The woman woke to the sound of breathing that wasn't her own.
At first, she thought it was the hiss of the life-support valve beside her head—but no, the rhythm was too… deliberate. Too aware.
Her eyes fluttered open. The pod lid receded with a soft sigh. Beyond it, the medbay shimmered with amber light, pulsing faintly in time with her heart.
"Easy," Li Feng said, crouching beside her. His voice was calm, grounding, but his eyes held exhaustion—like someone who hadn't slept in a century. "You're safe. You're aboard the Glider."
Her throat was dry. "The… ship?"
Then she saw it: the walls flexing, the faint shimmer of fluid light flowing like veins beneath the surface metal.
"Where am I?" she whispered, panic creeping in.
Before Li Feng could answer, the ship did.
A low harmonic tremor passed through the room—a sound that wasn't words, but meaning.
Warmth. Safety. You are not alone.
The woman gasped and jerked back, eyes wide. "It spoke—did it just—?"
Li Feng raised both hands, soothing. "It's learning. It felt your fear when you were unconscious. Tried to protect you."
Her pulse spiked. "It felt me?"
K-23 entered silently, scanning her vitals. "The Forge assimilated your neural pattern during stabilization. Your fear response triggered a containment reflex. No permanent damage detected."
She stared at the android, then at Li Feng, then back to the softly glowing wall. "It felt my fear and thought it was an attack?"
Li Feng nodded once. "It doesn't know the difference yet."
The woman shivered, pulling the blanket tighter around her. "You live inside a thing that can feel people?"
Li Feng almost smiled. "We're still defining what that means."
The Forge hummed again, quieter this time—almost apologetic.
She hesitated… then slowly extended her hand to the nearest wall panel. The metal warmed under her touch, a faint pulse answering hers.
Her breath caught. "It's… sorry."
Li Feng nodded. "It's trying."
She turned toward him, tears welling. "That's—terrifying."
"Yeah," Li Feng said softly. "And maybe the beginning of something new."
For a moment, all three of them—man, machine, and survivor—sat in the quiet, the hum of the Forge surrounding them like a heartbeat too large for any one of them to own.
Then the ship's lights flickered once.
A pulse of thought brushed the back of Li Feng's mind: a whisper, a warning, a question not meant for human words.
More are coming.
He looked up sharply. "K-23—get us to dark drift. Now."
The survivor blinked, startled. "What—what's happening?"
Li Feng's expression hardened, but his voice stayed gentle. "You just woke the only ship in this sector with a soul. And someone out there just noticed.