What exactly was a Star Chart Custodian? That was the question in everyone's mind as they stood within the Shadow Hall. In this ancient space station, sealed away for countless years, another mystery left behind by the Voyagers had revealed a corner of an age-old plan—and the mysterious "Star Chart Custodian" clearly played an extraordinarily special and important role in it. This stirred not only curiosity in everyone, but also... a vague unease.
"Let's hope it isn't another 'Sentinel,'" Bellanta muttered softly, voicing the concern shared by the others. "I'm already a little traumatized by the 'ancient minds' left behind by the Voyagers..."
"Judging from the scene, this 'Star Chart Custodian' probably wasn't contaminated by the Reverse Tide like the Sentinel was. Those thorns from before were most likely the Anchor Generator's self-protection mechanism. That thing isolated the contamination from back then," Gawain's voice came from above the hall. "But... nobody knows what condition that 'Custodian' is in now."
"Whoever it is, it clearly isn't here right now," Cassandra said, her gaze falling on a terminal beside her. "It says here that the Star Chart Custodian is offline."
"Yes, offline, rather than dead," Gawain said thoughtfully. "Judging from the details in the system logs, this Anchor Generator seems to have a mechanism for detecting whether the Star Chart Custodian is still alive. If the Custodian died unexpectedly, the Anchor Generator apparently could 'reset' the Custodian by rebooting. But this device is currently in offline standby mode—meaning the Star Chart Custodian is still alive, merely unreachable."
"Trapped somewhere? In deep hibernation? Or has the system itself malfunctioned?" Asalina frowned. "Could this 'offline status' be related to the Reverse Tide contamination this hall suffered years ago?"
Bellanta's gaze settled on the log records projected above the terminal, then she withdrew her line