The Signal Beneath Sector 13

In the year 2148, beneath the ruins of the abandoned research colony "Sector 13," a signal was detected — a sequence that defied every known law of physics.

Dr. Layla Azran, xenophysics specialist, was sent to investigate. The colony had vanished fifty years ago, no survivors, only silence. But the signal pulsed again.

Inside the underground station, dust floated like ash. Old holograms flickered. Oxygen was stale.

The signal grew louder… not in decibels, but inside her mind.

> “I know you, Layla,” it whispered. “I remember your dreams.”

Alone. Unarmed. Yet compelled, she descended deeper.

She found a chamber — round, metallic, humming with unnatural light. Symbols etched across the walls glowed in patterns that matched her childhood drawings. Ones she'd never shown to anyone.

Suddenly, the lights died.

Darkness.

Then breathing. Not hers.

Slow. Inhuman.

She ran. The echo followed. The chamber twisted. Paths changed.

This wasn’t a structure.

It was alive.

And it wanted her memory.

A final log was found months later. Just static, except one line burned into the screen:

> "The signal is not a message. It’s a mouth."

_This story was written with the assistance of AI to develop plot and dialogue.