Thousands of miles away from the Kropotkin mine, in the absolute darkness of space, the object known as the "Black Knight" rotated just a few millimeters. The pulse sent from Siberia had reached its destination.

There were no lights or sounds, only an exchange of data on a frequency that human technology still could not comprehend. The awakening was not a threat; it was a process. Humanity's time as the sole voice on the planet was drawing to a close.

Below, on the surface, the sun began to rise, ignorant of the fact that the true masters of the Earth had just opened their eyes after a slumber of millions of years.