Mara woke to a red emergency light.
The colony ship had landed.
That should have been good news, but the silence outside her cryo-pod was wrong. No cheers. No announcements. No officers giving orders.
Only the soft voice of the ship’s artificial intelligence.
“Welcome to Eos-7, Engineer Vale. Population status: uncertain.”
Mara forced open the pod door.
The landing bay was empty except for thirty-nine unopened cryo chambers.
She checked the colony schedule. The first team should have been awake twelve hours ago.
Then she saw the message flashing across the main console.
DO NOT OPEN THE GATES.