Signal from the Void

In the year 3090, the crew of the Erebus drifted through the desolate regions of deep space, far beyond the reaches of mapped star systems. They had been on a mission to explore uncharted territory when they intercepted a mysterious signal. The transmission was ancient, predating human expansion into the galaxy by millennia. It came from a small, barren moon orbiting a distant, dead planet.

“Captain, we’ve isolated the source of the signal,” said Lieutenant Yara, eyes fixed on her console. “It’s a steady transmission, repeating every forty-five seconds. But there’s something… off about it. The data’s fragmented.”

Captain Orion Hayes frowned. His crew had seen many strange things out here on the edge of space, but this felt different. “Anything on the scanners?”

Yara shook her head. “No life signs, no structures, and no signs of recent activity. It’s like the signal is coming from the moon itself.”

Orion glanced at his first officer, Commander Harper, who stood silently at his side. “We need answers. Prep a shuttle. We’re going down.”

The shuttle descended through the thin atmosphere of the moon, kicking up a cloud of dust as it landed near the signal’s origin. The surface was barren and lifeless, with jagged rocks and craters stretching to the horizon. Yet, something felt deeply wrong.

“This place gives me the creeps,” muttered Dr. Cassian, the ship’s xenologist, as the crew disembarked. “It’s like the air itself is… watching.”

“Let’s move,” Orion said, scanning the horizon. “The signal is coming from just ahead.”

As they approached the signal’s source, the landscape changed. In the middle of a vast, empty plain stood a single towering obelisk, black as obsidian and covered in strange, shifting symbols. It pulsed faintly, as if alive, and the ground beneath their feet vibrated in rhythm with the signal.

“That’s… impossible,” Harper whispered, staring at the obelisk. “No record of any civilization this far out. This thing is ancient.”

Orion approached cautiously, running his hand across the smooth surface. It felt cold, unnaturally so, and hummed with a low, resonant frequency. “It’s not just a signal,” he said softly. “It’s a beacon.”

Suddenly, the symbols on the obelisk flared to life, casting an eerie blue light over the crew. The ground trembled, and a voice echoed from the monument, ancient and hollow, as though it had traveled across eons.

“We were the first. We saw the end. Beware what waits in the dark, for it hungers for the light.”

“What does that mean?” Yara asked, her voice shaky. “The first? The end of what?”

Before anyone could respond, the obelisk emitted a deafening pulse. The crew collapsed to the ground, their heads spinning as images flooded their minds—worlds collapsing, stars extinguishing, and a vast, shadowy presence consuming everything in its path.

Orion gasped, pushing himself to his feet, his heart pounding. “It’s a warning,” he managed, his voice hoarse. “Whatever built this… they’re long gone. But something is still out there.”

Suddenly, the obelisk’s glow dimmed, and the signal stopped. The silence was suffocating.

“We need to leave,” Harper said, panic rising in his voice. “Now.”

The crew hurried back to the shuttle, the weight of the revelation pressing down on them. As the shuttle lifted off, the obelisk grew smaller in the distance, but its message echoed in Orion’s mind.

They had uncovered something ancient, something terrifying.

And whatever it was, it was waiting in the dark.