz. But I’d rather risk everything to uncover the truth than turn away and live forever with unanswered questions. This time, you have to trust me.”

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  Tuan added:

  “Besides, we don’t have to rush in blindly. We can approach from a distance, observe, and collect data first. If there’s any sign of danger, we retreat immediately. And if it turns out to be something good… then that’s a win.”

  Arnaldo was momentarily taken aback by Valentina’s resolve. He pondered in silence for a while, then finally nodded, yielding to the combined will of the two.

  “Fine. If you’re both that determined, then the first thing we need to do is push the spacecraft to maximum speed. This isn’t the time to conserve fuel. Tereshkova, take the primary pilot’s seat. Tuan, you’re on co-pilot. Both of you, prepare the acceleration gate. The moment I finish inputting the destination coordinates, we depart immediately. Understood?”

  “Understood!” Valentina and Tuan answered in unison.

  Both of them took their seats and followed the startup sequence precisely. Signals from the three rings were transmitted one by one to the main display.

  The elder ring – the largest and outermost – slid gradually toward the bow of the ship. The youngest ring, permanently attached to the stern, remained fixed in place, while the middle ring slowly shifted into the gap between them, forming a straight, domino-like alignment ready to trigger a chain reaction.

  Once all three rings reached a stable state, the elder ring began releasing Negalis outward. The invisible stream of energy flowed along the shared axis of the remaining two rings, forming a thin membrane that neutralized spatial tension at the rear of the ship. A few seconds later, space at the bow began to contract, gently pulling ALIEN forward like a drifting leaf gliding across the surface of a lake.

  At the exact moment Arnaldo finished inputting the destination coordinates, every system aboard the ship ignited simultaneously. Negalis surged forth in torrents like a breached floodgate, yanking the spatial bubble that encased ALIEN and hurling it forward at a speed reaching one hundred and fifty times the speed of light. The massive vessel vanished instantly into the unfathomable depths of space, as if it had never existed there at all.

  “Estimated arrival at the target coordinates in fifty-six minutes,” Freya announced.

  Upon arrival, Valentina immediately disengaged the acceleration gate, halting the release of Negalis. The spatial bubble slowed, then shattered, causing beams of light to ripple through the torn void like translucent waves across a falling stage curtain. The streaks of color beyond the viewport gradually faded away, returning the universe to its primordial darkness and silence. And within that pitch-black void, a solitary planet appeared before them – alone, solemn, like a graceful dancer waiting behind the wings for her moment to step into the spotlight.

  So far from civilization, sunlight from the Sun could no longer reach this place. Darkness, like a thin veil, draped itself over the planet’s surface. The surrounding space felt unnervingly empty, as though all things instinctively kept their distance from a beauty too daunting to approach. The stillness lingered so long that time itself seemed to stall. The universe became a dim auditorium, where countless unseen spectators held their breath, awaiting the moment the lights would blaze on.

  And when every gaze converged upon the center of the stage, the beauty finally emerged and began her mesmerizing dance. This planet – aloof and proud in its solitude – compelled an entire galaxy to turn and watch.