Stardust and Ashes
Nova Armstrong
A space archaeologist discovers an alien artifact that allows her to see the memories of a long-dead civilization—and their apocalyptic final days.
The artifact was beautiful.
Dr. Mira Solovyova floated in the zero-G of the excavation chamber, her helmet light casting long shadows across the alien structure. The object before her was the size of a fist, carved from crystal that seemed to contain swirling galaxies within its facets.
Four months of digging on this desolate moon, and this was the prize.
Carefully, she guided it into her collection container. The moment her gloved fingers touched its surface, the world dissolved.
She was no longer in the excavation chamber. She stood on a world of impossible beauty—twin suns setting over oceans of liquid diamond, cities of spun light rising toward the heavens.
A woman stood beside her. Tall, translucent, her form made of pure energy.
"You are the first of your kind to reach us," the woman said, her voice resonating inside Mira's skull. "We have been waiting for so long."
"Who are you?" Mira breathed.
"We were the Builders. The first civilization in this galaxy. We rose, we flourished, we reached for the stars themselves."
"What happened to you?"
The woman's form flickered. The beautiful city around them began to crumble.
"We reached too far. We found something in the void between stars. Something that was sleeping."
The vision twisted. The twin suns went dark. The city shattered.
"We woke it up."
Mira gasped, pulling her hand away from the artifact. She was back in the excavation chamber, her heart pounding.
Her comm crackled to life. "Dr. Solovyova? We're picking up something strange on the sensors. An object, massive, approaching from outside the system."
The artifact pulsed in its container, casting her shadow long across the wall.
She had woken something. And now it was coming.
Dr. Mira Solovyova floated in the zero-G of the excavation chamber, her helmet light casting long shadows across the alien structure. The object before her was the size of a fist, carved from crystal that seemed to contain swirling galaxies within its facets.
Four months of digging on this desolate moon, and this was the prize.
Carefully, she guided it into her collection container. The moment her gloved fingers touched its surface, the world dissolved.
She was no longer in the excavation chamber. She stood on a world of impossible beauty—twin suns setting over oceans of liquid diamond, cities of spun light rising toward the heavens.
A woman stood beside her. Tall, translucent, her form made of pure energy.
"You are the first of your kind to reach us," the woman said, her voice resonating inside Mira's skull. "We have been waiting for so long."
"Who are you?" Mira breathed.
"We were the Builders. The first civilization in this galaxy. We rose, we flourished, we reached for the stars themselves."
"What happened to you?"
The woman's form flickered. The beautiful city around them began to crumble.
"We reached too far. We found something in the void between stars. Something that was sleeping."
The vision twisted. The twin suns went dark. The city shattered.
"We woke it up."
Mira gasped, pulling her hand away from the artifact. She was back in the excavation chamber, her heart pounding.
Her comm crackled to life. "Dr. Solovyova? We're picking up something strange on the sensors. An object, massive, approaching from outside the system."
The artifact pulsed in its container, casting her shadow long across the wall.
She had woken something. And now it was coming.
Chapter 1