The next morning, as the crew set out for Arecibo, Luca couldn't shake the feeling that today would be different. Yesterday's recruitment attempt had been a bust, but something about the coastal air and the mountain roads made him want to believe they'd finally find people who actually wanted to leave Earth.

  "Economy vehicles, Luca? Really?" Emily elbowed him from the passenger seat. "We're on a tropical island. Live a little."

  "I'm watching the budget."

  "We have over two billion credits."

  "And I'd like to keep them." Luca gestured at the windshield as they climbed into the hills. "Besides, look at this. You don't need a fancy car to appreciate the view."

  She had to give him that one. The Puerto Rican countryside rolled past in waves of green, dotted with small colorful houses clinging to hillsides. Palm trees swayed in the morning breeze.

  When they finally pulled into Arecibo, the town was smaller than Luca expected.

  They parked near a restaurant painted bright yellow with white trim. Through the window, Luca could see a group already seated, laughing about something. Their clothes were casual, mostly T-shirts and jeans with a few tank tops. One guy wore a faded baseball cap backwards.

  "That's them?" Emily asked, leaning forward between the front seats.

  "Should be." Luca killed the engine.

  The local team had pushed two tables together near the back. Seven people, like the file said. Four women, three men, and the moment the crew walked in, one of them looked up from his plate.

  His fork clattered against the table.

  "?No jodas!" The guy in the backwards cap was already on his feet, his chair scraping back. "?Mira, mira! It's them! It's actually them!"

  The whole table turned. And then chaos.

  "?El Capitán!" A woman with curly dark hair shot up, her hands flying to her mouth. "Luca Rossi! ?Dios mío!"

  "And Emily! Look!" Another woman, short with intense eyes, was pointing. "That's his girl!"

  "Danny the scientist!" The guy in the cap was practically bouncing. "Ryan the engineer! Chris the weapons guy! Zoe the pilot! Joey the doctor!"

  "Wepa!" someone shouted from the back of the table.

  Luca felt heat rise to his cheeks. These people were looking at them like they'd just met their favorite sports team.

  "Hi," he started, extending his hand. "My name is—"

  "We know who you are, mano!" The cap guy grabbed his hand and pulled him into a half-hug, slapping his back. "I'm Miguel. Bienvenidos a Arecibo!"

  The introductions came fast and overlapping. Camila, their leader, was already pulling out chairs and shouting for more plates. Rosa had long brown hair and kept shaking her head like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Sofia, the short intense one, peppered them with questions before anyone had even sat down. Elena cracked a joke about finally meeting people more famous than her abuela's rice and beans.

  Alejandro and Diego were the only ones who seemed subdued. Alejandro had managed a smile, but there was something off about it. Diego just nodded, looking like he hadn't slept.

  "Don't mind them," Rosa said, noticing where Luca was looking. "They're still crying about last night."

  "Cállate," Alejandro muttered.

  "What happened last night?" Emily asked.

  Elena's grin turned wicked. "El gobierno raided the pits again. Shut the whole thing down right before the main event."

  "The pits?" Danny looked confused.

  "Cockfighting," Miguel said, like it was obvious. "Gallos. You know."

  Cockfighting. Luca hadn't realized it was still practiced.

  "Matón was about to fight," Alejandro said, and there was genuine pain in his voice. "Level twenty-three. Built like a tank. Feathers so thick they turn blades, and when he hits?" He shook his head. "I've seen him crack concrete with his spurs."

  "He was up against El Callejero King," Diego added. "Level twenty-one, but fast. Blur fast. You need really high perception to track him with your eyes. Matón's got the durability, the raw power, but El Callejero? He'd hit you six times before you knew he'd moved." He sighed. "Would've been a legendary fight."

  "And then the UER showed up," Rosa said. "Confiscated the birds, arrested the handlers. Alejandro here lost five thousand credits."

  "Five thousand?" Ryan whistled. "That's steep."

  "Matón was a sure thing," Alejandro insisted. "A sure thing."

  Luca exchanged a glance with Emily. She looked uncomfortable, her fork hovering over her eggs. He knew that look. It was the same expression she got when they found the mutated wildlife on New Dawn.

  "Isn't that... illegal?" Luca asked carefully.

  "Technically." Miguel shrugged. "But out here? It's tradition. Has been for centuries. And besides, the System changed the birds. They aren't just animals anymore. They're monsters with feathers."

  "Still," Emily said, her voice quiet but firm. "Making them fight to the death..."

  "They don't die," Rosa interrupted, surprisingly gentle. "Not usually. We have medics at the pits. Just like adventurers."

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  That didn't make Luca feel much better about it, but he let it slide. They weren't here to judge local culture. They were here to recruit.

  "The System levels everything," Sofia said, reading his expression. "Not just people. Animals too. Dogs, horses, roosters. The gallos in the pits? Some of them are stronger than low-level adventurers."

  "And the UER keeps shutting it down," Elena said. "Because apparently our traditions are 'barbaric.' But training sectors where people die? That's fine. That's policy."

  "Sit, sit!" Camila waved them toward the empty chairs. "You're eating with us. No arguments."

  Luca held up his hands, still feeling the warmth in his face. "We're just normal people."

  "Just people," Miguel repeated, laughing. "He says just people. Mano, you flew to another star. You're not just anything."

  "Ignore him," Rosa said, pulling out a chair for Emily. "He's been obsessed with you guys since the news broke. Has a poster in his room and everything."

  "Cállate," Miguel muttered, but he was still grinning.

  Luca caught Emily's eye as they settled into their seats. She raised an eyebrow, a small smile playing at her lips. Different, she mouthed.

  Very different.

  Luca eyed the plates already on the table. Fluffy buns dusted with powdered sugar sat next to flaky pastries oozing cream cheese, and plates of scrambled eggs mixed with ham and peppers filled the air with something that smelled like heaven.

  "Mallorcas," Camila said, pushing a basket toward him. "And quesitos. And that's revoltillo con jamón. Eat."

  Luca grabbed one of the powdered sugar buns and took a bite. It was soft, slightly sweet, and melted on his tongue.

  "Okay," he admitted around a mouthful. "This is incredible."

  "Back in Loíza, we couldn't afford breakfast like this," Rosa said, grabbing a quesito. "Now look at us. System credits, baby."

  "Loíza?" Danny asked.

  "Little town east of San Juan. Barrio, really." Rosa shrugged, but there was pride in her voice. "Most of us came up from places like that. Loíza, Barranquilla, La Perla. The System changed everything."

  "Alejandro's from Colombia," Elena added, elbowing the tall man. "Came over after the Medellín overflow. Lost his whole family."

  Alejandro nodded, his expression softening for just a moment. "The System gave me a second chance. Gave all of us one."

  The conversation flowed easier than yesterday. No stiff formality, no careful political answers. Sofia peppered them with questions about the Triumph, about Alpha Centauri, about what it felt like to break beyond the solar system and keep going. Alejandro wanted to know about the engineering challenges. Elena made a joke about finally getting to use her astronomy degree for something other than "staring at a broken dish."

  Luca watched his crew settle in. Emily was deep in discussion with Rosa about navigation systems. Danny and Diego had found common ground over some scientific theory Luca didn't understand. Ryan was making Camila laugh with a story about the ship's reactor sequence start-up that almost killed them.

  Then Sofia asked the question.

  "So what's it like? Being out there, I mean. Seeing things nobody else has seen."

  Luca set down his fork. "Honestly? Terrifying. And amazing. Sometimes both at once." He glanced at Emily. "We've seen things that would sound crazy if I described them. New species, ecosystems, and a planet so toxic that it has its own elements.

  "That's what we want," Miguel said quietly. "To see it. Not just hear about it."

  "Then why are you still here?" The question came out more blunt than Luca intended. "I mean, you're level 60. You've got the skills. What's keeping you on Earth?"

  Camila and Alejandro exchanged a look.

  "It's complicated," Alejandro said carefully.

  Sofia wasn't as diplomatic. "The gobierno won't fund us." She made air quotes with her fingers, her voice going bitter. "The Radar is 'too remote' for infrastructure investment."

  "But not too remote for a Training Sector designation," Diego added. "Funny how that works."

  Luca frowned. "Training Sector?"

  Rosa leaned forward, her earlier warmth cooling into something harder. "You know what that means? No Territory Tower coverage. Portals spawn regularly. Good for leveling up adventurers who come from the mainland. Bad for everyone trying to actually build something."

  "We've been clearing portals for years," Camila said. Her voice stayed steady, but Luca could hear the frustration underneath. "Every month. We hit 60 doing it for scraps, barely any XP or credits. And every time we petition for tower coverage or funding for the telescope, we get the same answer."

  "They want to keep the area wild," Miguel said. "The telescope is inconvenient to that plan."

  Luca sat back, processing. He'd known Earth politics were a mess. The UER was barely holding things together, with different factions pulling in different directions.

  "That's..." He shook his head.

  "That's Earth," Sofia said flatly. "Welcome to the priorities."

  Before Luca could respond, a sharp tone cut through the restaurant. Then another.

  Camila's expression went from frustrated to resigned in a heartbeat. She pulled out her phone.

  "Portal signature," she said. "Quarter mile from the telescope. Sangradores, level 20."

  "Again?" Elena groaned. "Are you kidding me?"

  The So?adores got quickly to their feet, their breakfast forgotten. Luca pushed back from the table, his crew following suit.

  "What's a Sangrador?" Ryan asked.

  "Nasty little things," Rosa said, already heading for the door. "Usually around Level 20. They are fast, climb anything, and drain fluids from their prey. They go after electronics too, something about the electromagnetic signatures."

  "And the telescope puts out a lot of EM," Diego finished. "If they reach the dish before we do, they'll tear it apart looking for the source."

  Luca's team was in civilian clothes with barely any weapons. Their good gear was back at the hotel in San Juan.

  "How far to the site?" he asked.

  "Twenty minutes by car," Camila said. "If we push it."

  "Tranquilo," Miguel added, flashing a grin despite the urgency. "We got this. Done it a hundred times."

  Outside, a rusted old jeep sat parked on the street, and two motorcycles leaned against the wall beside it. Camila popped the jeep's tailgate and started pulling out energy weapons, tossing them to her team.

  "You came prepared," Emily noted.

  "Always." Camila grabbed another rifle and held it out to Luca. "You know how to use one of these?"

  Luca took the weapon, checking the charge instinctively. Standard TL8 energy rifle. "We'll manage."

  More rifles came out. Rosa handed one to Emily, another to Danny. Alejandro passed blasters to Ryan and Chris. Within thirty seconds, the whole group was armed.

  "Pile in," Camila said, climbing into the driver's seat of the jeep.

  The jeep had no doors, just a roll cage welded to the frame and an Energy Helix Driver mounted on top.

  Miguel climbed up and manned the gun, bracing himself against the roll cage. Rosa took shotgun. Luca, Emily, Zoe, Danny, and Joey crammed into the back, pressed together on benches that were never meant for five people.

  Elena, instead of squeezing in, grabbed the roll cage and swung herself onto the running board, feet braced on the edge, wind in her hair. Sofia did the same on the other side.

  Ryan and Chris took the back of the motorcycles, Alejandro and Diego driving.

  Camila cranked the engine, and it roared to life. No electric engine on this jeep. Then she reached for the radio.

  Reggaeton exploded from the speakers. Bass so heavy Luca felt it in his chest, a driving beat layered with rapid-fire Spanish vocals.

  "?Vámonos!" Camila shouted over the music, and the jeep lurched forward.

  They tore out of Arecibo and into the Puerto Rican morning. Wind whipped through the open jeep as they climbed into the hills, the town shrinking behind them. The road twisted up into the mountains, lush jungle pressing in on both sides.

  The music never stopped. If anything, Camila turned it louder as they hit the rougher roads, the reggaeton beat mixing with the roar of engines and the rattle of the jeep's frame.

  Luca caught Emily's eye. She was grinning despite herself, hair flying wild in the wind.

  This was nothing like yesterday. Nothing like the bullshit politics and smiles of Carlos's team. These people were racing toward danger with music blasting, laughing, and shouting over the noise.

  The So?adores knew these roads. When Camila suddenly veered off the main road onto a barely-visible trail, the motorcycles followed without hesitation.

  They crested a ridge, and the telescope came into view.

  Luca had seen the James Bond movies and others on the Triumph when the Arecibo Observatory was one of the most famous scientific instruments on Earth. The dish was massive, cradled in a natural sinkhole and surrounded by jungle. Even though it was damaged, it was impressive.

  It was also under attack.

  He could see them from here. Small dark shapes swarming over the support structures, climbing the cables that held the receiver platform suspended above the dish. They moved fast, too fast, skittering across metal and concrete like gravity was optional.

  Sangradores.

  Good evening, everyone, thanks for reading!

  https://www.space.com/20984-arecibo-observatory.html

  https://www.seti.org/

  https://www.livescience.com/space/extraterrestrial-life/scientists-study-100-possible-alien-radio-signals-from-collapsed-arecibo-observatory-ending-groundbreaking-21-year-search