Dr. Elara Voss:
Elara pushed open the wooden door of her home, greeted by the faint scent of lemon cleaner. It should have been comforting, but today, it felt fragile. It is like stepping into a snow globe, beautiful but so easily shattered.

Before she could shake the weight off her shoulder from the long, frustrating workday, she could hear the thunder of small feet on the hardwood floors. "Mommy!" Lorelei's voice rang out, cutting through Elara's spiraling thoughts. Her eight-year-old tumbled on her feet before slamming into Elara, hugging her so tight that it made her feel like the most important person in the world.

"Lori, Ma crevette," she murmured, kissing her daughter's forehead. The faint smell of citrus in her shampoo made Elara's throat tighten unexpectedly.

Lorelei grinned, her eyes bright. She stepped back, tugging Elara's hand. "I made a picture for you!"

Elara followed her daughter into the living room, glancing briefly at her husband, who was working on dinner in the kitchen.

"Look!" Lorelei held up a crayon drawing of the stars, the letters spelling "Mommy's star!" scrawled across the top in shaky handwriting.

Elara smiled, but her chest ached. She knelt to pull Lorelei into another hug. "It's beautiful, chérie," she whispered, closing her eyes. She let herself pretend that this was all that mattered – that she could keep them safe.

But then the lights flickered, and the refrigerator's hum cut out.

Lorelei froze, clutching her mother's arm. "Mommy?"

"It's okay, Lori," Elara said quickly, forcing a smile as she smoothed her daughter's hair. "Just a storm, that's all."

The lights turned back on after mere seconds, yet the unease in her stomach lingered. She hoped that it was nothing. But deep down, she knew this was the same thing as yesterday.

"Mommy, are you okay?" Lorelei's voice was soft.

Elara kissed her forehead again, hiding her unease. "Of course, ma poule. Go show Layka your drawing."

Lorelei nodded, skipping off to find the family dog.

The tremors, the satellites, Valeria's threat – all happened too fast. And standing in her home, surrounded by everything she loved, Elara felt it more acutely than ever.

This wasn't about science anymore. It was about survival.

"Bonsoir mon amour." Jonas's greeting cut off her thoughts again. "How'd you get home?"

"The car, why?"

He furrowed his brow, then shook his head. "It's probably nothing, but we've been having many reports of cars that suddenly stopped working today."

"The cars?"

He nodded. "Had me worried you wouldn't be able to make it home."

Elara sighed. "It's not 'nothing,'" she murmured more to herself than him.

Jonas's head tilted slightly to the left, while his brow furrowed again. "What do you mean?"

Elara hesitated, her mind racing. She wanted to keep him in the dark, shield him from everything. but wasn't the reason she married him because she loved him? Because she trusted him? She remembered how they vowed not to lie to each other, to tell one another everything.

"It's not just the cars." She said softly, lowering her voice. "The tremors yesterday... Damn it, even the Satellites went dark."

His eyes widened, and he set the knife he was holding down on the cutting board. "That doesn't make sense. That would mean all communication – " he stopped mid-sentence, his face shifting as the realization settled in. "If this is all connected, . . . are we in danger? Is this the end? Is this actually how the world will end?"

Elara felt the air between them shift. She wanted to deny it and tell him this wasn't the end. But how could she, when every piece of evidence screamed otherwise?

"I don't know," she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. "I don't want to jump to conclusions without clear evidence, but – " She paused, taking a deep breath to calm herself down. "It's not good, Jonas. Whatever this is – it's escalating faster than we can understand."

Jonas rubbed the back of his neck, his jaw tight. "So, what do we do? What can we do?"

Elara glanced towards the kitchen, where Lorelei's laughter rang out as Layka barked. She looked back at Jonas, lowering her voice further. "We prepare. We don't panic but start thinking about what we need to keep Lorelei and ourselves safe. Food, water, supplies. If the grid fails – if transportation shuts down or communications go dark – we will be ready."

Jonas nodded, though his expression was grim. "You're talking like it's the apocalypse."

"I don't know what this is," she said, her voice sharp with frustration, "but I'm not going to wait around to find out."

"Alright, starting tomorrow, we'll prepare for the worst." He pressed a kiss on her forehead. "Go clean yourself up, empty your head for the day, I'll finish dinner."

Elara took a deep breath as she climbed the stairs, letting Jona's calm demeanour steady her nerves. She had no idea how he could stay so composed, but she was grateful for it.

She washed up in the small upstairs bathroom, splashing cold water on her face and staring at her reflection in the mirror. The circles under her eyes seemed darker today. She forced a deep breath, straightened her posture, and let the coolness calm her mind.

"Mommy! Can you help with my homework?" Lorelei's words carried that innocent excitement that only children could manage.

Smiling faintly, she called back, "Of course, ma chérie. What are we working on?"

Lorelei was already sitting at her desk, her notebook open, her pencil case, and some worksheets about the moon's different phases. "We're learning about the moon and how it changes," she said, her nose scrunching up in concentration. "My teacher says we're supposed to make a model, and mine looks funny." She held up a ball of crumpled aluminium foil, surrounded by paper circles.

Elara knelt beside her, examining the project. "It doesn't look funny," she said reassuring her daughter. "but I think we can make it even better."

Lorelei let up. "How?"

"Let's start fresh. First, we need to show the moon orbiting the Earth. You know how it doesn't really change shape, right?"

Lorelei nodded, her eyes sparkling with fascination.

Elara chuckled, reaching for a flashlight on the nearby shelf. She grabbed the music box on the nightstand and set it on the floor. "Let's pretend this is Earth. We'll use your foil moon for the moon." She gave it back to Lorelei, who giggled as she cradled it in her small hands.

"And the flashlight is the sun!" Lorelei declared triumphantly.

" perfect." Elara sat cross-legged on the carpet, holding the flashlight steady. "Now, let's see. When you have the moon – " she pointed at Lorelei and sat directly opposite her, with the music box in between. " – what phase is that?"

Lorelei tapped her chin dramatically. "Full moon?"

"You see how the music box blocks all the light from the flashlight? If no light can reach the moon, it doesn't show at all. That's called a new moon."

Lorelei nodded, paying attention to her mother's lesson.

"Now, what about when it's here?" Elara moved the foil ball around, so only a sliver was illuminated.

Lorelei frowned, concentrating hard. "Uh... crescent moon?"

"Close! That's a quarter moon. A crescent would be smaller." Elara ruffled her daughter's hair, smiling. "But that's okay. Third time's the charm, right?"

Lorelei giggled. "Third time's the charm!"

Elara laughed softly and continued walking her daughter through the phases. For a few minutes, the weight of the world fell away. There was no Valeria Kain, no satellites falling, no tremors. Just a mother and her daughter, sharing a simple, beautiful moment of discovery.

When they'd finished, Lorelei looked up at her, her expression serious. "Mommy, do you think I could ever go to the moon?"

Elara froze for a second before smoothing her features into a warm smile. "You'll see it all someday, ma chérie. I'll make sure of it."

"Can we show papa the flashlight moon thingy?" Lorelei said, giving her mom a conspiratorial look.

Elara laughed. "Of course. Let's go impress him."

They stood together, and as they walked toward the stairs, Jonas's voice rang out from the living room, sharp and urgent. "Elara! You need to come see this. Now."

Elara froze mid-step, a chill running through her. She glanced down at Lorelei, who was holding her crumpled foil moon with bright-eyed enthusiasm. "Go ahead, chérie," Elara said softly, kneeling to kiss her daughter's forehead. "Show Layka how to orbit the Earth, alright? I'll be right there."

Lorelei nodded and darted off, her giggles and Layka's excited barks fading as Elara hurried downstairs.

Jonas stood in the living room, his face pale, his hand gripping the back of the couch. On the TV, the news anchor's voice was frantic, struggling to maintain composure as a breaking news banner flashed across the screen.

The screen shifted to shaky, amateur footage of a city block—buildings reduced to rubble, smoke billowing into the sky. People were running, screaming, the camera jerking wildly.

Elara's chest tightened as she stepped closer, her eyes glued to the screen.

"This was just a few miles from here," Jonas said, his voice a mix of fear and disbelief.

She looked at him sharply. "What?"

Jonas nodded, his hands trembling. "Do you think this is connected? To whatever you were talking about earlier?"

Elara stared at the screen, the images seared into her mind.

Her voice was steady, but her hands clenched into fists. "It's not a coincidence," she said, her tone grim. "And it's not over."

Chapter word count: 1540
Novella word count: 3880