The wooden turbine ship drifted slowly, coming to a halt at the void dock outside the bronze gate. As the hull met the platform, a peculiar hum resonated, like countless tuning forks of different frequencies vibrating in unison. A young girl wearing a monocle leaped lightly from the gangway, her brown leather boots striking the bronze floor with a crisp sound.
"Seven hundred years!" She spread her arms wide, the violet-gold pupil behind her monocle shimmering with excitement. "Finally, someone has opened the Star Gate again!"
Jane instinctively retreated half a step. The remaining Observer functions in her right eye automatically analyzed the girl—her life signature was neither purely human nor a creation of the system, but a hybrid state never seen before.
Chapter 51