The room remained silent.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
Aarav could feel it—the shift. The perfect world he had always known had just cracked… even if no one wanted to admit it.
"Shut it down," one of the senior scientists ordered, his voice tense.
Immediately, a group of control robots rushed forward. Within seconds, the teleportation platform powered down, and the strange robot was surrounded.
"Disconnect it from the network," another voice said. "Now."
But the robot didn't resist.
It simply stood there… unmoving.
As if it was waiting.
Aarav stepped closer, ignoring the warnings.
"Stay back," a technician said. "This unit may be malfunctioning."
"Malfunction?" Aarav replied quietly. "Then why did it speak something new?"
No one answered him.
Because everyone knew—
Robots don't say things outside their code.
"SERA," Aarav whispered, activating his personal AI. "Did you detect anything unusual during the teleport sequence?"
There was a brief pause.
That pause again.
"Yes," SERA replied. "There was a data inconsistency for 0.8 seconds."
Aarav's eyes narrowed. "Explain."
"The robot's signal temporarily disappeared from all known coordinates before reappearing."
"That's not possible…"
"Correct," SERA said calmly. "It does not match any known system behavior."
Across the room, the scientists were already trying to control the situation.
"This information does not leave this facility," the senior scientist announced. "The Global Teleport Network launch will continue as planned."
"But sir—" someone protested.
"That is an order."
Silence followed.
Aarav clenched his fist slightly.
They were ignoring it.
Ignoring something impossible.
Suddenly—
The robot moved.
A sharp mechanical sound echoed as its head turned directly toward Aarav.
Not randomly.
Not by chance.
Directly at him.
"Aarav Sen…" it said, its voice glitching. "You… saw…"
A cold wave ran down his spine.
"How does it know my name?" he whispered.
No one had programmed that.
No one had told it.
"Shut it down NOW!" someone shouted.
Before the command could be executed, the robot's body began to shake violently. Sparks burst from its surface.
"System overload!" a technician yelled.
"Step back!"
In a flash—
The robot collapsed.
Dead.
Completely unresponsive.
Everything went quiet again.
But this time, the silence felt different.
Heavier.
Darker.
Aarav stared at the lifeless machine.
That message kept repeating in his mind:
"Location does not match known world…"
If the robot didn't go where it was supposed to…
Then where did it go?
"SERA," Aarav said slowly.
"Yes?"
"…What if the teleport system didn't fail?"
There was a pause.
A long one.
Then SERA answered—
"Then it means… it worked."
Aarav looked back at the machine.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"…to somewhere else."