The storm swallowed the truck.
Rain hammered the windshield so hard that the wipers seemed useless.
Lightning flashed across the sky.
For one instant, Elias could see the road.
Then darkness.
“How much farther?” Rowan asked.
“Three hundred and twelve kilometers.”
Rowan stared at him.
“That’s your idea of an encouraging answer?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Selene checked the Aether meter.
“Level four.”
Elias nodded.
“I know.”
“That’s approaching critical.”
“I know.”
Rowan looked between them.
“Does anyone have a plan?”
Elias kept his eyes on the road.
“Stay on the road.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes.”
“Great.”
Mara’s voice came through the radio.
“How’s the storm?”
Elias pressed the transmit button.
“Bad.”
“That’s not very technical.”
“Level four Aether density.
Visibility under fifty meters.
Spatial distortion beginning.”
“Better.”
Rowan muttered:
“She actually likes this.”
Mara heard him.
“I do not.”
“You sounded pleased.”
“I sounded informed.”
“Same thing.”
Elias almost smiled.
Then the truck lurched.
Hard.
Everyone grabbed something.
The road ahead shifted.
A section of asphalt folded upward like a wave.
Elias slammed on the brakes.
The truck stopped.
Nobody spoke.
Rain continued pounding the roof.
Selene looked out the window.
“That wasn’t a landslide.”
“No.”
Rowan swallowed.
“What was it?”
Elias stared ahead.
“The road moved.”
Mara watched the camera feed.
The image had become unstable.
Elias’s face appeared.
Disappeared.
Returned.
“Elias.”
“I’m here.”
“Can you hear me clearly?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
She looked at the map on her desk.
The line toward Anna’s location had changed.
It was no longer straight.
It bent sharply north.
Then west.
Then vanished.
Mara frowned.
“Your route changed.”
“I noticed.”
“Don’t follow the map.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Good.”
A pause.
“Elias.”
“Yes?”
“The fifth signal moved again.”
He checked the navigation screen.
“Where?”
“Behind you.”
Everyone in the truck went silent.
Elias looked at the rear camera.
Nothing.
Rain.
Trees.
Darkness.
Rowan leaned forward.
“How far?”
Mara looked at the mirror.
“I don’t know.”
The fifth point pulsed.
Then disappeared.
Mara’s stomach tightened.
“Elias?”
“I’m here.”
“It vanished.”
“From the map?”
“Yes.”
Dr.
Vale’s voice came through.
“That’s impossible.”
Mara looked at her.
“What?”
“The network shouldn’t lose an external signal.”
“Unless?”
Dr.
Vale hesitated.
“Unless it isn’t external anymore.”
The storm suddenly stopped.
No gradual fading.
No warning.
One second, rain battered the truck.
The next— silence.
Elias lowered the wipers.
The road ahead was dry.
Rowan looked around.
“Okay.”
He looked at Selene.
“That’s normal, right?”
“No.”
“Good.”
The trees beside the road were perfectly still.
Too still.
Elias checked the Aether meter.
LEVEL 0
He frowned.
“We’re in a dead zone.”
Mara’s voice came through.
“Can you see the network?”
“No.”
“Radio?”
“Still works.”
“Then keep moving.”
Elias started the engine.
The truck rolled forward.
For the next twenty kilometers, nothing happened.
No storm.
No creatures.
No spatial distortions.
Just silence.
Then they saw the buildings.
Not ruins.
Not exactly.
A settlement.
Lights glowed behind walls.
People moved through the streets.
A small watchtower stood beside the road.
Rowan stared.
“That’s a settlement.”
Elias slowed.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t we know about it?”
Dr.
Vale looked at the map.
“Because this region wasn’t here.”
Elias stopped.
Mara’s voice came through the radio.
“What do you mean?”
Dr.
Vale stared at the readings.
“The coordinates are wrong.”
“How wrong?”
“About eighty kilometers.”
Elias looked toward the settlement.
“So we didn’t drive eighty kilometers.”
“No.”
“Then where are we?”
Dr.
Vale looked at the map.
“I don’t know.”
A figure approached the road.
A man carrying a lantern.
He raised his hand.
Elias lowered the window.
“Who are you?”
The man stared at the truck.
Then at Elias.
His expression changed.
“You’re Blackwood.”
Elias froze.
“How do you know my name?”
The man took a step backward.
“You came back.”
Elias frowned.
“Back?”
The man looked frightened.
“You’re supposed to be dead.”
Elias stepped out of the truck.
Mara immediately said:
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
The man stared at him.
“You were here.”
“I’ve never been here.”
The man shook his head.
“You came through the station.”
“What station?”
“Meridian.”
Elias exchanged a glance with Dr.
Vale.
“How long ago?”
The man hesitated.
“Three years.”
Elias stared.
“I wasn’t here three years ago.”
The man looked confused.
“You were.”
“No.”
“You came with another man.”
“Who?”
The man looked toward the settlement.
“Thomas Whitmore.”
Mara stopped breathing.
Elias turned toward the camera.
“Mara.”
“I’m here.”
“My grandfather was here.”
“I heard him.”
The man stepped closer.
“He told us the network would reopen.”
“When?”
“Eventually.”
“Did he say where he was going?”
The man shook his head.
“He said he had to return home.”
Mara’s hands trembled.
“He came through the network.”
Dr.
Vale shook her head.
“That shouldn’t be possible.”
Mara looked at her.
“You knew him.”
“Yes.”
“Could he travel between worlds?”
“No.”
“Then how was he here?”
Dr.
Vale stared at the map.
“I don’t know.”
The man interrupted.
“He wasn’t alone.”
Everyone went silent.
The man looked at Elias.
“Your sister.”
Elias stopped moving.
“What?”
“Anna Blackwood.”
The man’s voice softened.
“She came with him.”
Elias’s face went pale.
Mara gripped the edge of the table.
“You’re sure?”
The man nodded.
“I remember her.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
Elias looked toward the settlement.
“Where is she now?”
The man pointed.
“She left.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Elias’s expression hardened.
“Where did she go?”
The man looked at the sky.
“Toward the old Meridian station.”
Mara whispered:
“She’s going toward the same place.”
Dr.
Vale shook her head.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
“The old station isn’t the destination.”
“What is?”
She zoomed the map.
A new point appeared.
Far north.
Past the biological station.
Past the known Meridian network.
A location that shouldn’t exist.
MERIDIAN ORIGIN
Mara stared.
“That’s where Anna is going.”
Dr.
Vale nodded.
“Yes.”
Elias climbed back into the truck.
“We’re going.”
The man stepped forward.
“Don’t.”
Elias stopped.
“Why?”
The man’s face had gone pale.
“Because Thomas went there.”
“What happened?”
“He came back.”
Elias frowned.
“Then what’s the problem?”
The man looked at him.
“Not the same.”
Silence.
“What do you mean?”
“He remembered things that hadn’t happened.”
Elias stared.
The man’s voice dropped.
“He said he had seen the future.”
Mara looked toward the mirror.
The glass had begun glowing.
One point appeared.
Then another.
Then another.
The network was drawing a route.
Not toward Anna.
Not toward Meridian.
Toward Whitmore House.
Mara stepped back.
“Elias.”
“I’m looking.”
A line appeared between the two worlds.
Then a second.
Then a third.
Dr.
Vale whispered:
“The network is bypassing the anchors.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means something has changed.”
The mirror flashed.
For one second, Mara saw her grandfather.
Older.
Standing in the same underground chamber.
Looking directly at her.
His lips moved.
She couldn’t hear him.
Then the image vanished.
Mara stared.
“Elias.”
“What did you see?”
“My grandfather.”
“Was he alive?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did he say?”
Mara closed her eyes.
“I think…”
She swallowed.
“I think he said my name.”
The mirror flashed again.
This time, words appeared.
THOMAS WHITMORE — TEMPORAL ECHO DETECTED
Mara’s heart stopped.
Another line appeared.
WARNING
THE NETWORK IS NO LONGER OPERATING IN ONE TIMELINE.
The mirror went black.
Nobody spoke.
Finally Rowan whispered:
“I have a question.”
Selene sighed.
“What?”
“How can a machine have a timeline?”
Dr.
Vale looked at the dead mirror.
“It can’t.”
She paused.
“Unless the machine isn’t the thing controlling it anymore.”
END OF CHAPTER NINETEEN