485137i

Elias didn't turn around. He just watched the screen as the numbers began to count down.

Suddenly, the "i" began to blink. Elias realized it wasn't a variable at all. He leaned closer and saw the pixelated letter warp. It wasn't an 'i'. It was an eye. 485137i

"485," Elias muttered, glancing at his station number. "Cute." Elias didn't turn around

He assumed it was a prank from the day shift until he looked at the suffix: . In their system, i stood for Intermittent Variable , but the wave pattern attached to this file wasn't a star’s pulse. It was rhythmic, structured, and—to his horror—reacting to the room’s ambient noise. " Elias muttered