The deeper she dove, the more the ship’s hull vibrated. The 256x density meant that gravity worked in pulses. One moment she was weightless; the next, she was being crushed into her seat. Outside, the nebula began to react to her presence. The dust ignited in rhythmic flashes of neon teal, tracing the silhouette of her ship like a ghostly shadow.
Elara adjusted her magnetic harpoon. Her visor locked onto a single, pulsing gold speck buried in a vortex of violet gas. "Got you," she whispered. stardust (nebula) 256x
As Elara steered her ship, the Mote , into the shimmering indigo haze, the sensors began to scream. To the naked eye, the nebula looked like swirling silk, violet and obsidian. Up close, it was a chaotic web of crystalline fragments, each no larger than a grain of sand, yet holding more history than an entire planetary library. She was hunting for a specific grain—the "Origin Spark." The deeper she dove, the more the ship’s hull vibrated