E4vx4.240.20.1016 -

e4vX4.240.20.1017

It wasn’t a name, not really. Just a designation stamped into cold alloy, etched beside a warning symbol that had long since faded to a ghost. The salvage team found it drifting in the debris field of the Kuiper relay — half a ship, all its logs scrubbed, its crew absent. e4vX4.240.20.1016

Below that, after a long pause:

It looks like you’ve shared a string that resembles a product code, serial number, or part identifier — possibly from industrial equipment, electronics, or a software license. e4vX4.240.20.1017 It wasn’t a name

“Who are you?” she whispered.

On the third night, the identifier changed. all its logs scrubbed