Amr - 2

"Mission Control," she said quietly. "We have a first contact situation. And it’s already got one of our rovers."

The amber dot kept spiraling.

It showed a cavern. Not the sterile, blue-white ice tunnels they’d expected. This one was warm. A dim, bioluminescent orange pulsed from vein-like ridges in the rock. And in the center of the frame, something moved. It was roughly the size of a terrestrial bear, but fluid, like a convection current given form. It had no eyes, no mouth—just a slow, deliberate rhythm of expansion and contraction. "Mission Control," she said quietly

Soren’s science officer, Dr. Aris, sucked in a breath. "That’s… not possible. The pressure alone should—" It showed a cavern

"AMR 2," Soren said, her voice steady. "Backtrace your path. Return to insertion shaft." A dim, bioluminescent orange pulsed from vein-like ridges

The rover was silent for a long moment. The hum from the deep grew louder, resolving into a pattern—a waveform that matched, exactly, the first five digits of pi.