One hundred thousand AU from the sun, the light of home was only one white point among many.
The construction platform Local 404 floated beside a blue-ice comet. Austin, Tie, Chonker, and Xuan Ming were building a ten-thousand-foot sensor tower to warn the system of incoming fleets and large gravity shifts.
Tie led the anchor inspection. Chonker drove the bolts. Austin welded the base plates with a narrow plasma jet while Dara monitored from the control pod.
“Anchor twelve is solid,” Tie said. “Tower is plumb.”
“Array panels connected,” Xuan Ming added. “Ready for a low-power test.”
Austin closed the disconnect. Cyan light climbed the tower. A gravity pulse moved outward at light speed.
For thirty seconds, the map showed normal motion. Then a set of distant readings bent in a way the local model could not explain.
Xuan Ming’s face tightened. “Is that a contraction?”
