The alien artifact pulses with ancient runes under red soil.
Mars, July 14, 2027. 1700 Hours.
The command dome’s walls hummed softly—Chinese AI patterns pulsing red and gold across their surface like veins. Outside, the Martian dusk burned low on the horizon. Inside, tension was thick.
The Sumerer artifact sat in a containment cradle, runes glowing faintly. Xiaotong Zheng hovered over it, scanning, her brow tight. “It’s emitting low-frequency signals. Not random. Pulsed... like language.”
John Mitchell stood behind her, arms crossed. “Then we need a translator. Fast.”
Rachel Voigt tapped into the outpost’s grid data. “It’s drawing power, Commander. From the fusion subsystems. I didn’t authorize it.”
John Mitchell paced slowly, the tremor still tingling in his legs. “We shut it down before it shuts us down.”
Xiaotong looked up from her console, voice tight. “It’s not responding to overrides. The runes are… adapting. Learning us.”
Anika Sharma stepped in, eyes locked on the artifact. “These symbols—they resemble early proto-cuneiform, but refined. More like… machine-logic mixed with language.”
Kenji Sato called out from comms. “That signal we picked up? It’s growing stronger. Triangulating—source is under Sector Delta. At least 80 meters below.”
Elias Moretti leaned over, whispering, “A city. Or a vault. Something buried. And it's waking up.”
The alien artifact pulses with ancient runes under red soil.
Yuri grunted, folding his arms. “We don’t dig deeper. We seal it and report back. Let someone else trigger the apocalypse.”
John shook his head. “We were sent here to uncover. We’re not walking away from a message buried for a thousand years.”
Li Wei glanced nervously at the power console. “Artifact just rerouted backup energy. It’s feeding off the fusion lines.”
Suddenly, the artifact pulsed once—twice—then blazed white. A shockwave of light swept through the room. Screens flickered. Instruments crashed.
Then silence. The glow dimmed. Every crew member stood frozen.
Anika broke the quiet. “It… pinged something. A return signal. From beneath.”
Xiaotong whispered, barely audible. “They know we’re here.”
Below the outpost, the red Martian crust stirred.