Morgan Manor, study.
The eastern sky had already begun to brighten, and the first rays of dawn streamed through the window, staining the old oak desk a pale gold.
Loren sat in a high-backed chair. The tea before him had gone cold, but he had not touched it. He was waiting.
The door opened.
Alice walked in, dust clinging to her white sweater and several scratches marking her black pants.
Yet her expression remained calm, showing no trace of fatigue or excitement.
"Master, I found him," she said.
Loren raised his head and looked at her.
"Where did you see him?"
"The Andromeda Galaxy. An unidentified blue planet, roughly 2.5 million light-years from Earth."
Alice walked to the desk and placed a data chip on its surface.
"There was a clear image in his memories. Silver Surfer flew past a Skrull spacecraft, paused for around three seconds, then left.
There was no interaction. He was simply passing by."
"Did he not find Earth?"
"No," Alice said. "Silver Surfer was traveling away from the Milky Way. He was moving toward the Virgo Cluster.
Based on his speed and direction, he was at least five million light-years away from Earth, and he was only getting farther."
Loren leaned back in his chair, and the heaviness in his gray eyes slowly faded.
He let out a breath.
It was not an exaggerated sigh of relief. Loren was not that kind of person.
His relief was visible only in the way his shoulders sank by less than a centimeter.
The rhythm of his fingers tapping the armrest shifted from slow to steady. That was all.
But Alice saw it.
She could always see what others could not.
"Master, you do not need to worry about Galactus. At least for the foreseeable future, Earth is