They drifted through the belt for a while longer. The rocks grew thicker.
Ash hesitated, then finally asked, "Hey, Rhea… how does it feel?"
Rhea raised an eyebrow. "What does?"
"Pulse Surge."
She looked at him for a long moment, then spoke quietly, almost like she was remembering.
"Can't really describe it. It's… exhilarating. When I weave metal, it's like I can feel the personality of it, the way it wants to bend or hold. Like the material whispering to me."
She paused, then shrugged. "Of course it's not all shiny. Sometimes you feel completely knackered after prolonged use. I have worked with metal since I learned to walk. I worked on it, then learned how to work with it, and eventually it opened up to me. That's how I got the ability."
Ash stayed silent for a beat, staring out at the drifting rocks. Then he said softly, "Sounds a lot better than nothing at all."
"Can't disagree with that," Rhea said. "It has its uses."
"Yeah," Ash replied.
Luna hummed quietly around them. Ash leaned back in his seat, still picking at the remains of his ration pack.
"Anyway… what are you gonna do with the money after we sell the items?" she asked.
"Me?" Ash gave a small shrug. "I've been thinking… I'll give some to Old Han. Renovate the bar a bit. He's been taking care of me ever since I got here. Least I can do."
Rhea was quiet for a second, then nodded slowly. "That's decent of you."
"What about you?" Ash asked.
Rhea looked back at the controls, a faint smile tugging at her lips. "Luna girl could do with some improvements. There's some materials I've been saving up to buy for a while now."
"We should loop back soon," Rhea said. " By the time we clear the belt they'll probably have given up and crawled back to the station. But don't lose your guard, they might try something near the dock, so keep your eyes open."
"Sounds good," Ash said.
Rhea reached for the scanner and started bringing Luna around in a slow arc.
Then every seeker on the ship went off at once. All of them. Simultaneously.
Ash jerked upright. Looked at Rhea. She had the same expression he did.
The seekers kept going. Irregular then steadying into something almost rhythmic. The overhead lights dipped once, just barely, then held. Luna's nav display flickered, scrambled into static for half a second, then snapped back like nothing had happened.
Ash leaned forward. "Rhea."
"Yes, yes, I see it." Her voice came out slightly shaky.
She pulled up a secondary scan without being asked, fingers moving fast. The result came back the same. Then she ran it a third time.
Same.
A signal. Coming from deep in the belt, maybe beyond it. No transponder ID, no frequency either of them had heard before. And it hadn't been there a moment ago. It had just appeared out of nowhere.
"That's not debris," Rhea said.
"No."
"Could be an old buoy. Drifted off course."
"Could be." Ash stared at the display. "But a buoy wouldn't push a signal this strong. Luna would've picked it up long before now if it had been sitting out there."
Neither of them moved.
The signal pulsed again. Several times, like it was waiting to be sure it had their attention.
Rhea's hand hovered over the controls. "We really should turn back, Ash. I don't like this."
Ash didn't answer right away. Something was pulling at him, like the signal was pointed at him specifically.
"One sweep," he said. "Just close enough to get a read on it. If anything feels wrong we turn and run."
Rhea bit her lip. She didn't move for a few seconds, then she adjusted course.
"You know, this is stupid. Stupid and kinda greedy," she muttered. "We're really pushing our luck today."
"Fortune favors the brave, Rhea." Ash said.
"Huh, you're a philosopher now? And we've already got our fortune right here." Rhea jabbed a finger toward their loot.
Ash sighed. "It's not about being greedy, Rhea."
She let out a sharp breath. "Then what is it about? Because from where I'm sitting, it looks exactly like that."
"The signal… something in my gut says I need to find what it is."
"You talk like your gut has never been wrong," she said. "Mine's screaming, 'run away, dumbass', right now."
"Mine's been wrong plenty," Ash admitted with a small shrug. "But it's pulled me through more times than I can count. Give me this one. If it feels off when we get close, we run and never speak of it again."
She glanced at him. The argument hung between them, not fully settled, but the ship kept moving forward.
They flew in silence for a bit. Rhea tried hailing on three standard frequencies out of habit. Nothing came back. She killed the attempt without comment and kept flying.
Minutes passed. Then the scanner pinged with a solid return.
"Contact," Rhea said.
The object resolved on the main viewport as Luna cleared a final cluster of debris.
It wasn't a probe.
It was a ship. Sleek, angular, and utterly alien in design. Even from here, sitting still in the dark, it had a quality that was hard to name.
"What the hell is that?" Rhea said, almost to herself.
Ash focused and found that the signal was definitely coming from inside it.
Rhea killed the forward burn entirely, letting Luna drift at a safe distance.
"This is some high grade prototype. Nothing we have matches that symmetry. If it's guarded by automated defenses, we're gone. Just gone."
She turned to him. "Ash, we should not be here. This is way above our pay grade. You had your curiosity fulfilled."
Ash felt it again. That deep, personal pull resonating inside his chest. More certain now.
"It's not going to wake up hostile. The signal is not a beacon for anyone. And right now it's calling for me."
Rhea stared at him for a moment. Then she looked back at the ship. Then back at him.
"If we die," she said finally, turning back to the controls, "I want it on record that I said no first."
"Noted," Ash said.
"Out loud. Right now."
"Rhea said no first. It's on record."
She let out a long breath. "Fine. Let's go see what it wants."