Captain Elena Vasquez stood on the bridge of the starship Horizon, watching as the ship approached the edge of known space. In three days, they would cross a boundary that no human had ever crossed before.
"Status report," she said, her voice steady despite the butterflies in her stomach.
"All systems nominal, Captain," her first officer, Commander James Park, replied. "Life support at one hundred percent. Engines running smoothly. We're ready."
Elena nodded, but she couldn't shake the feeling that they weren't ready at all. The Horizon was humanity's most advanced ship, equipped with technology that had taken decades to develop. But out here, beyond the edge of everything they knew, would it be enough?
"Captain," her communications officer, Lieutenant Sarah Chen, called out. "I'm picking up something. It's... it's not a natural signal."
Elena moved to the communications station. "What kind of signal?"
"I don't know," Sarah said, her voice uncertain. "It's structured, definitely artificial. But it's not in any language or code I've ever seen. And it's coming from directly ahead of us."
Elena felt her heart rate increase. They had expected to find nothing out here, or at most, some kind of natural phenomenon. But an artificial signal meant intelligence. And intelligence meant they weren't alone.
"Record everything," Elena ordered. "And prepare the first contact protocols. We might be about to make history."
But as she watched the signal grow stronger on the display, she couldn't help but wonder - were they about to meet friends, or enemies?