The realization hit them like an ice floe: this wasn’t a stranded animal. It was a technologically augmented being, frozen in time, guarding something. The iceberg itself seemed to respond to its presence.
The hum intensified, and fissures began to spiderweb across the ice. The geometric patterns on the iceberg now glowed with the same eerie light as the creature’s skin. This manatee was a key, and they had just turned it.
Suddenly, the sky above them began to shimmer, not with aurora borealis, but with distorted light that revealed massive, dark shapes moving just beyond the visible spectrum. The iceberg began to crack violently, revealing huge, carved passages leading deep into its core, passages filled with the same phosphorescent glow.
The manatee’s milky eyes suddenly snapped open, glowing with an internal, crimson light, and a guttural roar, far too deep for any creature, tore through the air, shaking the very foundations of the ship. Henrik looked back at the radio; it was now broadcasting the exact whispered alien language from before, but this time, he understood the words: “Awakening initiated.”
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