Eden waited until the soft sound of Luna's breathing became rhythmic and his mother's restless shifting in the next room finally stilled. The chronometer on his work tablet showed 2347 hours—well into the night cycle when most of Ship 10's residents were lost in whatever dreams could flourish in such confined spaces.

He slipped out of bed and padded silently to the small desk in the corner of his room, where his work tablet lay charging. The device was technically CyberElectronics property, but like most workers, Eden had been issued one for his job and was expected to maintain it in his off-hours. What they didn't expect was for someone to use it for unauthorized research.

The tablet's screen cast a blue glow across his face as he accessed the power distribution archives. His clearance level only allowed him to view current data during work hours, but Eden had discovered a loophole months ago—a glitch in the system's time-based restrictions that let him access historical records if he logged in during the shift change overlap.

He scrolled back through weeks of power consumption data, looking for patterns. Ship 1's baseline consumption was indeed consistent, but now that he knew what to look for, Eden began to spot the anomalies. Small spikes, usually lasting between ten and thirty minutes, occurring at seemingly random intervals. Always between 0200 and 0400 hours. Always when the colony was in its deepest sleep.

"What are you doing up there?" he whispered to the screen.

A soft knock at his door made Eden's heart jump. He quickly minimized the data window and turned toward the sound.

"Eden?" Luna's voice was barely audible through the thin metal door. "Are you okay? I saw light under your door."

"I'm fine, Luna. Just couldn't sleep. Go back to bed."

There was a pause, then the sound of her footsteps retreating. Eden waited several more minutes before returning to his research, but the interruption had reminded him how risky this was. If his mother discovered what he was doing, she'd confiscate the tablet immediately. The family couldn't afford to lose his job.

He worked more quickly now, copying relevant data files to his personal storage partition. The pattern became clearer as he gathered more information. The power spikes weren't random at all—they occurred in clusters, with several happening over the course of two or three days, followed by weeks of normal consumption.

More interesting still, the spikes had been growing larger over the past few months. Whatever Ship 1 was powering during those late-night sessions was becoming more energy-intensive.

A new sound made Eden freeze—the distinctive hiss of hydraulic doors opening somewhere in the corridor outside their quarters. At this hour, the only people moving through the residential sectors should be emergency maintenance crews or security patrols.

Eden quickly saved his work and powered down the tablet, then crept to his family's main room. Through the small porthole, he could see Antaria's surface rotating slowly below, its dark rocky terrain illuminated by the distant star that provided their solar energy. But in the reflection of the thick glass, he could also make out shapes moving in the corridor.

Three figures in the dark blue uniforms of Internal Security were making their way down the hallway, checking door numbers. Eden's blood went cold. Internal Security only operated on Ship 10 when someone had violated colony regulations—or when someone had been asking the wrong questions.

The figures stopped two doors down from Eden's family quarters, at the home of Henrik Volkov, an older man who worked in waste recycling. Eden heard the sharp rap of knuckles on metal, followed by muffled voices. After several minutes, the security officers emerged with Henrik between them, the old man still in his sleeping clothes and looking confused and frightened.

Eden pressed himself against the wall beside the porthole, heart pounding. Henrik was known for complaining about working conditions, but he'd never seemed like the type to do anything that would attract security attention. Unless...

The realization hit Eden like a physical blow. What if they were coming for anyone who had accessed unauthorized data? What if the power distribution system kept logs of every query, every file accessed outside normal parameters?

He waited until the security team and their prisoner had disappeared down the corridor before returning to his room. Sleep would be impossible now, but he couldn't risk using the tablet again. Not tonight.

Instead, Eden lay on his narrow bunk and stared at the ceiling, trying to make sense of what he'd learned. The power spikes, the timing, the increasing intensity—it all suggested that Ship 1 was conducting some kind of project or experiment. Something that required enormous amounts of energy and complete secrecy.

But what could they possibly be doing that required such precautions? And why did they need to do it in the middle of the night when the rest of the colony was asleep?

The questions churned in Eden's mind until the wake-up alarm sounded at 0600 hours, its harsh tone feeling even more oppressive than usual. He dragged himself from bed, exhausted and on edge, wondering if today would bring more security sweeps.

"You look terrible," Luna observed as Eden stumbled into the main room. "Did you sleep at all?"

"Not much." Eden accepted a cup of synthetic coffee from his mother, noting the worry lines around her eyes. She had heard Henrik being taken away too.

"I heard there was some trouble in the night," Vera said carefully. "Security business. Nothing for us to worry about, I'm sure."

Eden nodded, though his stomach churned with guilt. If his unauthorized access had somehow triggered the security sweep, then Henrik's arrest was his fault. An innocent man paying for Eden's curiosity.

"I should get to work," Eden said, gulping down his coffee despite its bitter taste.

"Be careful today," his mother said, and there was something in her tone that suggested she knew more than she was saying. "Keep your head down."

The corridors of Ship 10 buzzed with nervous energy as Eden made his way to Sector M. Workers clustered in small groups, whispering about Henrik's arrest and speculating about what he might have done to attract security attention. The general consensus seemed to be that he must have been stealing supplies or spreading seditious ideas.

Eden kept his mouth shut and his expression neutral, but inside he was screaming. These people were looking for someone to blame, someone whose fault it was that their fragile security had been threatened. If they knew the truth...

"Eden!" Marcus's voice cut through the corridor chatter. Eden's friend was jogging toward him, still wearing the cleaner coveralls that marked him as temporarily assigned to the agricultural ships. "I need to talk to you. Privately."

They found a maintenance alcove that was momentarily empty, and Marcus pulled Eden inside.

"Listen carefully," Marcus said, his voice low and urgent. "Something is very wrong up on Ship 7. I don't know what's happening, but I think we're all in danger."

"What are you talking about?"

Marcus glanced around nervously. "Yesterday, while I was working on the irrigation systems, I got lost trying to find a specific valve junction. I ended up in a restricted section near the ship's communication array." He paused, running a hand through his red hair. "Eden, I overheard a conversation between two officers from Ship 3. They were talking about 'Project Reset' and something called 'the contingency protocol.'"

Eden's mouth went dry. "What did they say exactly?"

"I only heard fragments, but... Eden, they were talking about Ship 10. About whether the 'lower population levels' would be sustainable if resources became scarce. One of them said something about 'acceptable losses' and 'maintaining genetic diversity in the essential population.'"

The words hit Eden like a physical blow. Acceptable losses. The essential population. They were talking about his family, his friends, everyone he'd ever known as expendable.

"There's more," Marcus continued. "After they left, I managed to get a look at some of the equipment they'd been inspecting. It wasn't agricultural at all—it was some kind of communication relay. But here's the strange part: according to the display panels, it wasn't communicating with the other ships in our colony."

"Then what was it communicating with?"

"I don't know. But the signal was going out into deep space, toward a set of coordinates I'd never seen before. As if..." Marcus hesitated. "As if they were talking to someone else entirely."

Eden felt the world shift beneath his feet. Everything he'd been taught about their isolation, their status as humanity's last survivors, suddenly seemed questionable. If Ship 1 was in communication with others, if there were more survivors somewhere...

"We have to be careful," Eden said finally. "They took Henrik last night. Security is watching everyone."

"Henrik? What for?"

"I don't know. But Marcus, I think I might have triggered something. I was accessing power consumption data, looking into some anomalies, and—"

"You were what?" Marcus stared at him in horror. "Eden, are you insane? If they catch you poking around in restricted information..."

"I had to know! The power usage patterns don't make sense. Ship 1 has been running massive energy draws in the middle of the night, always when everyone's supposed to be asleep. It's like they're powering something huge and keeping it secret from the rest of us."

Marcus was quiet for a long moment, processing this information. Finally, he spoke. "What if it's connected? Your power spikes and the communication array? What if they've been using that extra energy to maintain contact with whoever they're talking to?"

The possibility sent chills down Eden's spine. If that were true, then the leadership of Antaria had been lying to everyone for... how long? Were they really alone in the universe, or was that just another story designed to maintain control?

"We need more information," Eden said. "But we also need to be smart about this. No more unauthorized access, no more wandering into restricted areas. If they suspect we know something..."

"They'll make us disappear, just like Henrik."

Eden nodded grimly. They were walking a dangerous line now, caught between their need to understand the truth and their desire to survive. But he couldn't go back to his old life of quiet compliance, not knowing what he knew now.

"Meet me tomorrow at the shift change," Eden said. "Same place. We'll figure out our next move then."

As they parted ways, Eden couldn't shake the feeling that they had crossed a threshold. Yesterday, he had been just another worker bee in the colony's vast hive. Today, he was something much more dangerous: a man who had begun to ask questions.

The weight of Antaria's gravity seemed heavier than ever as Eden made his way to the power distribution center, but now he understood it wasn't just the planet's pull that was weighing him down. It was the crushing realization that everything he'd believed about his world might be built on lies.

And somewhere in the depths of Ship 1, in the hidden chambers of power and privilege, people were making decisions about his future—about everyone's future—without their knowledge or consent.

Eden settled into his monitoring station and pulled up the day's power consumption data, but his mind was elsewhere. Tonight, he would have to be more careful. But he wouldn't stop digging.

After all, the truth was somewhere in those numbers. And if Marcus was right, the truth was more important than any of them had ever imagined.