Prologue

“You know, staring at it isn’t going to make it go away.”

John Fox sighs and turns towards his girlfriend, Medea. She holds two coffees in her hands and she gives one to him. She’s put too much milk in it, but he honestly can’t find the strength to complain, because she’s right - staring at it isn’t going to make it go away. 

“Why don’t you just play it?” she continues. “It’s probably evidence.”

“I just have this feeling,” he says, shrugging. The computer chip feels rough in his hands, but too fragile. If he holds it the wrong way, he might crush it. 

“Look, if you don’t play it, you’re going to regret it,” Medea counters. “I get it. It’s the strangest case you’ve ever seen. But you’re a detective. You solve strange crimes.”

“True, but I’ve never had a case exactly like this one. Something just strikes me as…odd.”

“You found a body in a river. That’s pretty odd.”

John shakes his head, the crime scene photos burned into his mind. “No…it wasn’t a body, it was a complete, intact human skeleton, with bits of fried metal lying around it. And this. This should’ve been waterlogged, but it wasn’t…and now I have it.”

“It’s obviously important,” Medea says, shrugging and taking a sip of her coffee. “Maybe it’ll solve the crime. What are you waiting for?”

“I don’t think I want this crime solved.” He’s not sure why, but that’s the truth. He just knows that this is different than anything he’s ever done before. 

“Yes you do,” Medea urges. From behind her, there’s a loud crashing sound. Both of them turn, craning their necks to see where it came from. 

“Nobody’s here,” John says quietly. 

“Something probably fell over,” Medea says, waving her hand. “I’ll go check it out, and you look at that chip.”

She leaves, taking her coffee with her, and John lets out a long breath. There’s nothing to lose, so he puts the chip in. 

Instantly, his computer screen goes black. For a second, he thinks that it’s just a virus or something, but then a voice plays out of his speakers and words fill the screen, writing out everything being said. 

I don’t know who you are, a feminine voice says. And you don’t know who I am. But that doesn’t matter. I hate to be dramatic, but, you’re my only hope.

Listen. If this works, it’ll be the year 2077 when you listen to this. And if this is being played, then you found my body. I’m really sorry, but if you’re the one who’s found this, then you will be the only one to truly understand - and hopefully, you’ll save the universe. 

My name is Jade. That’s all I can tell you, just in case my surname gives something away. You might know my mother, or my grandmother, for all I know. And then you’d change things more than you already should. But I’m getting off topic.

As I’m speaking, it’s the year 2143. I know, that’s impossible to you - but bare with me. Something really bad is going to happen to your time, and by the year 2078, everything will have changed. You might think it’s for the better; but it won’t be. Everyone will die. 

I’m going to tell you what happened to me, and hopefully that’ll convince you to do what I tell you. It probably won’t be easy - but whoever you are, good luck.

The voice stops for a second, and then more words fill the screen. John only briefly considers stopping it before he’s too wrapped up in the mystery to end it. 

He doesn’t even notice that Medea hasn’t come back yet.