[BEGIN AUDIO SEGMENT – delphi_arrival.log]
Timestamp: 00:00:03 – 00:03:44
Location: Unmarked Forestry Road, 19km Southeast of Impact Zone
[CAR INTERIOR – ENGINE HUMS, OCCASIONAL GRAVEL POPPING UNDER TIRES]
Dr. Moe Edwards:
You sure this is the right road? Feels like we’re driving into the edge of the world.
Prof. Ronald Alpin:
If the sat data’s right — and it is — we’re skirting the outer rim now. Look up ahead. See how the tree line just... ends?
Dr. Edwards:
Jesus. That’s not logging. That’s... gone. Like it never grew.
Prof. Alpin:
Twelve-point-four miles of clean cut. Circular. Centered on nothing we can explain. No ignition signature. No particulate cloud. Just... erasure.
Dr. Edwards:
Meteor?
Prof. Alpin: (scoffs softly)
That's what they said when Tunguska flattened half of Siberia. But even that left scorch marks. This? This one came in quiet.
Dr. Edwards:
The report said a ranger saw the sky “fold inward” at 04:21. No noise. No fire. Just light, and then — forest gone.
Prof. Alpin:
And no seismic wave. No impact debris. No heat plume. Moe, meteors don’t fall gently. Whatever came down, it wanted to land.
Dr. Edwards:
You’re saying this was deliberate.
Prof. Alpin:
I’m saying it’s like something stepped through. Not fell from.
[PAUSE. DISTANT CROWS CAW.]
Dr. Edwards:
Can I ask you something, Ronny?
Prof. Alpin:
Shoot.
Dr. Edwards:
You ever seen stars retract?
Prof. Alpin: (quieter)
...Yeah. Once. A long time ago. Didn’t sleep for a week. Thought I was seeing things.
Dr. Edwards:
Well, last night, when I stepped out of the temporary camp... there was a hole in the sky. Nothing behind it. Not black — empty.
Prof. Alpin:
Moe... I think we’re not investigating a crash site.
I think we’re walking into an arrival.
[ENGINE SLOWS. GEAR SHIFTS. GRAVEL STOPS.]
Dr. Edwards:
We’re here. Time to see what made the sky blink.
[CONTINUED AUDIO – delphi_arrival.log]
Timestamp: 00:03:45 – 00:08:17
Location: Outer Edge of Impact Zone, Approx. 2km from Crater Center
[DOORS OPEN. BOOTS ON GRAVEL. GEAR RUSTLES.]
Dr. Moe Edwards:
Ground’s dry. Not even ash. Just... splinters and dust.
Prof. Ronald Alpin:
Tree stumps are sheared flat. Like a pressure wave, but... uniform. Every direction. I've never seen anything like it.
[GEIGER COUNTER CLICKS — THEN GOES SILENT.]
Dr. Edwards:
Radiation’s dropping as we get closer. That makes no goddamn sense.
Prof. Alpin:
Nothing makes sense. Look at the soil. It’s vitrified — not melted, polished. The whole basin’s one sheet of glass.
[THEIR FOOTSTEPS SHIFT — CRUNCHING GLASSY SAND.]
Dr. Edwards: (quietly)
You smell that?
Prof. Alpin:
Smell what?
Dr. Edwards:
Exactly.
[LONG PAUSE. WIND FADES COMPLETELY.]
Prof. Alpin:
I think we’re past the treeline’s acoustic buffer. It’s... dead silent. No birds. No wind. No bugs.
Dr. Edwards:
What’s that in the center?
Prof. Alpin: (beat)
Moe, tell me that’s a statue.
[ZOOMING IN – BINOCULARS ADJUSTING.]
Dr. Edwards:
...It’s breathing.
Prof. Alpin:
No fucking way.
Dr. Edwards:
It’s just standing there. Not looking at us. But I feel like it already knows we’re here.
Prof. Alpin:
Describe it.
Dr. Edwards:
Tall. Pale. Not white — glowing. But the glow doesn’t light anything around it. No shadow.
Eyes are...
...Ronny, his eyes are like depths. Not color. Just space.
Prof. Alpin: (a whisper, distant)
I can hear it.
Dr. Edwards: (sharply)
What?
Prof. Alpin:
He’s... saying my name. In my voice. In my head.
[BOTH MEN SILENT. WIND RETURNS BRIEFLY, THEN STOPS AGAIN.]
Dr. Edwards (on radio):
Omega Base, this is Echo Team Actual. We are requesting immediate heli evac to the nearest port.
There’s a... there’s a man down here.
[END SEGMENT]