The second spacecraft was coming straight toward them.

Netra stared through the window.

His mouth was open.

His brain had stopped working.

This was becoming a problem.

Usually, Netra's brain worked quite well.

It had solved difficult puzzles.

It had figured out the strange sunrise on Asteria.

It had worked out how to use a black hole's gravity to change the ship's path.

But this?

This was too much.

There was another spacecraft.

It looked exactly like theirs.

And there was another Netra inside it.

Quark-7's eyes glowed red.

Netra slowly turned toward him.

“Quark.”

“Yes?”

“Tell me I'm imagining this.”

“You are not imagining it.”

“Tell me it's a hologram.”

“It is not a hologram.”

“An alien?”

“No.”

“A very realistic robot?”

“No.”

“A cardboard cutout?”

Quark paused.

“No.”

Netra sighed.

“I was running out of ideas.”

The other ship moved closer.

Its engines glowed blue.

Its windows were dark.

Then—

KRRRZZZZT!

The communication system came alive.

A face appeared on the screen.

Netra froze.

It was him.

But older.

Much older.

Not twenty.

Not thirty.

Maybe around eighteen or nineteen.

His hair was longer.

His face was thinner.

There was a small scar above one eyebrow.

But the eyes were unmistakable.

They were Netra's eyes.

The older boy looked directly at him.

“Netra.”

The younger Netra stepped closer.

“Who are you?”

The older boy smiled sadly.

“You already know.”

“No, I don't.”

“You will.”

Netra looked at Quark.

“Is that supposed to be reassuring?”

“No.”

“Good.”

The older boy glanced at Quark.

His expression immediately changed.

“Shut down the robot.”

Quark's eyes flashed.

Netra stepped between them.

“Why?”

“Because he's dangerous.”

Quark replied:

“I am not dangerous.”

The older Netra laughed.

“That is exactly what you said the first time.”

Netra looked at Quark.

“The first time?”

Quark said nothing.

The older boy continued.

“Netra, listen to me carefully.”

“Okay.”

“Do not trust him.”

Netra looked at Quark.

Again.

Then back at the screen.

“Why?”

The older boy hesitated.

“Because he knows what happens.”

“What happens?”

“To Earth.”

Netra's stomach tightened.

“What happens to Earth?”

The older boy looked away.

“Not yet.”

“That's not an answer.”

“It is the only answer I can give you.”

“Why?”

“Because if I tell you too much, I might change what happens.”

Netra frowned.

“Change the future?”

“Yes.”

“So tell me.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because that's how causality works.”

Netra crossed his arms.

“Okay.”

He looked at Quark.

Then back at the older boy.

“Explain causality.”

The older Netra blinked.

“What?”

“You said causality.”

“Yes.”

“What does it mean?”

The older boy smiled.

“Cause comes before effect.”

Netra nodded.

“Like pushing a glass.”

“It falls.”

“Cause: push.”

“Effect: falling glass.”

“Exactly.”

“So if I know something will happen…”

“Yes?”

“…and I go back in time and stop its cause…”

The older boy nodded.

“You could change the effect.”

Netra's eyes narrowed.

“And that's dangerous.”

“Very.”

“Because I could accidentally change something else.”

“Yes.”

Netra thought.

“Then why did you come back?”

The older boy stared at him.

“Because I had to.”

“Why?”

“Because Earth is going to be destroyed.”

Silence.

Netra stopped breathing.

“What?”

The older boy looked directly into the camera.

“Something is coming.”

“What?”

“We don't know.”

“An asteroid?”

“No.”

“Aliens?”

“No.”

“A black hole?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

The older boy whispered:

“Time.”

---

⏳ THE FUTURE

The screen changed.

A picture appeared.

Earth.

Blue oceans.

White clouds.

Beautiful.

Then the image changed.

The oceans were darker.

The atmosphere was covered in strange glowing patterns.

Then—

the image went completely black.

Netra stared.

“What happened?”

The older boy didn't answer.

“Tell me.”

“I can't.”

“You just said Earth is destroyed!”

“Yes.”

“Then why can't you tell me how?”

“Because knowing the exact cause changes the problem.”

Netra frowned.

“That makes no sense.”

“It will.”

“That's what everyone keeps saying.”

The older Netra smiled.

“You haven't changed.”

“You've met me?”

“Not exactly.”

“Then how do you know?”

“Because I've been you.”

Netra stared at him.

The sentence felt strange.

Not because it was difficult to understand.

Because it was terrifying.

The older boy continued.

“I remember being nine.”

“You remember this?”

“Yes.”

“You remember meeting Quark?”

The older boy's expression changed.

“Yes.”

“Then what happened?”

He looked at Quark.

“Everything.”

Quark suddenly interrupted.

“We should leave.”

Netra turned.

“Why?”

“The gravitational field is changing.”

The older Netra shook his head.

“That's not why.”

Quark froze.

Netra looked between them.

“You both know something.”

Neither answered.

Netra's suspicion grew.

“Okay.”

He walked toward the controls.

“I'll figure it out myself.”

---

🧠 NETRA'S FIRST THEORY

Netra pulled up the ship's data.

He had learned something important.

When something strange happened, guessing wasn't enough.

You needed evidence.

He started listing what they knew.

FACT 1:

There were two spacecraft.

FACT 2:

There were two Netras.

FACT 3:

The older Netra claimed he came from the future.

FACT 4:

Quark said the second ship was the one that was supposed to bring Netra here.

FACT 5:

The future Netra said Quark was dangerous.

Netra stared at the list.

“Something doesn't fit.”

Quark looked at him.

“What?”

“If he is me…”

“Yes?”

“…then he should remember everything I remember.”

The older Netra frowned.

“That isn't necessarily true.”

“Why not?”

“Because your experiences can diverge.”

Netra thought.

“Like two roads?”

“Yes.”

“If two people start in the same place…”

“They can take different paths.”

“So even if we're both Netra…”

“We can become different.”

Netra nodded.

That made sense.

“But…”

He looked at the older boy.

“You said you remember meeting Quark.”

“Yes.”

“You remember being nine.”

“Yes.”

“Then tell me something only I would know.”

The older boy smiled.

“Easy.”

He said something quietly.

Netra's eyes widened.

It was a tiny detail.

Something from his bedroom.

Something that had never appeared on the ship's systems.

Netra stared.

“You really are me.”

The older boy nodded.

Netra looked at Quark.

The robot said nothing.

Then Netra noticed something.

The older boy's scar.

“Where did you get that?”

The older Netra touched his eyebrow.

“Later.”

“Later when?”

“After the first jump.”

Netra frowned.

“But I haven't got it.”

“Not yet.”

“Then the scar is evidence.”

“Of what?”

“That you're from my future.”

The older boy smiled.

“Good.”

Netra looked pleased.

Then his expression changed.

“Unless…”

The older boy's smile disappeared.

“Unless what?”

“Unless you're from a different timeline.”

Silence.

Quark's eyes widened.

The older Netra stared.

Netra pointed at him.

“If changing the past can change the future…”

“Yes?”

“…then you're not necessarily from MY future.”

The older boy slowly nodded.

“Correct.”

“So you could be from a future that only happened because of something different.”

“Yes.”

Netra looked at Quark.

“And that means…”

Quark finished the thought.

“You cannot assume that his future is inevitable.”

Netra smiled.

“Exactly.”

The older boy looked impressed.

“You're learning quickly.”

Netra shrugged.

“I've had a weird day.”

---

🔄 THE GRANDFATHER PROBLEM

Netra sat down.

“Okay.”

He looked at the older version of himself.

“Let's say I go back in time.”

“Yes.”

“And I meet my grandfather.”

The older Netra nodded.

“Then I accidentally stop him from meeting my grandmother.”

“Yes.”

“Then my parent isn't born.”

“Correct.”

“And then…”

Netra pointed at himself.

“I wouldn't be born.”

“Yes.”

“But if I wasn't born…”

“You couldn't go back in time to stop them meeting.”

Netra's eyes widened.

“So the whole thing breaks.”

“Exactly.”

“That's the grandfather paradox.”

The older Netra nodded.

Netra thought.

“But maybe it doesn't have to be a grandfather.”

“What do you mean?”

“I could stop myself from meeting Quark.”

The older Netra looked at him.

“If I never meet Quark…”

“Yes?”

“…I never travel through time.”

“And?”

“I never become the older me.”

Netra looked at the screen.

“So how could the older me come back and tell me not to meet Quark?”

The older Netra smiled.

“Now you understand the problem.”

Netra stared.

“Then time travel is impossible.”

“Not necessarily.”

“Why not?”

“Because we don't know how a real time machine would behave.”

Netra frowned.

“So scientists don't actually know whether you can travel into the past?”

“No.”

“Because nobody has done it.”

“Correct.”

Netra nodded.

“Then all of this…”

He waved his hands.

“…is hypothetical.”

“Yes.”

“That's annoying.”

“Science often is.”

Quark interrupted.

“But there is an important distinction.”

Netra looked at him.

“What?”

“Relativity is real and experimentally tested. Time dilation is real. A machine that lets someone travel into their own past is speculative.”

Netra nodded.

“So we're using real physics…”

“…to imagine what might happen in a fictional situation.”

“Exactly.”

Netra smiled.

“I like that.”

---

🚨 THE SHIP'S SECRET

Suddenly—

BEEP!

The control panel flashed.

TEMPORAL DISTANCE:

3 YEARS

Netra frowned.

“What does that mean?”

Quark rolled toward the screen.

“The other ship is three years ahead of us.”

Netra looked at the older Netra.

“Three years?”

“Yes.”

“But you're eighteen or nineteen.”

“Approximately.”

“So how old are you exactly?”

The older Netra hesitated.

“Eighteen.”

Netra frowned.

“Then if I'm nine…”

“Yes.”

“…you're nine years older than me.”

“Yes.”

“But the signal said three years.”

“Yes.”

Netra's eyes narrowed.

“Something doesn't fit.”

The older Netra looked worried.

Netra stood.

“You said you came from three years in the future.”

“Yes.”

“But you're nine years older.”

“Yes.”

“Then either…”

He counted on his fingers.

“…your time moved differently.”

The older Netra nodded.

“Exactly.”

Netra's eyes widened.

“Time dilation.”

“Yes.”

“Because of the black hole?”

“Yes.”

Netra looked at Quark.

“So you weren't travelling through time for nine years.”

“No.”

“You experienced less time than the people far away.”

“Correct.”

Netra thought.

“So maybe…”

He looked at the two ships.

“…the second ship spent a long time near the black hole.”

“Yes.”

“And because of gravitational time dilation…”

“Yes.”

“…the people inside experienced less time than people far away.”

The older Netra nodded.

“Exactly.”

Netra smiled.

“So you're only three years ahead according to one clock…”

“Yes.”

“…but you're nine years older because of how much time you personally experienced?”

The older Netra shook his head.

“Not quite.”

Netra stopped.

“What?”

“Remember: time dilation doesn't simply make one person's biological age magically slow because they're near a black hole. The amount of proper time experienced along a path through spacetime can differ from the elapsed time measured along another path.”

Netra nodded.

“Right.”

“So how much time did YOU experience?”

The older Netra looked at him.

“About nine years.”

“And how much time passed for Earth?”

“About three years.”

Netra stared.

“That means…”

He slowly smiled.

“You really did come from three years in the future.”

“Yes.”

“But you experienced nine years.”

“Yes.”

Netra looked impressed.

“That's incredible.”

Then he frowned.

“Wait.”

“What?”

“You said the future is going to destroy Earth.”

“Yes.”

“But if only three years have passed on Earth…”

The older Netra nodded.

“The event is close.”

“How close?”

The older Netra looked at the screen.

“Two years, eleven months…”

He paused.

“…and forty-one days.”

Netra swallowed.

“That's not much time.”

“No.”

---

🌍 THE FUTURE EARTH

The older Netra sent another file.

The screen showed Earth.

Netra stared.

At first, everything looked normal.

Then he noticed the Moon.

It was slightly different.

Netra zoomed in.

The Moon's orbit was changing.

“That's impossible.”

The older Netra nodded.

“Why?”

Netra studied the numbers.

“The Moon's orbit shouldn't suddenly change that much.”

“Correct.”

“Unless…”

He looked at Quark.

“…something gave it extra energy.”

Quark nodded.

“Good.”

Netra zoomed further.

The Moon's orbit was being disturbed.

Not randomly.

In a pattern.

A repeating pattern.

Netra copied the numbers.

He began calculating.

“What are you doing?” asked the older Netra.

“Looking for the cause.”

“How?”

“Patterns.”

Netra plotted the orbital changes.

The curve repeated.

Every few hours.

He stared.

“It's periodic.”

“Yes.”

“Something is applying a repeating force.”

“That's what we think.”

“Something near the Moon?”

“No.”

“Near Earth?”

“No.”

Netra frowned.

“Then where?”

The older Netra pointed at the map.

“That's what we haven't figured out.”

Netra looked at the data again.

The force was tiny.

But it was increasing.

Slowly.

Very slowly.

Netra suddenly remembered something.

“Asteria.”

“What?”

“The sunrise.”

The older Netra stared.

“The clocks.”

“Yes.”

“They were all different.”

“Yes.”

“And the planet's time seemed to jump.”

“Yes.”

Netra looked at the orbital graph.

“What if the Moon isn't the cause?”

“What is?”

“It's an effect.”

The older Netra leaned forward.

“Go on.”

“The same thing that changed Asteria's clocks could be changing the Moon's orbit.”

Quark's eyes flashed.

“Interesting hypothesis.”

Netra smiled.

“Thanks.”

“But insufficient evidence.”

Netra nodded.

“Right.”

He hated when Quark was correct.

“What would prove it?”

The older Netra answered:

“A measurable disturbance travelling from the same source.”

Netra looked at the data.

“Then we need to find the source.”

“Yes.”

“How?”

Netra looked at the stars.

“Light.”

---

💡 FOLLOWING THE LIGHT

Netra pulled up the signal records.

He remembered what Quark had taught him.

Light travels at a finite speed.

If something happens far away, we don't see it immediately.

So a signal isn't simply a message.

It is also a clue about when something happened.

Netra looked at the incoming signals.

He sorted them by arrival time.

Then by direction.

Then by frequency.

The data formed a strange pattern.

“Quark.”

“Yes?”

“Can you show me where each signal came from?”

Quark projected them.

Tiny lines appeared across the star map.

Netra stared.

They all pointed toward the same region.

The black hole.

“Of course.”

The older Netra looked at him.

“You found it?”

“Maybe.”

Netra zoomed in.

The signals weren't coming directly from the black hole.

They were coming from different directions around it.

Netra remembered gravitational lensing.

Light could bend around massive objects.

“So…”

He pointed.

“The black hole is acting like a lens.”

Quark nodded.

“Correct.”

“Then we're not seeing the original path of the signals.”

“Not necessarily.”

“Which means…”

Netra moved the lines.

“…if we trace the bent paths backward…”

He stopped.

A point appeared.

Behind the black hole.

A region they couldn't directly see.

The older Netra stared.

“There.”

“What is it?”

“I don't know.”

Netra smiled.

“Finally, something you don't know.”

The older Netra laughed.

Then the laugh disappeared.

Because a new object appeared on the map.

A tiny red point.

It was moving.

Slowly.

Toward Earth.

Netra's face changed.

“What is that?”

The older Netra whispered:

“That's the problem.”

“An asteroid?”

“No.”

“A comet?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

The older Netra looked at him.

“We don't know what it is.”

Netra stared.

“But you said you came back to warn me.”

“Yes.”

“Then how can you not know?”

“Because by the time we understood what it was…”

He looked away.

“…it was too late.”

---

🛰️ THE OBJECT

The red point grew.

Quark scanned it.

“Mass estimate unavailable.”

Netra frowned.

“How can you detect it but not measure its mass?”

“Because the object is not behaving normally.”

“Is it reflecting light?”

“No.”

“Emitting light?”

“No.”

“Then how do we know it's there?”

Quark displayed the Moon's orbital data.

Netra understood.

“Gravity.”

“Yes.”

“We can't see it.”

“No.”

“But we can see what it does.”

“Exactly.”

Netra looked at the red point.

“So it's like seeing a person by watching their shadow.”

Quark nodded.

“That's a reasonable analogy.”

Netra thought.

“Then if we know how strongly it's pulling the Moon…”

“Yes?”

“…we can estimate how massive it is.”

“Yes.”

Netra began calculating.

He entered the Moon's orbital disturbance.

Then distance.

Then the estimated gravitational effect.

The result appeared.

MASS:

UNKNOWN

Netra frowned.

“Why didn't it calculate?”

Quark checked.

“The data is incomplete.”

“Which data?”

“Distance.”

Netra smiled.

“Then let's find the distance.”

He looked at the signal arrival times.

If the object's position changed, its gravitational influence would change.

But gravity's changes don't simply arrive instantaneously either; changes in gravitational fields propagate at the speed of light.

Netra remembered this.

“So if the object moved…”

“Yes?”

“We would detect the change later.”

“Correct.”

“And the delay tells us something about its distance.”

Quark's eyes brightened.

“Exactly.”

Netra compared two signals.

Then three.

Then four.

He calculated the differences.

His face slowly changed.

“I know how far away it is.”

The older Netra leaned forward.

“How far?”

Netra whispered:

“About eleven light-hours.”

Silence.

The same distance as the mysterious signal.

Netra stared at the map.

“The object isn't near Earth.”

“No.”

“It isn't near the Moon.”

“No.”

“It's eleven light-hours away.”

“Yes.”

Netra thought.

“And we're seeing what it did eleven hours ago.”

“Yes.”

He looked at the black hole.

“Unless…”

Quark waited.

“Unless the black hole is bending the signal.”

Quark nodded.

“Exactly.”

Netra suddenly had an idea.

“Can we calculate the bending?”

“Yes.”

“Then we can reconstruct the object's actual position.”

Quark stared at him.

“That would be extremely difficult.”

Netra grinned.

“Good.”

“Why is that good?”

“Because easy things are boring.”

---

🧩 THE PATH THROUGH SPACETIME

Netra worked.

The holographic map filled with lines.

He adjusted the distance.

Changed the angle.

Compared the arrival times.

Each time the path didn't match, he rejected it.

“No.”

Another calculation.

“No.”

Another.

“Too far.”

Another.

“Too close.”

The older Netra watched silently.

Finally—

Netra stopped.

A single path remained.

He stared.

“This is it.”

Quark scanned it.

His eyes flashed.

“Probability of correct reconstruction: 93%.”

Netra smiled.

“That's good.”

“Not perfect.”

“Nothing is.”

The older Netra looked at the map.

Then his face went pale.

“What?”

Netra looked at him.

“You recognize it.”

The older Netra didn't answer.

“You've seen this.”

Silence.

Netra stepped closer.

“Where does the path go?”

The older Netra whispered:

“To Earth.”

Netra stared.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“But the object is eleven light-hours away.”

“It was.”

“Meaning…”

The older Netra nodded.

“It's moving.”

“How fast?”

The older Netra didn't answer.

Netra checked the data.

His eyes widened.

“It's accelerating.”

“Yes.”

“Toward Earth.”

“Yes.”

“Why didn't you stop it?”

The older Netra looked at him.

“We tried.”

“Who?”

“Everyone.”

“Did you destroy it?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“We couldn't reach it.”

Netra thought.

“Because it's too far away.”

“Yes.”

“Then send a missile.”

“We did.”

“Laser?”

“Yes.”

“Spaceship?”

“Yes.”

“Then what happened?”

The older Netra looked down.

“They all arrived too late.”

Netra froze.

“Because of the speed of light.”

“Yes.”

---

⚡ THE SPEED LIMIT

Netra stood silently.

He understood now.

The universe had a rule.

Nothing carrying information could simply ignore the speed of light.

If something was eleven light-hours away, any message sent from Earth would take at least eleven hours to reach it.

And any reply would take another eleven hours.

That meant—

twenty-two hours for a conversation.

Netra whispered:

“So even if we know where it is…”

“We can't instantly do anything about it.”

“Exactly.”

“And if we see something happen there…”

“We are seeing its past.”

Netra looked at the red point.

“So by the time we see what it's doing…”

“It may already be somewhere else.”

Netra nodded.

“That means we need to predict where it will be.”

The older Netra smiled.

“Yes.”

Netra suddenly looked excited.

“That's a physics problem.”

The older Netra laughed.

“Exactly.”

---

Netra pulled up the object's trajectory.

He studied its speed.

Its acceleration.

Its direction.

Then he extended the path.

The projected line crossed Earth's orbit.

Netra changed the time.

The line moved.

He changed the acceleration.

The line moved again.

Then—

the line crossed Earth.

Netra stopped.

“When?”

The older Netra didn't answer.

“When does it hit?”

The older Netra looked at him.

“Two years, eleven months, forty-one days.”

Netra stared.

“That exact number?”

“Yes.”

The same number.

The same prediction.

The same future.

Netra looked at the older version of himself.

“Then you really did come back to stop it.”

“Yes.”

“And you know how to stop it.”

The older Netra's face became serious.

“No.”

Netra frowned.

“Why not?”

“Because that's where the problem begins.”

“What problem?”

The older Netra looked at Quark.

Then back at Netra.

“I tried.”

“What did you try?”

“Everything.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Because I failed.”

Netra swallowed.

“Then why come back?”

The older Netra stepped closer to the screen.

“Because there was one thing we didn't try.”

“What?”

“You.”

Netra stared.

“Me?”

“You.”

“Why?”

“Because you haven't made the mistake yet.”

---

🧠 THE PARADOX

Netra stared at him.

“What mistake?”

The older Netra shook his head.

“I can't tell you.”

“Why?”

“Because if I tell you what mistake you make…”

“Yes?”

“…you might avoid it.”

“Isn't that the point?”

“No.”

Netra frowned.

“Why would you WANT me to make a mistake?”

The older Netra looked at him.

“Because if you don't make it…”

He paused.

“…I might never exist.”

Netra's eyes widened.

The grandfather paradox suddenly felt very real.

“If I change the past…”

“Yes.”

“…I could change the future.”

“Yes.”

“And if I change the future…”

“You might never become me.”

“Yes.”

“So if you tell me exactly what to do…”

“I could erase the chain of events that created me.”

Netra stared.

“But then how could you have come back to tell me?”

The older Netra smiled.

“That's the paradox.”

Netra paced around the room.

“Then you can't change the past.”

“Maybe.”

“Or maybe every change creates a new timeline.”

“Maybe.”

“Or maybe the universe somehow prevents contradictions.”

“Maybe.”

“Or maybe…”

Netra stopped.

“…we simply don't know.”

The older Netra smiled.

“Now you're thinking like a scientist.”

Netra grinned.

“I hate not knowing.”

“Get used to it.”

---

🕰️ THE CHOICE

The older Netra stepped toward the communication screen.

“Listen to me.”

Netra looked up.

“There are things you must discover yourself.”

“Like what?”

“The truth about Quark.”

Netra looked at the robot.

Quark remained completely still.

“And the truth about the clock.”

Netra's eyes widened.

“And the object heading toward Earth?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

The older Netra hesitated.

“You will find out.”

“When?”

“Soon.”

“How soon?”

“Before the next jump.”

Netra frowned.

“What jump?”

The older Netra didn't answer.

Quark suddenly shouted:

“NETRA!”

The ship shook.

BOOOOOOM!

Netra fell.

“What now?!”

Quark's sensors screamed.

GRAVITATIONAL WAVE DETECTED.

Netra jumped up.

“What does that mean?”

“A massive event has occurred nearby.”

“Where?”

Quark pointed.

The black hole.

The entire region of space around it shimmered.

Stars appeared to wobble.

The older Netra looked terrified.

“It's starting.”

“What is?”

“The loop.”

Netra looked at the controls.

The clocks began moving.

Backward.

Then forward.

Then backward again.

One clock showed:

09:14

Another:

09:03

Another:

09:27

Netra remembered Asteria.

“The clocks!”

“Yes.”

“They're changing again.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

The older Netra shouted:

“Because we're running out of time!”

Netra looked at him.

“Literally?”

“Yes!”

“That was a joke.”

“I know!”

The ship shook harder.

BOOM!

The second spacecraft began drifting away.

“Wait!”

Netra ran toward the communication screen.

“Don't leave!”

The older Netra looked at him.

“I have to.”

“Why?”

“Because if our ships stay together…”

“What?”

“They will interfere with each other.”

Netra frowned.

“What does that mean?”

“Their temporal fields are overlapping.”

“Temporal fields?”

“Just trust me!”

Netra stopped.

“No.”

The older Netra froze.

“What?”

“You told me not to trust Quark.”

“Yes.”

“You told me not to trust the future.”

“Yes.”

“And now you're telling me to trust you.”

The older Netra stared.

Netra stepped closer.

“But you're me.”

“Yes.”

“So I should trust you.”

The older Netra shook his head.

“No.”

Netra's eyes narrowed.

“Why not?”

“Because I'm you…”

He looked directly into Netra's eyes.

“…after I've made mistakes you haven't made yet.”

Netra went silent.

The older boy continued:

“You should never trust someone just because they are you.”

Netra nodded slowly.

“Then what should I trust?”

The older Netra smiled.

“Evidence.”

Netra smiled back.

“Good answer.”

---

🚀 THE SECOND SHIP

The older Netra turned.

His ship began accelerating.

Netra watched it move away.

“Wait!”

The older Netra looked back.

“One last thing.”

“What?”

“When you reach the next destination…”

“Yes?”

“Don't try to save Earth.”

Netra stared.

“What?”

“Don't.”

“But Earth is going to be destroyed!”

“Yes.”

“Then I have to save it!”

The older Netra shook his head.

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because that's exactly what I did.”

Netra froze.

The older Netra looked at him.

“And it made everything worse.”

The communication link began breaking up.

“Wait!”

Static.

“Why?”

The older Netra's face became almost impossible to see.

Then he said:

“I'm not here to save Earth.”

The signal crackled.

Netra leaned closer.

The older boy continued:

“I'm here to stop you from saving it.”

The transmission ended.

---

Silence.

Netra stared at the empty screen.

Quark rolled toward him.

“We should leave.”

Netra didn't move.

“Quark.”

“Yes?”

“Is he telling the truth?”

“I don't know.”

Netra looked at him.

“Do you know what happens to Earth?”

Quark was silent.

“Quark.”

The robot's eyes flickered.

“Yes.”

Netra's stomach dropped.

“You DO know.”

Quark looked away.

Netra stepped closer.

“Then tell me.”

“I cannot.”

“Why?”

“Because you are not ready.”

Netra's eyes narrowed.

“You sound exactly like him.”

Quark said nothing.

Netra turned toward the navigation screen.

A destination had appeared.

NEXT TEMPORAL JUMP:

00:00:17

Netra's eyes widened.

“Seventeen seconds?”

Quark nodded.

“Can we stop it?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because the jump has already begun.”

00:00:12

Netra looked at the black hole.

Then at the stars.

Then at the clock.

He remembered everything.

Gravity.

Light.

Time dilation.

Causality.

The grandfather paradox.

And one thing suddenly bothered him.

The older Netra had said something very carefully.

“When you reach the next destination…”

Not if.

When.

Netra looked at the navigation coordinates.

His eyes widened.

“Quark.”

“Yes?”

“This isn't random.”

“What?”

“The destination.”

Quark became very still.

Netra pointed at the screen.

“You said the ship follows paths through spacetime.”

“Yes.”

“Those paths are determined by gravity and motion.”

“Yes.”

“So if someone programmed the route…”

“Yes?”

“They could choose where we go.”

“Yes.”

Netra stared at the coordinates.

“But this route doesn't take us to Earth.”

“No.”

“It doesn't take us to the object.”

“No.”

“It takes us…”

He swallowed.

“…to the moment the object first appeared.”

Quark said nothing.

Netra's brain raced.

“Which means…”

He looked at the countdown.

“…we're going to see the beginning.”

5

Netra looked at Quark.

“You knew.”

Quark didn't answer.

4

“Didn't you?”

Quark's eyes flickered.

3

Netra stepped closer.

“Quark…”

2

The robot finally spoke.

And for the first time, his voice sounded frightened.

“Netra, whatever you see next…”

1

“…do not try to change it.”

0

WHOAAAAAAAAAAM!

The ship disappeared.

---

For several seconds, Netra could see nothing.

Then light returned.

A star.

A planet.

A tiny blue world.

Earth.

But it looked different.

There were no cities.

No satellites.

No roads.

No lights.

The navigation screen flashed.

TEMPORAL COORDINATES LOCKED.

Netra looked at the date.

His eyes widened.

This wasn't three years in the future.

It wasn't three years in the past.

It wasn't even his lifetime.

It was far, far earlier.

Quark stared at the screen.

Netra whispered:

“How far back did we go?”

Quark didn't answer.

The ship's sensors began scanning.

One result appeared.

HUMAN LIFE DETECTED.

Netra froze.

“That's impossible.”

Another result appeared.

TECHNOLOGY DETECTED.

Netra stared.

Then another.

TEMPORAL SIGNATURE DETECTED.

Netra's heart began pounding.

“Quark…”

“Yes?”

“If this is before humans…”

“Yes?”

“…then who built the time machine?”

Quark looked at him.

His eyes turned red.

And somewhere on the ancient Earth below them—

a second clock began ticking.

TICK.

TICK.

TICK.

Then a voice came through the ship's speakers.

A voice Netra had never heard before.

A voice that sounded very, very old.

“At last.”

Netra froze.

The voice continued.

“The boy has arrived.”

The ship's lights went out.

And in the darkness, something enormous opened its eyes.