The first deviation did not descend from the stars.
It did not arrive wrapped in radiation or heralded by gravitational distortion.
It emerged from within.
Three hours after the detection of Parallel Genesis, the Convergence Node emitted a micro-fluctuation.
So small that no physical instrument—no seismic array, no atmospheric sensor, no orbital construct—would have registered it.
But Ethan felt it instantly.
A hesitation.
A fractional delay in domain redistribution.
A pause where there should have been seamless flow.
Kaelith, attuned to him as much as to the planetary lattice, noticed the subtle tightening of his posture.
"What."
"They're not just expanding," he replied quietly.
Across 3.2 light-years of vacuum, the stratified world's external node adjusted its transmission frequency.
Not erratic.
Not forceful.
Adaptive.
It was reshaping its signal pattern to resemble the harmonic signature Ethan had emitted earlier.
Not perfectly.
Not elegantly.
