The first thing Aryaan noticed was the silence.
Not the absence of sound.
The absence of birds.
The ecological sector of Vanta-3 had always been noisy.
Even during the artificial night cycle, there had been movement everywhere—chirping, rustling, the occasional call of an animal that had no business being awake.
Now there was nothing.
The rescued creatures had been moved into the station’s medical wing, and the remaining wildlife had retreated deeper into the preserve.
Aryaan stood beneath the darkened artificial sky, staring at the trees.
Something about the place felt wrong.
Not dangerous.
Incomplete.
“You’re doing it again.”
Lane’s voice came from behind him.
Aryaan turned.
“Doing what?”
“Looking at something that isn’t there.”
Aryaan smiled faintly.
“Perhaps I’m getting better at seeing things.”
Lane shook his head.
“Or worse.”
They walked toward the medical sector together.
The others had already gathered there.
Riyansh was working with three technicians around a transparent medical enclosure.
Inside it, a small creature with silver fur slept beneath a soft blue light.
The little animal had four legs, oversized ears, and a tail that curled around its body when it slept.
Ron stood beside the enclosure.
“Is it going to be okay?”
Riyansh didn’t look up.
“If the resonance stabilizes.”
Ron frowned.
“That’s not an answer.”
“It is the honest one.”
Sia placed her palm against the enclosure.
The creature’s breathing became calmer.
“It knows you’re here,” she said.
Ron smiled.
“Really?”
Sia nodded.
“It recognizes your resonance.”
Ron looked pleased.
Potter walked past carrying a small basket.
“Congratulations.”
Ron looked inside.
“What is that?”
“Three more.”
The basket contained three miniature horned creatures.
They were asleep on top of one another.
Ron stared.
“Where did you get them?”
“They followed me.”
“Why?”
Potter sighed.
“I don’t know. Perhaps I have a nurturing aura.”
One of the creatures woke, looked at Potter, and immediately climbed onto his sleeve.
Potter stared at it.
“I regret saying that.”
Bonita entered carrying a damaged atmospheric filter.
“I found something.”
Everyone looked at her.
She placed the filter on the table.
The black crystalline residue had hardened around its edges.
“This material is not simply an extraction catalyst.”
Riyansh looked up.
“What else?”
“It’s also a carrier.”
“For what?”
Bonita enlarged the microscopic scan.
A repeating pattern appeared.
Tiny geometric structures formed within the crystal.
Aryaan stepped closer.
“That looks familiar.”
Bonita nodded.
“It should.”
She brought up another image.
The same pattern appeared in the ancient machinery beneath Vanta-3.
“The Orions are using the station’s own resonance architecture.”
Potter frowned.
“So they’re not building an extraction system.”
“No.”
Bonita pointed toward the ancient pattern.
“They’re activating one that already exists.”
Silence followed.
Lane looked toward the floor.
“Who built it?”
Bonita shook her head.
“That’s what I don’t know.”
Aryaan stared at the pattern.
Neither did he.
And that bothered him.
Because everything on Vanta-3 was supposed to have a history.
Someone had built the station.
Someone had abandoned it.
Someone had left the ancient technology behind.
But the formation beneath them seemed older than the station itself.
Much older.
A sudden alarm sounded.
Riyansh turned.
The medical enclosure had begun flashing red.
The silver creature inside was awake.
Its eyes were glowing.
Black lines spread beneath its fur.
“Everyone back.”
Riyansh activated the containment field.
The creature curled into itself.
Sia stepped forward.
“Don’t.”
Riyansh stopped.
“What?”
“Turn it off.”
“That’s dangerous.”
“It’s frightened.”
Riyansh looked at her.
Then at the creature.
The animal was trembling.
He lowered the containment field.
Sia placed her hand against the enclosure.
A soft golden light spread through the chamber.
The black lines stopped moving.
The creature opened its eyes.
Sia whispered something in an unfamiliar language.
The animal slowly lifted its head.
Then it looked directly at Aryaan.
Aryaan froze.
For an instant, the creature’s eyes were not those of an animal.
He saw a road.
A forest.
A child running.
A woman shouting.
A boy standing beneath a tree.
Then the vision disappeared.
Aryaan staggered.
Lane caught his shoulder.
“What happened?”
Aryaan looked at the creature.
“I saw someone.”
“Who?”
“A boy.”
Ron approached.
“What boy?”
Aryaan shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
The medical wing doors opened.
Commander Voss entered.
“We have a problem.”
Potter raised a hand.
“We’ve had several.”
“This one is outside.”
Everyone became serious.
Voss activated the central display.
A map of the ecological sector appeared.
“There is a life-sign anomaly inside the preserve.”
Riyansh frowned.
“An animal?”
“No.”
Voss enlarged the reading.
“Human.”
Aryaan’s stomach tightened.
“How many?”
“One.”
Lane immediately looked at him.
Aryaan knew why.
The vision.
The boy.
“Where?”
“Old irrigation sector.”
Bonita checked the environmental readings.
“That area is contaminated.”
“How badly?”
“Enough that an unprotected human shouldn’t survive more than a few minutes.”
Ron was already moving.
“Then we get him out.”
Voss grabbed his arm.
“You’re not going alone.”
Ron looked at her.
“I’m not planning to.”
They entered the ecological sector in pairs.
Aryaan and Lane moved ahead.
Ron, Sia, and Riyansh followed.
Bonita and Potter stayed behind with the station technicians.
The air was visibly darker now.
The black particles floated like ash.
Riyansh activated filters around their faces.
“Keep your masks sealed.”
Ron looked at the forest.
“How is that boy alive?”
“We don’t know,” Lane said.
Aryaan stopped.
There.
A small movement.
Behind a tree.
“Someone’s there.”
They approached slowly.
A boy stepped into view.
He looked about ten years old.
Thin.
Barefoot.
His clothes were strange.
Not futuristic.
Not ancient.
Just ordinary.
A faded shirt.
Dark trousers.
A small cloth bag around his shoulder.
He looked at the group.
Then smiled.
“You’re late.”
Nobody moved.
Ron looked at Aryaan.
Aryaan stared at the boy.
He knew him.
Not from memory.
From somewhere else.
A place that shouldn’t exist.
The boy looked directly at Aryaan.
“You’ve changed.”
Aryaan’s voice was quiet.
“Do I know you?”
The boy frowned.
“You don’t remember?”
“No.”
The boy seemed genuinely surprised.
“But you promised.”
Aryaan felt a pressure behind his eyes.
“What did I promise?”
The boy looked at Lane.
Then Ron.
Then Sia.
“You said you would bring them.”
Ron stepped forward.
“Bring us where?”
The boy looked around.
His expression changed.
“You’re not supposed to be here.”
Lane’s mist appeared.
The boy’s spatial outline blurred.
Lane stepped back.
“He’s unstable.”
Aryaan looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
“His position is shifting.”
The boy looked at Lane.
“You can see it.”
Lane’s face hardened.
“See what?”
“You.”
The boy pointed at Aryaan.
“There are two of you.”
Silence.
Aryaan felt the world tilt.
Ron looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
The boy took a step backward.
“One of you stayed.”
Aryaan swallowed.
“And the other?”
The boy looked frightened.
“The other went beyond.”
A roar tore through the forest.
Something huge crashed through the trees.
The blue-scaled wolf.
But it was no longer the same creature.
The black corruption had spread across its entire body.
Its eyes burned red.
Riyansh immediately stepped in front of the boy.
“Get behind me.”
The wolf charged.
Sia raised both hands.
A spiritual barrier appeared.
The creature struck it.
The barrier cracked.
Ron moved.
He grabbed the boy and pulled him aside as the wolf smashed through the barrier.
Lane disappeared into the mist.
A second later, he emerged beside the creature.
“Left!”
Ron understood.
He moved left.
The wolf turned toward him.
Aryaan shouted.
“Ron, wait!”
Too late.
The wolf lunged.
Ron suddenly stopped.
Everything became strangely quiet.
His eyes changed.
Not physically.
Something deeper.
He could see the chain of events.
The wolf would strike.
He would move.
The tree behind him would break.
The falling branch would hit the boy.
The boy would die.
Ron saw another possibility.
He stepped sideways.
The wolf missed him.
Its claws struck the tree.
The branch fell.
Ron caught it.
He threw it away.
The boy stared at him.
Ron looked surprised himself.
“I knew that was going to happen.”
Aryaan stared at Ron.
“You chose another outcome.”
Ron looked at his hands.
“I think I did.”
The wolf roared again.
Sia stepped forward.
“Ron!”
He looked at her.
“Now!”
Ron understood.
He ran toward the creature.
Sia released her spiritual energy.
Riyansh injected the wolf with another stabilizing compound.
Lane shifted the spatial field around it.
For a brief moment, the wolf became still.
Ron placed his hand against its forehead.
“Enough.”
The world seemed to hold its breath.
The black veins began retreating.
The creature collapsed.
Alive.
The boy watched silently.
Aryaan walked toward him.
“Who are you?”
“My name is—”
He stopped.
His face changed.
He looked confused.
“I don’t remember.”
Aryaan frowned.
“You don’t remember your name?”
The boy shook his head.
“I remember yours.”
“What is it?”
The boy smiled.
“Aryaan.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Aryaan knelt.
“Where did you come from?”
The boy pointed toward the forest.
“I woke up there.”
“How long ago?”
The boy thought.
“Yesterday.”
Voss’s voice came through the communicator.
“Impossible.”
Aryaan looked at her.
“What?”
“We searched that sector yesterday.”
“Did you find anything?”
“No.”
“Then how—”
The boy interrupted.
“I wasn’t here yesterday.”
Everyone became still.
Aryaan looked at him.
“Where were you?”
The boy pointed upward.
“Here.”
He pointed toward the artificial sky.
“Then I was here.”
He pointed toward the ground.
“Then I was here.”
He frowned.
“Then I was somewhere else.”
Lane crouched beside him.
“Do you remember a place?”
The boy nodded.
“A city.”
“Which city?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was it on Vanta-3?”
The boy shook his head.
“No.”
“Gaia?”
“No.”
“Earth?”
The boy looked confused.
“What is Earth?”
Aryaan felt a chill.
The boy wasn’t from their known history.
Not entirely.
A small metallic object fell from the boy’s cloth bag.
It hit the ground.
Bonita picked it up.
The moment she saw it, she stopped breathing.
Aryaan noticed.
“What?”
She turned the object over.
It was a tiny disc.
Ancient.
But not damaged.
There were eight symbols etched into it.
The same eight symbols beneath Vanta-3.
Potter stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Bonita nodded.
“Yes.”
She turned the disc around.
There was writing on the back.
Potter scanned it.
The translation appeared.
PROPERTY OF DEVdutt.
Aryaan’s heart stopped.
Ron looked at him.
“How can Guruji’s name be on something this old?”
Bonita scanned the material.
Her expression slowly changed.
“Because it isn’t old.”
“What?”
“The material was manufactured recently.”
Potter took the scanner from her.
He checked again.
“That’s not possible.”
Bonita pointed to the surface.
“The outer layer is ancient.”
She pointed to the interior.
“The molecular structure is modern.”
Aryaan stared.
“Someone made an ancient object.”
“No.”
Bonita looked at him.
“Someone made a modern object that already existed in the past.”
The boy looked at the disc.
“I’ve seen that before.”
Aryaan turned.
“Where?”
The boy frowned.
“With you.”
“When?”
The boy smiled.
“Before you were born.”
Aryaan could no longer breathe properly.
His mind filled with images.
His mother.
His father.
Devdutt.
The boy.
A corridor.
The eight symbols.
And another Aryaan.
Older.
Standing beside the boy.
The older Aryaan turned.
Their eyes met.
Then he said:
“Don’t let him cross the loop.”
Aryaan opened his eyes.
He was back in the forest.
Lane was holding his shoulder.
“What did you see?”
Aryaan looked at the boy.
The boy was watching him.
“I saw myself.”
Ron frowned.
“Future you?”
Aryaan shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
He looked at the disc in Bonita’s hand.
“But I think he was the reason Guruji was afraid.”
Far away, beneath another layer of Vanta-3, a sealed chamber opened.
No one noticed.
Inside was a single recording device.
It had been waiting for centuries.
Or perhaps only a few minutes.
The device activated.
A distorted image appeared.
Devdutt stood before it.
But this recording was different from the others.
He looked directly into the camera.
Not at Aryaan.
Not at Ron.
At someone standing behind them.
His expression was grim.
“If you’ve found the boy, then the loop has already fractured.”
He paused.
“And if you are hearing this before I expected you to…”
Devdutt looked genuinely unsettled.
“…then even I no longer know which version of events we are living.”
The recording ended.
The chamber went dark.
And somewhere in the forest, the boy whispered a name he had never been taught.
“Aryaan.”
Not the Aryaan standing beside him.
Another one.
Older.
Far away.
And already waiting.