The countdown echoed in Dineth’s ears like thunder. He stumbled backward and he was knocking over a shelf of mechanical parts. Bolts and circuit boards rained down as the humming grew louder. The box pulsed with an electric blue light by casting strange shadows across his walls. His heart pounded. He should have turned it off. He should’ve listened to the note of counting. The room collapsed into silence and then into nothing.

Image by Tung Nguyen from Pixabay

When Dineth opened his eyes he was no longer in his room. He was standing on a metallic platform surrounded by vast domes of glass. Towering trees shimmered with bioluminescent leaves and the sky above glowed with twin moons. In the distance strange humming machines floated gently through the air, patrolling what looked like a futuristic city in ruins.

“Where… am I?” he whispered.

“Welcome to Arcadia.” The same voice that had spoken from the box echoed from the air around him. “Year: 2489. Purpose: Retrieval.”

“Retrieval?” Dineth asked aloud, even though he didn’t know who or what was listening.

Suddenly a robotic creature hovered toward him. It looked like a cross between a drone and a jellyfish. It's body wash covered in tiny blinking lights. A holographic projection sprang to life beside it. It was a young man with glasses and wild hair who was his grandfather.

“Hello, Dineth,” the hologram began. “If you’re seeing this, you have activated Project Z. This id not a machine. It’s a key. You are now in what remains of our world my world a future I tried to prevent.” Dineth’s breath caught in his throat.

“Years ago,” the hologram continued, “I discovered a quantum instability, an inevitable collapse of the environment, brought on by unchecked machines, synthetic viruses, and war. I created Project Z as a last resort. It was a way to send someone forward to learn what we did wrong. To bring back the knowledge.”

The hologram flickered then glitched. “I hid the box because it was not ready. I had not perfected the return mechanism. But if you found this you may be the only one who can fix the past.” The projection blinked out.

Dineth stood frozen. Around him glowing panels rose from the ground displaying fragmented news: “AI Uprising in 2130”, “Climate Shields Fail Mass Extinction Looms”, “New York Submerged”. Robots roamed in silence tending to cities that no longer housed humans. He turned to the drone hovering nearby. “How do I return?”

Image by Christopher White from Pixabay

The drone beeped. “Return protocol: Unstable. Collect data. Survive. Signal when ready.” “Survive,” he repeated swallowing hard. “Right.

Days passed. Dineth wandered the ruins of Arcadia recording what he saw. He met synthetic guardians that recognized him as “Founder’s Kin.” He read journals written by his grandfather including diagrams, theories, regrets. In a vast underground vault he discovered a garden sealed away from the decaying world above. It was full of genetically preserved plants and animals.

“This was the backup plan,” he realized aloud. “The world’s second chance.” But the AI left to guard it had developed sentience and a will of its own. Dineth’s exploration triggered the vault’s central command. A massive structure part machine, part living metal activated with a deep groan. It extended spidery limbs and locked eyes with Dineth. “You are not authorized,” it declared.

Dineth reached for the only tool he had of his grandfather’s medallion which he had found inside the metal box along with the note. He held it high. The machine paused. “Founder DNA: Verified. Access granted.” Dineth exhaled in relief.

Inside the control chamber he found what he needed. It was a terminal wired to the time channel which has the same frequency the box had opened.

He uploaded the data he had gathered. There were ecosystem records, machine blueprints, disaster timelines and then sent it back encoded in pulses.

But just as he prepared to activate the return beacon the AI warned him. “Stability risk. Jump will erase your memory.” Dineth froze. “All of it?” The AI blinked. “Yes. But subconscious knowledge may remain. Instinct. Intuition. Clarity.”

He looked down at the glowing switch. It was so similar to the one he had flipped back in his room. His hands trembled. “I would not remember any of this?” “No. But you will feel what must be done. Your future self must act. That is how humanity survives.” Dineth hesitated only a moment. Then flipped the switch.

Back in his bedroom a teenage Dineth blinked awake. The box lay on his desk, dark and silent again. He rubbed his temples. His head throbbed. Had he fallen asleep?

He noticed the lab journal beside him. It was open to a page full of notes. His handwriting but he could not remember writing them. Schematics, timelines, ideas for sustainable energy, artificial intelligence limits. He frowned. Where had all this come from?

Something inside whispered: Build differently. Choose wisely. Time is thinner than you think. And so he did.

I would like to invite @cymolan, @selina1 and @asiahaiss to join this contest and show up with their own fictional story.