The Helix Arc floated in synchronous orbit above G-Delta 7. Beneath it, the void churned—a singularity of gravitational madness cloaked in deceptive silence. From this distance, it looked serene. But the data screamed otherwise.
In the ship's core lab, Trần Hoàng Nam and Ái Lan worked in tandem, fingers flying over holo-interfaces. The blueprint they had decoded was impossibly complex. No human mind could have conceived it—or, perhaps, no human from their time.
"It uses a tri-phasic field lattice," Nam muttered. "Not just shielding. It… bends causality around the ship."
Lan raised an eyebrow. "So, in theory… we won't fall into the black hole. We'll… slip through it."
Nam nodded. "If we build this right, time and space will treat us like we don't exist."
A soft chime echoed. The fabrication bay had finished printing the prototype core: a shimmering sphere of pulsating white-blue metal, humming with alien logic. They named it Project Eventide.
"Time to test it," Lan said, voice low.
Meanwhile, aboard the SSD Dự Báo, General Hoàng received a message.
UNAUTHORIZED BUILD SIGNATURE DETECTED – ORIGIN: HELIX ARC
He scowled. "They're building something. Something advanced."
His aide whispered, "Sir, what if they're trying to get inside the anomaly before us?"
Hoàng turned sharply. "Then we stop them. Activate jammer fields. Cut their transmission lines. And send a warning: if they descend, they descend alone."
Back on Helix Arc, the interference began. Comms static. Navigation drift. Proximity alerts flashing crimson.
"They're jamming us," Lan said. "Dominion protocols."
Nam cursed. "We don't have time for this."
He opened a secure channel—one he shouldn't have access to. "Running ghost relay through quantum tunnel. They'll never see it."
Lan smirked. "Remind me to ask you later how you know these Dominion backdoors."
He just smiled grimly. "Let's get to the drop bay."
An hour later, the Eventide Pod—small, sleek, and glowing with energy unknown to Earth—was loaded. Its engine pulsed with a quiet rhythm, like a heartbeat.
Lan strapped in beside Nam.
"This is insane," she muttered.
He checked the readouts. "All great things start with insanity."
With one final look at the stars, they launched.
As the Eventide entered the gravitational pull of G-Delta 7, the pod began to shimmer. Space warped. Time flickered. And then—
nothing.
Silence.
No sound. No light. No stars.
Only darkness.
And then—
A voice.
Not over comms. Not spoken aloud.
It echoed in their minds.
"You came. Now… remember."