The Helix Protocol

Cassia Verrick spends her days sifting through the bones of dead civilizations from the nerve center of a rented salvage skiff, and she has made peace with a quiet, useful life. That peace shatters when a routine diagnostic sweep of the Tamaran Salt Ring surfaces an encoded helix buried beneath a derelict colony, one that should not exist, and one that responds to her presence. Across the system, Kellan Verrick receives a summons he cannot refuse, Solenne Vak watches salvage lanes go dark in patterns no algorithm can predict, and Yara Stroud dispatches Yuki Pell to recover what Cassia has found. Tomas Mireles warns her to walk away, but The Cartographer offers her something better: a map of what the helix truly is, and what it will cost. As the protocol accelerates, space itself begins to fold. Salvage lanes collapse. Crews report memories that belong to strangers. The violet wash of the dwarf star hardens into something watchful, and Cassia realizes the helix is not a discovery, it is a door, and someone has already placed her hand on the latch. With Mara Osei holding the only key to the signal's origin, Cassia must choose: sever the helix and condemn the colonists it has already touched, or let the protocol finish what it started. Either way, the woman who entered the Salt Ring will not be the one who leaves it.