Chapter 2 – The Echo
The ship trembled.
A low, unnatural vibration pulsed through Echo-1, threading its way through the walls, the floor, the very air. Not an alarm. Not turbulence. Something else. Something beneath the surface of reality itself.
It was subtle almost imperceptible. But Elise felt it in her bones. Like a ripple of soundless static brushing against her skin.
Something unseen had touched them.
She stayed completely still, her breath shallow, eyes locked on the waveform dancing across the monitor.
It wasn’t just repeating anymore.
It was adapting.
At the console, Noah Carter’s fingers moved like a blur, pulling in data in real time, his eyes darting across shifting patterns. The glow from the display flickered against his face, cold and sterile.
His voice sliced through the silence.
“The frequency it’s mimicking us.”
Ren Arata, tense beside him, folded his arms. “That’s impossible. It’s just a transmission.”
Noah didn’t even look up. “No. It’s reacting.” His fingers stilled for a fraction of a second. He turned, his dark eyes catching Elise’s. “Something’s listening.”
Elise’s pulse quickened. She knew.
She had felt it the moment the signal changed. A presence not visible, not measurable, but there. Like standing in a darkened room and knowing, with absolute certainty, that someone else was breathing beside you.
The monitors flickered.
A single, sharp pulse of interference rippled through the bridge.
The overhead lights dimmed just for a fraction of a second.
Then...
Silence.
And in that silence…
A voice.
Soft. Distant.
Not human.
“…Elise.”
Her name.
It crawled through the static, slow and deliberate, stretching across the space between sound and silence.
A chill shot through her spine.
Her pulse. Her breath. Everything stopped.
Noah’s head snapped toward her. “Tell me you heard that.”
The words barely formed in her throat. “I heard it.”
Ren’s knuckles turned white against the console. “Who the hell just said your name?”
Noah’s hands moved fast, scanning for an internal transmission. His voice was quieter now. Tighter.
“No comms. No recorded source.” A beat. Then, softer more unsettled:
“That voice… it came from inside the signal.”
Elise didn’t answer.
Because deep down she already knew.
No one on board had spoken.
And yet.
Something had.
________________________________________
Tease Echo:
It was subtle almost imperceptible. But Elise felt it in her bones. Like a ripple of soundless static brushing against her skin.
Something unseen had touched them.
She stayed completely still, her breath shallow, eyes locked on the waveform dancing across the monitor.
It wasn’t just repeating anymore.
It was adapting.
At the console, Noah Carter’s fingers moved like a blur, pulling in data in real time, his eyes darting across shifting patterns. The glow from the display flickered against his face, cold and sterile.
His voice sliced through the silence.
“The frequency it’s mimicking us.”
Ren Arata, tense beside him, folded his arms. “That’s impossible. It’s just a transmission.”
Noah didn’t even look up. “No. It’s reacting.” His fingers stilled for a fraction of a second. He turned, his dark eyes catching Elise’s. “Something’s listening.”
Elise’s pulse quickened. She knew.
She had felt it the moment the signal changed. A presence not visible, not measurable, but there. Like standing in a darkened room and knowing, with absolute certainty, that someone else was breathing beside you.
The monitors flickered.
A single, sharp pulse of interference rippled through the bridge.
The overhead lights dimmed just for a fraction of a second.
Then...
Silence.
And in that silence…
A voice.
Soft. Distant.
Not human.
“…Elise.”
Her name.
It crawled through the static, slow and deliberate, stretching across the space between sound and silence.
A chill shot through her spine.
Her pulse. Her breath. Everything stopped.
Noah’s head snapped toward her. “Tell me you heard that.”
The words barely formed in her throat. “I heard it.”
Ren’s knuckles turned white against the console. “Who the hell just said your name?”
Noah’s hands moved fast, scanning for an internal transmission. His voice was quieter now. Tighter.
“No comms. No recorded source.” A beat. Then, softer more unsettled:
“That voice… it came from inside the signal.”
Elise didn’t answer.
Because deep down she already knew.
No one on board had spoken.
And yet.
Something had.
________________________________________
Tease Echo:
The signal wasn’t just a transmission.
It was a door.
And something on the other side had just stepped closer.
It was a door.
And something on the other side had just stepped closer.
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