Elara sat in the dark, her breath shallow. She looked at her own observation window. The moon was rising over the heather. Normal. Safe.

Then she glanced at the real-time signal display. It was 02:12 UTC.

At first, she thought it was a glitch. A cosmic ray flipping a bit in her receiver’s firmware. But the identifier was too structured, too deliberate. It wasn’t random noise; it was a key.

The hum began again, but this time it was louder. The UUID flashed on her screen, but now there was new text beneath it: ACKNOWLEDGMENT RECEIVED. DOOR STATUS: AJAR.