The object sitting in the crater was shaped like a small boulder, rounded and cracked on one side. If one were to glance at it, they would think it was just another rock that had been tossed around by the violent impact. But a closer look revealed something entirely different.
The outer layer really was rock. Actual stone.
But beneath the shattered chunks, faint seams glinted. Smooth. Metallic. Too precise to be natural. Like someone had wrapped a capsule-sized shuttle in geological camouflage and prayed no one would look too closely.
Xavier stood at the edge of the wreck. He inspected it for two seconds, then stepped back as if something had crystallized in his mind.
"Call the Marshal. And Princess Kira. And Cece," he instructed calmly.
Ollie blinked. "Even Princess Kira and Auntie Cece?"
"Yes. Because by the looks of it, this is not some ordinary metal."
And sure enough, he was right. It was not.
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