Chapter 5: Echoes of Earth

The station groaned and shuddered as Liora, Ayana, and Kiran raced through the failing corridors toward the core deck. The emergency lights flickered, casting jagged shadows that danced along the walls. Each tremor seemed worse than the last, as if the entire structure was crying out in pain.

“How much time do we have?” Liora asked, her voice strained as she struggled to keep pace.

“Not enough,” Ayana said, clutching her scanner as she moved. “The stabilizers are dropping below critical. If we don’t reach the core and re-engage them, the station will spiral out of orbit.”

“Worst-case scenario?” Kiran asked, his voice taut.

Ayana glanced at him sharply. “Atmospheric burn-up. Total destruction.”

Kiran swore under his breath. “Perfect.”

The corridor opened into the expansive core deck, a sprawling space dominated by the station’s main reactor. The reactor itself pulsed faintly, its once-brilliant energy field now dim and faltering. Surrounding it were rows of consoles, their displays flashing red with urgent warnings.

“Here we go,” Kiran muttered, rushing to the nearest console. He tapped furiously at the controls, his brow furrowed. “Power distribution is all over the place. Whoever messed with the stabilizers rerouted energy from the reactor to the environmental systems—and then cut it off completely.”

“They knew exactly what to sabotage,” Ayana said. She joined him at the console, her fingers flying across the keys. “If we can restore power to the stabilizers, we might be able to regain control of the station’s orbit. But it’s going to take everything we’ve got left in the reactor’s reserves.”

Liora scanned the room, her eyes lingering on the flickering reactor. “And if it fails?”

Ayana didn’t look up. “Then so do we.”

The air in the core deck was stifling, the tension palpable as the three of them worked. Kiran crouched beneath one of the consoles, his tools clinking as he repaired a damaged power conduit. Ayana stood over the main terminal, her sharp gaze locked on the data streams scrolling across the screen.

Liora hovered near the reactor, her fingers tracing the edge of a console. The saboteur’s words still echoed in her mind, a haunting refrain she couldn’t shake: The station is beyond saving. Let it go.

But as she stared into the reactor’s flickering core, another thought consumed her—Earth. The planet hung silently in the void below, a distant, lifeless shadow that had once been humanity’s home.

“What if they’re wrong?” she said suddenly, breaking the silence.

Ayana glanced at her, her expression unreadable. “What are you talking about?”

“The saboteur,” Liora said, turning to face them. “They said the station is beyond saving. That Earth is gone. But what if they’re wrong? What if Earth isn’t as dead as we’ve been told?”

Kiran paused, wiping sweat from his forehead. “That’s a pretty big ‘what if,’” he said.

“It’s not just a theory,” Liora said, her voice rising. “The seeds we found—they’re engineered for survival in extreme conditions. What if they were meant to be reintroduced to Earth? What if someone didn’t want that to happen?”

Ayana’s gaze hardened. “The Elysian Protocol was clear,” she said. “Earth was declared uninhabitable. The station was built to preserve what was left of its ecosystems—not to restore them.”

“But who decided that?” Liora pressed. “The founders? They abandoned Earth and told us it couldn’t be saved. But what if they were wrong?”

Ayana hesitated, her jaw tightening.

“We can’t think about that now,” she said finally. “Right now, the station is our priority. If we don’t fix the stabilizers, there won’t be anyone left to ask those questions.”

The console beside Kiran sparked, and he yelped, pulling his hands back. “That’s it,” he said, standing. “The conduits are patched. Power flow should be stable enough to reroute back to the stabilizers.”

Ayana nodded, her fingers moving rapidly over the main terminal. The reactor hummed faintly, its energy field flickering as power was redirected.

“Stabilizer control is online,” she said. “Liora, take the auxiliary terminal and monitor the alignment.”

Liora rushed to the terminal, her hands trembling as she activated the display. The stabilizers were represented by a series of pulsing lines, each one dangerously close to flatlining. She watched as Ayana’s commands rippled through the system, the lines slowly climbing back into the safe zone.

“It’s working,” Liora said, her voice tinged with relief. “Stabilizers are holding at 15% and rising.”

“Good,” Ayana said. “Let’s push it to 30%. That should buy us enough time to address the other systems.”

The reactor’s hum grew louder, its energy field stabilizing as power surged through the station. For the first time in hours, Liora felt a glimmer of hope.

Then the comm system crackled.

“You’re making a mistake.”

The distorted voice sent a chill down her spine. Liora’s fingers froze on the terminal as the saboteur’s words filled the room.

“This station is a relic,” the voice said. “Every second you waste trying to save it only delays the inevitable. Earth is gone. Accept it.”

Kiran slammed his fist on the console. “You keep saying that like it’s some kind of truth. Who the hell are you to decide?”

The voice chuckled softly. “I didn’t decide,” it said. “The planet did. You’re clinging to a dead world. But soon, you’ll have no choice but to let go.”

The comm went silent, leaving the room in heavy, suffocating quiet.

Ayana’s voice was calm but firm. “Ignore them,” she said. “They’re trying to distract us.”

Liora stared at the terminal, her mind racing. The saboteur’s words gnawed at her, intertwining with the revelations of the Elysian Protocol and the seeds hidden beneath Greenhouse 3.

What if the saboteur wasn’t just trying to destroy the station? What if they were trying to ensure humanity never returned to Earth?

“Stabilizers at 25%,” Ayana said, snapping Liora out of her thoughts. “Kiran, monitor the reactor levels. Liora, prepare to reroute auxiliary power to life support.”

Before they could act, another violent tremor rocked the station. Liora stumbled, her hands gripping the edge of the console as alarms blared around them.

“What now?” Kiran shouted.

Ayana’s scanner beeped frantically, its display flashing red. “We’ve got a major breach on Deck 4,” she said. “Structural integrity is collapsing.”

Liora’s chest tightened. “That’s right under Greenhouse 1,” she said.

Ayana’s eyes darkened. “We’re losing the greenhouses,” she said. “And if we don’t act fast, we’re going to lose the station, too.”

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