And when the Nest of Years finally settled onto the ice like a great metal seed, a single figure emerged in a pressure suit: Aris Venn.

Captain Elara Mossa emerged from cryo gasping, her eyes bloodshot, her fists clenched. “What emergency?” she demanded. “We are two point three light-years from the nearest inhabited system.”

“They have culture,” Aris whispered. She recorded everything. Data packets the size of her fist, compressed and labeled Project Bestiary .