Min | Atid-60202-47-44

Behind her, the dead star pulsed a silent, red warning. Ahead, a single figure in a worn-out suit drifted toward the truth, carrying a twelve-second ghost and a coordinate that was no longer just a code.

The recording was only twelve seconds long. Grainy, flickering. But it was her sister. Jae’s face, younger, wild-eyed, her lip split and bleeding. ATID-60202-47-44 Min

Min closed her eyes. For three years, she had needed to know if Jae had suffered. Now she knew. She had been afraid. She had been brave. And she had been murdered by the very corporation that signed her paychecks. Behind her, the dead star pulsed a silent, red warning

She slotted it into her suit’s reader. Grainy, flickering

She pulled the heavy insulated gloves over her hands, the worn fabric smelling of recycled air and old coffee. The Rake ’s captain, a woman named Sloane with a face like cracked leather, had given the order two hours ago: "Purge the old logs. We need storage for the new navigation maps."

"ATID-60202-47-44," she whispered into her suit’s comm, overriding the safety locks with a bypass code she’d spent six months stealing. "Min, initiating solo EVA."