803x [PRO]

Her terminal beeped. A message from the core:

She grabbed her toolkit and floated toward the ventilation shafts. The corridor was cold; the heating units had been sacrificed hours ago to save the life-support grid. As she pulled herself through the narrow tunnel, her flashlight caught something reflective stuck in the intake fan. It was a small, golden locket. Her terminal beeped

As the air began to hiss back into the vents, Elara realized the irony. The people in stasis were dreaming of a world that no longer existed, while she was the only one truly alive to see its end. She tucked the locket into her flight suit, took a deep breath of the metallic, recycled air, and went back to work. On 803x, survival didn't need a reason; it just needed someone to keep the fans spinning. As she pulled herself through the narrow tunnel,