The device slowly turned, facing the spaceship directly.
On the main screen, the cylinder stopped, and the runes on its surface lit up again. This time, it wasn't a single beam of light, but a pale blue glow emanating from the entire circle, as if it had been reactivated. Chen Hao stared at the screen, his fingers resting on the edge of the joystick, but he didn't move.
“It’s aligned,” Susan said. “Unlike before, it’s perfectly aligned now.”
“It knows we’re here.” Carl leaned against the door, his voice a little tense. “The question is, what does it want?”
Nana had already retrieved the scan data. "The energy reading is rising, but it's not in attack mode. It's more like... a system self-check."
"Self-check?" Chen Hao turned his head. "This thing can even be turned on?"
“Possibly,” Nana nodded. “Its rotation speed has changed, from a constant speed to intermittent fine-tuning, as if it’s calibrating some internal structure.”
“Wait a minute.” Susan suddenly raised her hand. “Look at that mark in the middle—it was broken before, but now it’s connected.”
The image zooms in. The previously broken lines around the center of the cylinder are now connected by a flowing light, forming a closed loop.
“Passive signal reception complete,” Nana said. “It has confirmed our presence and is preparing for the next interaction.”
"Interaction?" Chen Hao grinned. "You mean it wants to chat with us?"
“That possibility cannot be ruled out,” Nana said calmly. “Some ancient beacons would initiate a message transmission process after recognizing intelligent life.”
"That's just chatting," Chen Hao shrugged. "I thought it would at most show a projector, but it turns out it's a direct chat system?"
“The premise is not to provoke it.” Carl walked to the control panel. “That turn just now wasn’t a greeting, it was a lock. I suggest we retreat a distance first and figure out whether it’s sending a welcome letter or a challenge.”
“We can leave,” Chen Hao said without objection, “but we can’t leave empty-handed. We’re already here, so we need to know what this iron cylinder is for.”
He looked at Nana: "Are there really no similar ones in the database? Not even a hint?"
Nana paused for two seconds. "The comparison results show that three of the seven ancient civilizations used similar rune layouts, for the following purposes: star map recording, time anchors, and consciousness storage devices."
"These all sound increasingly far-fetched," Chen Hao said, scratching his head. "Are we going to run into an alien hard drive?"
“If it’s a hard drive, then it should have a read interface,” Susan said, flipping through the records. “But it doesn’t have a single port on its entire body.”
“Perhaps physical contact is not necessary,” Nana said. “Some advanced civilizations use field resonance to transmit data, and a response can be triggered as long as the frequencies match.”
"So that means—" Chen Hao squinted, "that whoever gets close enough and understands the code will spit out the thing?"
"The logic holds true."
"Goodness gracious." Chen Hao chuckled. "Is this a checkpoint quiz? Correct answers get a reward, wrong answers result in being blown up?"
“There is that risk,” Carl cautioned, “and we don’t even know where the question bank is.”
“Let’s give it a try first.” Chen Hao sat up straight. “Start the non-invasive scan, send a low-frequency wave from the side, and see if it reacts.”
“No.” Nana shook her head. “Actively sending signals might be seen as a challenge and trigger defense mechanisms.”
"Then what do we do? Just watch?"
“We can use a drone,” Susan suggested. “Without a signal transmitter, just fly it mechanically around to the back and take pictures of the gap structure. If it really is a data terminal, it usually has heat dissipation vents or calibration windows, which are places where the internal structure can be easily exposed.”
“Sounds promising.” Chen Hao nodded. “Karl, go prepare the aircraft, pick the smallest one. Nana will be in charge of monitoring the entire ship’s status, and call a halt immediately if there are any abnormalities.”
Carl turned and walked toward the hatch, muttering to himself, "I'm the one who always has to fix things whenever there's a commotion, and now I have to walk the drone around for the machine."
Ten minutes later, a flat, small aircraft popped out from the side compartment and silently glided to the rear of the device.
The control room was quiet as four people sat around the main screen, watching the live feed.
The aircraft slowly approached, circled the top of the cylinder, and the camera turned to the central gap.
“You can see inside,” Susan said in a low voice. “There’s a transparent cover, and it looks like something is turning behind it.”
Nana zooms in on the image. Through the narrow slit, a spherical structure can be vaguely seen slowly rotating inside, its surface covered with tiny light nodes arranged in a mesh pattern.
“This is not a simple device,” Nana said. “The core components are still running, and the energy has not run out.”
"So—" Chen Hao stared at the screen, "it's been alive all along?"
No one answered.
Just then, the aircraft completed half a circle and prepared to adjust its angle to photograph the other side.
But as soon as it was moved, the device suddenly vibrated.
Immediately afterwards, all the runes lit up at the same time, the light turning from blue to white, forming a ring-shaped pulse that rapidly spread along the surface.
"No!" Nana exclaimed, looking up abruptly. "Quickly, put the drone away!"
Before the words were even finished, a wave of energy shot out and crashed head-on into the front cabin of the spaceship.
The entire ship shook violently, the lights went out and came back on instantly, and the alarm blared shrilly.
Chen Hao was jolted and slammed into the armrest of his seat, his elbow hitting the edge of the control panel, wincing in pain. He grabbed the lever to steady himself and shouted, "Everyone back to your positions! Report the situation!"
"Voltage surge in the engine compartment!" Carl rushed to the rear compartment. "Cooling system alarm, I'm switching to backup power!"
“The video feed cut out.” Susan steadied herself against the platform. “The drone signal was lost. The last footage showed the shell temperature soaring to over 800 degrees Celsius.”
"It exploded?" Chen Hao asked.
“No.” Nana stared at the data analysis screen. “It wasn’t an explosion, it was a targeted release. The energy was concentrated in a 30-degree sector in front, strong enough to destroy nearby objects, but the range was very precisely controlled.”
"Precise?" Chen Hao frowned. "Does it know where it's aiming?"
“It’s not just about knowing.” Nana’s speech quickened. “This fluctuation contains coded information, and it’s completely different from before. The frequency jumps are regular, like some kind of forced transmission protocol.”
"You mean—" Chen Hao was stunned, "that attack it just now wasn't an attack, it was sending a message?"
“Very likely.” Nana nodded. “The spacecraft we sent out crossed the safe distance threshold, triggering its active interaction program. These types of devices sometimes use high-energy pulses for initial authentication, similar to a ‘handshake signal.’”
"So it wasn't attacking us," Susan understood. "It was greeting us?"
"Using artillery bombardment," Chen Hao said, rubbing his arm. "That's a bit too harsh a gesture."
“It’s not a big problem,” Nana continued her analysis. “Although it caused some tremors, there was no structural damage to the hull. The main impact was a temporary overload of the electrical system, and some sensors need to be restarted.”
"How's Karl doing?" Chen Hao turned to look at the communication channel.
"You survived," Carl's voice came through. "The cooling pump restarted successfully, and the temperature has returned to normal. It's just that a section of the backup wiring burned out; we'll have to find time to replace it."
"Okay, you come back first." Chen Hao breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm lucky I didn't lose my life this time."
He looked back at the main screen. The device had returned to its previous low-brightness state; the runes were still lit, but no longer flickering. The rotation speed had also slowed down, returning to its initial uniform rotation.
“It’s still waiting,” Susan said. “There hasn’t been any further action since that last strike.”
"That means it has completed a certain step," Nana said. "Now it's waiting for a response."
"A response?" Chen Hao smiled wryly. "It slapped us in the face, and now it expects us to return the favor with a smile?"
“If we don’t respond, it might repeat the process we just went through,” Nana said. “The next one might be even more intense.”
“So we have to do something,” Susan said, looking at him. “Otherwise, we’ll be blown to bits sooner or later.”
"But how do we reply?" Chen Hao shrugged. "Is it sending Morse code or an emoji? We can't understand it."
“Perhaps understanding isn’t necessary,” Nana said. “Some systems only recognize behavioral feedback. For example, keeping a distance or releasing response waves of a specific frequency.”
"So, is it playing dead or making a gesture?" Chen Hao sighed. "Right now, I'd like to make the middle finger."
"I suggest prioritizing a passive response," Nana said. "Shut down all active detection devices and adjust the spacecraft's attitude to a parallel hovering state to simulate a threat-free condition."
"Alright," Chen Hao ordered. "Do as she says. First, reduce the tension."
Susan shut down the scanner, and Carl returned from the rear cabin, manually disconnecting several high-power modules. Nana adjusted the inertial damping parameters, allowing the spacecraft to slowly translate, maintaining parallelism with the device at a distance of three hundred meters.
A few minutes later, the alarm was lifted, and the system gradually returned to normal.
On the main screen, the device's light flickered slightly, as if it had sensed the change.
Then, the ring of runes slowly rotated, once again pointing towards the spaceship.
But this time, there was no flash, and no vibration.
It just shines quietly, as if waiting.
Chen Hao looked at the screen and suddenly smiled.
"If it could talk, shouldn't it be asking right now, 'Did you receive this?'"
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