The city slept. Towering metal structures stretched skyward, their frames vanishing into the fog that smothered the streets. Above, a dark, starless sky loomed, and somewhere in the distance, a faint red light flickered - the only signal proving that Echo Station was still operational.
Dan Severo stood at the edge of an abandoned highway, watching that faint glow. He knew he wasn't being sent there to study it, nor to restore it. The orders were clear: shut the station down.
He sighed and checked his gear one last time. A reinforced maintenance suit, an old flashlight, a few tools - the most important of which was a universal lockpick module for accessing blocked sectors. Everything fit snugly in his travel pack, its familiar weight resting against his shoulder.
A voice crackled in his earpiece.
"Severo, do you hear me?"
Dan tapped the comm button.
"Hear you," he responded calmly.
"Are you at the outer ring yet?"
"Yeah. I can see the station."
"Good. Reminder: Echo Station lost control a long time ago. It's been transmitting the same signal for a century now. That thing is draining power the city needs. We don't need phantom signals - we need survival. Understood?"
"Understood." Dan nodded, though no one could see him.
"Excellent. You've got key-access. Entry is through the main airlock. If the system fails, use the bypass tunnels. And remember - no unnecessary investigations. Just shut it down and return."
"Got it. End of transmission."
He switched off the transmitter, not wanting to hear more instructions. They had already explained everything to him, and honestly, he didn't believe in the stories about the "mysterious station." Just another old system someone forgot to turn off. Another ruin where he'd spend a few days before heading back to the city.
Dan moved forward.
The path to Echo Station led through collapsed bridges and rust-covered platforms. As he got closer, the air grew quieter.
No wind. No echo of his footsteps. Just his own breathing and the dull thud of his boots against metal.
"We are still here."
The phrase surfaced in his mind suddenly, like a whisper slipping through the cracks of his consciousness.
Dan stopped and looked around.
No one.
"Nonsense," he muttered under his breath and kept walking.
An hour later, he reached the station's main entrance. The gates were sealed, but the system was still functional. An old access panel flickered with a dim green light.
Dan inserted the access key and pressed his palm against the scanner. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, a weak mechanical voice responded:
"Welcome, Engineer Severo. Access granted."
The massive doors groaned and slowly slid open, revealing the darkness beyond.
Inside, the air was cold. Narrow corridors were dimly lit by flickering lamps, casting long, distorted shadows. Dan ran his fingers along the walls, feeling the network of cables and the damp condensation that clung to the metal.
The station was still alive in its own way.
Somewhere in the distance, faint noises echoed - soft rustling, quiet creaks… or were those footsteps?
"Let's check security systems," he murmured, activating his terminal.
But the moment he tried to connect, strange symbols flashed across his screen - a distorted code, as if someone had intentionally scrambled the data. Then, the screen went black.
And then
"Listen. We found the way back."
A voice.
It didn't belong to the system. It was... a human.
Dan spun around. The corridor was empty. But in the dim light, at the far end of the tunnel something moved.
Dan froze. A shadow flickered at the far end of the corridor, but the moment he blinked, it was gone.
The station's lighting flickered weakly, creating the unsettling illusion that the walls were shifting closer, then pulling away again.
"Listen. We found the way back."
The words echoed through his mind once more. The voice was too clear. Not mechanical, not hollow like an old recording, but alive.
Dan exhaled, tightening his grip on the flashlight.
"Stay calm," he muttered under his breath. "It's just an old station. Just a signal."
He switched on the flashlight, sweeping its beam down the corridor. Empty. But the floor was covered in a thick layer of dust and debris, and further ahead, he spotted footprints.
Fresh ones.
He moved forward, forcing himself not to think about why he had really been sent here... because no one else ever came back.
The station felt massive, yet the corridors were oppressively narrow, pressing in on him from all sides. The walls were covered in old markings - technical instructions, faded warnings… but between them, something else stood out.
"Do not turn off the lights."
"If you hear a voice - do not answer."
"We made a mistake."
Dan ran a finger over the words. The paint was faded, but the message was still legible.
"What the hell happened here?"
He kept moving, following the footprints deeper into the station until they led him to a massive door labeled: control center.
Dan pulled out the universal access module and pressed it to the panel.
— Access denied.
He frowned and tried again.
— Access denied.
"Of course," he sighed.
He looked around. Next to the door was a side passage - a narrow maintenance tunnel, possibly leading around the blockage.
He stepped toward it, but at that moment, he heard a sound. Soft. Almost imperceptible. Footsteps. Right behind him.
He spun around, flashlight raised.
Nothing.
But now, the footprints in the dust led both ways. Someone had been following him.
Dan wasn't paranoid, but he was sure, he had heard those steps.He took a deep breath, trying to assess the situation logically.
Logic:
- There shouldn't be anyone here.
- Footsteps don't appear by themselves.
- If someone is here… who are they?
Emotion:
- The silence is unnatural.
- Something is following him but won't show itself.
- The station isn't behaving the way it should.
He activated his headset.
"It is Dan Severo. I have anomalies inside the station. Someone else is here."
Static. Then, his operator's voice:
"Dan? Did you say something? Over?"
"I said I'm not alone."
"Dan, your signal's weak… where are you?"
"Outside the Control Center. The door's locked, but I—"
A loud scraping noise cut through the transmission, making Dan flinch and pull away the earpiece. And then, a voice echoed from behind the wall.
"Don't go there."
Someone had answered. But it wasn't his operator.
Dan froze. The voice was muffled, as if spoken through thick wall.
He slowly turned his flashlight toward the maintenance tunnel. At first, he saw nothing, just cables, old terminals, and control panels.
But then, something moved. A figure stood deep within the passage. Unmoving. Just watching him.
Dan didn't blink. He didn't move. His flashlight flickered. And the figure was gone. Leaving behind clear footprints in the dust… leading straight to him.