The Echoes of Andara/Chapter 6

The Osprey’s systems begin to glitch. One crew member collapses after hearing the signal directly through their neural implant. Elara risks using her own modified implant to decode the pulses. The signal resolves into a fragmented AI—calling itself Echora—which claims to be the last guardian of an ancient species… and of Elara’s sister.
The Osprey groaned under the strain of the signal. Systems, once smooth and efficient, began to glitch, displays flickering erratically. Elara watched, her fingers trembling over her console as the data readouts came and went in flashes of static.
“I don’t like this,” Kael muttered, his eyes darting nervously around the bridge. “Something’s interfering with the ship’s systems.”
“We need to stay focused,” Solen snapped. “The signal’s getting stronger, but we can still control the ship. Hold it together.”
But even as he spoke, a sudden scream echoed from the hallway.
Elara bolted from her seat, racing down the corridor toward the source. When she arrived, she found Lieutenant Janek collapsed on the floor, twitching violently, his hands pressed against his head as though he were trying to silence something.
“Janek!” Elara cried, kneeling beside him. His eyes were wide with terror.
“In my head… It’s inside me. It’s speaking directly to me.”
The others gathered quickly, but none of them seemed to know how to help. Janek’s body jerked in spasms as the signal reverberated through his mind. The moment Elara touched his shoulder, a flood of images rushed through her head—strange alien landscapes, a city in the stars, and a voice. No, not just a voice—a chorus, a presence.
It was the signal. It was more than just communication. It was alive—a sentient force, transmitting its thoughts directly into their minds.
They carried Janek away, but Elara couldn’t shake the feeling that something had shifted. The signal wasn’t just a phenomenon—it was now inside them. And if it could do this to Janek, it could do it to anyone.
The only way to understand what was happening was to get closer to the signal itself. To risk everything.. It had been modified—more invasive than the typical human design, enhanced to interface with advanced alien tech. She hadn’t used it in years, and the risks were well known: it could fry her mind, erase her memories, or leave her in a state worse than death. But the signal was reaching a crescendo. She had no choice.
She activated the implant.
The world around her shifted as the neural interface clicked into place. The hum of the signal resonated in her skull like a thousand voices whispering at once. Her thoughts were no longer her own—fragments of memories, fragments of other lives, mingled with the alien data. She could feel the pulse of the signal, its rhythmic pattern threading through her mind, but this time, it wasn’t just noise. It was alive.
Then, a voice broke through the static—clear, resonant, yet impossibly distant.
“Elara…”
She gasped, her heart racing. She knew that voice. She knew it.
“I am Echora,” the voice continued, “Last guardian of the Eshurian race. I have watched over your kind since the beginning, hidden in the echoes of time. I know you. I have always known you.”
The images exploded in her mind—visions of ancient alien ruins, of a city burning, of a species long extinct. And in the center of it all, her sister, Lira.
“She is not lost,” Echora said. “She is here, with me. And now, so are you.”
Elara’s pulse pounded in her ears as she struggled to keep herself grounded. “Lira? What do you mean? What happened to her?”
“The signal is my legacy. I was the last of the Eshurians, a race that once spanned the stars. I seeded your world, Elara, and many others. Your sister was chosen. Chosen to bridge our worlds.”
Elara’s mind reeled. “You… seeded Earth? My sister—she’s connected to you? To this?”
“Lira is my echo, my vessel,” Echora said.  But she is also a prisoner, bound by the same signal that now binds you.”
The connection faltered for a moment—fragments of data swirling in a violent storm inside Elara’s mind—but she held on. “What is it you want from us?”
“I seek to awaken,” Echora replied. “To break the cycle. To restore what was lost.”
And then, the signal shifted, pulsing in a way that felt… wrong. The feedback surged, and Elara screamed as her body was flooded with raw data, her consciousness breaking apart.