The central node hummed with activity. Atlas stood at the main interface, hands steady on the controls. Clara was to his right, monitoring the energy readings.
Kael paced behind them, eyes flicking between the displays and the gathered techs. The fold tether prototype had taken weeks to calibrate. Today they tested it on a small scale—linking the core district to a distant bloom node two systems away.
"Readings stable," Clara said. "Initiating tether in three... two... one."
The interface lit up green. A ripple passed through the Weave threads visible in the overhead projection. For a second, nothing happened.
Then the distant bloom snapped into focus on every screen. Real-time feeds showed people on the other side waving, their faces clear as if they stood in the same room. Travel time? Collapsed to nothing.
Cheers erupted across the node. Techs slapped each other on the backs. One young operator punched the air. "We just shrank the galaxy!"
