Hey Steemians!

Welcome back to the Sixth week of Season 24 of the Steemit Challenge, running from May 26 to June 1, 2025!

Are you ready to let your imagination soar high?

_{AI-Generated Image}

Dineth didn't have time to scream.

The humming grew louder, and the space around him seemed to curl, like old papers slowly crumpling. The blue light became dazzling, and in a silent flash, it disappeared.

He woke up lying on a cold metal floor. The air smelled of ozone and dust. Opening his eyes, he discovered a vast room covered in floating translucent screens and illuminated tubes running along the curved walls. A heavy silence fell, broken only by the faint pounding of his heart.

He heard a voice again deep, almost human:

"Welcome to the Zero Time Review Center. Subject: Dineth. Status: Unauthorized Intrusion. Conditional Access Granted."

He tried to stand, but an invisible field held him still.

"Project Z is a prototype temporal anchor. You have activated an incomplete mechanism. Its consequences are unforeseeable."

"Where am I? What is this center?" he asked, his voice trembling.

"The Temporal Control Center. Current year: 2471. You are aboard Fortress Kronos, the last defense before the complete temporal collapse."

A moment of silence.

"Your grandfather, Dr. Arvind Senaratne, was one of the designers of Project Z. He tried to warn us of the collapse, but was rebuffed. This device is the last vestige of his attempt."

The words swirled through Dineth's mind like wild comets. 2471. Collapse. Her grandfather. Was this a dream?

But then a door slid open, and two figures emerged. Human, but their eyes glowed with a blue, almost robotic glow.

"You are... robots?"

"Half organic, half synthetic," one replied. "We are the Guardians of Time. You should never have activated the box. But now that you have arrived, you must choose: return or repair."

"Fix what?"

"Time."

They led him through a corridor suspended in the void. Below, he saw other corridors... thousands of them, intersecting like a living fabric. Each door, each corridor, led to a moment in the past or the future.

Project Z wasn't just a teleporter, it was a key. It opened a path through the cracks in time. Your grandfather realized that time was sick. Anomalies were appearing: loops, erasures, distortions. He wanted to intervene. But the Council stopped him.

"And now?"

Now you can resume your mission.

He led him into a room called The Heart of the Contract. A globe suspended in the air, pulsing with black and gold flashes, revealed endless glowing threads timelines. Some were clear, others fragmented or dissolved.

Choose a fix point. The time of a critical anomaly. You'll be sent there. If you successfully stabilize the event, you can return.

Denneth stared at the globe. One of the lines flashed even more intensely: 2037 - Singapore - Quantum Pulse Attack.

What was this?

An explosion caused by artificial intelligence. The result: 16,000 deaths and a major break in the time continuum. A rift opened that day, affecting other eras. Your intervention might prevent the initial publication of the protocol.

He closed his eyes. Did he even have the right to manipulate the past? To play the role of world watchmaker?

But an image forced itself upon him, his grandfather, hunched over his notebooks, muttering in the dim laboratory light. He wasn't here by accident.

He nodded.

"Send me."

The machine activated. The humming returned, deeper and more intimate. He felt his body stretching, compressing, like a long-awaited note.

And then there was silence.

He woke up in an alley, in the rain, in Singapore. Surveillance drones circled overhead. He was still holding the metal box: Project Z, now reactivated, blinking slightly.

In his left hand, a new handwritten message appeared.

"You are not alone. Many of us have heard the call. Find us. Save your time." - Arvind

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Thank you very much for reading, it's time to invite my friends @sualeha, @drhira, @shiftitamanna to participate in this contest.

Best Regards,
@kouba01