Thursday: The Surge Returns
The storm outside raged, waves of green and violet streaking across the sky. The air crackled with static, making the hair on the back of Roman’s neck rise. Then, just as suddenly as the last time, the phone came back to life.
A burst of white noise. Then the flickering screen.
Elon. Racing through the SpaceX halls, his breath coming in ragged gasps. The walls behind him were dark, scorched—like something had burned through them long ago.
“MOM! MOM!” His voice, desperate. The video stuttered, his face distorting with each flicker.
Jas stepped closer. “It’s a message from the past.”
Roman swallowed hard, watching Elon’s wild eyes dart toward the camera.
“She’ll know what to do,” he murmured. “She always knows.”
The feed glitched. A frame held for too long—his face frozen, his pupils too large. A shadow loomed behind him, something shifting in the dim corridor.
Then—static. A final surge sent sparks flying from the old phone, the smell of burnt circuits filling the air. The screen cut to black.
Silence. Only the low hum of the storm outside remained.
Jas broke it first. “What is he even talking about?”
Roman shook his head. “Maybe not what. Who.”
Ivy Mae turned the phone over in her hands, feeling the faint warmth of its lingering energy.
There had always been whispers about what happened to the first space colonies—why no one ever returned, why transmissions suddenly ceased. Maybe this was a piece of that puzzle.
Maybe the past wasn’t as far away as they thought.