The voice stopped, leaving them in eerie silence. They glanced around but, as far as they could tell, they were still alone. The only other sounds close enough to really make out were from a tarp flapping over the hole in the roof. Kara turned her attention back to the debris and noticed a feint glow. The source of light was wedged under some chunks of tile at the edge of the impact zone. She pointed it out to Henry, who bent down to pull it free. He held it in front of his face and examined the surface. It looked almost like a piece of obsidian glass but with geometric veins carved through it. It felt warm to the touch; as if it were alive.
“Hey, let me see it.” Kara insisted. “That looked like a piece of the thing that landed here.”
He held it at crotch level so she take a closer look. It had been nearly a week since she saw the pod. The memory was fuzzy but this definitely reminded her of it. Part of it was smooth, etched with narrow bands which seemed to carry light from somewhere within. The other side was fragmented, likely where it had broken away from the rest of the pod.
“That voice stopped.” Henry noted. “What do you think it was?”
Before Kara could respond, the lines of light pulsed and a single word echoed around them.
[[ Hello ]]
“Who are you?” Kara asked, staring into the stone. “How are you talking?”
[[ Information ... Fleet designation c-137 ... Speech synthesis though molecular vibration ... ... ... Language incomplete ]]
“It sounds like it’s coming from... Everywhere” Henry said in disbelief.
[[ Apologies ... Adjusting vocal direction ]]
The sound condensed from the strange omnipresence to it’s source; the tiny shard in Henry’s hand.
“Did you come from the pod that crashed here?” Kara asked, running her hand across the surface.
[[ Designation c-137 is ... pod ]]
Before Kara could ask anything else, a security guard found them. “Hey, you can’t be back here!”
“Take this and hide.” Henry whispered, quickly handing Kara the alien shard.
He waited until she had pulled herself back into his pants before turning to face the approaching guard...
“Um... I was... Looking for the bathroom...”