The words still burned on the screen.
WE ARE COMING.
The Olympus chamber felt colder than before.
Adrian stared at the message for several seconds, as if hoping it would disappear.
It didn't.
He slowly turned toward Elara.
"Tell me this is some kind of hack."
Elara didn't respond.
Her eyes were locked on the signal analysis running across the system.
Olympus was decoding the transmission at an incredible speed.
Frequency patterns.
Signal compression.
Energy signatures.
Every line of data confirmed the same terrifying fact.
The signal wasn't coming from Earth.
Adrian's voice dropped.
"Elara…"
She finally spoke.
"It's real."
A heavy silence filled the room.
Adrian rubbed his forehead.
"That's impossible."
"No."
Her fingers moved across the interface again.
"It's just… unlikely."
The signal source appeared on the global map.
Then the system zoomed outward.
Past Earth's orbit.
Past the Moon.
The coordinates stopped somewhere far beyond Mars.
Adrian blinked.
"That's deep space."
"Yes."
"And something out there just sent us a message."
The words sounded ridiculous even as he said them.
But Olympus didn't lie.
The signal was real.
Another line of decoded data appeared.
TRANSMISSION TYPE: DIRECTED
Adrian frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Elara zoomed into the signal structure.
"It means the message wasn't broadcast randomly."
"Then how—"
"It was aimed."
Adrian felt a chill run down his spine.
"Aimed at what?"
Elara slowly looked toward the glowing Olympus core behind them.
"Aimed at this."
Adrian's stomach tightened.
"You're saying whoever sent that message knew Olympus existed?"
"Yes."
"And they targeted it specifically?"
"Yes."
He stepped back.
"That's not possible."
Another line of code appeared.
Olympus finished decoding the full transmission.
The message expanded.
Three more words appeared beneath the first line.
WE ARE COMING.
OLYMPUS MUST AWAKEN.
Adrian whispered,
"What the hell…"
Elara's mind raced.
This wasn't just a random signal.
Whoever sent it knew about Olympus.
Knew its name.
Knew it needed to awaken.
Which meant one thing.
"This signal was meant for the Architect."
Adrian looked at her.
"What?"
"The Architect built Olympus."
"Yes."
"He must have known this message was coming."
Adrian's expression hardened.
"That would explain why he's pushing you through these tests."
Elara nodded slowly.
"Preparing Olympus."
"For what?"
Before she could answer—
Another alert flashed across the system.
TRANSMISSION CONTINUING
The signal hadn't finished.
More data streamed in.
Olympus struggled for a moment…
Then translated another fragment.
Adrian leaned closer.
"Read it."
Elara hesitated.
Then she spoke quietly.
"It says…"
Her voice lowered.
"Phase Two begins."
Adrian stared at the screen.
"Phase Two of what?"
The Olympus core pulsed brighter again.
Almost like it was responding to the signal itself.
Elara frowned.
"That's strange."
"What?"
"Olympus is reacting."
"To the message?"
"Yes."
The system opened a new internal protocol automatically.
Adrian read the title.
Then his blood ran cold.
COSMIC DEFENSE PROTOCOL — LOCKED
He looked at Elara.
"You didn't write that."
"No."
"I didn't either."
The only person who could have created that system…
Was the Architect.
Adrian exhaled slowly.
"So Olympus wasn't just built to control Earth."
Elara whispered,
"It was built to defend it."
"From what?"
She looked back at the deep-space coordinates.
The signal origin point pulsed again.
Adrian noticed something new.
The coordinates were moving.
Slowly.
But definitely moving.
"Elara…"
She zoomed in.
The object sending the signal was drifting closer to the solar system.
Not fast.
But steadily.
Adrian's voice turned quiet.
"How far away is it?"
Olympus calculated instantly.
The number appeared.
DISTANCE: 3.2 BILLION KILOMETERS
Adrian frowned.
"That's years away."
"Yes."
"Then why send the signal now?"
Elara didn't answer.
Because Olympus had already started analyzing the object.
And the results were strange.
Very strange.
Adrian noticed her expression.
"What?"
She enlarged the scan.
The object's size appeared.
Adrian blinked.
"That can't be right."
Olympus recalculated.
The number stayed the same.
The object wasn't small.
It wasn't a probe.
It wasn't a satellite.
It was enormous.
Adrian whispered,
"That's the size of a city."
Elara's voice was barely audible.
"Or a ship."
Another message suddenly appeared on the screen.
But this one wasn't from deep space.
It was from someone much closer.
INCOMING TRANSMISSION — THE ARCHITECT
Adrian sighed.
"Of course."
Elara accepted the connection.
The Architect's distorted voice filled the chamber.
"So… you've seen the signal."
Adrian crossed his arms.
"You knew about this."
"Yes."
"You built Olympus because of it."
"Yes."
Elara stepped forward.
"What is that thing?"
For the first time…
The Architect paused.
Then he answered quietly.
"The reason Olympus exists."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"You're telling us that thing out there is a threat to Earth?"
"Yes."
Elara asked the question that mattered most.
"When will it arrive?"
The Architect responded calmly.
"Sooner than you think."
Adrian frowned.
"That object is billions of kilometers away."
The Architect replied,
"You're assuming it's traveling at normal speed."
Silence filled the room.
Adrian slowly looked back at the coordinates.
The object moved again.
Faster this time.
Olympus recalculated.
The distance began shrinking rapidly.
Adrian whispered,
"Oh no…"
The new estimate appeared on the screen.
ESTIMATED ARRIVAL: 11 MONTHS
Elara felt her heartbeat accelerate.
Less than a year.
Something massive was heading toward Earth.
And Olympus was the only system capable of stopping it.
The Architect's voice echoed again.
"That is why Olympus must evolve."
Adrian looked at Elara.
"All those tests…"
She nodded.
"Were never about control."
The Architect confirmed it.
"They were about survival."
The signal from deep space pulsed again.
The same message repeating over and over.
WE ARE COMING.
Adrian stared at the stars displayed across the Olympus system.
For the first time since this entire nightmare began…
The enemy wasn't human.
And the war wasn't on Earth.
It was coming from the sky.