Dr. Leena Voss adjusted her exosuit, the only thing keeping her alive in the methane-soaked canyons of Gliese-486b. As a xeno-acoustic specialist, she’d spent months deciphering the rhythmic tremors in the rock, believing them to be geological. But today, the pulses responded.
She tapped her audio interface. “Repeat that,” she whispered. The canyon walls hummed in return, an intricate pattern shifting ever so slightly. It was communication.
Her research team dismissed her claim, arguing it was seismic noise. But as she analyzed the frequencies, she recognized structure—syntax. The canyon was alive, or at least something within it was calling out.
Alone in the deep, she hesitated. If she responded wrong, it might stop forever. Carefully, she played back a mirrored signal.
The pulse faltered, then strengthened, shifting into something familiar: the exact rhythm of her own heartbeat.
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