The Time Thief
February 14, 2025
The man appeared in the middle of Sector 9, standing barefoot on the cold steel floor of the orbital station.
No alarms had triggered. No doors had opened. One moment the hallway was empty—the next, he was just there.
Officer Dani Raines gripped her sidearm and approached cautiously. “Sir, this is a restricted area. Identify yourself.”
The man—tall, disheveled, his dark hair streaked with gray—turned slowly. His eyes were wide, hollow, haunted.
“I don’t have much time,” he rasped. “Listen to me. You need to evacuate this station. Now.“
Dani tensed. “And why’s that?”
The man took a shuddering breath. “Because in exactly four minutes, everyone here will be dead.”
“Who the hell is he?” Captain Lorne demanded, pacing the security room. The surveillance footage replayed on the monitor—the man appearing out of thin air. No breach. No transport logs.
Dani folded her arms. “No ID, no records in the system. He just… appeared.”
Lorne exhaled sharply. “What’s he saying?”
“That we’re all going to die in four minutes.”
Lorne scoffed. “Let me guess—he won’t say how.“
“Not yet,” Dani admitted. “But he’s terrified. And he knows things. He told me exactly what I had for breakfast this morning. That I have a sister on Europa. He even—” She hesitated. “He even knew what I was going to say before I said it.”
Lorne frowned. “A telepath?”
“Maybe. Or something worse.”
The man sat in the interrogation room, hands shaking against the table. He barely looked up as Dani entered.
She took a seat across from him. “Start talking. Who are you?”
His lips parted—then stopped.
Dani frowned. “What?”
He exhaled sharply. “I already answered this question.”
Dani narrowed her eyes. “No, you didn’t.”
“Yes, I did,” he whispered. “Just not in this loop.”
Silence.
Dani’s fingers curled into fists. “Loop?”
He swallowed. “Time is broken.” His hands trembled. “I’ve been here hundreds of times. Every time, I try to stop it. Every time, I fail.”
Dani felt a chill crawl up her spine. “Stop what?”
The man’s eyes locked onto hers. “The explosion.”
The station shuddered.
Klaxons blared. Dani’s earpiece crackled—Lorne’s voice screaming, “We have a core breach! Evacuate now!“
Dani bolted upright. “How did you—”
The man grabbed her wrist, eyes desperate. “You have to get out, now. I can’t stop it. I’ve tried. I’ve tried so many times.”
Dani hesitated.
Then the bulkhead ruptured.
A blinding flash. A wall of heat.
Then—
Darkness.
Dani gasped awake.
She was back in the security room.
The footage played on the monitor—the man appearing in the hallway.
Lorne’s voice rang in her ear. “Who the hell is he?“
Her blood ran cold.
She had been here before.
And the clock was already ticking.