She smiled, the blue light from her suit dimming to a gentle pulse.

A note, handwritten in a hurried scrawl, accompanied the file: Mara’s breath caught. Dr. Selene Kaur—one of the lead scientists on the ABW project—had disappeared three years ago after a clandestine raid on the lab. The rumors said she went underground, refusing to let the technology fall into the wrong hands.

On the screen, a new line appeared:

She reached out with her mind, connecting to the satellite array, and sent a final command:

She looked out over the snowy expanse, the sunrise beginning to bleed pink into the horizon, the world still asleep.