The room felt colder.
No one had touched the air system, yet a strange chill spread
through the underground chamber as the glowing symbols
continued to move across the monitors.
Jessica couldn't look away.
The alien figure remained standing in the center of the screen, its
body made of shifting light and shadow. The patterns across its
surface pulsed slowly, almost like breathing.
"Evaluation phase beginning."
The words repeated in Jessica's mind.
"What does that mean?" she whispered again, though no one had
answered the first time.
Kessler stepped closer to the main console.
His face looked pale in the blue light of the monitors.
"If they've been watching humanity for centuries..." he said slowly,
"then this moment has been planned for a very long time."
Jessica tightene
