Kaelen and Mira made their way through the ship's darkened halls, the atmosphere oppressive and suffocating. The corridors, once familiar, now seemed like a maze, twisting and shifting as if the ship itself had transformed into something alien. The walls pulsed with a faint, unnatural energy.
At the end of the hallway, the door to the command center loomed. As they approached, it slid open with a mechanical hiss, revealing the control room—the nerve center of the Vigilant. The console was alive with erratic flashes of light, and the entire room hummed with a low, ominous sound.
Mira stepped forward, her fingers moving quickly over the control panel, but the screen flickered before displaying a message: "Unauthorized Access."
"It's locked out," she muttered, her voice strained. "Someone's overridden the ship's controls. We can't access anything."
Kaelen moved toward the viewport, his eyes scanning the black void outside. Something was there—something massive, hovering just beyond the ship's sensors. It wasn't a ship, not exactly. It was more like a... presence. An enormous, shifting shape, dark and ominous.
"What is that?" Mira asked, her voice full of dread.
"I don't know," Kaelen said, his throat dry. "But I think it's calling to us."
The ship groaned again, the eerie hum intensifying. The lights flickered, and for a brief moment, Kaelen saw something move in the corner of his eye—something outside the viewport, just beyond their reach.
Suddenly, the console blared to life, and a voice, cold and mechanical, echoed through the room.
"Destination reached. Subject confirmed. Proceeding with activation."
The air around them grew heavy, and the ground seemed to tremble beneath their feet.