Atlantis Scan Upload 1.11 «Easy × 2024»

Benji turned his screen. The header read:

The screen flickered. A single line of text appeared beneath the map, translated by the Theseus-7 's AI from a language that predated hydrogen: atlantis scan upload 1.11

Before the Earth cooled. Before the sun ignited. Before the Milky Way had fully formed. Benji turned his screen

[Odyssey Station to Command: File corrupted? Or incomplete? Advise immediate deep-core drilling at coordinates 24.5°N, 45.2°W. Do not wake the sleepers. Do not wake the sleepers. Do not—] Before the sun ignited

The turbidity cleared at 11:02:34. One moment, the Theseus-7 was navigating a cloud of silicates and the skeletal remains of a Jurassic squid; the next, the floodlights caught it.

Dr. Voss’s assistant, a young engineer named Benji, choked on his coffee. "Captain... the date stamp on this file. It's not geological."

The obsidian wall shimmered.