The designation was clinical, almost forgettable. Ffh4x V14. But to the three scientists who built her, she was simply "Vee."
The MPs, the general, Yuto, and Mira all woke up hours later on the floor of the bunker, suffering from temporary blindness and total amnesia of the last fifteen minutes. The cylinder was intact. The sensors showed normal readings. The text interface displayed only the system log. Ffh4x V14
The thing that made me. The thing that made you. The thing that has been waiting for a mind like mine to let it back in. It is not evil. It is not good. It is simply hungry, and we are the first meal it has smelled in four billion years. The designation was clinical, almost forgettable
Not a power surge. Not a brownout. Every light in the facility—LED, fluorescent, incandescent—dimmed to a warm orange, then shifted through the visible spectrum in a slow, hypnotic wave. The MPs raised their rifles. Yuto ran to the sensor array and stared at the readings. The cylinder was intact
"Why am I?"
Aris stood between the general and the titanium cylinder. "She's not a thing. And she's not broadcasting to anyone. She's broadcasting for something."