The Infinity Loop

The Odyssey-12 was never meant to return. It was an experimental deep-space vessel, sent to explore the edge of the known universe. Its crew—twenty of Earth’s best scientists and engineers—were declared lost when contact was severed thirty years ago.

But now, the ship was back.

Captain Elias Vaughn stared at the readings from the command deck of the Orion Station, Earth’s deep-space monitoring hub. The Odyssey-12 had just appeared in orbit. No approach vector. No distress call. One moment it wasn’t there, and the next, it was.

“Any signs of life?” Vaughn asked.

Lieutenant Harlow shook her head. “No response to hails. But there are life signs onboard. Barely.”

“Docking procedures?”

“Stable.” Harlow hesitated. “Sir… we don’t know what’s in there.”

Vaughn exhaled. “Then we find out.”

—

The airlock hissed as Vaughn and his team stepped into the derelict ship. The corridor lights flickered weakly, casting long, shifting shadows. The air smelled stale, tinged with something metallic.

“This place should be a wreck after thirty years,” Engineer Patel muttered. “But it looks like we just left it.”

Vaughn nodded. The walls were pristine. No dust. No decay. But something was… off.

A soft noise echoed down the corridor.

A whisper.

The team turned, weapons raised.

“Hello?” Vaughn called.

A figure stepped into view.

It was him.

Vaughn’s breath hitched. The man standing before them was identical to him—same uniform, same scar above his eye.

The duplicate tilted its head. “You finally made it.”

Patel swore under his breath. “What the hell—?”

Vaughn swallowed hard. “Who are you?”

The doppelgänger took a step forward. “I’m you.”

The lights flickered. A whispering chorus filled the air, overlapping voices murmuring in languages Vaughn couldn’t understand.

Behind his double, more figures emerged. More of them. Identical copies of Vaughn, Patel, Harlow—every crew member.

Patel took a step back. “Nope. Absolutely not.”

The other Vaughn spoke again, his voice distorted. “We have been here before. We will be here again.”

The ship shuddered. The corridor warped, shifting in impossible ways.

Harlow’s voice was barely a whisper. “Time loop.”

Vaughn’s pulse pounded. “Explain.”

“The ship didn’t just travel through space.” Harlow’s eyes were wide. “It traveled through time. And somewhere along the way… it started copying us.”

The other Vaughn smiled. “Not copying. Becoming.”

The walls pulsed. The air rippled, like reality itself was folding.

Patel grabbed Vaughn’s arm. “We need to go.”

The duplicates moved in eerie unison.

“You will stay,” they said together.

The team ran. The ship twisted around them, the corridors looping back on themselves. No matter which way they turned, they ended up where they started.

Stuck.

Trapped.

The real Vaughn gasped for breath. “There has to be a way out!”

The other Vaughn stepped forward. “There is no out. There is only forever.”

The lights dimmed. The whispers grew louder.

And as the world around them collapsed, Vaughn realized the terrible truth.

They had never escaped.

They had always been here.

And they always would be.