The faint scent of damp earth and something sweet, like unknown blossoms, tickled my nose. A dull ache throbbed behind my eyes, a familiar companion from my days scavenging the wastes, yet this ache felt different, deeper. When I finally forced my eyelids open, the world swam into view, not with the familiar dust-choked haze of Earth, but with a vibrant, almost startling clarity.

Above me, the sky stretched, a canvas of deepest indigo. Stars, more numerous and brilliant than any I’d ever seen, glittered like scattered diamonds. But they were wrong. The constellations I knew, the comforting patterns that had guided my lonely treks, were absent. In their place, alien designs, swirling nebulae, and a moon that pulsed with a soft, ethereal light dominated the heavens. My breath hitched.

Then, I heard it. A whisper, close by, yet disembodied.

"Do you think we can save him?"