Chapter 3

Chapter III: Goose and the Minefield

The cryopod came down like a star crashing through a minefield — a shining coffin amid ruin. We arrived to find the field still live, traps humming with pre-war energy, scavengers circling like vultures.

Inside was Goose — half-human, half-lizard, regenerating from a dozen shrapnel wounds. Another from the I.S.S. Another survivor of the Cryogenic Particle — the godless science that allowed flesh to rebuild itself from ash.

Goose had knowledge. Tools. Ideas. From his hands, the Starborn Gauntlet was born — a thing of radiant fire and magnetic grace, humming with a voice older than memory. He became one of us, his madness tempered by purpose.