The signal isn’t a message—it’s a mechanism. The message must reach the end.
Hour 0 / Day 61
The transmission begins.
The console flares to life, showing a countdown: 72:00:00. No explanation. Just a signal pulsing from the sealed Sphinx. A deep hum vibrates through their bones, unsettling in its steadiness.
“Is that… a timer?” Ravi asks, edging backward.
Tariq cycles through every frequency. “It’s broadcasting something… but nothing in any known protocol.”
Jin-Soo stares at the numbers. “What happens when it hits zero?”
The silence is answer enough.
Hour 6 / Day 61
Base temperatures fluctuate violently. Water in storage freezes solid, then melts into vapor, cycling in minutes.
“We need control back,” Tariq insists.
Ravi shakes his head. “It’s beyond us. The signal is environmental—rewriting the rules.”
Waveform analysis shows electromagnetic, neural, and seismic patterns intertwined.
“This isn’t just a signal,” Jin-Soo murmurs. “It’s a map… or a ritual.”
Hour 18 / Day 62
Jin-Soo dreams of Elena—beneath the surface, eyes glowing, her voice repeating: “Remember what I showed you.”
“I saw her too,” Ravi says, pale. “Exact same words.”
They compare details—identical dreams.
“She’s using the signal to reach us,” Jin-Soo concludes.
The countdown drops to 53:12:00.
Hour 30 / Day 62
Structures rise from the dust outside—mirror-like shards reflecting not the landscape, but memories.
Ravi touches one. His breath catches. “I saw my mother. My first flight. It knows me.”
Tariq pulls him back. “It’s scanning us.”
In the lab, machines self-calibrate. A printer spits out: SYNCHRONIZE CONSCIOUSNESS.
“Not a warning,” Tariq says. “A request.”
Hour 42 / Day 63
Debate ignites.
“You saw what happened last time,” Ravi warns.
“We left Elena behind,” Jin-Soo replies. “Maybe she stayed. Maybe she was sent.”
The countdown reads 30:00:00.
Outside, their lander rotates toward the rising sun. A brief alignment opens a thin window to Earth.
“It’s preparing a message,” Tariq says.
Jin-Soo nods grimly. “A return signal.”
Hour 56 / Day 63
The signal shifts. Elena’s voice emerges, human but urgent:
“Time isn’t passing. It’s collapsing. You have one chance. Upload the message. Return while you still remember.”
Ravi’s hands shake. “What if we lose it when we leave?”
“Then we anchor it,” Jin-Soo says. “In our cells.”
They activate the neural imprint protocol, each absorbing a portion of the signal directly into their minds.
Countdown: 10:00:00.
Hour 70 / Day 64
The base vibrates. Lights flicker erratically.
“Window’s closing!” Tariq shouts.
Ravi boards the return module. Jin-Soo hesitates, glancing at the Sphinx one last time.
“We go,” Tariq says. “Elena made her choice. Now it’s ours.”
As they launch, the second sun blinks out.
Hour 72 / Day 64
From orbit, Mars is silent.
Yet the signal continues, buried deep.
Inside their minds, Elena’s voice repeats:
“You are not the first. You will not be the last. But you are the first to remember.”
No one speaks. They only listen.
Mars remembers.
Now, so do they.
NEXT Chapter: Part X – The Fracture
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