The rest of my team is already waiting when I arrive on the roof. They lean against the metal railing in uneasy silence, staring out at the frozen landscape around us.

Weak sunlight filters through the clouds today. It’s mild weather for Titan, though the wind buffets us this high up. Since I didn’t take the time to fully gear up for the outdoors, the cold bites at me, and I clamp my jaw shut to keep my teeth from chattering. The others didn’t take time to dress, either, and are wearing unbuttoned jackets and billowing scarves in danger of ripping free.

I approach the roof’s edge, shouting to be heard above the wind. “Report.”

“Something weird, Sarge,” Magda shouts back. Snippy as always, but her forehead is wrinkled with worry. I frown, leaning across the railing next to her.

This outpost rests on the crest of a small mountain and provides a generous look at the surrounding area. A sea of white and gray surrounds us, expanses of unmarked snow broken by rocky spires and deep, icy valleys. At first I thought the view was breathtaking, but after three weeks stationed here I’m beginning to find it dull.

It’s familiar enough that my eyes immediately find the restructured cliff. As I saw on the radar, there’s no sign it was triggered by anything unnatural. But there is… something. Something I can’t quite make out amid the rock and snow sent tumbling by the landslide. I squint, leaning farther over the railing.

“At the base of the cliff…” I stop as it disappears. Maybe it was nothing more than the glint of light on the snow.

“Something’s glowing in there,” Sverre says.

That’s what I thought I saw, but I was hoping I was wrong. If it came from anyone else, I might have doubted still, but Sverre speaks only when he’s sure of something.

Ivennie stands back, chewing her lip in consternation. Daniil watches me silently. It’s not hard to guess what worries them. This outpost may be near the border to Isolationist territory, but it’s also in the middle of nowhere. We haven’t seen a single sign of life, let alone combat, in the weeks we’ve been stationed here. For this to happen now, so close to us, can be no coincidence. And that glow hints at something not human-made.