The corridor stretched before Drayven, a long, dimly lit path lined with flickering lights. He could hear the faint hum of machinery reverberating through the walls—life support systems, engine regulators, the sound of a ship trying to hold itself together despite the weight of time and distance.
But those sounds were secondary to what gnawed at him. The box. The sync. The feeling that everything he thought he knew about this ship—and himself—was wrong.
The AI's call to the Command Deck repeated in his ears, though it felt distant, as though it were coming from another world. He could feel the weight of every second dragging on as his mind reeled from what had just happened. Two weeks of memory, of time, wiped clean, replaced by a fractured reality that barely made sense.
Drayven had been trained for crisis management. He had spent years fixing things, keeping systems running, troubleshooting failures. But this? This was beyond any code or schematic he'd ever seen. It was as if the universe had just pulled a rug from under him, and he was left tumbling into a pit of uncertainty.
He had no idea where he was anymore.
"Get a grip, Korr," he muttered under his breath, shaking his head. His boots echoed against the cold metal floor as he walked, but the rhythm didn't comfort him like it normally did. Every step felt like a countdown, the inevitable ticking of some unseen clock that was closing in on him.
When he reached the Command Deck's entrance, the doors slid open automatically, revealing a sterile, dimly lit room filled with control panels and holo-screens. The familiar voices of the command crew were buzzing in the background, but Drayven couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. He didn't belong here anymore.
Captain Varick stood by the central console, his expression tight as usual, his hands expertly manipulating the data streams on the interface. His dark hair was slightly messy, as though he hadn't slept in a while. He looked up when Drayven entered, his sharp blue eyes locking onto him.
"Korr," Varick said with a clipped nod. "You're late. The debriefing is in ten minutes. You've been delayed longer than expected. What happened?"
Drayven swallowed hard. The captain's face was one he trusted. He had to trust him. But every part of him screamed that things weren't as they seemed. Was Varick the same? Was anyone?
"I—" Drayven hesitated, unsure of what he could say. What should he say? There was no manual for this. "I got caught in a—system failure, sir. My report's coming."
Varick didn't buy it. He narrowed his eyes, his posture stiffening. "System failure? You've been out of commission for over two hours. Don't give me that. The chrono field is unstable. We can't afford delays."
"The chrono field," Drayven muttered, his pulse quickening. He had seen it in flashes—the Chrono Gate was failing. A critical malfunction was inevitable. "Right. The field. I'll get to work on it."
Before Varick could respond, a low beep sounded from one of the terminals. The captain's expression shifted slightly, his jaw tightening in a way that didn't escape Drayven's notice.
"What is it?" Drayven asked, suddenly on edge.
"Time anomaly," Varick replied, his voice thick with concern. "I've been noticing small irregularities in the data. The quantum field is… fluctuating. It's as if we're—" He paused, glancing at the terminal before looking back at Drayven. "—as if we're in two places at once."
A chill ran down Drayven's spine. He had felt it too. The sync. The weirdness. The memory loss. The feeling that things didn't quite add up. But hearing Varick speak it aloud made it real. They weren't just seeing things, they were experiencing it.
"You think the Chrono Gate's unstable?" Drayven asked carefully.
Varick's eyes flickered. "No, it's more than that. If it were just the gate, we could recalibrate. But this—this is different. There are temporal rifts opening throughout the ship. Minor, yes, but we don't know how long it'll be before it's major."
Drayven's heart sank. "And how long do we have?"
"I don't know," Varick replied, his voice quiet, haunted. "We've been monitoring the fields, but something's accelerating it. We're losing control over the timeline, Korr. Whatever it is that's causing this… it's not just a glitch. It's... an infection."
Drayven felt the weight of the captain's words. An infection. The very fabric of reality was being torn apart.
The prompt flashed in his mind again.
[SYNC COMPLETE.][MEMORY ANCHOR ESTABLISHED: TIMESTAMP -14 DAYS][WARNING: CHRONO LOOP DETECTED.][BEGINNING QUANTUM REBOOT…]
It was happening again. But this time, it wasn't just his timeline that was at risk. It was everyone's.
"We need to figure out what's happening," Drayven said, his voice low but urgent. "Before we lose everything."
Varick was silent for a long moment. "Agreed," he finally said. "But be careful, Korr. Something's watching us. Something out there." He motioned toward the viewport, where the darkness of space stretched endlessly. The stars seemed colder somehow. Distant.
Drayven's eyes narrowed. "I'll get started."
Drayven turned away from the Command Deck, his mind racing. The weight of Varick's words hung over him like a storm cloud. The ship, the crew, the Chrono Gate—they were all on the brink of unraveling. If what he had experienced in the subdeck was true, then the universe itself was fraying at the edges. Reality was bending, warping, and he was at the center of it.
He needed to get to the lower decks, to the Chrono Gate's control room. He had to see it for himself. But as he walked through the corridor, the feeling of being watched never left him.
Every turn, every shadow seemed to pulse with an eerie awareness.
And then, he heard it.
A voice. Soft, like a whisper in the wind, but it was clear in his mind.
"Reya..."
His name. But not his name. It was a name from another reality, another timeline.
He froze.
"Who are you?" he whispered, feeling an involuntary chill run through his spine.
No answer.
But he knew—somehow—that the voice wasn't just in his head. The box had connected him to something beyond his understanding, something that defied the natural order of the universe.
As Drayven turned the corner toward the Chrono Gate's maintenance level, the last thing he saw was the flicker of a shadow disappearing into the walls.