At first it’s only a flicker on the horizon, a pale heartbeat in the void. The ship drifts along the outer rim of Nova-14, a silent boundary where starlight bends and signals arrive distorted. Around it, fragments of satellites and frozen plasma drift in slow motion, silent witnesses to the star’s death. The light begins to grow, pulsing and breathing until the darkness itself starts to dissolve. The 3I vessel stops, blinded by the surge. One pulse, dazzling and infinite, tears through the silence. For a moment there is nothing. Only light.