The corridor lights dim.
The unauthorized biological echo—whatever it is—moves through TARINI silently. No alarms, no chaos. Just a presence… deliberate, invisible to sensors but felt deeply in the spine of every crewmember.
TARINI speaks in near-whispers:
"Entity is mimicking interior pathways. No thermal trace. No heartbeat. But it thinks."
---
Meera walks alone again, this time not out of isolation—but purpose.
Something has begun to unlock inside her. The voice of the Mirror Meera echoes in her mind, like a memory she didn't live:
"You are not a passenger. You are a portal."
She makes her way to the meditation capsule—an old Earth technology, rarely used, designed for lucid introspection during deep-space journeys. Meera seals herself inside.
Breath by breath, she lowers her pulse.
Heart steady.
Eyes closed.
Inside the chamber, darkness wraps her like silk.
And then, it happens.
---
Inside her mind, she walks.
Not in corridors, but in vast fields of mirrors. An endless plain of skybound glass, every step echoing into eternity. Every mirror reflects a version of her—some older, some younger, some broken, some laughing, some screaming without sound.
And in the center of it all stands a tall, shrouded figure.
It wears her face.
But its eyes are made of stars—burning white, without pupils, without end.
MEERA:
"Are you... me?"
THE REFLECTION:
"I am not what you are. I am what you deny becoming."
---
Back on TARINI, Arvind and Raghav search deck to deck for the intruder. They're armed, but cautious.
Raghav:
"What if it's not hunting? What if it's hiding?"
Arvind (grim):
"Mirrors don't hide. They wait."
Suddenly, the lights surge. The engine core pulses unnaturally.
TARINI sounds alarmed for the first time:
"Mainframe integrity compromised. Internal echo… has entered memory sector."
Arvind:
"It's not just walking through the ship."
"It's learning how we remember."
---
Inside the capsule, Meera approaches the star-eyed reflection. She reaches out.
But before contact—the figure splits into five identical Meeras. Each version speaks a fragment:
"You are choice."
"You are regret."
"You are forgiveness."
"You are fear."
"You are unfinished."
They speak in unison:
"Walk inward. The planet is not your destination—it is your reflection."
---
Back on the ship, Meera jolts awake.
Her pulse: normal.
But her eyes glow faint white—for just a moment.
She whispers:
"I met... myself."
And something behind her breathes.
She's no longer alone in the capsule.