Something is pacing the starship Gemini. The crew watches their instruments. But at the helm, Yusmara flies by instinct and metaphor.

Lieutenant Yusmara doesn’t pilot by numbers—she flies by instinct, feeling the currents of space as if by rope and canvas. But when the starship Gemini encounters an unknown presence beyond the edge of Human space, her intuition tells her something is different.

Humanity has never made first contact. This should be a moment for history books. But the thing pacing their ship does not respond. It does not signal. It does not behave like anything they’ve seen before.

And Yusmara may be the only one who can understand it.