The date on his PS3's system settings was correct: November 14, 2025, 11:58 PM. But the bar filled up, and the word changed: "FINDING FIRST SEED."

"Come on," he whispered, tapping his fingers on the desk. "Come on ."

"The void remembers what time forgets. Set your clock to the true time."

A transmission crackled. A woman's voice, tired and urgent: "Echo-7, do you read? The tear is spreading. We have a Cascade Failure at Beacon Aurelia. You're the only ship in range. Respond."

"Echo-3, you're breaking formation. Echo-3? He just… he flew into the singularity. On purpose."

Everything except one icon under the "Game" column.

The boy's eyes snapped open. They were solid white. The ship's proximity alarm blared. Then the screen stuttered, corrupted into green and purple static for a split second, and the boy was gone.