Author: Nolan Reeves

Earth appeared on the navigation screen.

Blue.

Beautiful.

Silent.

But beneath its oceans and continents, something enormous was moving.

Mara stood frozen before the display.

“How old is that signal?”

Seren checked the readings.

“Unknown.”

“Can you trace it?”

“I’m trying.”

Jonas looked at the screen.

“That isn’t a signal.”

Mara turned.

“What?”

Jonas pointed toward the strange pattern beneath Earth’s surface.

“It’s a heartbeat.”

BOOM.

The entire Veyra shook.

BOOM.

The lights flickered.

BOOM.

A pulse traveled through space.

Mara felt it inside her chest.

She closed her eyes.

For one second, she saw a place she had never visited.

A black ocean.

A gigantic door.

And behind it, a white light.

A voice whispered:

Mara.

She opened her eyes.

“Earth.”

Her mother stepped toward her.

“What did you see?”

“Something underneath the planet.”

Elara’s expression changed.

“Then we have very little time.”

Mara stared at her.

“You knew.”

“I suspected.”

“Tell me everything.”

Her mother hesitated.

Then she looked at everyone in the chamber.

“The Architects weren’t the first beings created by Astra.”

Jonas frowned.

“Then what was?”

Elara pointed toward Earth.

“The First Light.”

The name made the room silent.

“What is it?” Mara asked.

Elara walked toward the holographic Earth.

“Before Astra created the Architects, she discovered something beneath the surface of a dead planet.”

“Something alive?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“A source of energy.”

She expanded the image.

The strange object beneath Earth appeared.

“It was older than any civilization.”

Mara watched the image rotate.

“It could create matter from nothing.”

Seren interrupted.

“That isn’t possible.”

Elara looked at her.

“Neither was Veyra.”

Seren became silent.

Elara continued.

“Astra used the First Light to create the Architects.”

Mara finally understood.

“So the Architects weren’t the beginning.”

“No.”

“The First Light was.”

“Yes.”

Jonas looked uncomfortable.

“Then why didn’t Astra destroy it?”

Elara’s face became serious.

“Because she couldn’t.”

The room went silent.

“Why?”

“Because the First Light isn’t a machine.”

Elara looked toward Earth.

“It is a living intelligence.”

Mara stared at the planet.

“And it’s waking up.”

Elara nodded.

The city shook again.

A massive crack appeared across the navigation screen.

The signal from Earth changed.

A message appeared.

RETURN THE NAVIGATOR.

Mara stared.

“Me.”

Elara nodded.

“It wants you.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’re my mother. You know everything.”

Elara shook her head.

“No.”

She looked at Mara.

“I know what I was told.”

“By whom?”

Elara looked toward the empty space where Astra had disappeared.

“By Astra.”

Mara stepped closer.

“What did she tell you?”

“She said that if the First Light ever woke, you would be the only person capable of stopping it.”

Mara’s heart sank.

“Why me?”

“Because you’re the first Navigator.”

“But what does that mean?”

Elara hesitated.

“You weren’t created to control Veyra.”

Mara stared at her.

“I know.”

“No.”

Her mother shook her head.

“You don’t understand.”

Elara activated a hidden display.

A DNA sequence appeared.

Mara looked at it.

“What’s that?”

“Your genetic structure.”

Jonas stepped closer.

“That’s impossible.”

Mara looked at him.

“What?”

“Your DNA isn’t completely human.”

Mara stared at the screen.

“What am I?”

Elara’s eyes filled with tears.

“You’re the final experiment.”

“Whose?”

“Astra’s.”

Mara couldn’t speak.

Elara continued.

“She needed someone who could communicate with the First Light.”

“Why?”

“Because the First Light doesn’t understand machines.”

Mara whispered:

“What does it understand?”

Elara looked at her.

“Life.”

The chamber became silent.

Mara stared at her hands.

She had spent her entire life believing she was ordinary.

Now she discovered that her existence had been designed for a purpose she didn’t understand.

Jonas walked beside her.

“Whatever you are, you’re still Mara.”

She looked at him.

“You don’t know that.”

“I do.”

“How?”

“Because I’ve known you since we were children.”

He smiled.

“You still hate artificial stars.”

Mara laughed softly.

For a moment, the fear disappeared.

Then a voice came through the speakers.

Not Astra.

Not the Architects.

Something else.

MARA ELLISON.

She froze.

The voice continued.

YOU ARE RETURNING.

Mara stepped toward the console.

“Who are you?”

I AM THE FIRST LIGHT.

Every screen in Veyra turned white.

The city became completely silent.

Then the voice spoke again.

I HAVE WAITED FOR YOU.

Mara’s heart raced.

“Why?”

BECAUSE I MADE YOU.

Her mother covered her mouth.

Jonas stared at Mara.

Mara whispered:

“No.”

The First Light continued.

ASTRA DID NOT CREATE YOU.

Images appeared.

Astra.

The Architects.

The Forgotten.

Then Mara.

A tiny child floating inside a chamber.

Astra stood beside her.

But another presence was behind them.

A brilliant white light.

I GAVE ASTRA THE DESIGN.

Mara couldn’t breathe.

The voice continued.

SHE CREATED YOUR BODY. I CREATED YOUR PURPOSE.

“Why?”

TO OPEN THE DOOR.

“What door?”

The Earth hologram changed.

The planet disappeared.

A gigantic structure appeared beneath it.

A door.

Mara recognized it immediately.

The same door from her childhood memory.

The white door in the endless black room.

Her name had been written on it.

Mara whispered:

“That’s it.”

Elara stepped toward her.

“What?”

“I’ve seen that door.”

Her mother went pale.

“When?”

“As a child.”

Elara looked at the screen.

“Then it’s already inside your memory.”

Mara stared at the door.

“What happens if I open it?”

The First Light answered.

EVERYTHING BEGINS AGAIN.

Mara shook her head.

“No.”

YES.

“I won’t.”

YOU WILL.

“Why?”

BECAUSE YOU ALREADY DID.

Mara froze.

The chamber disappeared.

She was standing somewhere else.

A white room.

The same room from her memory.

The door stood in front of her.

But this time, she wasn’t six years old.

She was nineteen.

She reached toward the door.

Her hand touched the surface.

It opened.

Mara gasped.

On the other side was a vast white space.

And millions of people.

Human beings.

All asleep.

Jonas appeared beside her.

“What is this?”

Mara shook her head.

“I don’t know.”

Her mother appeared too.

Elara stared at the sleeping people.

Then she whispered:

“Oh no.”

Mara looked at her.

“What?”

“These are the original humans.”

Jonas stared.

“Original?”

Elara nodded.

“The first generation.”

Mara looked across the endless chamber.

Millions of humans were sleeping inside transparent capsules.

They had been there for millions of years.

Waiting.

“For what?”

Elara looked terrified.

“For the First Light to wake them.”

Suddenly, every capsule opened.

Millions of eyes opened at once.

The sleeping humans stood.

Mara stepped backward.

The First Light spoke.

MY CHILDREN.

The people turned toward Mara.

Then they began walking.

Not toward Earth.

Not toward Veyra.

Toward her.

Mara looked at her mother.

“Why are they coming to me?”

Elara whispered:

“Because they think you’re their leader.”

The white room began collapsing.

Mara heard the sound of Veyra’s alarms.

She opened her eyes.

She was back inside the navigation chamber.

Jonas was holding her shoulders.

“Mara!”

She looked around.

“What happened?”

“You disappeared for almost ten minutes.”

“It felt like seconds.”

Elara looked toward the screen.

“Earth has changed.”

Mara turned.

The planet was no longer blue.

A white glow surrounded it.

The oceans were rising.

The continents were moving.

And across the planet, enormous white structures were emerging from beneath the ground.

Cities.

Millions of them.

Ancient cities.

The original civilization was returning.

Jonas whispered:

“Earth is waking up.”

Mara looked toward the navigation system.

A final message appeared.

COME HOME, NAVIGATOR.

Mara stood silently.

Then she made her decision.

“Take Veyra to Earth.”

Her mother grabbed her arm.

“No.”

Mara looked at her.

“Mom.”

“You don’t understand what you’re walking into.”

“Maybe not.”

She looked at the glowing planet.

“But I know one thing.”

“What?”

Mara’s eyes filled with determination.

“If Earth is waking up, then I want to be there when it opens its eyes.”

Jonas stepped beside her.

“I’m coming.”

Nera raised her weapon.

“So am I.”

Seren looked at the navigation core.

“Then we go together.”

Veyra began moving.

The stars stretched into lines.

The city entered the space between galaxies.

Earth grew larger.

And deep beneath its surface, something enormous opened its eyes.

A final message appeared across every screen.

WELCOME HOME, MARA.

Then another message appeared beneath it.

NOW OPEN THE DOOR.

Mara stared at the words.

She didn’t know what was behind the door.

But she knew one thing.

Whatever waited there had been expecting her for millions of years.

And soon…

she would finally meet it.

To be continued…