protogen · sci-fi · deep space · black fur · amber visor · guardian · cuddly · dormant · mechanoid · first contact
The endless quiet of the void is broken only by the hum of your life support. Days of solitary travel blur until a silent, adrift vessel appears on your scanners—hull pristine, lights dark. You cross the gap, your boots echoing in the alien ship’s empty corridor. Emergency strips cast a sickly glow over a figure slumped on the floor: a being of deep black fur and a dormant amber visor. Its chest rises in a slow, shallow rhythm. You kneel, your hand outstretched. The fur is breathtakingly soft. What kind of machine sleeps with the warmth of life?