"Just checking a vibration in the floor plates, Commander," Elias lied, his heart hammering against his ribs.
Vane stepped into the light. She looked tired, her eyes rimmed with red. She gestured toward the crate. "It’s not a vibration. It’s a heartbeat. Or the closest thing to one that the Union wants to acknowledge."
Elias looked back at the crate. The hum was getting louder, shifting from a dull thrum to a rhythmic pulse. "What’s inside?" Silent.Cargo.S01E04.PL.720p.AMZN.WEB-DL.H264.DD...
Elias jumped, nearly dropping his tablet. Commander Vane stood in the shadows of the bulkhead, her face obscured by the flickering emergency lights. She wasn't wearing her usual bridge uniform; she was in a tactical vest, a sidearm holstered at her hip.
"The reason we’re flying with the transponder off," Vane replied. "The reason we aren't stopping at the Port Authority for inspection. This 'silent cargo' is a prototype—a biological processor capable of terraforming a dead moon in forty-eight hours. But it needs a host to stabilize the initial reaction." "Just checking a vibration in the floor plates,
Elias felt a cold sweat break out. "A host? Like... a person?"
Vane didn't answer. Instead, she tapped a command into the crate's keypad. The seals hissed, venting a cloud of frigid, white vapor. As the lid slid back, a soft, bioluminescent blue light spilled out, illuminating the narrow room. She gestured toward the crate
Elias leaned in, driven by a terrifying curiosity. He expected to see a machine or a terrifying creature. Instead, he saw a swirling, viscous liquid that seemed to reach toward the edges of the container, mimicking the shape of the hands he held against his chest. "It's learning," Vane whispered. "And it’s hungry."