The world is silent, barely anything can be heard. Footsteps of fellow researchers can be heard. It's a small crew of a dozen or so people. Each working together to decipher Vernia and the greater Elorin System. The only light for likely thousands of miles is their small basecamp, located in a random, heavily industrialised, city.
Dr. Zhiet Renour was minding his business on an open balcony. Looking out at the city, silently observing the wildlife which had made every building nearly irrecognisable as infrastructure. He joined the group as a speculative evolution scientist, he had shown to be of high expertise in decoding the appearance of ancient wildlife, so was invited to help work on the Elorin System.
Yet one thing the doctor hadn't expected was to see... Light. A single window on an old city building had light shining through it. They could've sworn all of the electrical components were broken by now... It's not a moving light, either. So certainly not someone from the crew going to check it out.
"Hey... Anyone know about this light up here? It's freakin' me out."
He shouts down the stairwell, soon followed by member of his crew coming to look at the supposed light. And when they look where he's pointing... Hey, there is light there. A full room, illuminated. In a building with no functioning lights...
With a small group they go out and into the building, searching for the room which had the lights turned on.
"Floor 6... Room 52."
Zhiet, says. Tapping his finger against every door they walk past, silently counting in the back of his mind.
49... 50... 51... And 52. Once the door is opened, however, nothing is found. The lights are off. There isn't even a lightbulb in here. All to be found is a nest of a creature nobody has interest in disturbing. Walking back into the hallways, a soft humming can be heard. The same hum, looped over and over... It feels familiar. Yet at the same time irrecognisible.
With the sudden sight of a bulb springing on and almost instantly popping from heat, the group almost instantly runs in the other direction. They all know these are physically impossible things to occur, not even an animal of some kind could do this, yet it's always better to be safe than sorry, so running it is. And behind them the music follows.
With a quick turn-around, one of the bulkier members of the group tosses the heaviest thing they can over their shoulder. Which does effectively stop the music. And is also followed by a loud groan.
"Dammit! Man, that hurts!" On the ground is... Another scientist. He had been asigned to a city a little ways away.
"I was just doing a little prank! Yeesh..." The group pause entirely in their track and look disappointed to say the least.
They help the man up, give him medical care and let him stay over at their basecamp until day, before sending him off to his original base, though with his speaker confiscated.
At night, like a routinely ritual, Zhiet goes back out to the balcony, quietly overlooking everything. Until that light flickers on again. And this time someone's watching back.