The monitors did not go dark.
They went empty.
One moment Earth filled every display in the resonance chamber. The next, there was nothing.
No continents.
No oceans.
No atmospheric data.
No planetary thread.
No signal.
Only black screens reflecting the frightened faces standing before them.
For three seconds nobody spoke.
Then every emergency system in the facility activated simultaneously.
The sound was deafening.
Warning lights flashed overhead.
Containment barriers deployed throughout the station.
Hundreds of automated protocols awakened from dormancy.
Elira moved first.
Her hands flew across the nearest console while diagnostic windows flooded the air around her.
"That's impossible."
Sarya's gaze remained fixed on the empty screens.
"What happened?"
"I don't know."
Elira hated saying those words.
Everyone knew it.
For months she had been the person who always had an answer.
Perhaps not immediately.
Perhaps not completely.
