It had been almost six months after the crystalline civilization stabilized its world, Earth's relationship with the Gate had changed in ways no one could fully measure anymore. The panic that once followed every fluctuation in the sky had faded into uneasy familiarity. The Gate remained above the planet like a second moon made of light and distortion, silent and watching.
Children born after First Contact grew up drawing it without fear.
Scientists built careers around resonance studies.
Religious groups split between worship, rejection, and adaptation.
Politicians learned to use the word "threshold" in speeches even when they barely understood what it meant.
And beneath all of that, Earth kept changing.
Not dramatically.
Not overnight.
Quietly.
