The Youth Tide

The assembly hall roars. Thousands of your generation press shoulder to shoulder, chanting Down! Down! Down! until the bulkheads tremble. You stand at the podium, breath shallow, the unedited scans still glowing on the wall behind you.

Idris grips your sleeve. "You've lit a fire," he whispers, "but fires don't ask questions." Captain Vey raises trembling hands and offers a compromise: a small scout pod first, three volunteers, before any full descent. The chamber falls into a held breath—waiting for you to answer.