Lightspeed Blocker -

A long pause. Then: “A weapon. Deployed by the Eurydice Accord, seventy years ago. They buried it out there in case someone figured out how to break the barrier before we were ready.”

Inside, the geometry was wrong. Hallways curved in directions that hurt his eyes. Gravity shifted without warning. The Blocker’s AI spoke in a voice like grinding metal. lightspeed blocker

The Phase-Shift Buoy was a rusted coffin strapped to a gravity lens. Kael sealed his suit, synced his neural interface to the targeting array, and felt reality twist as the buoy activated. For a sickening moment, he existed in twelve places at once, each version of him screaming different coordinates. Then the fold snapped shut, and he was there. A long pause

“For what’s on the other side, Kael.” They buried it out there in case someone