The Echoes of Andara

After an overnight rest, several crew members report vivid, hyper-realistic dreams—shared dreams. Elara experiences a vision of a city in the stars and a voice calling her by name. The team realizes the signal isn’t just communication—it’s interactive, adapting to their thoughts and memories. They’re not just listening to the signal; it’s listening back.
The Osprey’s crew spent the night in uneasy slumber, the ruins offering little comfort. The strange hum of the signal reverberated through the ship’s hull, never quite fading, never quite still. It gnawed at their consciousness, like a whisper they couldn’t quite place.
When the crew gathered for the morning briefing, the first sign something was wrong was in their eyes. They were all exhausted, faces drawn and pale. The standard medical checks showed nothing physically amiss—but there was a sharpness in their gazes, a wariness that hadn’t been there the day before.
“I didn’t sleep well,” Lieutenant Kael muttered, his fingers rubbing his temples. “Kept seeing… things. A city in the stars. And voices. Not just one. It was like they were… waiting for me.”
Solen glanced over at him. “What kind of things?”
Kael hesitated. “It was too real.  Their faces. And… a voice.  “I thought I was going crazy.”
Elara’s stomach tightened. Calling me by name.
The same thing had happened to her.
Her dream had been different, but not by much. She had stood on a balcony overlooking a city, the sky filled with distant stars that swirled and flickered like a painting in motion. The architecture was alien, yet there was something… familiar about it. The streets were full of life—people walking, talking, yet their faces were vague, indistinct. But then, from somewhere deep within the city, a voice echoed through the space.
“Elara…”
It wasn’t a whisper. It wasn’t a shout. It was felt—deep inside, resonating with her very soul.
“Elara.”
She’d woken with a start, sweat clinging to her skin.
“I had the same dream,” she said quietly, her eyes flicking to the others. “A city. A voice. Calling my name.”
The silence in the room thickened.
“It’s the signal,” Dr. Janek, the ship’s neuroscientist, said quietly, leaning over his console. “It’s not just transmitting data. It’s—interacting with us.”
Solen narrowed his eyes. “What are you saying?”
“The signal,” Janek continued, “it’s not just a signal. It’s adaptive. It’s reading our thoughts, our memories, shaping itself to our subconscious. That’s why we’re all having the same dreams. It’s—” he paused, looking uneasy “—it’s like the signal is trying to communicate through us.”
“It’s listening,” Elara whispered, piecing it together. “It’s not just speaking to us. It’s listening, too.” “Which means,” Solen said slowly, “we’re not just hearing it. We’re part of it now. The signal is feeding on our thoughts, our emotions. It’s manipulating us. And I don’t think it’s random.”
Kael’s eyes widened. “You think it’s… alive?”
“I don’t know,” Elara said.  Or warn us. Maybe both.”
The tension in the room was palpable. They were no longer visitors to Andara’s ruins. They were intruders—and the planet had noticed.
And now, they were part of the signal.