News travels fast.
But this news? It traveled faster.
By the time the sun started setting over Red Mesa, the crash site could no longer be described as a crash site. It would be more accurate to say that a military operation had taken place there.
Black Military trucks lined up like a circus on parade along the dirt road leading out of town into the desert. Over at the crash site flood lights as bright as a mini sun were set up all over the place, illuminating the entire site. It looked no different than day time. You could see a pin if it was dropped on the sand.
Soldiers in dark uniform stood guard behind temporary metal barricades. Yellow tapes could be seen everywhere. RESTRICTED MILITARY ZONE boldly printed on them.
On a hill half a mile away, Elias sat in his parked truck watching the activities going on behind the barricades.
He hadn't gone home.
Or rather he couldn't go home.
His mind kept replaying everything he had seen when he touched that satellite. The orbit around Earth. The strange futuristic cities. The launch facility. He just couldn't wrap his mind around it.
What baffled him more was seeing himself.
It just didn't make any sense.
Obviously he had never left Nevada, talk less of building a machine that could survive ten thousand years in orbit.
Something was definitely wrong.
Or maybe it has always been wrong and he never realized until now.
The sound of an engine roaring in the distance dragged him out of his thoughts. He looked up to see another military truck speeding towards the site. Men stepped out wearing darker uniforms than the soldiers. Their jackets had a symbol on the shoulder. Something circular with lines that twisted around each other like a snake eating its own tail.
Elias couldn't really make out the details from this distance.
One of the men gestured at the wreckage, giving orders to the others. He seemed to be of a higher rank than the others.
Within minutes, workers began loading pieces of the satellite onto a large transport trucks bearing the same symbol.
Then it dawned on him. They were taking it away!!!
A sense of urgency suddenly descended on him. His chest felt tight.
If they took it away now, he might never see it again.
And whatever answers he was hoping to find inside… would be gone as well…
The sun dipped as the sky grew darker and the desert sand lost it's golden luster.
Time flew by and the soldiers rotated guarding shifts.
Some of the trucks drove away.
The site got quieter.
That was when Elias made up his mind.
He waited for one more hour.
Once it was fully dark. Elias made his move. He stepped out of his car. The sand crunched softly beneath his boots.
He kept low, moving along the shadows created by the floodlights. The guards were mostly focused on the road entrance where vehicles passed through.
No one was watching the rocky hills on the other side.
That's where Elias approached from.
His heart pounded as he slipped past the outer tape.
He half expected someone to shout.
But no one did.
The wreckage was bigger up close than he remembered.
The satellite had broken apart during the crash, scattering pieces of smooth metallic debris across the sand. Some sections still glowed faintly.
A strange hum vibrated through the air. It wasn't loud. But it was constant.
Elias carefully and quietly between the fragments.
The metal surfaces were etched with tiny glowing lines that seemed like they shifted softly. More like flowing circuits.
It didn't seem like anything any human had built.
At least not yet anyway.
He crouched beside a smaller piece of the wreckage that had cracked open during the crash.
Inside, something sparkling caught his eye.
Tiny crystal-like fragments lay scattered within the broken metal casing.
They had a faint blue glow.
He reached out and picked up one.
The moment his fingers touched it, a faint warmth spread through his hand.
The crystal pulsed once. Faintly
Then it pulsed again. Like a heartbeat.
"Chronite," he heard a voice whisper in his mind.
Elias jerked sharply, looking around.
But there was no one in sight.
The desert wind moved softly across the sand.
He swallowed hard and dropped the crystal into his pocket.
Nearby, another section of the satellite had partially opened, exposing a compartment.
Inside rested something small that look like a hand held device.
It looked like some genius decided to cross a phone and scanner. It was covered with a smooth black with a narrow screen running down the center.
Elias picked it up.
The device flickered to life instantly upon his touch.
Symbols flew across the screen in a language he didn't read.
Then something strange happened.
The device changed.
The symbols shifted… slowly forming letters he recognized.
It was as if it was learning his language.
Elias stared at the screen.
Only one word appeared.
SYNC
"What does that even mean…" he muttered.
He pressed the only button he could see on the device.
For a split second nothing happened.
Then the world slowed.
The wind moving through the desert suddenly drifted like it was underwater.
Dust particles hung in the air.
The distant voices of soldiers near the trucks stretched into slow echoes.
Elias looked around in disbelief.
He raised his hand.
Even his own movements felt strangely delayed.
Time hadn't stopped.
But it had definitely slowed down.
Then the device beeped.
Everything snapped back to normal speed.
The wind rushed past again.
Voices returned to normal.
Elias exhaled slowly.
"What did I just do…"
That's when headlights appeared in the distance.
Several black vehicles were approaching the crash site.
Different from the military trucks.
These were darker. Sleeker.
More controlled.
The guards straightened immediately when they arrived.
Doors opened.
Four figures stepped out wearing long black coats.
Their uniforms carried the same strange circular symbol Elias had noticed earlier.
One of them held a small device that emitted a soft pulsing sound.
"Scanning for temporal activity," one of them said.
Their voices were calm.
Cold.
"Sync signature detected earlier today," another replied.
"Within one hundred meters of the wreck."
Elias froze.
Sync signature.
The handheld device in his pocket suddenly felt very heavy.
The man with the scanner turned slowly.
The device began to beep faster.
"Signal is active."
Elias' heart dropped.
"Source is close."
The scanner pointed directly toward the wreckage.
Directly toward him.
"Someone is here."
Elias didn't wait to hear the rest.
He didn't even think. He just bolted.
Boots slammed against sand as he sprinted toward the hills behind the crash site.
Shouts erupted behind him.
"Stop!"
"Get him!"
Flashlights cut through the darkness as agents rushed forward.
Elias ran harder than he ever had before.
The desert stretched endlessly ahead.
The handheld device bounced in his pocket.
The Chronite crystal pulsed faintly with every step.
Behind him, the scanner continued beeping.
One of the agents spoke calmly into a radio.
"We have a live Sync."
"Subject escaping east."
Elias didn't know what a Sync was.
But he knew one thing was for certain.
They were hunting him now.