POV: Zane

A message arrives just after dawn, tucked into the morning security packet like it belongs there but it does not.

I stand in the small operations room off the main hall with the decoded text open on the screen. The original was short, routed through three disposable relays, and written in a cipher we have only seen once before—on the handler routes Nova and Lila both described. The content is almost polite because of how simple it was

“Observation continues. Pattern stable. Await instruction.”

There is no signature or demand. Just the quiet confirmation that someone is still paying attention.

I lean back in the chair and rub...