The expedition team gathered at the rover, its frame gleaming faintly under the Martian sun. Dust still swirled from their landing, settling across every ridge and joint of the machine.
Marlowe checked his datapad, jaw clenched. "We don't waste time. Selene, you're lead on sensor tracking. Harlan, drive. Elara, you're point defense if things get ugly. Darius—stay sharp, stay close."
"Yes, sir," Darius said, voice tight. He climbed into the rover's rear seat, strapping in as the others powered up their stations.
The rover's engines hummed to life, wheels biting into soft Martian soil. Slowly, it rolled away from the Artemis IX, dust pluming behind them.
Selene's scanners flickered with rhythmic pulses. The signal was undeniable now, rising from beneath the canyon floor. "Anomaly is approximately six klicks north, beneath a fault line," she reported.
"Subsurface depth?" Marlowe asked.
"Unclear. Instruments are distorted… as though something is masking itself."
Elara's visor tilted toward the jagged cliffs ahead. "Or as though it doesn't want to be found."
The words hung heavy.
The rover pressed on, winding between black stone ridges and dunes of crimson sand. Darius kept his eyes fixed on the horizon. Every rock looked alien, every shadow too deep. He tried to remember his training—catalog, observe, remain calm—but the rhythmic vibration seemed to seep into his bones, like a distant drum only he could hear.
Two hours later, they reached the fault line. It yawned before them, a scar stretching across the canyon floor, its edges sharp and unnatural.
The pulses were stronger here. Selene's console glowed red. "It's directly below us."
Marlowe stepped out of the rover first, boots sinking into the dust. He knelt by the fissure, running a gloved hand along the edge. The rock was warm. Too warm.
Elara crouched beside him, her helmet tilted. "This heat… it's not geothermal."
Darius joined them, heart pounding. He leaned closer, peering into the dark gap below. For a moment, he thought he saw something—light flickering, far beneath the surface, like a crystal catching the sun.
"Captain…" his voice faltered. "There's something down there."
Before Marlowe could respond, the ground trembled. Dust cascaded from the canyon walls. Instruments spiked, alarms shrieked in Selene's ear.
"Seismic activity increasing!" she shouted. "It's reacting to us!"
The fissure widened with a sound like splitting bone. Cracks raced across the canyon floor. The rover shook violently, toppling onto its side.
"Fall back!" Marlowe roared.
But the ground beneath them buckled. A deafening pulse erupted, shaking their suits, rattling their teeth. From the fissure, a faint glow surged upward—deep blue, cold and alive.
Darius stumbled back, his visor filling with light. His breath caught. He wasn't imagining it this time. The glow was crystalline, jagged forms shifting beneath the surface like veins of frozen lightning.
Selene's voice cracked over comms. "That's… not natural."
Elara's tone was sharper, almost reverent. "It's not Martian either."
The glow pulsed again, stronger, rhythmic—like a heartbeat.
Marlowe steadied himself, jaw set. "Everyone fall back to the rover. We regroup, we report. Whatever this is—we're not alone out here."
But as they turned, the fissure gave one final roar. The glow surged higher, licking the air with shards of light. And within it, for the briefest instant, Darius saw a shape—cloaked, faceless, watching.
Then the canyon went still.
The glow faded, sinking back beneath the stone. The pulse stopped.
Only silence remained.