After the sudden pressure disappeared, Luiz exhaled slowly and massaged his forehead. He stood alone in the cockpit of a ship hovering several hundred meters above the sea.
Far ahead, he could see land—its skies alive with relentless lightning, bolts flashing across the heavens and occasionally lashing out at the earth.
Once he regained his bearings, his expression turned grim.
He tapped a sequence of codes into one of the glowing holographic panels before him and waited.
No response.
He tried again... Still nothing.
His brows furrowed deeper. He turned to an orb hovering silently at the center of the cockpit and spoke.
"Are you okay on your side?"
"...Ye—s. All good."
"You felt it too," Luiz said. It sounded more like a statement than a question.
"I believe we all did," came the reply.
"I see..." Luiz murmured, his mind already made up. "I'm returning. We don't know how far that pressure reached—and I need to be sure nothing's gone wrong."
"Alright," the voice responded.
