𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐑 ᵐᵘˡᵗⁱ-ᶠᵃⁿᵈᵒᵐˢ

Phantom Code [1/?]

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⭒❃.✮:▹ Traveler ◃:✮.❃⭒

Alien: Romulus
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a/n: Just a heads-up! This mini-series was originally a one-shot but ended up longer than expected. So once I post the final chapter (when Andy chases Navarro and Bjorn after the facehugger incident), that will be the end of the Phantom Code series. Hope you enjoy and thanks for reading!

ˏ⸉ˋ‿̩͙‿̩̩̥͙̽‿̩͙ˏ⸉ˋ‿̩͙‿̩̩̥͙̽‿̩͙ˏ⸉ˋ‿̩͙‿̩̩̥͙̽‿̩͙.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .‿̩̥̩‿̩̩̥͙̽‿̩͙ˊ⸊ˎ‿̩̥̩‿̩̩̥͙̽‿̩͙ˊ⸊ˎ‿̩̥̩‿̩̩̥͙̽‿̩͙ˊ⸊ˎ

You barely remember the sunlight.

It lingers like a half-forgotten dream, a distant warmth that fades with each passing day. Hard to even believe you ever felt it.

Sometimes, when you close your eyes, you can almost feel it: soft and golden, brushing against your skin like the wind.

But here on Jackson's Star, the sun is nothing more than a ghost. It's a myth-a wishful story where the only source of light is from the cold, artificial glow of machinery.

This planet-this forsaken mining colony-is all you've ever known; your prison and your home. You don't remember how you got here, and never really understood why.

Your parents were never meant to be here, that much you knew. They were once something else-Weyland-Yutani engineers and technologists, people who made things better.

Specifically, they worked with androids.

Seeing first-hand the abuse and mistreatment of the synthetics, they tried to change the way they were treated. They spoke out against the horrors, fighting to stop the androids from being nothing more than tools and trash.

But the world doesn't like change, not when it threatens the order of things.

And so for their efforts, your parents were stripped of everything: their titles, their work, their lives as they knew it. Sent away to this death trap of a planet where they could be forgotten.

They never spoke much about the past. But in the quiet moments, when they thought you were asleep, you'd hear them whisper about it-about the life they once had, about the things they lost.

And you'd feel the weight of it, heavy and suffocating, until it was hard to breathe...

Hard to remember what life was before.

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You were already half asleep when your mother tucked you into bed, her hands gentle but worn from the day's work.

The faint hum of the machinery outside your small window was a lullaby you'd grown used to, a constant presence that wrapped around you like a blanket.

As she leaned down to kiss your forehead, the shadows deepened the lines on her face.

"Sleep tight, my little Byte," she whispered, her voice tinged with a weariness that you couldn't quite place. "Dream of better things."

You nodded, your eyelids heavy from the weight of the day. Yet your mind was still awake, filled with thoughts that always seemed to follow you into sleep.

Why were you here? What had happened to the life you once had? Why did it all feel like a nightmare you couldn't wake up from?

But soon sleep came, as it always did, pulling you under with the promise of oblivion.