The thick, sulfuric air clung to Dr. Elena Voss’s faceplate as she stepped off the shuttle ramp. Beneath her boots, the ashen soil of Gliese-712c crunched like brittle glass. The landscape was an eerie, monochromatic expanse, dotted with jagged outcrops of obsidian-like rock that reflected faintly under the dim red sun. Her team fanned out behind her, scanners buzzing as they began the monotonous task of cataloging the planet’s ecosystem—or lack thereof.

“Elena, over here,” called Malik, the team’s exobiologist, his voice crackling over the comms.

She turned and trudged toward him, her boots kicking up gritty plumes of dust. Malik was crouched near one of the rock outcrops, his gloved hand hovering over something glistening in the ground.

“What is it?” she asked, kneeling beside him.

“Some kind of… secretion? Gelatinous, translucent. Almost looks like it’s part of the rock, but—wait.” Malik adjusted his handheld scanner, frowning. “It’s organic.”