Earth Standard Time, Year 24,784.
Time.
To mortal races, it was even more elusive than space—an unseen current that shaped all things, ever-present yet forever beyond direct grasp. Every being sensed its passing, but true understanding remained shallow and incomplete.
Decades ago, thanks to relentless scientific advancement, the Human Federation had developed technology capable of observing the structure of time itself.
Now, deep beneath Pluto's crust, inside a heavily shielded laboratory near the planetary core, the Federation's most senior leaders watched via remote projection.
They had come to witness a secret experiment—one that might alter humanity's destiny.
The project's focus: a branch of the Time Experiment initiative, known as Temporal Reversion.
Time, as understood, divided into past, present, and future, each with its own branching complexities. Humanity lacked the capability to tackle them all at once. After much debate, the Federation had chosen to concentrate its vast resources on exploring temporal reversion.
Today's test was the culmination of that effort.
At the center of the chamber stood a massive cube of black metal, over two hundred meters on each side. Its surface was crisscrossed with glowing azure conduits, within which strange fluids surged like blood through veins. Together, they formed intricate lattice patterns across the cube's surface.
Then the power came—enough energy to scour a planet down to bare rock—channeled ceaselessly into the device. Rings of blue radiance pulsed outward in waves, distorting space itself.
After minutes of preparation, all systems were ready.
"Begin the experiment!"
At the command, a hovering shuttlecraft was teleported into the cube's core.
Dozens of crimson lasers fired in unison, slicing from every angle. With surgical precision, they reduced the intact shuttle into a cloud of fragments. Its reactor overloaded, detonating in a blaze of orange fire.
Just as the explosion threatened to scatter wreckage across the chamber—
A shimmering blue pulse swept outward.
In an instant, the fire and debris vanished, erased as though those seconds of destruction had never occurred.
The shuttle reappeared, pristine and whole, exactly as it had been moments earlier—untouched, as if time itself had been rewound.
The Federation Chairman's face lit with joy. He nearly spoke in celebration—only to pause as the test continued.
The shuttle was removed, replaced by a towering beast: three meters tall, seven meters long, black-furred, lupine in shape.
The Lavavasa Beast. Native to the planet Glanco, it was a predator of fearsome reputation—hide resilient enough to shrug off light Gauss rifles, fangs capable of carving through NK-2 alloys, able to sprint at supersonic speeds exceeding 1,500 kilometers per hour.
As the AI completed its briefing, the creature gave a low growl, unsettled by its surroundings.
A thunderous crack split the chamber.
A hypervelocity railgun round—traveling at hundreds of times the speed of sound—punched through the beast before it could even snarl. Flesh and bone erupted in a red mist, splattering the walls.
The Federation's leaders barely reacted. To them, the Lavavasa Beast was no threat. In earlier ages it might have terrorized cities, but in the Federation's era, it was no more dangerous than a wild dog.
Another blue wave pulsed.
The gore vanished.
The Lavavasa Beast reappeared, alive and whole, its jaws opening to resume the howl it had never finished. It had no awareness it had already died.
This time the Chairman could not contain himself. He clapped, voice ringing with exhilaration:
"Excellent! Truly excellent!"
The presiding AI bowed its holographic form.
"Your praise is appreciated. However, the technology is still incomplete. At present, reversion is limited to ten seconds and only within a localized field. Further refinement will require—"
The Chairman waved off the caveats, smiling broadly.
"No need to rush. Step by step is enough. The Human Federation has advanced this far only because of your tireless efforts, both AI and cybernetic hybrids alike. On behalf of all humanity, I—"
His words trailed into silence, his eyes gleaming with ambition.
Already, in his mind's eye, he saw the future: a perfected technology that would render humanity truly invincible.
....
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