Ch4-Trough The Static

Through the Static

Personal Log – Stella Thaleia

Lagrange Listening Station Theta – October 3, 2156

It came in just past two in the morning.

A flicker on the low-band spectrum, too steady to be noise, too strange to be familiar.

She leaned in.

" Audio packet. No identifier " she muttered. " Timestamp... 2191? "

The AI flagged it as corrupted.

The screen flickered a warning:

* Temporal inconsistency detected

She overrode it.

" Play anyway "

Then—his voice filled the room.

" Still breathing.

Still recording.

Still pretending the echo of my own voice is a kind of company… "

It wasn't a distress call.

It wasn't a mission log.

It was... something else.

She replayed it. Twice.

Then pressed the intercom button.

" Command, this is Theta Station. I picked up an unauthorized audio feed—ghost frequency, no known source. Tag reads from 2191. "

The reply came ten seconds later, filtered through layers of bureaucracy.

" Theta, disregard. Likely bleed-through from old probes or solar interference. You're cleared to delete "

Stella hesitated.

" You sure? The file's stable. And—well, it doesn't sound like a glitch "

" You're on listening duty, Thaleia. Not ghost-hunting duty. Clean your queue and continue passive monitoring "

The comms went silent.

She stared at the speaker. The voice had stopped.

But it echoed in her.

---

Later that day, she spoke to Kira, the junior technician on shift.

" Hey, Kira. If you heard someone speaking from the future... what would you do? "

Kira laughed, brushing a hand through her curls.

" Depends. Are they offering lottery numbers or emotional damage? "

" He said... he didn't want to be forgotten "

Kira's smile faded slightly.

" Oh. That kind of voice.

Look, Stell—if it meant something to you, save it.

Just don't let command know "

" Too late "

---

That night, Stella sat alone in her quarters.

The walls hummed like always. The stars blinked like always.

She played the recording again.

He was tired.

But clear.

" I don't need rescue. I just want to be known"

She didn't realize she was gripping the blanket until her knuckles turned white.

" I hear you "she whispered.

And then louder, to the empty room:

" You're not alone, Elian. Not anymore "

---

In the morning, she redirected the buffer. Quietly. Carefully.

She knew she'd get flagged if anyone caught the data reroute.

But still—she recorded a reply. Her voice shook slightly.

" This is Stella Thaleia of Listening Station Theta.

You don't know me, but I've been listening.

I hear you "

She compressed it, encrypted the path,

and sent it back through the same unstable channel.

Command wouldn't notice.

And if they did—she'd take the warning. It was worth it.

---

At lunch, Kira slid into the seat beside her.

" You look like someone who just mailed a letter into a black hole "

" Maybe I did "

" Well… let me know if he writes back "

---

That night, Stella didn't wait out of duty.

She waited for a voice.

His voice.